Looking at Change and Transition

LOOKING AT CHANGE AND TRANSITION

Individuals, institutions, and churches tend to have little or no influence over cultural change. Change is driven by many factors. Just to name a few. Knowledge is growing exponentially. Information technology is transforming everything from the way we do business and communicate, to fomenting revolution. Our society is becoming increasingly secularized, and societal values are being modified.

Church members live in society, and their daily lives are being impacted by all of the changes. By default, they bring that change into the Church.  The issue, then, is less about change itself than the Church’s response to it. 

Relative to the shifting complexities of culture, the Church has tended to move slowly. As the speed of changing cultural norms and personal preferences has increased, that stance has become less and less tenable. One way this attitude is expressed is the tendency to create programs designed for members. Such programs are defensive in nature, and tend to disconnect the church from its community. Several reasons can factor into such a reaction. Here are a few:

1.  They don’t want us. It is a fear generated by a perceived hostility of the predominantly secular culture,

2.  We don’t want them. The observation that an increasing percentage of people in the neighborhood are not “like us,” and

3. We don’t want to dilute the gospel. A fear that if we change the methods and structures, we will be changing the message.

One important reason why such a defensive response is faulty is that it contradicts the Great Commandment to “go.” An emphasis on sending missionaries to other countries, while commendable and right, tends to ignore the command to go to our Jerusalem and Judea. It assumes they are Christian. In the long run, if Jerusalem and Judea are no longer viable, there will be no resources for Samaria and the whole earth. A balance needs to be established.

Change and Transition

One distinction that helps us to manage change is to understand the relationship between change and transition. Historically, most change has occurred gradually. In the last three or four decades it has happened at an increasing pace. Almost all change develops without our involvement and is beyond our control.

Transition, on the other hand, is characterized by a response to change. Change tends to be external outside our control; transition tends to be internal within our control. We can determine, to a large degree, the path transition takes. It helps us cope with the “tyranny” of change. If we choose to bypass transition, we choose to allow change to pass us by.

Most churches operate within a, more or less, authoritarian (top-down) church structure. Decisions are made at the executive or church board level, and are implemented from that point. Both now, and increasingly in the future, decisions made in such a fashion will find resistance not only to programming, but also to the person or board that introduced it.

As we have seen, transition happens internally. It would make more sense to:

1.   Articulate the problem, and the possible solution,

2.   Break down implementation into transitional phases,

3.   Begin education early,

4.   Provide literature,

5.   Solicit further input, and

6.   Give the phased out method a respectful goodbye.

Constructing a well thought through transition can build consensus, minimize despair, and put the church in charge of managing change. What experiences have you had with introducing change by using a process of transition? If it is positive, would you be willing to share it with us? [1]

---

[1] More blog entries are coming on this topic.

What Are God's Intentions for the City?

In the 65^th chapter of Isaiah we find a portrayal of an unbelievably futuristic city God intends to create. Isaiah describes this New Jerusalem in terms that are beyond human experience. In the figure below, I have included the text on the left, on the right I have described the text in terms that might reflect our contemporary context.

Many believe Isaiah’s description is an Old Testament representation of the New Jerusalem depicted in the vision of John the Apostle described in Revelation. This interpretation may be correct. One must consider, however, that such an interpretation would relieve one of any responsibility to work to make it happen. That said, before Isaiah begins, he says, “whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the God of truth; he who takes an oath in the land will swear by the God of truth” (v.16). Isaiah seems to suggest that the invocation of a blessing, or a pledge to the God of truth, will be an important factor in the creation of this new (city) society.

ISAIAH 65:18-25 (NIV)	THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD’S IDEAL CITY
18But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create … I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.	God’s city will be a joy - and all people will rejoice in God’s urban creation.
19I will rejoice over Jerusalem and delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. 20"Never again will an infant live but a few days, or an old man not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth…	God’s city will be known for the health and longevity of its inhabitants. They will be free of natural, environmental and stress-related illness, infant mortality will end. Human existence and longevity will be enriched and enhanced.
21They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. As the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people…	The exploitation of laborers will cease - adequate housing and food will be justly distributed to all the city's citizens, so that all may long enjoy the work of their hands – and experience job satisfaction.
23They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune. They will be a people blessed by the LORD, and their descendants with them.	Economic prosperity and employment for all - a secure, well-balanced economy, not subject to the whims of the marketplace, or pressure to conform.
24Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.	God wants to bless and be in constant and intimate dialogue with everyone in the city, and be receptive to them.
25The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will not harm or destroy on all my holy mountain," says the LORD.	Justice and reconciliation will bring peace - ensuring that no person or organization has an advantage. Each person will live at peace with his or her neighbor.

