Church Wellness: A Best Practices Guide to Nurturing Healthy Congregations

By Tom Ehrich Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.
Details: 132 pages, paperback, c. 2008, $20

Description: All churches, no matter the denomination, are faced with similar challenges: membership development, leadership development, communications strategy, spiritual development, young adult ministry, listening to parishioner needs, and measuring progress.  The author provides a guide for clergy and lay leaders in a way that is clear and usable.

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New Proclamation: Year B, 2008-2009, Advent through Holy Week

Edited by David B. Lott Publisher: Augsburg Fortress
Details: 256 pages, paperback, c. 2008, $25

Description: New Proclamation continues to offer the best in creative, searching, and responsible interpretation of the biblical lectionary texts.

ADVENT/CHRISTMAS
Brian K. Peterson
Associate Professor of New Testament at Lutheran
Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, S.C.

EPIPHANY
Stephen L. Cook
Catherine N. McBurney Professor of Old Testament
Language and Literature at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria

LENT
Valerie Bridgeman Davis
Assistant Professor of Old Testament/Homiletics &Worship at Memphis Theological Seminary

HOLY WEEK
David J. Schlafer
Episcopal priest and homiletics professor who leads workshops on preaching across the United States, Canada, and England
.
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Henri Nouwen and Soul Care: A Ministry of Integration

By Wil Hernandez Publisher: Paulist Press
Details: 93 pages, paperback, c. 2008, $14.95

Description: In examining Henri Nouwen's approach to the ministry of soul care and spiritual formation at close range, we can conclude that his holistic and integrative style is esentially drawn from his sophisticated understanding of the coinherence of spirituality with psychology, ministry, and theology.  Henri Nouwen's ministry is characterized by a ministry of integration primarily because he, first of all, embodied a spirituality of integration. His ministry was but an overflow of his spirituality.  Unquestionably, Nouwen ministered out of who he was as a person--a person of deep integrity.

The author contends that Henri Nouwen's work of soul care and spiritual formation is never about techniques.  Neither is it about programs and curricula--important as they are in ministry.  More importantly, it is definitely not about "roles" even though multiple roles have been attached to his person.

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