Church & Ministry

978-0-8028-7910-3 • Paperback • 182 pages $19.99 US • $26.99 CAN • £15.99 UK

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Austin Carty lives and pastors in Anderson, South Carolina. He is the author of High Points and Lows: Life, Faith, and Figuring It All Out. Why Reading Matters for Ministry Austin Carty

Foreword by Thomas G. Long For busy pastors, time spent reading feels hard to justify, especially when it’s not for sermon prep. But what if reading felt less like a luxury and more like a vocational responsibility—a spiritual practice that bears fruit in every aspect of ministry, from preaching to pastoral care to church leadership? e Pastor’s Bookshelf shows how worthwhile reading is more about formation than information and how, through reading, a pastor becomes a fuller, more enriched human being with a deeper capacity for wisdom and love, be er equipped to understand and work for God’s kingdom.

“ e Pastor’s Bookshelf is an invaluable resource for members of the clergy, though its bookish enthusiasm is even farther reaching than that.” — FOREWORD REVIEWS (STARRED REVIEW)

“Pastors who read and live by the wisdom in this book will be changed, as will their ministries and the people to whom they minister. is book belongs on every pastor’s shelf.”

— REN SWALLOW PRIOR

author of On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books

“In this warm and wise book, Austin Carty invites pastors to develop capacious reading habits, as wide and curious and wonderful as the world in which they serve. I hope this book is an occasion for many pastors to build new shelves of poetry and ction, biography and memoir, all of them adventures in understanding humanity.”

— JAMES K. A. SMITH

author of You Are What You Love

“I am gobsmacked by this book’s threefold beauty: its writing, its erudition, and the author’s deep commitment to what true reading can give not only pastors, but us all.”

— MARYANNE WOLF

author of Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World

978-0-8028-8187-8 • Paperback • 238 pages $22.00 US • $29.99 CAN • £17.99 UK

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Douglas J. Brouwer is a retired Presbyterian pastor who served churches in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Florida, and Zürich, Switzerland. His other books include Remembering the Faith: What Christians Believe and How to Become a Multicultural Church.

Chasing after Wind

A Pastor’s Life Douglas J. Brouwer

Foreword by Richard J. Mouw A er forty years as a Presbyterian pastor, Douglas Brouwer wondered if he had spent his life, as the author of Ecclesiastes laments, “chasing a er wind.” But he also had the unmistakable sense that it had been worthwhile—though not in the ways he had expected it to be at the start of his career. In this memoir, Brouwer recounts stories from throughout his life that speak to both the disillusionment and the joy of ministry in the current age of shrinking mainline churches.

“A somber, meditative re ection that will give the fellow faithful, be they pastors or congregants, much to ponder.”

— PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

“It’s one thing to have a talented, theologically well-formed Reformed pastor. It’s quite another thing for that pastor to be honest, truthful, courageous, eloquent, and interesting. Douglas Brouwer is that pastor. His book is bound to be known as one of the nest ministerial memoirs to come out of the last days of mainline Protestantism.”

— WILL WILLIMON

author of Accidental Preacher

“Douglas Brouwer is a ne writer and a compelling storyteller who, with disarming honesty, provides an intimate look at the unique life of a pastor. Chasing a er Wind is a deeply satisfying read and I recommend it highly.”

— JOHN M. BUCHANAN

former editor and publisher of the Christian Century

“In these pages, we encounter a thing far too rare—a pastor skilled in stringing together artful sentences, writing as a genuine human rather than a religious delegate clinching the script. If we had more stories like this, those of us who wear the stole would have a li le more fear and trembling, and more wonder and laughter too.”

— WINN COLLIER

author of Love Big, Be Well

“Douglas Brouwer’s memoir is an intelligent, candid, and absorbing account of a deeply felt ministry. He tells the truth about ministry in all its pain and joy. Absolutely compelling!”

— CORNELIUS PLANTINGA

What Do We Do When Nobody Is Listening?