I invite you to consider, for a moment, that this passage may also be a picture of how God sees city's potential in the Kingdom of God. Augustine and Calvin were both captivated by the power of the idea of the “City of God.” Allow me to suggest that the Church does faithful service to the Kingdom of God when it works to make Isaiah’s vision in 65:18-25 a reality in today’s world.

What do you think?

Toward Defining Complex Culture

In the last few decades, trends and tremendous shifts in our society and technology have been shifting our perception of what is urban. The media, (broadcast, cable, satellite, and internet), have replaced the Church as the most significant source of the formation of values in our culture. They exert a strong influence on the values, thinking, and lifestyles of Americans nationwide: urban, suburban, and rural. Worldwide immigration adds racial, cultural, language, and religious complexity. Ideological pluralism, gentrification, generational complexity, and much more have blurred the focus and changed the context of our traditional understanding of ministry.

It seems to me that a new term is needed to describe these new conditions for ministry. I like to refer to this new normal as “complex culture.” These components are combined in distinct ways in each community, making each church and its ministry unique.

What do you think?

What would you name this phenomenon?

The next post will be a short explanation of some of the significant changes which, taken together, I am calling complex culture.

A Few Important Elements of Complex Culture

In the latest blog, we began a conversation about what to name the new realities confronting our ministry. My suggestion was complex culture. It is possible to observe how most of the layers of complex culture have been added or expanded over the last half century. The following are a few of those changes:

·         The Sunday school, no longer the local church’s main outreach tool, is now ministering almost exclusively to churched children.

·         There is an increase of cultural, linguistic, and racial diversity due to immigration. Immigrants are coming from almost everywhere but Europe, bringing cultural and linguistic diversity into almost every neighborhood and town.

·         The growth of knowledge is spawning new technological and cultural paradigms, more and more rapidly. Any given generation grows up in a new paradigm, which has different cultural values and preferences than the previous one.

·         There is an explosion of religious diversity. “New Age” is essentially a folk religion revival including the worship of nature. Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and many additional minor religions are now represented.

·         Ideologies like secularism and libertarianism tend to harden ideological lines, making meaningful dialogue more daunting. The Separation of Church and State debate is an example.

·         The broadcast media have largely displaced the Church as the main source of values in our culture.

·         Biblical literacy is on the wane. Most people no longer consider the Bible to be the source of absolute truth. It can be intimidating to engage people in spiritual conversation with whom we have less and less in common. Those we do, often interpret it as our desire to “force our religion” on them.

·         Lifestyle diversity has become a principal expression of individualism. Extreme sports, haircuts, tattoos, clothing, gay and lesbian lifestyles, and multiple forms of family, are just a few examples.

The bottom line is that today’s ministry environment, even in suburbia and small towns,  is a study in complexity.    If we truly wish to reconnect our churches with our communities, we need to accept and address this new phenomenon called complex culture.                               

What do you think?

What does complex culture look like in your community?

Can you think of additional things that you would add to complex culture?

The Butterfly Metaphor

THE BUTTERFLY METAPHOR[1]

It seems to me that the butterfly offers a parallel to the situation in which the Church finds itself. An egg hatches, and the tiny larva sneaks into the world. Its movement is limited. It tries to blend in, but it is slow, soft and vulnerable. Its world is haunted with dangers. Too many other larvae, hatched at the same time, die or are devoured by predators. But in that little bug, there is unimagined potential.

Then the moment comes when the larva dares to spin a cocoon. Metaphorically, the Church does the same. Its evolving structures accomplish three purposes: first, internal change begins to happen; second, the cocoon serves as a coat of protection for the vulnerable life inside. Hidden away, it is safe. And third, though unseen, an amazing metamorphosis is taking place. When the transformation is complete, the struggle to be reborn begins.

However, the very protection that has kept it safe now becomes its greatest danger. The cocoon is tough, an almost inescapable prison. But when the metamorphosis is complete, that hidden life knows instinctively that it must escape or die. It begins to scratch the inside walls of its cell relentlessly with its claws. Travail, pain and exhaustion become almost more that it can bear. Then a small tear appears in the cocoon. The struggle intensifies.

Finally, the transformed larva breaks through the cocoon as a scrunched up butterfly. In short order, its wings dry. The butterfly gingerly exercises them. Its wings become more confident. They flap, lifting the graceful creature off into a new domain. Our transformed hero soars off into a glorious new world into dimensions never imagined. It no longer lives as before in lonely, dependent misery. Everywhere it lands, it cross-pollinates all it touches, making the magic of reproduction possible. The butterfly has been given second life, dramatically richer, with a creativity and influence never imagined possible as a lowly larva.

In many ways, the contemporary Church’s condition in complex culture necessarily goes through similar stages. Those of us called to minister under these conditions, confront change, hostility, and danger. We tend to cocoon ourselves away from the raw edge of society.

Our postmodern/secular society is undergoing a seismic shift in the context of ministry everywhere. Yet, God is at work, “metamorphosing” the Church. Even when we find ourselves buried in the chrysalis. God is transforming us into instruments of blessing. It is here that “Reconnecting the Church” enters the picture. It is a testimony of the struggle to break through the cocoon. Travail, pain, and exhaustion, are unavoidable for the Church to be able to stretch its wings and fly.

However, God in His timing, and we, in our humble and desperate scratching, suddenly discover a Church that is free to soar, free to generate life wherever the Body of Christ lands. For those willing to scratch through this book and its many implications, I believe in you! I believe in the irresistible mission of the Church! I believe in the extraordinary power of the Holy Spirit to use us all to soar in ways and in worlds we have not yet imagined.

---

[1] From Kauffman, J. Timothy. Reconnecting the Church: Finding Our Place in Complex Culture. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris Publishing. 2010, pp. 205-206.

Why Another Blog About the Church?

The Church is presently ministering in what many are calling a “new normal.” While the Church’s message must remain the same, the context in which she ministers has become different in significant ways. In the midst of all this change, there are many churches that have a great desire to minister in this “new normal,” but unsure how to begin.

Allow me to explain where http://www.facebook.com/pages/Reconnecting-the-Church-by-Tim-Kauffman/136046853102596, will be positioned. I am hoping it will be a place where constructive conversation can happen. The following questions reflect a few of the topics we are hoping to address:

a.      What does the new normal look like?

b.      How does the Church proceed from here?

c.       What kind of leadership is needed in the local church?

d.     What are some of the issues interwoven into the Church’s current challenges?

e.      What should the relationship between the Church and society look like?

f.        Is the Church indeed in need of being reconnected? If not, why? If so, how?

g.      What, if any, are the obstacles to reconnecting the Church?

After almost 40 years of bi-lingual pastoral ministry in German and American cities, and 20 years of teaching as an adjunct at APU’s graduate school of theology, and on Gordon-Conwell’s CUME campus, my passion for cross-cultural ministry remains strong.

The concept is first of all, to draw on my resources and experiences to attempt to add to the discussion and help to answer some of these questions. Secondly, it is to learn from you where you are and what you are doing. But thirdly, and most importantly, my desire is that together we can assist your Church to find her place in our complex culture.

This blog is not intended to be an exhaustive treatment of the topics we will address. Rather they are intended to be discussion starters. I will be submitting a few thoughts every week that will attempt to inform you, jump-start discussion, stimulate ideas, and prompt your comments.

So join in the conversation.

Bibliography - The Black Experience in the U.S. - through 1992

Abernathy, Ralph David

  1989    And the Walls Came Tumbling Down. New York: Harper and Row.

Allport, Gordon

1958    The Nature of Prejudice. New York: Doubleday & Company.

Angell, James W.

1970    Put Your Arms Around the City. Old Tappan, NJ: Revell.

Angell, Stephen Ward

1992    Bishop Henry McNeill Turner and African American Religion in the South. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.

Angelou, Maya

1978    And Still I Rise: A Book of Poems. New York: Random House.

Ansbro, John J.

1990    Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Making of a Mind. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.

Arensberg, Conrad M., ed.

1965    Culture and Community. Harcourt, Brace and World.

1968    "The Urban in Cross-Cultural Perspective." In the E. Eddy, ed. of Urban Anthropology: Research Perspectives and Strategies. University of Georgia.

1969    Urbanism and Urbanization. London: Routledge & K. Paul.

Arkes, Hadley

1981    The Moral Dimensions of Urban Politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Asante, Molefi Kete

1990    Kemet, Afrocentricity and Knowledge. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.

Asante, Molefi Kete and Mark T. Mattsom

1992    The Historical and Cultural Atlas of African Americans. New York: Macmillan Publishers.

Baer, Hans and Merrill Singer

1992    African American Religion in the Twentieth Century: Varieties of Protest and Accommodation. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.

