UCC/Baptist/Disciples

Paul Hobson Sadler, Sr. makes worship a verb in 52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation: Worship. Sadler gives pastors, lay leaders, and worship planners fifty-two creative, effective ways to ignite and excite their worship services. Divided into six sections--prayer, change, music, preaching, liturgy, and technology--this book will not only inspire more vibrant and innovative worship but will help you to appreciate worship in a new way.

Since 1979 Southern Baptists have been noisily struggling to agree on symbols, beliefs, and practices as they attempt to make sense of their changing social world. Nancy Ammerman has carefully documented their struggle. She tells the story of the Baptist reversal from a moderate to a fundamentalist outlook and speculates on the future of the denomination.

Ammerman places change among the Southern Baptists in the context of the cultural and economic changes that have transformed the South from its rural past into an urbanizing, culturally diverse region. Not only did the South change; Southern Baptists did as well. Reflecting this diversity, the Southern Baptist bureaucracy was relatively progressive. During the 1960s and 1970s, moderate sentiments prevailed, while fundamentalists remained on the margins. These two were, however, becoming increasingly divergent in what they considered important about being a Baptist, in their views about the Bible, in their attitudes on the origination of women, on Christian morals, and on national politics.

Late in the 1970s, a fundamentalist coalition emerged, followed by unsuccessful efforts by moderates to oppose it. The battles escalated until 1985, when 45,000 Baptists gathered in Dallas to decide between contending presidential candidates. That dramatic event illustrated the extent to which organized political resources were determining the course of the conflict. Ammerman studies these strategies and resources as well.

Examining how this tension affected Baptists, Ammerman begins with case studies of the change it is producing in Baptist agencies. But she also brings us back to the local churches and individual believers who are renegotiating their relationships within their denomination. She asks whether the denomination's polity can accommodate an increasingly diverse group of Baptists, of whether the only way dissidents can have a voice is through schism.

Chalice Introduction to Disciples Theology offers a comprehensive introduction to theology and ethics from the standpoint of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Including a broad range of Disciples authors, the text represents the racial-ethnic, generational, and theological diversity that characterizes the denomination from a postmodern and postcolonial view. Contributors include: D. Newell Williams, James O. Duke, Verity Jones, William J. Nottingham, Hee An Choi, William Tabbernee, W. Clark Gilpin, Kristine A. Culp, Don Browning, Clark M. Williamson, Rita Nakashima Brock, Dyron Daughrity, Victor L. Hunter, Sharon E. Watkins, Keith Watkins, Thomas F. Best, Belva Brown Jordan, Stephanie A. Paulsell, Kay Bessler Northcutt, Mark Miller McLemore, Darryl Trimiew, Joe R. Jones, William Wright, Boseale Eale, Karen-Marie Yust, Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, Joseph D. Driskill, Angel Luis Rivera-Agosto, Michael K. Kinnamon, Michael St. A. Miller, Carmelo ?lvarez, Christobal Mareco Lird, Don A. Pittman, Carlos F. Cardoza-Orlandi, and Peter Goodwin Heltzel

The Disciples: A Struggle for Reformation is the most current and comprehensive book on the total history of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Furnishing information on the past two centuries of the denomination, Cummins follows the writings of Disciples' history and reformation.

In this second volume, Dr. Zikmund continues the untold stories in the formation of the United Church of Christ (UCC). Volume 1 focused on those ethnic groups, or ecclesiastical movements, often overlooked by UCC historical orthodoxy. This second book of essays does two things: it provides additional information about groups not covered in the original collection, and it explores the sources of some principles and practices important to the UCC identity. Volume 2 invites readers to enhance their knowledge of history as an important source of spiritual strength for these times. It also examines more deeply what it means for the UCC to celebrate its unity in diversity. It explores such areas as Lutheran and Reformed Cooperation; German Evangelical Protestants; Origins of the Christian Denomination in New England; Evangelical Pietism and Biblical Criticism; Women's Mission Structures and the American Board; Religious Journalism; Philip William Otterbein and the United Brethren; from German Reformed Roots to the Churches of God; The Congregational Training School for Women; and Chinese Congregationalism. Contributors include: J. Martin Bailey, Dorothy C. Bass, Curtis Beach, Thomas E. Dipko, Matthew Fong, J. Harvey Gossard, Rose Lee, Elizabeth C. Nordbeck, Horace S. Sills, Priscilla Stuckey-Kauffman, Dorothy Wong, Barbara Brown Zikmund, and Lowell H. Zuck.

In New Ecclesiology and Polity, Steckel argues that the United Church of Christ ecclesiology and its polity have an urgent need to be re-examined and re-shaped if the church is to be a faithful and strong ministry in the post-modern world. He describes the transition from modernity to post-modernity focusing on ways the United Church of Christ, is aware of these transitions in the life of the church, but no awareness of how the denominational governing structures undermine faithful mission in a post-modern world.

This is a practical manual of everything our church did, says author Molly Phinney Baskette, to reverse our death spiral and become the healthy, stable, spirited and robust community it is today--evident in the large percentage of children and young adults in our church, and a sixfold increase in pledged giving in the last decade. Real Good Church is a testament to Baskette's and First Church Somerville UCC's success, and a gift of hope for all churches that find themselves struggling to keep their doors open. What makes Real Good Church unique in the field of church growth books? It's practical. It actually tells churches what they can do--and how to do it. It offers beginning and intermediary steps for growth and renewal. Churches, no matter what situation they're in, will be able to jump in and get to work. It has a sense of humor. Baskette's easygoing, often self-deprecating writing style and approachable strategies will empower the reader and their church to revitalize itself. (If her church could do it, we can, too!)

Who are we as the United Church of Christ? Sometimes the pronoun "we" seems too puny to handle us. The varied voices of the UCC can put a strain on the power of the first person plural pronoun to adequately represent (all of) "us." Who is "we" in the UCC? In her new book, Gast invites you to learn about - or revisit - the UCC's: Founding vision of unity and freedom Arrangements of structure and accountability Consideration of transformation, identity, and unity with an eye toward our future Questions for reflection, comment, and conversation are included throughout the book.