ken castor

Books for Spiritual & Leadership Development course

You might be interested in the text books I use for my section of the Spiritual & Leadership Development course at Crown (Dr. Glenn Meyers teaches the other section).  I find limiting the book selection to be a difficult task because there are so many life-changing, formative works that have been written throughout the centuries.  The following, however, serve as either required primary textbooks or secondary reference/content materials:

Primary Sources:

The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine ~ by A.W. Tozer.  "Faith is the gaze of the soul upon a saving God," Tozer wrote. To encourage that gaze, students write a reflective journal/prayer from a chapter a week.

The Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth ~ by Richard Foster.  Students use this book as a guide for learning and practicing spiritual disciplines throughout the semester such as prayer, solitude, worship, and, believe it or not, celebration. 

A Tale of Three Kings: A Study in Brokenness ~ by Gene Edwards.  One of the most interesting little books I've ever read, A Tale of Three Kings embodies many of the spiritual and leadership themes from our course.

In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership ~ by Henri Nouwen.  No Christian who has a role of leadership should make one more decision without wrestling with this book.  The temptations for power and relevance and glamour are too great... even in the Church.

Secondary Sources:  A litany of other books serve as resources for our course content throughout the semester.  Some of the more resourceful include: The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a' Kempis, The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction by Eugene Peterson, A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis, The Proslogion by Anselm of Cantebury, From Brokenness to Community by Jean Vanier, and Jesus on Leadership: Discovering the Secrets of Servant Leadership From the Life of Christ by C. Gene Wilkes

 

Books for Ministry in a Pluralistic Society course

You might be interested in the text books for our Ministry in a Pluralistic Society course at Crown.  The course will run as an 8 day intensive "block" for students who are preparing for their 5.5 month internship experiences.  The intensive nature of the course means that we can dig hard into a couple of textbooks, and then make reference of others in seminars and discussions.  (*The course also has built-in substantial field-observation and other active-learning assignments.  This course was a gem last year... hoping it will be that way this coming January once again.)

PRIMARY RESOURCES:

The Gospel in a Pluralist Society ~ by Leslie Newbigin.  This book is a vocabularists dream... and it serves as the bulk of journal reflections for our block environment.  Each day the students will wrestle with the issues of integrity, truth, culture, pluralism, relativism and motivation that are presented so eloquently in this book.

Cultural Intelligence: Improving Your CQ to Engage Our Multicultural World (Youth, Family, and Culture) ~ by David Livermore.  I'd be remiss if I didn't stress the importance of Cultural Intelligence to the future of missions, evangelism and discipleship work.  No longer can Christians be (and we never should have been in the first place) ignorant or arrogant concerning people in this world.  A true love for this cosmos would neither take for granted nor discredit the experiences and characteristics that make-up a person's identity.  Instead, in our desire to love others we should work tirelessly on our ability to actually love them.

 

SECONDARY RESOURCES: None of the following texts are required for the course, but they either provide some direct material for course content, or they serve as direct influences on the course outcomes.

Christ and Culture (Torchbooks) ~ by Richard Niebuhr.  The argument structure of this book is often used as the framework for discussions concerning Christian interaction with culture.

Transforming Worldviews: An Anthropological Understanding of How People Change ~ by Paul Hiebert.  Hiebert offers fantastic study and theory about how appropriately added data can change perceptions and constructs of reality.

Coaching 101: Discover the Power of Coaching ~ by Robert E. Logan and Sherilyn Carlton.  I was personally impacted by this book while going through CoachNet training with the North American Baptist Conference of Churches in Canada.  I wish someone in my early days of ministry had exposed me to these concepts of "Active Listening"... I wouldn't have flung myself so arrogantly and regretfully into many conversations. 

The Human Experience ~ DVD documentary by Grassroots Films.  This beautiful and moving documentary (not "Christian") serves as an introduction to differing experiences and paradigms that exist in our world today.  We can't assume that just because we view life/faith/world through our __(fill in the blank)__ lens that others from completely different backgrounds/languages/cultures/experiences will see things the same way we do.