Bahr, Howard; Chadwick, Bruce, and Joseph Strauss

1979    American Ethnicity. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath & Company.

Baldwin, James

1981    Go Tell It on the Mountain. New York: Doubleday.

Baldwin, Lewis

1991    There Is a Balm in Gilead: The Cultural Roots of Martin Luther King, Jr.. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

1992    To Make the Wounded Whole: The Cultural Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Banks, Louis, ed.

1968    The Negro and the City. New York: Time-Life Books.

Bechler, LeRon

1986    The Black Mennonite Church in North America. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press.

Bell, Derrick

1979    And We Are Not Saved: The Elusive Quest for Racial Justice. New York: Basic Books.

1992    Faces At the Bottom of the Well. New York: Basic Books.

Benjamin, Lois

1992    The Black Elite: Facing Color Line in the Twilight of the Twentieth Century. Chicago: Nelson-Hall.

Bennett, Lerone, Jr.

1962    Before the Mayflower. Chicago: Johnson Publishing Company.

Bensman, Joseph and Arthur J. Vidich, eds.

1975    Metropolitan Communities: New Forms of Urban Sub-communities. New York: New York Times Books.

Berry, May Francis and John W. Blasingame

1982    Long Memory: The Black Experience in America. New York: Oxford Press.

Bennett, Lerone, Jr.

1984    Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America. New York: Penguin.

Birchett, Colleen

1992    Biblical Strategies for a Community in Crisis: What African Americans Can Do. Chicago: Urban Ministries, Inc.

Blassingame, John W., ed.

1977    Slave Testimony: Two Centuries of Letters, Speeches, Interviews, and Autobiographies. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press.

Blauner, Robert

1972    Racial Oppression in America. New York: Harper & Row.

Boesak, Allan A.

1984    Walking on Thorns: The Call to Obedience. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

1987    If This Is Treason, I Am Guilty. Trenton: Eerdmans.

1990    Black and Reformed: Aparteid, Liberation and the Calvinist Tradition. Maryknoll: Orbis.

Boesak, Allan A. and Charles Villa-Vincencio

1986    When Prayer Makes News. Philadelphia: Westminster.

Boggs, James

1970    Racism and the Class Struggle: Further Pages From a Black Worker's Notebook. New York: Monthly Review Press.

Branch, Taylor

1988    Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63. New York: Simon and Shuster.

Braxton, Joanne M.

1989    Black Women Writing Biography: A Tradition Within a Tradition. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Bujo, Benezet

1992    African Theology in its Social Context. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.

Burman, Sandra and Pamela Reynolds, eds.

1986    Growing Up in a Divided Society: The Contexts of Childhood in South Africa. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.

Carter, Stephen L.

1991    Reflections of an Affirmative Action Baby. New York: Basic Books.

Cleage, Albert B.

1989    The Black Messiah. Trenton: Africa World Press, Inc.

Christopher, Robert C.

1989    Crashing the Gates: The De-WASPing of America and the Rise of the New Power Elite in Politics, Business, Education, Entertainment and the Media. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Cobbs, Price M.

1988    Critical Perspectives on the Psychology of Race. "The State of Black America." New York: National Urban League.

Cohen, Abner, ed.

1974    Urban Ethnicity. London: Travistock Publishers.

Cone, James H.

1969    Black Theology and Black Power. New York: Seabury Press.

1970    A Black Theology of Liberation. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company.

1982    My Soul Looks Back. Nashville: Abingdon.

1984    For My People: Black Theology and the Black Church. Maryknoll, Orbis Books.

1986    Speaking the Truth: Ecumenism, Liberation and Black Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

1991    Martin and Malcomb and America: A Dream or a Nightmare. New York: Orbis.

Cooper, J. California

1986    Homemade Love. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Coopter-Lewter, Nicholas and Henry Mitchell

1986    Soul Theology. Nashville: Abingdon Press.

Coulburn, David and George Pozzetta, eds.

1979    America and the New Ethnicity. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press.

Crockett, Joseph V.

1991    Teaching Scripture from an African American Perspective. Nashville: Discipleship Resources.

Davidson, Basil

1980    The African Slave Trade. Boston: Little, Brown.

David, Jay

1968    Growing Up Black. New York: William Morrow & Company.

Davis, James H. and Woodie H. White

1980    Racial Transition in the Church . Nashville: Abingdon.

Davis, George and Glegg Watson

1982    Black Life in Corporate America: Swimming in the Mainstream. New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday.

Davis, T. J.

1985    Rumor of Revolt: The "Great Negro Plot" in Colonial New York. London: Collier Macmillan Publishers.

DeGruchy, John W.

