The Society of Saint John the Evangelist: Becoming a Brother
Conversations with Scripture and with Each Other
Lay leaders play an essential role in congregational life, but can find themselves spending more of their time at church balancing budgets than deepening their own faith. Written from his years of experience as an SSJE brother and as Bishop of Massachusetts, “Conversations with Scripture and with Each Other” is designed to encourage and strengthen the faith of lay leaders, while also helping them consider how scripture treats various issues in church life, such as stewardship, conflict, and evangelism. The book is inspiring for individual reflection or group discussion, each chapter including a close examination of biblical passages and practical questions for reflection on how the scriptures apply to collective church life and individual spiritual growth.
This Cowley book available through Rowman Littlefield, please click here
Table of Contents:
Conversations about Community • Listening to Paul and the Gospel Writers Speak to their Communities • The Cross and Suffering of Jesus • The Resurrection • The Eucharist • The Church • Stewardship, Budgets, and Capital Campaigns • Conflict • Time • Outreach • Evangelism
Reviews:
“Conversations with Scripture and with Each Other clearly comes from a pastor's heart. Bishop Shaw teaches engagingly and effectively about the gospels and their contexts, and invites readers into dialogue with those gospels. The conversations he encourages can promote profound change--in individual lives, in the parish, and beyond.”
The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church
“Bishop Shaw brings alive the spirit and struggles of the original Christian communities to show how we can revivify our own. He draw on a fresh analysis of the New Testament to pose provocative and practical questions for today's congregations on essential topics: the suffering of Jesus, the Eucharist, stewardship, evangelism, and more. Read this book to spark engaging, generative conversations that will help your community flourish.”
William M. Snyder, author of Cultivating Communities of Practice
“In looking back at the early church, pondering the lives of the gospel authors and of St. Paul, Bishop Shaw opens a world of purpose, courage, and humanity. The labor, devotion, and communication needed to keep such communities vital are ongoing, and the recognitions of the first Christian community building, brought forward by Bishop Shaw as suggestions to the present time, will inform, vitalize, and make increasingly thoughtful the hearts of his readers.”
Mary Oliver, Poet
“This is a book filled with biblical wisdom, deep spirituality, and pastoral experience. In Conversations with Scripture and with Each Other, Bishop Shaw shows how we twenty-first century Christians can find in the first century church spiritual mentors and pastoral guides for our time. St. Paul's letters and the gospels come alive as living records of communities not so different from our own, where our ancestors in faith wrestled with such issues as faithfulness, conflict, moral decision-making, money, prayer and worship, just as we do today. Here is a hopeful book that will provide encouragement and practical counsel for any congregation or individual Christian.”
The Very Reverend Sam Lloyd, Dean, Washington National Cathedral
© 2007 THE SOCIETY OF SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED