Review Four: Sider, Olson, Unruh
Book Review Four: Sider, Olson, Unruh
Churches that Make a Difference: Reaching Your Community with Good News and Good Works was authored by Ronald J. Sider, Philip N. Olson, and Heidi Rolland Unruh and published in 2002. Along with pastoring and mission work, Sider has been the Director of the “Congregations, Community Outreach, and Leadership Development Project” at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where Unruh has been the Associate Director working with him. Olson has been a mission pastor and a pioneer in holistic ministry, networking and social action.
The authors present their work of Churches as the way to help congregations live out their understanding of the gospel and their call to ministry by “reaching your community with the whole gospel for the whole person through whole churches” (59). By helping church leaders develop a vision of how the church should exist as the agent that drives transforming change within society, Churches succeeds as a practical guide for laity and clergy alike. One of the greatest strengths of this work is how the authors present 15 examples of real-life U.S. churches that they studied, all of which adapted holistic approaches and witnessed transformational results within their uniquely diverse communities.
The authors believe that holistic ministry is most authentically how the …show more content…
The focus of Part 2 is on the vital components of holistic ministry such as divine power and love, commitment to outreach, growing a healthy congregational base, and organizing a ministry-centered structure and partnerships. Part 3 then covers cultivating and implementing the vision, how to rally support, stages of developing the holistic ministry vision, and, finally, dealing with fears, change and conflict within
Churches that Make a Difference: Reaching Your Community with Good News and Good Works was authored by Ronald J. Sider, Philip N. Olson, and Heidi Rolland Unruh and published in 2002. Along with pastoring and mission work, Sider has been the Director of the “Congregations, Community Outreach, and Leadership Development Project” at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where Unruh has been the Associate Director working with him. Olson has been a mission pastor and a pioneer in holistic ministry, networking and social action.
The authors present their work of Churches as the way to help congregations live out their understanding of the gospel and their call to ministry by “reaching your community with the whole gospel for the whole person through whole churches” (59). By helping church leaders develop a vision of how the church should exist as the agent that drives transforming change within society, Churches succeeds as a practical guide for laity and clergy alike. One of the greatest strengths of this work is how the authors present 15 examples of real-life U.S. churches that they studied, all of which adapted holistic approaches and witnessed transformational results within their uniquely diverse communities.
The authors believe that holistic ministry is most authentically how the …show more content…
The focus of Part 2 is on the vital components of holistic ministry such as divine power and love, commitment to outreach, growing a healthy congregational base, and organizing a ministry-centered structure and partnerships. Part 3 then covers cultivating and implementing the vision, how to rally support, stages of developing the holistic ministry vision, and, finally, dealing with fears, change and conflict within