Study Materials for Presbytery Transformation:

Hit the Bullseye: How Denominations Can Aim the Congregation At the Mission Field by Paul D. Borden. "Denominations in the U.S. were started to assist congregations. Local churches realized that often they could do more together than they could separately. For many years denominations provided invaluable services to congregations in missions, education, and church life. This is no longer the case. As many congregations diminish in size, they find themselves with aging constituencies and experience a decline in mission dollars. they also find denominations impotent in producing change, health, and growth. Denominations respond in various ways to this situation. This book offers three key strategies for change: training, recruitment of outside leaders, and pastoral mentoring." 

Robust Church Development: a vision for mobilizing regional bodies in support of missional congregations by Mike Regele. "This brief book sets forth the vision, the principles and the practices that, if embraced, will see your regional body on its way to a robust church development effort - one that is effective today and will withstand continuous shifts in the mission environment over time.

Upcoming 2008 Alban Institute Seminars on Leadership and Congregational Transformation in our area:

June 10-12    Appreciative Inquiry: A Positive Approach to Purposeful Congregational Change...Lawrence Peers

• "Tired of problem-based and deficit approaches to improving congregational life? Learn why appreciative inquiry focuses on a congregation at its best - and how it helps leaders and members reorganize for purposeful change through congregational discernment."
• Zephyr Point, Lake Tahoe, Nevada

28th Interim Ministry Network Annual Conference: The Engaged Church in Transition

May 20-22, 2008

Pheasant Run Conference Center, Saint Charles, Il. ; www.pheasantrun.com

Keynote Speakers:

• Albert L. Wineseman and Associates - Author of "Growing an Engaged Church"
• Dr. Peter Steinke - Founder of Bridge Builders and Author and Teacher as well as Post Seminar Leader
• Chuck Marohnic Jazz Trio - Music Ministry, Educator, and Grammy Award Winner

Leadership Development:

Effective Church Leadership: Building on the Twelve Keys by Kennon L. Callahan. "This encouraging book helps missionary pastors 'grow forward' their leadership competencies by cultivating new understandings and practices in seven key areas."

Leadership on the Otherside: No Rules, Just Clues by Bill Easum. Bill Easum opens a portal to the Otherside, that place beyond the Christendom Era and its mechanistic, by-the-numbers approach to church life. It's a bumpy ride, with treasured assumptions, privileges, and traditions shattered along the way. Yet on the OtherSide lies a church radically transformed, resonant to the leadership of the Spirit, and ready to lay aside everything that does not help it accomplish the one thing that matters: introducing people to the love of God in Jesus Christ.

Leadership That Works: Hope and Direction for Church and Parachurch Leaders in Today's Complex World by Leith Anderson. "Leith shows clearly how to meet today's changing culture without compromising biblically." Jerry E. White

Personality Type and Religious Leadership by Roy M. Oswald and Otto Kroeger. Using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to help understand ourselves better as a working community.

The Secret: What Great Leaders Know - and Do by Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller. "The Secret tells an engaging story that contains a valuable message for leaders and emerging leaders around the world. Leaders who grasp and apply The Secret can expect their effectiveness to soar!" Bill Hybels, Senior Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church

Unfreezing Moves: Following Jesus Into the Mission Field by Bill Easum. "Learn how to employ the nine unfreezing moves that will either help your congregation become unstuck, or help you become constantly innovative in the ways that connect with those who are unconnected and disconnected from God."

Church Transformation:

Cracking Your congregation's Code: Mapping Your Spiritual DNA to Create Your Future by Richard Southern and Robert Norton. "Seminaries, denominational leaders, and ministers have a sacred charge to grow the membership of the church. Norton and Southern provide an outstanding - and proven - strategy for teaching both clergy and laypeople to accomplish the mission." The Rev. Robert Warren Cromey, trustee of the General Theological Seminary, New York, New York.

Five Challenges for the Once and Future Church by Loren B. Mead.

Leading Congregational Change: A Practical Guide for the Transformational Journey by Jim Herrington, Mike Bonem, and James H. Furr. "The authors...present a powerful, sequential process for moving a church toward renewal. They reveal how to deal with resistance from key members who do not understand why change is needed, show how to develop a "vision community" - a diverse group within the church who can collaboratively discern and help to implement God's vision for their congregation - and identify specific leadership disciplines required to successfully shepherd change."

Once and Future Church by Loren B. Mead.

Transforming Congregations for the Future by Loren B. Mead.

Twelve Dynamic Shifts for Transforming Your Church by E. Stanley Ott. "Arguing that the crisis in the church today is due to a loss of personal spirituality and congregational vitality, Ott challenges pastors and church leaders to adjust the style of their ministries to attract new people while continuing to encourage current members...lays out inspiring yet practical proposals to help congregations to make the transition from traditional to transformational."

Twelve Keys to an Effective Church: The Leader's Guide by Kennon L. Callahan. "The purpose of this book is to help you help your church move toward action, accomplishment, and achievement, not more planning, more meetings, and longer reports."

Twelve Keys to an Effective Church: The Study Guide by Kennon L. Callahan. "This study guide discusses in depth new and useful ways to interpret and work through the main book....the guide presents material for twelve sessions - one for each of the characteristics of effective churches."