Creating the Beloved Community: A Handbook for Spiritual Leadership

by Jim Lockard

Creating The Beloved Community is about the qualities, attitudes, and practices that are needed to manifest the kind of world envisioned by Howard Thurman and Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr., a world of peace and harmony. The focus is on how to support the larger concept of the Universal Beloved Community by creating The Beloved Community locally - as authentic local spiritual communities. This book is for those in spiritual leadership in any faith tradition who have a desire to create the kind of world that the great spiritual visionaries have described for us. Those interested in transcending the limited reality of focusing only on organizational survival so that a greater vision can unfold will find this book to be of great value. Creating The Beloved Community speaks of the leadership qualities needed to create such a community, including cultural evolutionary awareness, presencing, and psychological awareness of our own and others' development. The role of the mystical realms and the evolutionary nature of spiritual community are presented as necessary to fully engage taking The Beloved Community into the world. It is time for us to walk our talk and to bring the promise of harmony and peace to a world that cries out for them. “The one constant, the north star of every vital community is its commitment to nurturing a culture of love. This reverent commitment uplifts our relationships to one another and to the world at large. Without it, our collective experience is embittered rather than empowered. In Jim Lockard’s masterful and pioneering new work, Creating The Beloved Community, we are shown how to consciously return to this self-existent cause of love and find ourselves uncovering healthy and possibility driven spiritual centers where the compassionate heart takes the lead.” ~ Rev. Dr. David Ault - author of “The Grass Is Greener Right Here” “Jim Lockard's new book, CREATING THE BELOVED COMMUNITY is an essential read for every spiritual leader, regardless of faith tradition. He takes us to new levels of leadership integrity and shows the pathway forward through the cultural changes that have affected every spiritual community." ~ Rev. Dr. Kenn Gordon, Spiritual Leader of Centers for Spiritual Living Jim Lockard has been in ministry for over 20 years. He brings a wealth of experience and the viewpoint of a visionary to his work.

142 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 3, 2017

Reviews

[Doris G. Hoskins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every Spiritual Community

What label you operate under: Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Earth Spirit, Atheist and on and on. This book is for you. It’s not trying to change you it’s goal is to help you be all that you can be. Read it. Then start over and work to PRACTICE what it’s teaching. Perfection isn’t required, practice is.

[John MOREHOUSE · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful Little Book

This book is a gem. Erudite and well sourced, the author argues that Beloved Community requires a spiritual center in order to widen its circumference towards love.

[Toni Lamotta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding

Summarizes some challenging concepts in an accessable way. Will be using this as a text for future ministers. Thank you!

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read about 60% of this book. I liked the first couple of chapters and lost interest.