1979    The Church's Struggle in South Africa. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

1984 Bonhoeffer and South Africa. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Diop, Cheikh Anta

1991    Civilization or Barbarism. --:Lawrence Hill.

Douglas, Mary and Steven M. Tipton, eds.

1983    Religion in America: Spiritual Life in a Secular Age. Boston: Beacon Press.

Dozier, Verna

1988    The Calling of the Laity. The Alban Institute.

DuBois, W.E.B.

1908    The Negro American Family. Atlanta: University of Atlanta Press.

Dulles, Avery

1974    Models of the Church. New York: Image Books.

Eames, Edwin and Judith Goode.

1973    Urban Poverty in a Cross-Cultural Context. New York: Macmillan.

1977    Anthropology of the City: An Introduction to Urban Anthropology. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.

Ela, Jean-Marc

1986    African Cry. Maryknoll, Orbis Books.

Farisani, Tshenuwani Simon

1990    In Transit. Trenton: Africa World Press.

Felder, Cain Hope

1991    Troubling Biblical Waters: Race, Class, and Family. Maryknoll: Orbis.

1990    Stoney the Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation. New York: Orbis.

Fitts, Leroy

1985    A History of Black Baptists. Nashville: Broadman Press.

Franklin, John Hope

1986    Race and History: Selected Essays 1938-1988. Baton Rouge: Louisianna State University.

1987    From Slavery to Freedom, the History of Negro Americans. 7th ed. New York: Knopf.

Franklin, Robert Michael

1990    Liberating Visions: Human Fulfillment and Social Justice in African American Thought. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Frazier, E. Franklin

1974    The Negro Church in America. New York: Schoken Books.

Fredrickson, George M.

1981    White Supremacy: A Comparative Study in American and South African History. New York: Oxford University Press.

1988    The Arrogance of Race: Historical Perspectives on Slavery, Racism, and Social Inequality. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.

Freedman, Samuel G.

1993    Upon This Rock: The Miracles of a Black Church. New York: Harper Collins.

Garrow, David J.

1986    Breaing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc.

Genovese, Eugene D.

1974    Roll Jordan Roll: The World the Slaves Made. New York: Vintage Books.

Glaab, Charles N.

1963    The American City: A Documentary History. Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press.

Glazer, Nathan and Daniel P. Moynihan

1963    Beyond the Melting Pot: The Negroes, Puerto Ricans, Jews Italians, and Irish of New York City. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

1983    Ethnic Dilemmas 1964-1982. Cambridge: Harvard University.

Gossett, Thomas F.

1963    Race: The History of an Idea in America. New York: Schocken Books.

Grayraud, S. Wilmore and James H. Cone

1979    Black Theology: A Documentory History 1966-1979. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.

Greeley, Andrew

1974    Ethnicity in the United States. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Greenway, Roger S. and Timothy Monsma

1989    Cities - Missions' New Frontier. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

Greenwood, Elma L.

1967    How Churches Fight Poverty. New York: Friendship Press.

Grier, William H. and Price M. Cobbs

1992    Black Rage. New York: Basic Books.

Gutman, Herbert G.

1925    The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom 1750-1925. New York: Vintage Books.

Hacker, Andrew

1992    Two Nations: Black and White, Separate, Hostile, Unequal. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

Haley, Alex

1992    The Biography of Malcolm X. ---: Ballentine

1976    Roots. New York: Dell.

Hance, William Adams

1970    Population, Migration and Urbanization in Africa. New York: Columbia University Press.

Hanna, William John

1971    Urban Dynamics in Black Africa. Chicago: Aldine.

Hannerz, Ulf

1974    "Ethnicity and Opportunity in Urban America." In Abner Cohen, ed., Urban Ethnicity. London: Travistock.

1978    "Problems in the Analysis of Urban Cultural Organization." In Joyce Aschenbrenner and Lloyd Collins, eds., Processes of Urbanism. The Hague: Moulton.

1980    Exploring the City. New York: Columbia University Press.

Harding, Vincent

1990    Hope and History: Why We Must Share the Story of the Movement. Maryknoll: Orbis.

Harris, Leonard

1983    Philosophy Borne of Struggle: Anthology of Afro-American Philosophy from 1917. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt Publishers.

Herskovits, Melville J.

1941    The Myth of the Negro Past. New York: Harper & Row.

Hood, Robert E.

1990    Must God Remain Greek? Afro Cultures and God-Talk. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Hooks, Bell and Cornel West

1991    Breaking Bread: Insurgent Black Intellectual Life. Boston: South End Press.

Hurmence, Belinda, ed.

