Sustaining While Disrupting: The Challenge of Congregational Innovation

·
· Fortress Press
Ebook
148
Pages
Tools

About this ebook

Clergy and other church leaders often feel pressed to preserve cherished traditions even as they direct people to discern the new thing God is doing. They face this tension of sustaining tradition while guiding fresh initiatives and addressing unfamiliar issues. Frederick Douglas Powe Jr. and Lovett H. Weems Jr. guide leaders in stewarding traditions while seeking innovative opportunities for faith communities.

Sustaining While Disrupting: The Challenge of Congregational Innovation offers church leaders theological insights and practical skills for two crucial tasks: to sustain and strengthen foundational elements of the churches they serve and to guide the critical innovation required to address a context vastly different from the one that current assumptions and behaviors fit. Powe and Weems argue that approaching these tasks as competing claims does not work and that new expressions of faith are needed to engender church vitality. They explain the different approaches needed for each task and specify the knowledge and practices leaders require.

While some church leaders start new ministries to reach the unserved, most clergy lead in well-established churches. They have a history, traditions, and a reputation in the community. From that base, Powe and Weems show how leaders can look forward to faithful new callings.

Clergy and other church leaders often feel pressed to preserve cherished traditions even as they direct people to discern the new thing God is doing. They face this tension of sustaining tradition while guiding fresh initiatives and addressing unfamiliar issues. Frederick Douglas Powe Jr. and Lov...

Discover more

About the author

Frederick Douglas Powe Jr. is the director of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership and the James C. Logan Professor of Evangelism at Wesley Theological Seminary. He is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and committed to helping congregations flourish through community partnering. Powe is a widely sought-after plenary and workshop presenter and the author of five books.

Lovett H. Weems Jr. is respected as a pastor, educator, author, and church leader. Following his pastoral ministry in Mississippi and eighteen years as a seminary president, he came to Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC, as founding director of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership. Weems is now professor emeritus of church leadership at Wesley and Lewis Center senior consultant.

Frederick Douglas Powe Jr. is the director of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership and the James C. Logan Professor of Evangelism at Wesley Theological Seminary. He is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and committed to helping congregations flourish through community partnering. ...

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.