While many books address the subject of human sexuality and church leadership in uncertain times, here are a few books recommended by bishops, lay leaders and other people across the United Methodist connection. Some lean progressive, and some lean conservative. Others don't deal specifically with the topic of human sexuality at all but rather focus on leading churches during turbulent times.
Inclusion of a book in this list is not an endorsement but rather the sharing of a potential source the people of the Great Plains Conference may find useful.
By Susan Beaumont
How do you lead an organization stuck between an ending and a new beginning — when the old way of doing things no longer works but a way forward is not yet clear? Beaumont calls such in-between times liminal seasons — threshold times when the continuity of tradition disintegrates and uncertainty about the future fuels doubt and chaos. In a liminal season it simply is not helpful to pretend we understand what needs to happen next. But leaders can still lead.
This is a practical book of hope for tired and weary leaders who risk defining this era of ministry in terms of failure or loss. It helps leaders stand firm in a disoriented state, learning from their mistakes and leading despite the confusion. Packed with rich stories and real-world examples, Beaumont guides the reader through practices that connect the soul of the leader with the soul of the institution.
By Tod Bolsinger
Do you ever feel that you are leading in uncharted territory? Pastor and consultant Tod Bolsinger draws on decades of expertise guiding churches and organizations in this expanded practical leadership resource, offering illuminating insights and practical tools to help you reimagine what effective church leadership looks like in our rapidly changing world. He ties the epic journey of Lewis and Clark to the exploration we must do today in ministry for Christ.
If you're going to scale the mountains of ministry, you need to leave behind canoes and find new navigational tools. Now the book comes with an expanded study guide.
What if conflicts at home, conflicts at work, and conflicts in the world stem from the same root cause? What if we systematically misunderstand that cause? And what if, as a result, we systematically perpetuate the very problems we think we are trying to solve? Every day.
From the authors of "Leadership & Self-Deception" comes the expanded second edition of an international bestseller that instills hope and inspires reconciliation.
Through a moving story of parents who are struggling with their own children and with problems that have come to consume their lives, we learn from once-bitter enemies the way to transform personal, professional and global conflicts, even when war is upon us.
Arbinger Press
The Arbinger Institute reports that “the biggest lever for change is not a change in self-belief but a fundamental change in the way one sees and regards one’s connections with and obligations to others.” As people and organizations, we get stuck when they have an inward mindset because when we are focused on ourselves and our needs, our reality becomes distorted. An inward mindset limits our possibilities and negatively affects our behavior and thus our relationships. Inward-mindset people and organizations do things. Outward-mindset people and organizations help others to be able to do things.
By Don Edward Beck and Christopher C. Cowan
This book provides a data-based, psychological approach to understanding worldviews or systems of thinking held by individuals, organizations and societies. It is concerned with how people respond to the world around them in given circumstances and with their particular coping abilities. For example, do people think in binary and absolutist terms, that is, "if it’s not black, then it must be white." Or do they acknowledge and seem comfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty? That is, "It’s not either black and white, it’s gray."
By David Field
This book examines and interprets John Wesley's key sermons "Catholic Spirit," "A Caution against Bigotry," and "On Schism" in relation to his other writings and the integrating theme of holiness. It also understands that Wesley's interpretation of holiness is shaped by 18th-century understandings of the human beings. Finally, the book relates this constructive stance of holiness and diversity to the discussion about human sexuality and presents it as an opportunity to go forward with a greater love.
By Asheley B. Dreff
This book maps how American Methodists have responded to sexual change since World War II. It argues that the current United Methodist impasse over human sexuality has its root in the existence of two dichotomous ideologies of Methodist history and theology - one liberal and one evangelical - which come to the foreground in discussions of human sexuality. It offers evidence about how these ideologies have sought to reconcile their sexual ethic with sexual change since the birth control movement of the 1920s. In post-World War II America, most Methodists upheld a limited notion of family life and sexuality, one that allowed for the use of artificial contraception within marriage and for divorce. In response to the sexual revolution, liberal-leaning Methodists upheld a new sexual ethic, "the new morality," which peaked with radical new approaches to sex education, a full endorsement of abortion rights, and support of the homophile movement. However, "the new morality" coincided with an increased presence of and a new voice for evangelical Methodists.
By Debra Hirsch
Relationships, identities, orientations and even seemingly straightforward concepts such as gender have cut battle lines between the church and the world. In the fog of war and the cloud of conflict, it's increasingly hard to see our way clearly. Author Debra Hirsch says she has seen hope in meaningful lifelong relationships with LGBT friends and neighbors, in Christian fellowships and in movements that have held a concern for people created in God's image and a high view of the Bible's teaching on sexuality in constructive tension. This book challenges the reader to discover a holistic, biblical vision of sex and gender that honors God and offers good news to the world.