Christianity Rediscovered ~ by Vincent Donovan.  This book tells the dramatic story of a Catholic missionary to the Masai... It wasn't until Donovan discovered humility, community and a deeply rooted appreciation for the people and culture of the Masai that he felt he discovered Jesus personally.  And until that moment, he realized he didn't have much to share.

Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours, A Study of the Church in the Four Provinces ~ by Roland Allen.  This book examines our patterns of ministry against the approaches of the earliest church movements.  This is a powerful reminder, again, to not grow arrogant in our methodologies, as if we have evolved to be the fittest missionaries in history.  Perhaps we can learn something by remembering what made mission in the 1st century so effective?

The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church ~ Alan Hirsch.  I would like to humbly state that we drew up the model for Hub in Calgary as this book was being printed... so I realize that once again someone else came up with my brilliant ideas.  :)  I especially love the hub and nodes network discussions (the diagram on p.204 looks remarkably similar to the Romans 16 network I've been drawing for the last 7 years or so)... and I have to admire that Hirsch does a much more thorough job at explaining networked/partnered ministry.

The Celtic Way of Evangelism, Tenth Anniversary Edition: How Christianity Can Reach the West . . .Again ~ by George Hunter III.  Only a few books outside the Bible have impacted me as profoundly as this one has.  My developing approaches toward partnership and creative initiatives in mission were both affirmed and enhanced through this introspection of St. Patrick's way of ministry.  Rarely a week goes by that this book doesn't pop up my conversations about the activity of the Church.

Books for Social Justice course

You might be interested in the text books I'm requiring for the Social Justice course at Crown in the Spring of 2012.  *Note: The term "Social Justice" is, unfortunately, froth with controversy because right behavior has not always been held in congruence with right doctrine... and vice versa.  The following books, however, help us realize that true justice cannot be devoid of faith and true faith cannot be devoid of justice.  So our course spends 1/3 of its time on biblical foundations for systemic and personal approaches to justice issues, 1/3 on comprehension of the raw, current global and local justice issues, and 1/3 considering proper personal and missional engagement. 

Primary Resources:

The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? The answer that changed my life and just might change the world. ~ by Richard Stearns - The President of World Vision discusses how he came to personally discover that caring for the poorest of the poor in the world is not only a kind action, but a necessity of the Gospel.

With Justice for All: A Strategy for Community Development ~ by John Perkins - John Perkins invites the Church to live out the Gospel through reconciliation between racial and ethnic groups and to examine current systemic structures in light of the Gospel.  Perkins' voice evidences the strong integrity that can only come through the humble experience found in the midst of injustice.

On the Move ~ by Bono - Stemming from his address at a National Prayer Breakfast before the President, world dignitaries, and religious leaders, On the Move creatively packages Bono's speech that transitioned him from his rock star status to that of a world advocate for those living in abject poverty.

Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity ~ by Ronald J. Sider.  Although I don't require students to buy this textbook, I will be referencing it extensively because it is a convicting, biblically engaging response to some alarming statistics about the wealth of North American Christians in the face of the extreme poverty of most of the people in the world.

Secondary Resources:

 

 

E is for Everyone ~ DVD documentary by Unveil Studios - I use this in class a visual introduction to the disparity that exists in our world... and as a means to deconstruct our temptation to pursue Maslow's heirarchical scale.

The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical ~ by Shane Claiborne.  Many students have read this book or have at least already been indirectly influenced by Shane Claiborne by the time they take this course.  It is a convicting account of Shane's struggle to integrate into his life Jesus' call to care for others.

Humanitarian Jesus: Social Justice and the Cross ~ by Christian Buckley and Ryan Dobson.  A recent book interviewing significant evangelical leaders (e.g. Francis Chan, Franklin Graham, etc) on concepts related to Jesus' approach to social justice.  This is an interesting and provoking discussion starter.

