Well Connected

It is no surprise to anyone that the global Body of Christ is terribly divided and fragmented. Phil Butler, in his free e-book Well Connected: Releasing the power and restoring hope through kingdom partnerships[1] suggests practical steps towards “working partnerships and networks” and “new models of ministry that strengthen our credibility with the world” for […]

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New Urban World

The bi-annual journal New Urban World is published by Ash Barker, representing the International Society of Urban Mission (ISUM), and edited by Stephen Burris. The theme for the November 2013 was “Money and Urban Mission.” [1] It is comprised of four feature articles, each followed by responses from various authors and practitioners, 10 columns and […]

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Building Communities from the Inside Out

Authors Kretzmann and McKnight of the Asset-Based Community Development Institute have created a great resource guide for community builders with the book entitled, Building Communities from the Inside Out (1993). The subtitle, “a path toward finding and mobilizing a community’s assets,” already gives away a number of characteristics about this resource. First of all, the […]

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Renewing the City

One thing is for sure: Robert Lupton is a master story teller. Taking license from the ancient tradition of midrash, a Jewish teaching method to dramatize Biblical accounts, Lupton turned the narrative of Nehemiah into a contemporary story in his book Renewing the City. Though not modernizing it by putting it into a 21st century […]

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Transforming Society

In Transforming Society, author Melba Padilla Maggay of the Institute for Studies in Asian Church and Culture, The Philippines, shares with her readers “perspectives, and lessons learned out of hard-won struggle” (1996). Quoting an Indian preacher, she views her writing as “one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread,” in this case food for […]

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The Careless Society

“There is a mistaken notion that our society has a problem in terms of effective human services. Our essential problem is weak communities,” concludes John McKnight in his book, The Careless Society (1995). The author proposes “a new vision for community,” one of “regeneration … of reassociating the exiled … of freeing ourselves from service […]

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The Abundant Community

In The Abundant Community, authors McKnight and Block paint an idealistic picture of what a neighborhood community could look like and how to start making a difference. The authors state that “a neighborhood can raise a child, provide security, sustain our health, secure our income, and care for our vulnerable people”. Life in a competent […]

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The Power of Social Innovation

In The Power of Social Innovation, former Indianapolis mayor Stephen Goldsmith makes a strong case for what he terms Civic Entrepreneurship. “To create truly vibrant cities,” says Goldsmith, “we need to invent new approaches” (2010). Not to argue against government participation, but to discover “new methods in order to provide opportunity, hope, and civic health […]

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The Spirit of Christ & The Postmodern City

In The Spirit of Christ & The Postmodern City, author Viv Grigg continues and contributes to “an ongoing conversation about God and the cities”. The author extends his previous research to develop a theory of “Citywide Transforming Revival,” which is “a concept of synergistic revivals in multiple sectors of a mega-city” resulting “in long-term change […]

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Center Church

“In other words, ‘resident aliens’ lived neither as natives nor as tourists. Though they were not permanently rooted, neither were they merely travelers who were just passing through.” I found Center Church to be a typical Keller book: thoughtful, logical, biblical, humble, irenic, provocative and thankfully lacking dogmatism. I love the fact that while he […]

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