Heidi Unruh and Ronald Sider, Saving Souls, Serving Society: Understanding the Faith Factor in Church-Based Social Ministry. Oxford University Press, 2005. Referenced in: Social Ministry Strategies Social Ministry Among the Urban Poor, Urban Ministry LifeandLeadership.com Summary The purpose of this volume is to help churches understand and maintain the distinction between faith-based social action and
Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? The Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World. Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2010. Referenced in: Theological and Philosophical Foundations of Social Ministry LifeandLeadership.com Summary This book is part biography, part theology, and part manifesto. As a biography, it tells
Ash Barker, Making Poverty Personal: Taking the Poor as Seriously as the Bible Does. Baker Books/Emergent Village, 2009. Referenced in: Theological and Philosophical Foundations of Social Ministry LifeandLeadership.com Summary This book makes a unique contribution to understanding the biblical witness on ministry to the poor. Ash surveys the teaching on poverty from the Exodus narrative,
Bryant L. Myers, Walking With the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development. Orbis Books, 1999. Referenced in: Theological and Sociological Foundations of Social Ministry LifeandLeadership.com Summary Myers is Vice-President of International Program Strategy with World Vision International and Professor of International Development at the Fuller Theological Seminary School of Intercultural Studies. As such he
Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself. Moody Publishers, 2009. Referenced in: Theological and Sociological Foundations of Social Ministry LifeandLeadership.com Summary Corbett and Fikkert are Christian economists/professors who have a heart for the poor. With this background, they are uniquely qualified to address not
Ronald J. Sider, Good News and Good Works: A Theology for the Whole Gospel. Baker Books, 1999. Referenced in: Ron Sider on Social Ministry Theological and Sociological Foundations of Social Ministry LifeandLeadership.com Summary The name Ron Sider is synonymous with evangelical Christian social conscience. His book Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger is arguably
Charles Colson, Nancy Pearsey, and Harold Fickett, How Now Shall We Live? Tyndale House, 2004. Companion volume: Pearsey, Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from its Cultural Captivity (Crossway, 2008). Referenced in: Theological and Philosophical Foundations of Social Ministry LifeandLeadership.com Summary This highly acclaimed and voluminous work addresses the larger issues of communicating a Christian worldview and
Gary A. Haugen, Good News About Injustice: A Witness of Courage in a Hurting World. IVP Books, 2009. Referenced in: Theological and Philosophical Foundations of Social Ministry LifeandLeadership.com Summary It is hard to overstate the significance of this book. Evangelicals sometimes chafe at the term social “justice” and prefer social action, based on the idea
Christian History and Biography Magazine Series, Building the City of God in a Crumbling World, Christianity Today International, 2007. Referenced in: Social Ministry Strategies LifeandLeadership.com Summary This is a special collection of articles from the Christian History and Biography magazine published by Christianity Today, highlighting leading historical figures who addressed issues of social compassion and
Marvin Olasky and Amy Sherman, The Tragedy of American Compassion. Crossway Books, 2008. Referenced in: Christian Perspectives on Economics and Public Policy LifeandLeadership.com Summary Olasky is an economist from the University of Texas, and is regarded as the originator of the term “compassionate conservative.” In this book, he says neither free markets nor welfare-by-government provisions
