Formative Power of Your Congregation - by Christina Jones Davis & Tim Shapiro (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

The Formative Power of Your Congregation is written for clergy and laity who long for a congregation that supports human flourishing as much as the growth or existence of the church. The authors provide a curriculum that combines insights from developmental psychology and human development to help congregations in their faith and formation.

Review Quotes

Christina Davis and Tim Shapiro have developed a rich, hands-on, and comprehensive curriculum that is ensured to enliven congregational life. Their qualitative research is both a resource and model that honors the voices within the congregation while inspiring the community in which they are embedded. They have embraced the mutuality of the message they bring, saying, "We shape the places we inhabit, and such places shape us."

About the Author

Rev. Dr. Christina Jones Davis is the Clinical Professor of Pastoral Theology and Marriage and Family Therapy at Christian Theological Seminary (CTS). Dr. Davis' research and teaching interests focus on spiritually integrated counseling, substance abuse and addiction, and relational psychoanalytic theory. Professor Davis has taught courses including Foundations of Pastoral Care and Counseling, Womanist Pastoral Theology, Theological Perspectives on Pastoral and Spiritual Care, Social & Cultural Dimensions of Counseling, Introduction to Marriage and Family Therapy, and Psychodynamic Family Therapy. An ordained minister in the Progressive National Baptist Church, Dr. Davis also holds a Th.D. in Pastoral Care and Counseling from the Emory University Candler School of Theology where she was bestowed with the W.E.B. DuBois Noomo Award for Academic Excellence. In addition to teaching, Dr. Davis maintains a clinical practice as a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.

Rev. Tim Shapiro is the president of the Center for Congregations in Indiana. He has served as pastor at Bethlehem Presbyterian Church and Westminster Presbyterian Church in Indiana and Ohio respectively. He is the author of How Your Congregation Learns: The Learning Journey from Challenge to Achievement (R&L/Alban Books, 2017, over $45K net sales LTD). Shapiro is also the co-author of Holy Places: Matching Sacred Space with Mission and Message (R&L/Alban Books, 2017) and Divergent Church: The Bright Promise of Alternative Faith Communities (Abingdon Press, 2017). As a keynote speaker at events sponsored by the Church Music Institute, the Christian Reformed Church, the Pentecostal Faith of the Apostolic Church, and for the Wabash Valley Presbytery, he has shared what the Center for Congregations is learning about congregational life from some 5,000 congregations Indiana. He is a graduate of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary earning a M.Div. degree as well as a D.Min. He holds a certificate in Positive Deviance from Tufts University.