These articles discuss the congregational projects at Soundings Project churches. They testify to the range of different ways that congregations can reflect theologically and practically on vocation.
This book discusses innovation in the business world, but several insights are relevant for churches, including the fact that congregations can innovate by focusing on groups of people that other churches are missing and that simple measures of success (such as profit in businesses or membership growth in churches) can sometimes conceal longer-term problems.
University of Kansas Center for Community Health and Development. Community Tool Box.
This website provides a number of resources for those serving communities. Especially helpful for congregations would be resources on community assessment, including windshield surveys, strategic planning, and evaluation.
Drucker, Peter F. Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practice and Principles. New York: HarperBusiness, 2006. Find in the Baylor library. Find online.
Although this book is designed for the business world, it presents a helpful framework for approaching innovation as a systematic discipline—a framework that churches can use to identify new ways of serving their neighbors.
Emerson, Michael O., and Christian Smith. Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Find in the Baylor library. Find online.
Addresses the ways in which the evangelical movement’s emphases on individualism, free will, and personal relationships conceal racial inequality. Also describes the dilemma that evangelical leaders face in confronting racial reconciliation.
Garvin, David A., Amy C. Edmondson, and Francesca Gino. “Is Yours a Learning Organization?” Harvard Business Review 86, no. 3 (2008): 109–34. Find in the Baylor library. Find online.
A congregation, like any organization, must learn from and adapt to changing conditions, which means that it must become a learning organization with an environment conducive to learning and sharing, as well as practices and leaders that foster this environment.
Grenny, Joseph, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, Kerry Patterson, and Al Switzler. Crucial Influence. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2023. Find online.
Given the fact that the Soundings Project aims to influence peoples’ understanding of vocation, this resource provides a valuable framework for designing projects that influence others.
Essay introducing the concept of traditioned innovation and its application to Christian churches.
Pathak, Jay, and Dave Runyon. The Art of Neighboring: Building Genuine Relationships Right Outside Your Door. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2012. Find in the Baylor library. Find online.
Explores the call to be good neighbors to those around us, imagining a scenario when every follower of Jesus took the Great Commandment literally.
Essay describing the biblical roots of traditioned innovation.
Sande, Ken. The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2004. Find in the Baylor library.
Given the fundamental Christian calling to be peacemakers, this book is a practical guide for conflict resolution and reconciliation in family, church, and workplace.
Although many of the examples from this book involve the business context, congregations can certainly benefit from the different disciplines, including personal mastery, attending to mental models, building shared vision, enhancing team (or committee or congregational) learning, and systems thinking.
Smith, C. Christopher. Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2014. Find in the Baylor library. Find online.
As society moves at an increasingly high-speed pace, God’s people need to be aware of how the rest of the world is affecting the pace of the church. Invites readers out of franchise faith and back into the kingdom of God.
Third Third. Initiative of the Fuller Seminary De Pree Center.
Website with various articles, a Bible study, sign up form for a newsletter, and other resources on ministry to those in the third third of life.
As congregations think about their communities data from the Census Bureau can give helpful information about these communities, including poverty rates, education rates, percentage of children and youth, etc.