Sunday Asylum: Being the Church in Occupied Territory ~ DVD and booklet by Stanley Hauerwas and The House Studio ~ I utilize this challenging visual study guide in class to discuss the theological identity of the Church's role in culture and urges us to reassess our motives and actions.

Walking with the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development ~ by Bryant Meyers.  Another perspective from World Vision, this staple book discusses the figures, theology, principles and implementation of strategies to overcome social evil in our world.

 

Books for Youth & Family Ministry

Some of you might be interested in the books I require for my courses at Crown.  I'll start by listing the primary text books I'm using next semester (Spring 2012) in the Youth & Family Ministry course.  There are several other sources that are referenced, but these will serve as the framework for our students:

Think Orange: Imagine the Impact When Church and Family Collide...  ~ by Reggie Joiner.  Consider this: a typical children's or youth worker can only give a student 40 hours over the course of a year, but parents offer their kids about 3,000 annual hours of concentrated time.  So here's a crazy idea, perhaps our churches should partner with parents to raise the next generation.  The church, symbolized by the color yellow (illuminating Christ) and the family, symbolized by the color red (warmth and love) are both designed to work together to show kids who God is.

Practicing Passion: Youth and the Quest for a Passionate Church ~ by Kenda Creasy Dean (Eerdmans, 2004). Students yearn to be a part of something worth pouring their lives into.  Youth ministry is supposed to be about Jesus Christ... and yet there are churches that have rid faith of its radical connection to Jesus.  As a result, they have rendered Christianity as impotent in the eyes of teenagers.  Why should a student become willing "to die for" Christian teaching that isn't worth "living for"?

Sticky Faith, Youth Worker Edition: Practical Ideas to Nurture Long-Term Faith in Teenagers ~ by Kara Powell, Brad Griffin and Cheryl Crawford (Zondervan, 2011). According to the authors, half of the students who are regularly engaged in a typical youth ministry at graduation will fail to stick with their faith in college.  Reviewing how we engage students with the Gospel, with church, with justice, with generations, and more... Sticky Faith constructs an approach to ministry focused on equipping students with a faith that becomes inseparable with life. 

 Other resources:

• When God Shows Up: A History of Protestant Youth Ministry in America (Youth, Family, and Culture) ~ by Mark Senter III (fellow Cubs fan!)- I use this book as a primary reference for the history of Youth Ministry - exploring topics such as the American Sunday School Union (1824), Francis E. Clark (1881), Evelyn McClusky (1930s), Young Life & Youth for Christ, etc.
• Starting Right: Thinking Theologically About Youth Ministry ~ edited by Kenda Creasy Dean, Chap Clark, and Dave Rahn - A great introductory source for articles related to theological and practical considerations of youth ministry.
• Note: Of course there are many other great foundational resources for youth work... and I'll list some more quality books for my other youth ministry classes.  For this course, specifically, Together: Adults and Teenagers Transforming the Church by Jeff Baxter and Youth Ministry 3.0: A Manifesto of Where We've Been, Where We Are & Where We Need to Go by Mark Oestreicher are also excellent, simple introductory texts.  I've also strongly considered Global Youth Ministry: Reaching Adolescents Around the World (YS Academic) by David Livermore and Terry Linhart to present the myriad of approaches used throughout the world to equip the next generations. 

Plunging Into the Kingdom Way ~ by Tim Dickau

This book is one to love:  Plunging Into the Kingdom Way by Tim Dickau (Cascade Books, 2011).  First of all, it's about a church in Vancouver.  Enough said.  Worth the read right there.  As our years in Vancouver made us aware, nothing about that city could ever be uninteresting. 

Second of all, Charles Ringma wrote a foreward that alone makes the purchase of the book worth the price.

Third of all, Tim Dickau writes as a pastor who actually has been and is and continues to be practicing what he writes.  I love that. 

Tim has served as a part of unique church in East Vancouver since 1989.  During that time the church has transitioned from a sincere but small and aging congregation to a dynamic community that challenges the North American understandings of "church". 

