Recommended Reading
Two new books by writers and editors affiliated with the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence program are out this spring:
The Crisis of Younger Clergy
In The Crisis of Younger Clergy, Lovett Weems and Ann Michel examine the declining numbers of younger clergy in mainline denominations and help show young pastors how they can thrive despite this trend. Drawing on studies they conducted in the United Methodist Church and other denominations, Weems and Michel document a precipitous decline in the number of people under 35 graduating from seminary and entering ordained ministry in recent years. For young pastors, this trend will require creating different kinds of support networks than their predecessors have done. For congregation board members, it will mean the pool of available pastors—and the character of their pastorates—will be different than the past. Written primarily for local congregations and their leaders, but also for judicatory and denominational leaders, the book charts a path forward for both young people considering ordained ministry and the congregations they would serve. Weems is executive director and Michel is associate director of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. Weems is director of the center’s Sustaining Pastoral Excellence program.
The Crisis of Younger Clergy was published in March by Abingdon Press and is available online at Amazon or at Abingdon.
For Life Abundant:
Practical Theology, Theological Education, and Christian Ministry
What does it mean to lead a truly “life-giving way of life?” What kinds of learning and teaching will best prepare ministers to foster such a way of life in their congregations? How might teachers of practical theology best understand and undertake their task to educate and form ministers? Scheduled for publication this month by Eerdmans, For Life Abundant brings together respected members of the academy and the clergy to explore these and other questions, probing and clarifying the significance of practical theology in the classroom, in the wider academy and in ministry settings. The book is edited by Dorothy C. Bass, director of the Valparaiso Project on the Education and Formation of People in Faith, Valparaiso University, and Craig Dykstra, vice president for religion, Lilly Endowment Inc. In addition to Bass and Dysktra, other contributors are Kathleen Cahalan, David Daniels, Serene Jones, Thomas G. Long, Peter Marty, Gordon Mikoski, Bonnie Miller-McLemore, James Nieman, Christian Scharen, Ted Smith, John Witvliet and David Wood.
For Life Abundant is expected to ship on May 16 and can be ordered at Amazon and Eerdmans.
