For nearly six years, Richard Halverson has served as chaplain of the United States Senate. Prior to that, as pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., he gained the reputation of a pastor whose congregation modeled unity. Here are the books he recommends on that subject.
I feel the “how-to syndrome” tends to replace the dynamics of faith with mechanics. So these books may address only indirectly the theme of unity, but each deals in a fundamental sense with the subject.
The Reformed Pastor: A Pattern for Personal Growth and Ministry by Richard Baxter (Multnomah).
The Reformed Pastor is required reading for the church servant who takes pastoral care seriously. It is simply impossible to exaggerate the effectiveness of Baxter’s pastoral ministry. The details of his life, his suffering, his perseverance, his prolific work, and his priority on pastoral care nearly overwhelm us as they challenge, inspire, and instruct us about the basics of unity.
Caring Enough to Confront by David Augsburger (Regal). Unity suffers when conflicts boil under the surface and finally explode. This classic book—simple to read, yet profound in significance—points the way to authentic relationships in congregations. Unity doesn’t come from an ostrich-like approach to differences. When people care enough to confront and love enough to do it positively, a church can combine diverse elements and yet maintain oneness.
Hey, That’s Our Church by Lyle E. Schaller (Abingdon). This book touches on the unity of believers through Schaller’s penetrating analysis of church life. The book is a clinical study of many types of churches by a scholar who has “visited approximately three thousand congregations in forty states and three nations during the past fifteen years.” He once advised me, “Priority should be given to relationships rather than programs or projects.” My impression is that congregations do well when small groups, house churches, or their equivalents proliferate. There is no substitute for the loving, caring, supporting group that holds a disciple of Christ accountable—and united to the congregation.
The Place of Help by Oswald Chambers (Grosset and Dunlap). A psychiatrist told me, “If the members of a congregation cared for each other as the New Testament teaches, there would be much less need for people in my profession.” That care, found among church friends, keeps churches whole and healthy. Oswald Chambers stands out as my favorite devotional writer, and I used his Place of Help as a text for my elders in a series of studies on a congregation’s care for one another. Implicit throughout these devotional readings is the cry for unity among Christian brothers and sisters.
True Fellowship by Jerry Bridges (NavPress). The Navigators have long taught and practiced the necessity of fellowship and discipleship. In this volume, Bridges presents the essence of years of Navigator corporate learning and experience. The text Bridges uses to begin his book, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42), became the prescription for my ministry at Fourth Presbyterian Church more than twenty years ago.
A Living Fellowship—A Dynamic Witness by Richard C. Halverson (Zondervan). I suggest this book not because I wrote it but because it contains a record of a congregation that made a conscious effort to conform to the pattern of Acts 2:42. Not all churches will choose this same prototype, but it is good to know that unity is possible. The book chronicles how unity was worked out in our congregation as we took seriously our Lord’s words to his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).
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