This is not a book for the faint of heart.  Neither is this a book for those that want to continue to "go" to church.  I'm challenged... and admit that I had to simmer on each page in order to let the implications of a practiced Christianity sink in.  It's just not that easy for a comfortable North American to move into a lifestyle of "radical hospitality" or to step out of homegeneity into a "shared life among cultures".  These, and the two other major themes of the book ("Justice for the least" and "repentance") are practices I long for... but they can be incredibly difficult to endure.  A church can do it, though.  And the world needs churches to practice better faith.  This book is not a blueprint or a cookie-cutter model by any means... it is the story of a congregation that decided and acted to intentionally live out the Gospel in their neighborhood.  Thank you Grandview Calvary Baptist Church for your example and encouragement to the rest of us!

 

Affinity is the new Identity

Is "affinity" the new "identity"?  In the 1960s, youth culture's top priority was discovering identity (Who am I?).  As the century moved on and youth culture played more and more of a significant role in Western society, autonomy (How am I unique?) was upgraded to that primary role.  But now, suggests Mark Oestreicher, affinity (Where do I belong?) has moved to the top.[1]

Churches and parachurch ministries have done well in the last 50 years addressing the identity and autonomy of adolescents.  Age-specific youth groups have become a major hallmark of the way ministry is practiced.  These groups have focused on helping preteens, teens and tweens discover who they are and how each is created uniquely by God.  Adolescents have been for the most part affirmed in their identity and autonomy by churches and ministry organizations.

But the times have changed.  Oestreicher, the president of Youth Specialties, has spent tremendous energy surveying the youth ministry landscape in North American.  He has come to the conclusion that our churches and para-churches have been far too slow responding to the shift towards affinity.  "Youth ministries," he writes, "are built on assumptions and values and methods that are outdated for the teenagers we passionately want to serve today." [2]

This hypothesis resonates with my own research.  In many cases, youth ministries in themselves have been extremely successful in helping students and young adults find a rooted confidence in God as well as in providing a tangible experience of God's intentions for the Church in terms of community and incarnational faith.  But in terms of helping youth and young adults gain a sense of belonging in a larger, wider movement outside of their own segmented age group, our organizations seem to have really fallen short.  In other words, once someone graduates from youth group, our churches really struggle to know how to provide a welcoming and engaging environment. 

There are many possible approaches to the present situation.  One approach involves continuing the status-quo of cookie-cutter age-segregated games and discipleship programs that provide tremendous identity and autonomy of discipleship for teens and tweens but fail to incorporate young people into the body of a local church.  While this approach was once necessary, it seems inappropriate and inadequate to address the issues facing adolescents in the current age. 

Another approach is what Oesteicher terms "youth ministry 3.0" - a contextualized, present-focused, communion/mission-oriented ministry.  This approach promises to be a bit messier (not in regards to gross-out games), with a shift in emphasis from deciphering how to create the greatest weekly program to discerning how to create the best possible network of leadership-development and equipping-culture for young people.  By necessity this will mean that youth ministry must exhibit more integration with parents and church leaders while still promoting the identity and autonomy of adolescents.  Considering the actual and potential network of belonging, youth ministry needs to move towards a mentality of being there, in person, in communion with God, in active-practice of faith for the specific needs of the student.

[1] Oestreicher, Mark.  Youth Ministry 3.0: A Manifestor of Where We've Been, Where We Are, And Where We Need to Go. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008, 43.

[2] ibid., 43.

new readings

Okay, so I'm in a brainiac mood today.  I stayed up last night and read two books, plus started another two today.  I average at least 1 book a week... and suspect that I've read over 250 books in the last five years.  {If my life allowed, I'd like to post a review every week - and in fact once intended to do that.}  Most of these are focused around emerging church issues in North America related to generational and leadership trends (which is the subject of my doctoral thesis).  Many of these reviews will find versions of themselves in my thesis at some point in the (hopefully-not-to) distant future.

