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Whole: A Call to Unity in Our Fragmented World
In her hope-filled new book, Sharon Watkins, the General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and moderator-elect of the National Council of Churches, shares her vision of how the good news of Jesus calls American Christians to unite around justice, mercy, and openness in the 21st century.
- GenresChristian
129 pages, Paperback
First published July 30, 2014
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14 people want to read
About the author
Sharon Watkins
3 books2 followersSharon Watkins is the former General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She was the first woman to lead an American mainline denomination. She preached for the National Prayer Service on the day after President Obama's first inauguration. She is also a member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches.
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July 14, 2014
When I tell people that I'm a Disciples pastor, they will usually ask me about our identity? To make it simple, I often tell people that we're sort of like Presbyterians mixed with Baptists who have communion every Sunday. We sort of look like Baptists, but our roots are Presbyterian. We are also, I usually point out, an American born and bred denomination. We are a frontier people.
In "Whole," Sharon Watkins, the General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) writes about identity. She uses our denominational identity statement: "We are a movement of wholeness in a fragmented world," to speak to that question of identity. She acknowledges that we have an identity problem in part because our name sounds generic on one hand (Christian Church) and cultic on the other (Disciples of Christ).
In this book, which Sharon writes both for Disciples and those interested in our mission, Sharon seeks to outline what it will look like for us to be a church for the twenty-first century. She explores these words -- movement and wholeness. She speaks of our historic commitment to pursuing Christian unity, and explores the need to move out into the world in mission (movement).
Despite our low profile, something she has experienced all her life (she's a life-long Disciple, born to life-long Disciples), Sharon believes that the Disciples are a church for today -- our time has come. This is of course, a matter of the ideal, and often isn't the reality for us. But, our commitment to unity, our embrace of freedom of biblical interpretation, our commitment -- at least in theory -- to diversity all speak loudly to our readiness to embrace the present and the future.
Included in the book is a set of appendices that offer us identity documents and statements. It also provides the text to her 2009 sermon after the inauguration of Barack Obama as President. In that sermon, she celebrated the new President's historic fete (first person of color to serve as President), but she also spoke prophetically, calling the President to engage in works of justice. She used the analogy of two wolves that are competing within each of us. One wolf is focused on vengeance and power. The other on compassion. The wolf we feed will determine who we are. I believe that we have all chosen the wrong wolf -- the wolf of vengeance. The sermon is a good reminder of where we need to be as a nation, but also of a prophetic statement to the world.
It is a brief book, which combines personal stories, stories from churches, and the biblical story. Itis accompanied by discussion questions for each chapter, making it a useful book for studies in local churches. I know I will be using it that way in my congregation.
For a more in depth review check my blog: http://www.bobcornwall.com/2014/07/wh...
In "Whole," Sharon Watkins, the General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) writes about identity. She uses our denominational identity statement: "We are a movement of wholeness in a fragmented world," to speak to that question of identity. She acknowledges that we have an identity problem in part because our name sounds generic on one hand (Christian Church) and cultic on the other (Disciples of Christ).
In this book, which Sharon writes both for Disciples and those interested in our mission, Sharon seeks to outline what it will look like for us to be a church for the twenty-first century. She explores these words -- movement and wholeness. She speaks of our historic commitment to pursuing Christian unity, and explores the need to move out into the world in mission (movement).
Despite our low profile, something she has experienced all her life (she's a life-long Disciple, born to life-long Disciples), Sharon believes that the Disciples are a church for today -- our time has come. This is of course, a matter of the ideal, and often isn't the reality for us. But, our commitment to unity, our embrace of freedom of biblical interpretation, our commitment -- at least in theory -- to diversity all speak loudly to our readiness to embrace the present and the future.
Included in the book is a set of appendices that offer us identity documents and statements. It also provides the text to her 2009 sermon after the inauguration of Barack Obama as President. In that sermon, she celebrated the new President's historic fete (first person of color to serve as President), but she also spoke prophetically, calling the President to engage in works of justice. She used the analogy of two wolves that are competing within each of us. One wolf is focused on vengeance and power. The other on compassion. The wolf we feed will determine who we are. I believe that we have all chosen the wrong wolf -- the wolf of vengeance. The sermon is a good reminder of where we need to be as a nation, but also of a prophetic statement to the world.
It is a brief book, which combines personal stories, stories from churches, and the biblical story. Itis accompanied by discussion questions for each chapter, making it a useful book for studies in local churches. I know I will be using it that way in my congregation.
For a more in depth review check my blog: http://www.bobcornwall.com/2014/07/wh...
Displaying 1 of 1 review