Series: Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations Program Resources | Publication Date: August 1, 2008
Based on the book, Five Practices of a Fruitful Congregation by Bishop Robert Schnase
Imagine a congregation-wide focus on these practices that includes a five week sermon series, five weeks with every household reading daily devotions and sharing prayers on these practices, five weeks of leadership teams and small groups stimulated to take new initiatives, five weeks of conversation and commitment focused on the mission of the church. These are the practices that lead to excellence and fruitfulness, and they can change your church. Imagine!
Cultivating Fruitfulness is a congregational resource that inspires participants through 5 weeks of prayer and devotion. Each day includes a Scripture, a short story or concept from book, a personal question and a prayer.
Other resources for the Congregation-Wide Initiative:
Five Practices Leader Manual and Media
A participant guide for group study on each of the Five Practices Five Practices Radical Hospitality Five Practices Passionate Worship Five Practices Intentional Faith Development Five Practices Risk-taking Mission and Service Five Practices Extravagant Generosity
Focus on the Five Practices - Complete Set Contains one of each of the above resources, including the original book by Bishop Schnase.
For more information on the entire intiative, go to fivepractices.cokesbury.com.
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ROBERT SCHNASE is Bishop of the Missouri Conference of The United Methodist Church. Previously, he served as pastor of First United Methodist Church, McAllen, Texas. Schnase is the author of Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations, a best-selling book on congregational ministry that has ignited a common interest among churches and their leaders around its themes of radical hospitality, passionate worship, intentional faith development, risk-taking mission and service, and extravagant generosity. Five Practices has reached a global community with translations in Korean, Spanish, Russian, Indonesian, and German. He is also the author of Cultivating Fruitfulness, The Balancing Act, Five Practices of Fruitful Living, Ambition in Ministry, and Testing and Reclaiming Your Call to Ministry.
Robert Schnase Robert Schnase serves as bishop of the Missouri Area of The United Methodist Church.
Based in Columbia, Mo., he is the leader of nearly 900 congregations with 175,000 members across the state, offering ministry through local churches, colleges, campus ministries, social services and mission projects throughout the world.
Bishop Schnase was elected bishop in 2004 in The United Methodist Church's South Central Jurisdiction, an area that covers nine states in the southcentral United States.
A native of south Texas, he was ordained Deacon in 1981 and Elder in 1986 in the Southwest Texas Conference. He is a graduate of Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas with a master's degree in theology, and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. in psychology. He has also studied Spanish for several summers in Central America.
From 1989 to 2004, he served as Senior Pastor of First United Methodist Church of McAllen, Texas. First Church was recognized for congregational growth, bi-cultural ministry, young adult ministry and commitment to mission as the congregation relocated and built new facilities to serve the Rio Grande Valley. From 1984 to 1989, Rev. Schnase served as pastor of Wesley United Methodist Church in Harlingen, receiving the Circuit Rider Award for Church Growth and the Denman Evangelism Award. From 1982-1983, he served the Farnham and Alton Circuit of five churches with the British Methodist Conference.
In addition to Five Practices, he's the author of several books published by Abingdon Press, including The Balancing Act: A Daily Rediscovery of Grace (2009), Ambition in Ministry: Our Spiritual Struggle with Success, Achievement and Competition (1993), and Testing and Reclaiming Your Call to Ministry (1991). He worked as editorial consultant for the New Interpreters Bible, and has contributed chapters to Weaver and Stapleton's Reflections on Marriage and Spiritual Growth and Grand-Parenting and the Spiritual Journey.
Bishop Schnase has served as delegate to The United Methodist Church's highest legislative conference, the General and its regional Jurisdictional Conferences. He has served on a number of agencies, including the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, the Conference Board of Ordained Ministry, the Board of Directors of Texas Methodist Foundation, the UTPA Campus Ministries Board and many other conference, district and ecumenical projects. From 1998 to 2004, he served as chair of the Order of Elders of the Southwest Texas Conference.
Bishop Schnase's wife, Esther, is a high school English teacher. They have two college-age sons, Karl and Paul. Bishop Schnase is an avid runner, completing several marathons, and enjoys canoeing, kayaking, bird watching, studying Spanish and traveling in Latin America.
This review is from: Cultivating Fruitfulness: Five Weeks of Prayer and Practice for Congregations (Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations Program Resources) (Paperback)
Truly expresses the 5 needs of an effective church that serves others as we praise God. This book is easy to understand and simply explained. Clear and concise. Goes extremely well with the sermon series.
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