Hello friends!
We’ve had enough of a response from laity and clergy to our call to read the recommended books for General Conference that we are a go! We’ve got 10 weeks until General Conference, so let’s try to get these knocked out during Lent.
Process
- Buy/Borrow the Books
- Cokesbury’s list here [cheapest]
- Click each title below for Amazon Kindle versions [Cokebury’s versions are Nook-only…unless you are a Hacking Christian…muhahaha])
- On Thursdays during Lent, we’ll first post questions, have conversations with each other, musings, thoughts. It would be considered an ‘open thread’ for discussion.
- On Tuesdays during Lent, we’ll have a synchblog where we write about the book and our musings on it. While individual bloggers do not have to link to each other, this blog will post a link to every blog that is participating (ie. that emails me a link or I happen to see it that day).
- When Lent is over, we’ve done our penance and are bettered for it! Good preparation for General Conference and a Lenten Discipline all in one! What a deal!
Schedule
First Book: Focus by Lovett Weems.
- February 23 – Questions and Thoughts (open conversation)
- February 28 – Synchblog on Focus
Second Book: Back to Zero by Gil Rendle
- March 1 – Questions and Thoughts (open conversation)
- March 6 – Synchblog on Back to Zero
Third Book: Lord, I Love the Church and We Need Help by Virginia Bassford
- March 8 – Questions and Thoughts (open conversation)
- March 13 – Synchblog on Lord, I love the Church and We Need Help
Fourth Book: Jesus Insurgency by Rasmus/Escobedo-Frank
- March 15 – Questions and Thoughts (open conversation)
- March 20 – Synchblog on Jesus Insurgency
Fifth Book: The Recovery of a Contagious Methodist Movement by George Hunter
- March 22 – Questions and Thoughts (open conversation)
- March 27 – Synchblog on The Recovery of a Contagious Methodist Movement
Sign Up Below
You don’t have to sign up or comment, but it is helpful for me to know ahead of time whose blogs will likely be posting content. You also don’t have to participate in every book, and the open conversations will be kept up if you fall behind in reading. They are short books but participate at your leisure!
I hope you join me in this as we consider the adaptive challenge of the United Methodist Church and maybe come up with our own adaptive challenges for it to be in conversation with.
The adaptive challenge for The United Methodist Church is:
To redirect the flow of attention, energy, and resources to an intense concentration on fostering and sustaining an increase in the number of vital congregations effective in making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
Thoughts, comments? Welcome to the discussion!
Full Disclosure: I make zero money from Cokesbury or Abingdon and am not compensated in any way to host this book study. Any money made is the same as every page at hackingchristianity.net: (1) google ads and (2) Amazon referrals, and both of those moneys go into hosting fees.
As a jurisdictional conference delegate, I am receiving these books in the mail. I would be happy to pass them on to others as I finish them.
Is it super nerdy to say that I’m looking forward to this? Probably, but I don’t care.
Welcome aboard, fellow methonerd!
Im so in!
I would love to do this, but my budget is so tight, I don’t even have an extra $40 to buy the Kindle versions. I do have a Kindle, though! Is there anyone who is getting the Kindle version who can lend it to me? I can tell you how to loan a book on Kindle.
I’d like to be a part. . . and am look forward to it as well.
I’m in Jeremy. I’ve already read Focus and am reading the last book now. I’m a big fan of stuff I’ve read by Gil Rendle, so I’m looking forward to devouring his book next.
Not sure where my previous comment went…but my linking to here from my blog post joining in seemed to have created a comment of it’s own.
Anyway, I’m in.
I’ve been reading my way through these as well and have a blog domain I’ve been meaning to get started blogging on myself and this is as good of an excuse as any!
I’m in as well – at least for the first two. I’ve been looking for a good reason to resurrect the old blog.
Jeremy, I’ve appreciated your blog for some time. I’ll throw my hat in the ring here, perhaps offering a perspective from the Western Jurisdiction where I’ve been for the last 15 years out of 18 years of ministry.
Glad to have you aboard, Jim!
I’d like to post some of the content on my blog. It’s for clergy spouses and was started by a small group of UM clergy wives. http://spouseconnect.blogspot.com/
Thanks.