Pastor to the Body of the Congregation: A Companion Guide for Congregational Clergy - Paperback

by Dennis S. Ross (Author)

Pastor to the Body of the Congregation: A Companion Guide for Congregational Clergy fills a gap in seminary education and in-service training by applying the skills of helping individuals and families to caring for an entire congregation. This book takes an empowerment approach, drawn from social work, to lead with congregational strengths, build trusting relationships, assess needs, establish mutual goals, and work toward measurable outcomes. Social work, religious advocacy, and media relations contribute clearly presented and easily applied skills such as building rapport, creating a mutual work plan, partialization of larger tasks, acting with parsimony, and holding to task. It also draws from systems theory to identify and address obstacles to work, with a unique presentation of triangulation that includes categorization of behavior patterns such as secondhand comments, default responses, grandstanding, and gatekeeping, and provides appropriate responses for immediate application to congregational life. Of additional significance, this book takes a relational approach, as suggested by Jewish thinker Martin Buber, by labeling situations and behavior, not people, prioritizing current needs and situations over in-depth historic study and analysis, and underscoring the intention of staying in relationship with our congregants, even when we react with upset.

Author Biography

Rabbi Dennis S. Ross is the author of the newly released Pastor to the Body of the Congregation: A Companion Guide for Congregational Clergy. His previous book, A Year with Martin Buber: Wisdom on the Weekly Torah Portion, was named a Top Ten Book by the Academy of Parish Clergy. He is author of God in Our Relationships: Spirituality between People from the Teachings of Martin Buber, and When a Lie Is Not a Sin: The Hebrew Bible's Framework for Deciding, and All Politics Is Religious: Speaking Faith to the Media, Policy Makers and Community. Rabbi Ross has written for the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Forward, and other publications. As a nationally recognized Intentional Interim Rabbi, Rabbi Ross draws from his training as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and experience supporting congregations in transition. He is now at Temple Shaaray Tefila in Bedford, N. Y., and has served synagogues in Hamden, Conn., Manhattan, Chappaqua, Neponsit, Monroe, Lynbrook, and Albany, N. Y., Summit, N. J., Washington, D. C., and Pittsfield and Worcester, Mass. The Central Conference of American Rabbis invited Rabbi Ross to develop and teach an innovative interim service curriculum and, as the only rabbi on the Interim Ministry Network faculty, he provides training and support for clergy in interim pulpits.