1984    My Folks Don't Want to Talk to Me About Slavery: Twenty-One Oral Histories of Former North Carolina Slaves. Winston-Salem, NC: John F. Blair Publishers.

Hurn, R. W.

1974    Black Evangelism. Kansas City: Nazarene Publishing House.

Hurston, Zora Neale

1990    Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Harper and Row.

Jenkins, Richard and John Solomos

1987    Racism and Equal Opportunity Policies in the 1980's. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Jewett, Paul K

1980    The Ordination of Women. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Johnson, James Weldon

1990    God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse. New York: Penguin Books.

Johnson, John L.

1991    The Black Biblical Heritage: Four Thousand Years of Black Biblical History. Nashville: Wiston-Derek Publishers.

Jones, Amos Jr.

1984    Paul's Message of Freedom: What Does It Mean to the Black Church? Valley Forge: Judson Press.

Jones, Howard Wanda

1992    Hope and Heritage: The Legacy and Future of the Black Family in America. New York: Victor Books.

Jones, Lawrence N.

1983    "Urban Black Churches: Conservators of Value and Sustainers of Community," The Journal of Religious Thought, 39:41‑50.

Jones, Major J.

1987    The Color of God. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press.

Jordan, Winthrop

1968    White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro 1550-1812. Baltimore: Penguin Books.

June, Lee N.

1988    The Black Family, Past, Present and Future. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

King, Martin Luther, Jr.

1963    Strength to Love. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

1967    The Trumpet of Conscience. San Francisco: Harper and Row.

1967    Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? Boston: Beacon Hill.

Kochman, Thomas

1981    Black and White Styles in Conflict. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Leonard, Neil

1987    Jazz: Myth and Religion. New York: Oxford University Press.

Levine, Lawrence W.

1977    Black Culture and Black Consciousness. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Liebow, Elliot

1967    Tally's Corner.  Boston: Little, Brown & Company.

Lincoln, C. Eric and Lawrence H. Mamiya

1984    Race, Religion, and the Continuing Dilemma. New York: Hill and Wang.

1990    The Black Church in the African American Experience. Duke University Press.

Little, Kenneth

1970    West African Urbanization. Cambridge: University Press.

Lofton, Fred C., ed.

1987    Our Help in Ages Past: Sermons From Morehouse. Progressive Southern Baptist Convention.

Long, Charles H.

1986    Significations: Signs, Symbols, and Images in the Interpretation of Religion. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

Lucas, Lawrence

1989    Black Priest White Church: Catholics and Racism. Trenton: Africa World Press.

Magill, Frank N., ed.

1992    Masterpieces of African American Literature. New York: Harper Collins.

Massey, Floyd, Jr. and Samuel Berry McKinney

1976    Church Administration in the Black Perspective. Valley Forge: Judson Press.

Mathbane, --- and Gail Mathbane

1992    Love in Black and White: The Triumph of Love Over Prejudice and Taboo. New York: Harper and Row.

Mbali, Zolile

1987    The Churches and Racism: A Black South African Perspective. London: SCM Press.

Mbiti, John S.

1969    African Religions and Philosophy. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

McAdoo, Harriete Pipes

1988    Black Families. Beverly Hills: Sage.

McManis, Lester W.

1966    Handbook on Christian Education in the Inner City. New York: Seabury Press.

Meier, August

1988    Negro Thought in America 1880-1915. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Mitchell, Henry H.

1975    Black Belief: Folk Beliefs in America and West Africa. New York: Harper & Row.

Morgan, Gordon D.

1981    America Without Ethnicity. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press.

Moyd, Olin P.

1979    Redemption in Black Theology. Valley Forge: Judson Press.

Muhammad, Elijah

1973    The Fall of America. Newport, VA: National Newport News.

Newman, William M.

1973    American Pluralism: A Study of Minority Groups and Social Theory. New York: Harper & Row.

Nobles, Wade W.

----        African-American Families: Issues, Insights and Directions. Oakland: Black Family Institute.

Nolan, Albert

1988    God in South Africa. London Eerdmans.

Novak, Michael

1971    Rise of the Unmeltable Ethnics. New York: The Macmillan Company.

Oates, Stephen B.

1982    Let the Trumpet Sound: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Harper and Row.

Oliver, Roland

1991    The African Experience: Major Themes in African History from Earliest Times to the Present. New York: Icon Editions.

