Norma Cook Everist

This journey book invites the reader to go with the author on her travels to dozens of congregations all over the United States, discovering their assets and strengths as well as their struggles and fears. She was not critic, nor teacher, nor consultant, but visitor. Guest. She learned from the people of God she met, appreciated them, and gave thanks. The book was written for enjoyment; it quite possibly also will challenge. The purpose of the book is to help congregations claim their identity in the body of Christ and be strengthened for their vocation in God's public world. The key to unlocking the book is to use the questions for reflection and discussion. Stories beget stories. By focusing on issues in other contexts congregations are sometimes able to talk more easily about important questions they face in our own settings. ""Norma Cook Everist through this offering of Open the Doors, echoes the 'Hephatha (be opened)' of Jesus, inviting All the People to live out their identity as God's people and their calling as God's servants."" --Pastor Paul Stumme-Diers, Bethany Lutheran Church, Bainbridge Island, Washington ""With the skill of a quilter, Professor Cook Everist pieces together stories that lead us to reflect upon the Church and how congregations are called and equipped for God's mission. Rather than an extensive discourse on abstract ideas, she offers engagement in the contexts of ministry, stitching through the particulars to reveal the patterns and contrasts. This book will be a great resource for congregational leaders to use together to open meetings and to encourage small group discussion regarding congregational identity and mission."" --Pastor Kathryn Gerking, Interim Senior Pastor, St. Stephen's Lutheran Church, Monona, Wisconsin Norma Cook Everist, having previously served in parishes and taught at Yale Divinity School, has been professor of church and ministry at Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, for over 37 years. She is a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She enjoys visiting the places where her former students, as well as many others, now serve. A widely known theologian, keynote speaker, and conference leader, she has published over a dozen books, including: The Church as Learning Community; Church Conflict: From Contention to Collaboration; and, most recently, Seventy Images of Grace in the Epistles That Make All the Difference in Daily Life (Cascade).

You love your work. You love the people--most of the time. They respect you, most of the time. You work together with colleagues, staff, and laity, with energy and enthusiasm, most of the time. But then something goes wrong: a word spoken in anger, a misunderstanding, and things turn sour. What do you do? How do you deal with conflict, whether it be long or short-term, low or high intensity? Conflict is a part of the human predicament, yet it need not define or control your ministry. This book is designed to help the reader ask certain key questions about the nature and scope of the conflict they are experiencing and, based on the answers to those questions, move beyond conflict. The author lays out the variety of responses to conflict, running the gamut from avoidance to accommodation to compromise to collaboration. Written with the real needs of congregations in mind, this book will serve as a reliable guide to all who wish to move through conflict into a more effective and authentic fulfillment of their calling.

Twenty-one theologians from Wartburg Seminary offer new views of church as the indispensable site of radical Christian commitment and an essential healer for a hurting world.