| How to hit the ground running |
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Dear Outlook Readers,
I’m seeing the photos all over social media: adorable children with backpacks proudly displaying their “first day of school” signs. This means it’s time for Rally Day (aka Get Connected Sunday aka Fall Kickoff aka whatever your church calls this Sunday) and for folks to (hopefully) return to church after summer travels.
In honor of our seasonal shift, this Page Turners features books to help church leaders settle into a new ministry or envision something new. These works contain hopeful stories like that of Chicago’s Lakeview Presbyterian Church, cautionary tales like Circle of Hope in Philadelphia, and updated practical guidance from a seasoned pastor and leader. Enjoy!
Happy Reading,
Amy Pagliarella
Outlook Book Review Editor
P.S.: In a future issue, we’ll review this month’s quoted book, Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church, but it’s too good not to include it here. Journalist Eliza Griswold embedded herself in a Philadelphia church as its founding couple retired, passing the reins to four young pastors. Between COVID lockdowns, racial reckonings, a challenging model of shared leadership, and founders unwilling to let go, she had a front-row seat to an imploding church. The result is a cautionary tale filled with helpful insights on church leadership and the culture at large. |
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BOOK OF THE MONTH How to Hit the Ground Running: A Quick-Start Guide for Congregations With New Leadership
Neal O. Mitchell
Church Publishing, 256 pages
Revised edition publishes September 3, 2024
What should a pastor in a new call do first? How do they understand the congregation’s origin story? What’s the best way to engage the staff or structure meetings with the church’s governing body? And where can they best connect within their community?
Episcopal rector Neal Mitchell addresses these and similar practical questions in his updated edition of How to Hit the Ground Running. First published in 2005, this updated edition speaks to the post-COVID church, referencing 2023 data on trends in giving and attendance. Mitchell offers a brisk overview of congregational models based on size, explaining their unique dynamics and relationship to worship attendance, as well as occasional insights from systems theory; he follows with a broad sweep across all areas of church life an incoming leader or existing session should consider.
How to Hit the Ground Running is addressed to Episcopal priests, yet the examples readily apply to Presbyterian churches. It’s an appropriate choice for a pastor in their first call, and its hands-on guidance will be just as applicable to more experienced pastors in transition, as well as to volunteer leaders and church governing boards wondering how to best work with a new pastor.
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BOOK OF THE MONTH This Little Light: One Church’s Story of Growth and Renewal
Joy Douglas Strome
Twin Pines Press, 165 pages
Published July 2, 2024
Many books have been written about church growth and renewal; This Little Light is an engaging and accessible contribution to the field. Pastor Joy Douglas Strome shares the story of Lakeview Presbyterian Church, a small justice-oriented church on Chicago’s northside that grew in numbers, influence and faith. Strome keeps the narrative lighthearted with anecdotes, poems, photos and excerpts from creative worship skits and sermons. The result is a love letter from a pastor to the church she served, as well as to the broader church.
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“Good leaders were required to take a side, which could be divisive, he said, invoking Jesus’s flipping tables again. ‘People being upset with you is a good thing,’ he added … following Jesus required fighting for good and disrupting those who, in the name of love and tolerance, upheld abusive structures …
...(One pastor told another:) ‘Churches don’t peaceably split.’ There was no way to divide (the church) without a fight, and that would let the racists win by claiming there were two legitimate points of view.” |
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Book Giveaway! Congratulations to last month’s winner Laura Zug. Thanks to our generous partners at Westminster John Knox Press, they received Blood From a Stone by Adam McHugh.
This month, one fortunate reader will receive a copy of this month’s quoted book Circle of Hope by Eliza Griswold, kindly donated by the folks at Farrar, Straus and Giroux.If you're reading this note, then you're all set! Know someone else who should be reading Page Turners? Send them this link and they'll get entered for a chance to win, too. The contest closes on August 20.
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