Olson, James Stuart

1979    The Ethnic Dimension in American History. New York: St. Martin's

Orkin, Mark

1986    The Struggle and the Future: What Black South Africans Really Think. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.

Pannell, William E.

1992    What Is the Meaning of Salvation in a World Gone Urban? Evangelism from the Bottom Up. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

1991    Evangelism from the Bottom Up. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

1985    "Catsup and Baloney," The Other Side. 21:7:32-33.

1983    "My Choice of Books: William Pannell Recalls the Road Signs That Have Steered His Thinking." Leadership. 4:53.

1981    "Somewhat Short of a Second Coming: Reflections on Black People and the Reagan Administration." Sojourners. 10:20-21.

1980    "Evangelism and Power," International Review of Mission. 69:49-55.

1977    "Religious Heritage of Blacks," in The Evangelicals: What They Believe. D. Wells, ed. pp. 116-127.

1974    "Evangelicals and Social Concern, the Present and the Future," in The Chicago Declaration. Ron Sider, ed. pp. 43-56.

1968    My Friend, the Enemy. Waco, TX: Word Books.

Paris, Peter J.

1982    Black Pentecostalism: Southern Religion in an Urban World. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.

1985    The Social Teaching of the Black Churches. Philadelphia: Fortress.

1991    Black Religious Leaders: Conflict in Unity. Louisville: Westminster.

Perkins, John M.

1976    Let Justice Roll Down. Ventura, CA: Regal.

1982    With Justice for All. Ventura, CA: Regal.

Pero, Albert and Ambrose Moyo

1988    Theology and the Black Experience. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House.

Pettigrew, T. F.

1967    "Complexity and Change in American Racial Patterns: A Social Psychological View." In T. Parsons and K. B. Clark (Eds.). The Negro American. Boston: Beacon Press.

Phillips, Keith

1975    Everybody's Afraid in the Ghetto. Regal.

19--      They Dare to Love in the Ghetto. World Impact.

Philpot, William M.

1989    Best Black Sermons. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press.

Piven, Frances Fox and Richard A. Cloward

1971    Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare. New York: Vintage Books.

Proctor, Samuel D. and William D. Watlen

1984    Sermons From the Black Pulpit. Valley Forge: Judson Press.

Raboteau, Albert J.

1978    Slave Religion: the Invisible Institution in the Antebellum South. New York: Oxford University Press.

Rachleff, Peter

1989    Black Labor in Richmond, 1865-1890. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Ransom, Roger L.

1989    Conflict and Compromise. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Reed, Adolph L.

1986    The Jesse Jackson Phenomenon. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Reminick, Ronald

1983    Theory of Ethnicity. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.

Roberts, J. Deotis

1987    Black Theology in Dialogue. Philadelphia: Westminster Press.

Rodney, Walter

1982    How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Washington, DC: Howard University Press.

Rooks, Charles Shelby

1990    Revolution in Zion: Reshaping African American Ministry 1960-1974. New York: The Pilgrim Press.

Rose, Jerry D.

1976    Peoples: The Ethnic Dimension in Human Relations. Chicago: Rand-McNally.

Rosenberg, Bruce A.

1988    Can These Bones Live? The Art of the American Folk Preacher. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

Royce, Anya Peterson

1982    Ethnic Identity. Strategies of Diversity. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Salley, Columbus, and Ronald Behm

1990    What Color is Your God? Black Consciousness and the Christian Faith. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.

Sanders, Ronald

1974    Lost Tribes and Promised Lands. New York: Harper Perennials.

Schrag, Peter

1970    The Decline of the WASP. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Scott, Joseph, W.

1976    The Black Revolts. Cambridge: Schenkman Publishing.

Scott, Waldron

1980    Bring Forth Justice. Eerdmans.

Sernett, C. Milton, ed.

1985    Afro-American Religious History: A Documentary Witness. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Shibutani, Tamotso and Kian M. Kuan

1965    Ethnic Stratification: A Comparative Approach. New York: The Macmillan Company.

Shannon, David T. and S. Gayraud

1985    Black Witness to the Apostolic Faith. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Sheppard, David

1983    Bias to the Poor. London: Hodder & Stoughton.

Shockley, Grant S., ed.

1991    Heritage and Hope: The African American Presence in United Methodism. Nashville: Abingdon.

Shulke, Flip and Penelope McPhee

1986    King Remembered. New York: Pocket Books.

Simon, Arthur

1966    Faces of Poverty. London: The MacMillan Company.

Smith, Sid

1986    10 Super Sunday Schools in the Black Community. Nashville: Broadman.

Snowden, Frank Jr.

