THE FOLLOWING ITEMS ARE REQUIRED TO BE COMPLETED IN PREPARATION FOR THE WEEK 1 COURSE

Required Reading/Preparation:

• Interim Ministry in Action, by Norman B. Bendroth, explores the "Why, What, and How" of transitional ministry. Bendroth’s book is valuable for equipping called, settled, and transitional pastors in this time of massive disruption. Yes, all ministry is transitional ministry.
• How To Lead When You Don’t Know Where You’re Going, by Susan Beaumont, with the subtitle “Leading in a Liminal Season.” Beaumont describes liminality as a quality of ambiguity and disorientation that occurs in transitory situations and spaces, when a person or group of people is betwixt and between something that has ended and a new situation has not yet begun.
• Life Together in Christ, by Ruth Haley Barton, explores the “Emmaus Road Story” in Luke 24:13-35 as a crucial narrative for this season of trauma and change. She asks, "What keeps us from recognizing or seeing the presence of Christ at work in the world and in the lives of people sometimes ignored or forgotten or dismissed?"  We all have blind spots that prevent us from seeing the presence of Christ in our lives and world. The promise is that our eyes can be opened to recognize what Christ is up to.
• Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil’s plenary address recorded from the McClure Lecture/World Mission Initiative at Pittsburgh Seminary on October 14, 2020. McNeil’s address may be accessed at pts.edu/WMI-conference. Her book, Roadmap to Reconciliation 2.0, with the subtitle “Moving Communities Into Unity, Wholeness and Justice,” is recommended but not required.