Don Buteyn, currently pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Bakersfield, California, has served in several inner-city ministries and as dean and professor of evangelism and mission at San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, California. As one experienced in community organization, he recommends these books.
Service Evangelism by Richard Armstrong, Westminster, 1979
This book’s pragmatic approach defuses the fear that evangelism means shoddy manipulation. His relational style speaks to churches that have longed to reach their communities with Christian service and witness but have reserved that task for the clergy.
Armstrong’s illustrations from his extensive experience energize his principles and make us want to go and do likewise. I know of few resources more helpful for introducing evangelism as a central component of community-changing ministry.
Called to Holy Worldliness by Richard J. Mouw, Fortress, 1979
Richard Mouw deals with the traditional fear of the secular environment as a contaminating force from which Christians should withdraw. He shows that ministry is most needed in the secular arena and that lay Christians are best positioned to witness to the gospel. I’ve used this book to open up several congregations that were unusually reserved and legalistic about living in our world of rapidly changing values. Mouw provides the handles people need to grasp a new sense of identity and purpose in the world.
Servant Leadership by Robert Greenleaf, Paulist, 1978
Robert Greenleaf is a Quaker layman with more than forty years of service with AT&T. As a Christian in the upper echelons of management, he discovered a New Testament lifestyle-the title of the book. Greenleaf views Christ’s servant leadership as the role to which believers are called and without which the world cannot be transformed.
In a time when many shun the thought of being either servants or leaders, Greenleaf demonstrates the ways in which the great institutions that shape our society can be directed to work for people’s well-being.
Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky, Vintage, 1971
The late Saul Alinsky remains one of the most provocative apostles of community organization in the history of the business. A tough, nonpracticing Jew, he was nevertheless an open advocate of much that constitutes the Judeo-Christian ethic. Alinsky, an ardent crusader for justice and freedom, drew upon the resources of the church in his efforts to organize depressed ethnic neighborhoods.
While Alinsky never embraced the Christian faith, those who knew him best sensed a deep admiration and respect for the church and the Christ who called her into being. We have yet to find techniques in community organization that have outdistanced his skillful and creative approach.
Metro-Ministry by David Frenchak and Sharrel Keyes, Cook, 1980
SCUPE-Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education-has been the annual sponsor of the largest gathering of practitioners of urban ministry in the nation. The spring event has offered a continuing opportunity for the sharing of urban ministry insights and techniques.
This paperback (now out of print but worth finding) draws on the authors’ gathered experience and compiles a carefully edited selection of insightful material for community-outreach ministries.
Priest in Community by Urban T. Holmes, Seabury, 1978
The late Urban T. Holmes, scholarly priest and professor, wrote in a style that treated with academic excellence the pastoral and priestly role of clergy in a secular environment.
In this now-out-of-print book, he presents the clergy as standing between the mystical elements of human experience and the rough-hewn dimensions of the day-to-day struggle for survival. The pastor must relate the eternal verities to those who know only the world of things-people who need to be led beyond, into the realm of the soul and God. This is difficult but exciting stuff.
Copyright © 1988 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
