Are you a dirt church or a soil church?
Now is the season for new hope and spiritual vitality on your corner of God's Farm!
Preparing Fields for Seasons of Change by Dr. Collison is a "must read" for every pastor serving a small rural congregation. It celebrates the giftedness of people who are steeped in the life and culture of farming. The biblical narratives of agriculture give everything these congregations need to be vibrant faith communities. Included in this book is a practical Bible study that uses the season of cultivation as a basis for spiritual growth and mission. This work is well-researched and the author's personal life experience in rural Delaware gives added authenticity and wisdom.
Bishop Peggy A. Johnson, Philadelphia Episcopal Area, The United Methodist Church.
Many small rural congregations have lost connection to one of their greatest resources of gospel interpretation and inspiration for resilience: the land and its seasons. Becky Collison tells those of us in such congregations how to recover that connection and thereby write a new local chapter of congregational vitality in spite of the odds.
Lewis A. Parks, professor of church leadership and congregational development, Emeritus Wesley Theological Seminary, and author of "Preaching in the Small Membership Church"