Robert D. Lupton, Renewing the City: Reflections on Community Development and Urban Renewal. IVP Books, 2008. Referenced in: Urban Ministry LifeandLeadership.com Summary This is an inspiring story on urban renewal taken from the Old Testament narrative of Nehemiah. From the Publisher When an expatriate bureaucrat toured a devastated city, he saw more than ashes and
Gary A. Haugen, Just Courage: God’s Great Expedition for the Restless Christian. IVP Books, 2008. Related volume: Haugen, The Good News About Injustice Referenced in: Theological and Philosophical Foundations of Social Ministry LifeandLeadership.com Summary This is an excellent introduction to the real and pervasive social evils that exist internationally, and a call to be courageous
Alvin C. Bibbs, Crazy Enough to Care: Changing Your World Through Compassion, Justice and Racial Reconciliation. IVP Books, 2009. Referenced in: Strategies for Social Ministry LifeandLeadership.com Summary This is an excellent 12-lesson small group study curriculum that helps awaken perspectives and practices for social justice. As the title suggests, it divides social ministry into three
Tim Stafford, Shaking the System: What I Learned from the Great American Reform Movements. IVP Books, 2007. Referenced in: Strategies for Social Ministry LifeandLeadership.com Summary In an attempt to help today’s activists be more historically informed, Stafford takes a look at four significant American social reform movements of the past: abolition, prohibition, women’s suffrage, and
Kevin Blue, Practical Justice: Living Off-Center in a Self-Centered World. IVP Books, 2010. Referenced in: Strategies for Social Ministry LifeandLeadership.com Summary This is an excellent introduction to social justice for those who are sheltered from it but feel impulses toward it, yet do not know where to start in making a difference. Blue is disturbing
Brian Cox, Faith-Based Reconciliation: A Moral Vision That Transforms People and Societies. Xlibris, 2007. Referenced in: Conflict Education, Biblical Visions of Peacemaking/Reconciliation LifeandLeadership.com Summary This is a dense, rich look into interfaith and ethnic conflict or other situations with deeply entrenched alternative moral visions such as nationalism, liberal democracy/free market capitalism, or militant Islam. The
Audio Adrenaline, Hands and Feet: Inspiring Stories and First Hand Accounts of God Changing Lives. Regal Books, 2007. Referenced in: Social Ministry Strategies LifeandLeadership.com Summary This is an inspiring story of the contemporary Christian music group’s work with an orphanage in Haiti, and their attempts to benefit that work through the Hands and Feet Project.
Brian McLaren, Elisa Padilla, and Ashley Bunting Seeler, The Justice Project. Baker, 2009. Referenced in: Social Ministry Strategies LifeandLeadership.com Summary For those who need to understand the resurgence of interest in social justice among younger evangelicals, this is the place to start. It is not a dispassionate academic description of the desire for social justice,
Julie Clawson, Tom Sine, and Christine Sine, Everyday Justice: The Global Impact of our Daily Choices. IVP Books, 2009. Referenced in: Social Ministry Strategies LifeandLeadership.com Summary Christians who live privileged, wealthy lifestyles can feel quite distanced from social need. Because of this, many feel no passion at all about the subject. It’s “out of sight,
Susan Willhauck, Ministry Unplugged: Uncommon Calls to Serve. Chalice Press, 2010. Referenced in: Social Ministry Strategies LifeandLeadership.com Summary The sub-title expresses the purpose of this book very well, “uncommon calls to serve.” It is designed for those who do not feel “called” into conventional forms of ministry, but still have an urge toward kingdom outreach.