1983    Before Color Prejudice: The Ancient View of Blacks. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Snyder, Howard

19--      Liberating the Church. Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.

Sowell, Thomas

1981    Ethnic America. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

Steele, Shelby

1990    The Content of Our Character. New York: Harper Collins Press.

Steinberg, James H., David W. Lyon and Mary E. Vaiana, eds.

1992    Urban America: Policy Choices for Los Angeles and the Nation. Santa Monica, CA:Rand.

Steinberg, Stephen

1981    The Ethnic Myth. Race, Ethnicity and Class in America. New York: Atheneum.

Street, David; George T. Martin; and Laura Kramer Gordon.

1979    The Welfare Industry: Functionaries and Recipients in Public Aid. Beverly Hills: Sage.

Taulbert, Clifton

1989    Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored. Tulsa, OK: Council Oak Books.

tenBroek, Jacobus

1966    The Law of the Poor. Chicago: Science Research Associates.

Terkel, Studs

1992    Race: How Blacks and Whites Think and Feel About the American Obsession. New York: The New Press.

Thurman, Howard

1979    With Head and Heart. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Thurnstrom, Abigail M.

1987    Whose Votes Count? Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Trattner, Walter I.

1979    From Poor Law to Welfare State: A History of Social Welfare in America. 2nd ed. New York: The Free Press.

Travis, Dempsey

1981    An Autobiography of Black Chicago. Chicago: Urban Research Institute.

Underwood, Walter L.

1984    The Contemporary Twelve: The Power of Character in Today's World. Nashville: Abingdon Press.

Walker, Alice

1982    The Color Purple. New York: Pocket Books.

Wallace, Darryl K.

1989    "Jesus Ain't Got No Feet: a Black Perspective on Christology." Urban Mission 6:13‑23.

Warren, Donald and Rachelle Warren

1977    The Neighborhood Organizer's Handbook. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.

Warren, Max Alexander Cunningham

1964    Problems and Promises in Africa Today. London: Hodder and Stoughton.

Washington, Booker T.

1986    Up From Slavery. New York: Penguin.

Washington, James M., ed.

1986    A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writing of Martin Luther King, Jr.. San Francisco, Harper and Row.

1986    Frustrated Fellowship: The Black Baptist Quest for Social Power. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press.

Washington, Joseph R., Jr.

1984    Black Sects and Cults. New York: University Press of America.

Washington, Preston Robert

1988    God's Transforming Spirit: Black Church Renewal. Valley Forge: Judson Press.

Watley, William D.

1985    Roots of Resistance: The Non-Violent Ethic of Martin Luther King, Jr.. Valley Forge: Judson Press.

Weems, Renita J.

1988    Just a Sister Away: A Women's Relationships in the Bible. San Diego: Lura Media.

Weiss, Nancy J.

1989    Whitney M. Young, Jr. and the Struggle for Civil Rights. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

West, Cornel

1988    Prophetic Fragments. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

1982    Prophesy Deliverance! An Afro-American Revolutionary Christianity. Philadelphia: Westminster Press.

Whalen, Richard J.

1965    A City Destroying Itself: An Angry View of New York. New York: William Morrow & Company.

White, Joseph and Thomas A Parham

1990    The Psychology of Blacks: An African American Perspective. Snglewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Wilmore, Gayraud

1983    Black Religion and Black Radicalism. Maryknoll: Orbis.

1982    Last Things First. Philadelphia: Westminster Press.

Wilmore, Gayraud, ed.

1989    African American Religious Studies. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Wilson, William Julius

1987    The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Wimberly, Edward P.

1979    Pastoral Care in the Black Church. Abingdon.

Wimberly, Edward P. and Anne Streaty Wimberly

1986    Liberation and Human Wholeness: The Conversion Experiences of Black People in Slavery and Freedom. Nashville: Abingdon.

Winsor, Rudolph

1988    From Babylon to Timbuktu: A History of Ancient Black Races Including the Black Hebrews. Philadelphia: Golden Series Publications.

Wood, Forrest G.

1990    The Arrogance of Faith: Christianity and Race in America from the Colonial Era to the Twentieth Century. Boston: Northeastern University Press.

Woodsen, Carter G.

1990    The Miseducation of the Negro. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.

Younger, George

1974    "Urban Training Center for Christian Mission, Chicago". International Review of Missions. 63, 256-263, April.

1987    From New Creation to Urban Crisis: A History of Action Training Ministries, 1962‑1975. Reviewed by Carl E. Kramer. In The Christian Century. 104(24):726ff.