Leading the Church in a Polarized Society Robin W. Lovin

Foreword by Adam Hamilton A trusted senior statesman in Christian ethics and ministry addresses the crisis of political polarization threatening the existence of the church.

Polarization and political gridlock have been the norm in the United States for decades. As that reality seeps into every aspect of our society, churches nd themselves not only a ected, but o en at the very center of the con ict. What can pastors and church leaders do to restore unity in their divided congregations while still speaking the truth about important social issues? Widely respected pastor and ethicist Robin Lovin o ers sage counsel in this helpful book, showing how our current situation of polarization came to be and arguing that Christians can shape a di erent response by learning to listen—to the Word of God, to the world, and to those who are not usually heard.

“ e church may be the last, best hope for healing our divided society. Professor Lovin o ers a roadmap for how we might do just that.”

— ADAM HAMILTON

from the foreword

“Robin Lovin has a gi for summarizing complex cultural movements with a clarity and dexterity that others may only aspire to. Here’s an ethicist and theologian who brings light and hope to dispirited people ustrated by tense and even ghting times. Every pastor interested in helping a faith community stick together should be devouring these pages.”

— PETER W. MARTY

editor/publisher of the Christian Century

Robin W. Lovin is an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church. He formerly served as the William H. Scheide Senior Fellow in eology at the Center of eological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey; as the Cary Maguire University Professor of Ethics at Southern Methodist University; and as dean of SMU’s Perkins School of eology. He is also a past president of the Society of Christian Ethics and a contributing editor to the Christian Century. His other books include An Introduction to Christian Ethics: Goals, Duties, and Virtues and Christian Realism and the New Realities.

978-0-8028-8232-5 • Paperback • 176 pages • $19.99 US • $26.99 CAN • £15.99 UK

AVAILABLE JUNE 2022

That We May Be One

Practicing Unity in a Divided Church Gary B. Agee A pastor well-versed in leading diverse congregations re ects on the roots of church division and the virtues and practices that can promote the restoration of unity.

“Gary Agee serves as the ideal guide for faith leaders and people of faith who take seriously Jesus’s call for unity that goes beyond simply ‘ge ing along.’ e path toward true unity requires us all to take to heart the real-life struggles in our world and to walk boldly toward a new way of living. at We May Be One is a timely and beautifully wri en resource for this crucial work.”

— DOUG PAGI

pastor, author, and executive director of Vote Common Good

“ is is a practical guide for churches who are ready to take steps to achieve something that is much easier to preach than it is to practice—Christian unity. Anyone who views the healing of racial and economic disparities as a desirable outcome of the church’s public witness will want to read this book.”

— CHERYL J. SANDERS

pastor, author, and professor of Christian ethics at Howard University

“ e times in which we live are marked by strife, confusion, and division. Too o en, that is our reality in the church as well as in the rest of the world. Gary Agee calls us to be be er—to be the church and build true community. I pray we answer that call.”

— BISHOP TIMOTHY J. CLARKE

senior pastor of First Church of God, Columbus, Ohio

“Gary Agee issues a bold call for unity to a highly polarized church. He honestly deals with the challenges facing a church divided by race, politics, gender, sexual orientation, denomination, and the like. Yet Agee invites readers to embrace a posture of unity and implement a hermeneutic of inclusion. at We May Be One is hopeful, practical, and compelling—a must-read for twenty- rst-century Christians!”

— CURTISS PAUL DeYOUNG

author of Coming Together in the 21st Century: The Bible’s Message in an Age of Diversity

Gary B. Agee is lead pastor of the Beechwood Church of God in Camden, Ohio, and serves as a liated faculty at Anderson University’s School of eology and Christian Ministry. Having previously taught church history at Anderson, he is also the author of A Cry for Justice: Daniel Rudd and His Life in Black Catholicism, Journalism, and Activism, 1854–1933 and Daniel Rudd: Calling a Church to Justice.

978-0-8028-8186-1 • Paperback • 165 pages • $19.99 US • $26.99 CAN • £15.99 UK

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