Listening to God: Spiritual Formation in the Congregation

John Ackerman

People today are less interested in thinking about God while being much more interested in knowing God, observes spiritual director and author John Ackerman, who served as a parish pastor for four decades. In this insightful book, Ackerman outlines ways congregations can promote members’ spiritual growth toward a greater intimacy with God. This book is about the whole system—individuals and small groups, lay leaders and clergy, worship and education—everything we do in a congregation to form us more fully into the body of Christ and to become aware of Christ in us. Ackerman offers two basic four-step models and several additional tools that can be used to create a more encompassing process. And it all begins with learning to listen as a community, and to notice what God is doing in our life together. Foreword by Alice Mann, author of Can Our Church Live? and The In-Between Church.

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Praise for the Book

“I am frequently asked to recommend a few germane resources for leaders of congregations who want to focus and deepen the spiritual life of the total congregation. John Ackerman's book would be on that list. John brings a lifetime of searching to this subject and shares wisdom rooted in a deep understanding of the history and process of spiritual formation. He connects this experience with theories gleaned from contemporary leadership science and practical, tested processes to provide leaders with courage and hope. If you most easily grasp theory and practice through diagrams, you will especially love this book. But all readers should be forewarned, you might be prompted to listen to God!” —Charles M. (Churck) Olsen

“In 30 years of pastoral ministry, I have seldom found a book that so well distills my own experience. I will be using this book to teach ministers and congregations how to listen to God in their life as church. Listening to God is pure pastoral wisdom, teaching the congregation the steps toward spiritual transformation. Ackerman teaches the reader how to listen to God by listening to people. He draws not only from his own successes and failures as pastor and teacher but also from the great Christian sources. Ackerman holds together the unique and sometimes contrary aspects of congregational life, leading the congregation from listening to obedience to transformation in Christ.” —Richard Chiola

About the Author

John Ackerman is a Presbyterian pastor with fifteen years' experience as a spiritual director. He has supervised spiritual directors and therapists and taught spiritual formation in three seminaries.

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ISBN# 1-56699-245-1
Alban No. AL236
paper, 166 pages
2001

In stock

$14.00 ($11.20 for members)

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