So after much delay, my readings page is finally updated a bit.  I know you were all going crazy without my profoundly life-changing book reviews.  I know you didn't know what to do while you stared at the computer screen hitting "refresh" every minute in the hopes that I would update your life with a new book review.  Well, you are blessed.  I have a pile of about 20 books waiting for a quick review... but I finally whittled away at three of them today in between items on my "to do" list.  They are posted below... but they might be easier to find on the readings page in the future.

Two of the books reviewed today relate to generational data in Canada and the U.S. regarding congregational trends over the last 30-50 years.  The other book is an interesting reflection on the natural nature (redundancy intended) of the Church, more of an organism than an organization.  Blessings to those of you who actually benefit from these reviews!

Reimagining Church ~ by Frank Viola

        The sub-title for Reimagining Church by Frank Viola (author of Pagan Christianity) is "Pursuing The Dream of Organic Christianity."  Frank Viola is striving for a version of Christianity free from much of the bureaucratic restraints that Western society has grown accustomed to.  In this pursuit, Viola promotes a movement away from established institutions of local churches towards the planting of house churches wherever people live.  The Church Jesus intends is one that grows developmentally just as a living organism. 
        Viola considers modern local churches to be encumbered by properties, bills, hierarchal governments, and denominational traditions that have obscured and even perverted the expression of true Christianity as Jesus intended.  At times, Viola can certainly overstate his aim.  This book could actually alienate many of the "traditional" people that perhaps could otherwise have benefited from it's emphasis.  For instance, in a valuable chapter on "reimagining leadership", Viola states: "The modern clergy system is a religious artifact that has no biblical basis" (160).  His point is that the "positional" role of clergy in so many modern local churches does not reflect the New Testament "functional" intentions for leaders.  But to say that there is "no" biblical basis for the clergy system today is an exageration.  Countless statements like this in the 300+ pages of this book will most likely serve as obstacles for the reimagination of the church.
        But a thoughtful introspection of this book reveals some quality affirmations of many of the new directions of emerging church thought over the last 20 years.  This is a worth-while book for those who love the Church but recognize the tensions strainting the current institutional expressions of the local church.  If the 15 chapters are too much to digest straight through, they also serve as useful resources on their own.  Viola's reflections on the Lord's Supper (chapter 3), Gathering Place (chapter 4), Leadership (chapter 8), and "Objections and Responses about Leadership" (Appendix) are very engaging.  Further engagement on organic issues facing the Church today are available at Viola's website: http://www.reimaginingchurch.org/

and yet more books...

I've just added reviews for two absolutely great books.  LeadershipNext by Eddie Gibbs is dead on for my dissertation... so perhaps I'm a bit biased for thinking this is a phenomenal resource.  In the book, Gibbs suggests that new patterns of leadership are necessary if North American churches are going to be able to reach the emerging generations.  And Deadly Viper by Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite is simply one of the coolest books ever.  I think any body who has testosterone should be given this book as a gift.  The world would be a much better place if we could become character kung-fu experts.

more books

I've been reading like mad this week.  I'm in Vancouver at Trinity Western/ACTS trying to finalize my dissertation proposal - which will become chapter 1 of this massive thesis project.  Anyways, in the process, I've been sucking on the fumes of dozens of books having to do with shifting leadership/organization theories as well as emerging generation church trends.  My project will explore how these two issues might collaborate with one another.  So yesterday alone I read three really intriguing resources that I suspect will become very useful tools in my dissertation.  I've offered reviews for each one on my readings page.  Two of these are organizational leadership books aimed at the "secular" market - but which have incredible relevancy for the church.  The first, Leaders We Need, is an intriguing reflection upon the behavioral and socialogical shifts in culture that are demanding a movement away from heirarchical structures towards adaptive/integrative models of leadership.  The second, Leading in a Culture of Change, is one of the best books on leadership I've ever read... perhaps because every page seems to fit precisely into my dissertation research question.  The other book, The American Church in Crisis, is a powerfully sobering statistical analysis of attendance trends in the United States.