By Scott Jones
Unity is a gift of God that involves us staying at the table to find common ground in "the extreme center." Talk of a United Methodist denominational split is not going away, only intensifying. Unless we can go beneath the issues that divide us to find our common ground, we will splinter or worse, just argue ourselves into irrelevance and oblivion. Here, Bishop Scott Jones reminds us that "the strength of Wesleyan doctrine is its ability to articulate holistic, balanced, and practical interpretation of Scripture." It is conservative in some ways and liberal in other ways; it occupies the extreme center and is totally opposed to the dead center. Tackling divisive issues such as homosexuality, race and gender and authority of Scripture, Jones shows the logical contours of the conversation by locating them in larger questions of doctrine and ecclesiology.
By Adam Kahane
Kahane advocates for a radically different three-step approach in this book, which he calls “stretch collaboration.” This method, he writes, “offers a way to move forward without being in control.” The first step in stretch collaboration is to “embrace conflict and connection.” Kahane argues that true collaboration involves both engaging with others (“love”) and advocating for one’s own interests (“power”). Kahane’s second step is to “experiment a way forward.” To do this, participants must “stretch away from insisting on clear agreements about the problem, the solution, and the plan, and move toward experimenting systematically with different perspectives and possibilities.” The last step concerns how individuals participate in the larger group. Kahane urges us to “step into the game,” by which he means “we must stretch away from trying to change what other people are doing, and move toward entering fully into the action, willing to change ourselves.”
By Adam Kahane
Two methods most frequently employed to solve our toughest problems — either relying on violence and aggression, or submitting to endless negotiation and compromise — are fundamentally flawed. This is because the seemingly contradictory drives behind these approaches — power, the desire to achieve one’s purpose, and love, the urge to unite with others — are actually complementary. As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. put it, “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic.” This book shows us how to manage and solve tough problems by combining power and love so that we can walk forward without stumbling and falling.
By Adam Kahane
The author draws on his amazingly rich experience working with corporate, government and civil society leaders all over the world. He explains why our ordinary way of solving problems — expert-driven, piecemeal, and best practice— cannot work for solving the complex problems we face increasingly in all our communities and organizations. There is another way to solve tough problems. The people involved can talk with and listen to each other and thereby work through a solution peacefully. But this way is often too difficult and too slow to produce results, and so force becomes the easier, default option.
By Adam Kahane
Transformative scenario planning can be useful to people who find themselves in situations that have the following three characteristics. First, people see themselves in a situation that is unacceptable, unstable, or unsustainable. Secondly, people cannot transform the situation on their own by only working with their friends and colleagues. And third, people cannot transform their situation directly. Transformative scenario planning is, then, a way for people to work with complex problematic situations that they want to transform but cannot transform unilaterally or directly.
By David McAllister-Wilson
Many churches are “mule churches” – strong for a generation but unable to reproduce themselves. As a mule comes from a horse and a donkey, they were the product of demographics and cultural conditions conducive for a generation of strength but did not produce many offspring in new church starts or strong candidates for ministry. Mule churches create a generation or more of pastors, superintendents, and bishops who think they knew what made for a strong church, who think their approach to ministry is the key reason for their success. And it produces churches with a nostalgia for the way things used to be. This makes it hard for churches to adapt to change.
Edited by Brian Milford
How might United Methodists bear witness to graceful and mutually respectful ways of living in the Wesleyan tradition amid enduring disagreements about same-gender relationships and related church practices? The contributors engage the question by asking themselves:
By Karen Oliveto
In The United Methodist Church (and other Christian denominations), it is difficult or impossible for lesbian, gay, transsexual, and bisexual clergy or laity to become a visible and outward channel for God’s saving grace. This book traces the history of the church’s struggle with homosexuality, highlighting critical incidents in the culture and church polity which shape the church’s response. The controversy is deeply rooted in how God’s people are searching the scriptures, which are interpreted as a means of grace for some and as a rulebook for others. This book includes first-person narratives of LGBTQ persons faithfully serving in a denomination that denies their calls and — in some cases — their presence.
By Rob Renfroe and Walter Fenton
The authors set out to address the division within The United Methodist Church and contend that remaining united is hurting the church and the proclamation of the gospel. Recognizing that conservative and progressive Methodists are sincere in their beliefs, the authors doubt that one side will convince the other to change their minds. They therefore suggest that a fair and amicable separation is the best course of action.