Resources - Connecting Church and Community

Lending Your Leadership: How Pastors Are Redefining Their Role in Community Life

Baptist pastor Nelson Granade explains in this brief book how clergy can play a unique leadership role in community life.

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Seek, Know and Serve the People Within Your Reach

A short book by church consultant and leadership coach Tom Bandy offers tools to help congregations get to know their communities.

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How to Crowdsource Placemaking

Bill Habicht, pastor of Davis Community Church in Davis, CA, suggests how crowdsourcing can help us create the communities we want, in this 13-minute TEDTalk.

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FCS Urban Ministries

The website of Focused Community Strategies (FCS) reports on the actions and lessons learned by this community-based collective in Atlanta, GA, which strives to transform distressed urban neighborhoods through Christian community development.

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Toxic Charity

In 200-odd pages, this book, subtitled How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help (And How to Reverse It), takes a close look at the unintentional damage that can be done by unexamined ministries, particularly church mission trips.

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How to Hit the Ground Running: A Quick-Start Guide for Congregations with New Leadership

Designed for new clergy, this workbook walks you from one month prior to arrival through the first 18 months.

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