A feature on UMC.org written by Joe Iovino recently caught our attention here at Cokesbury. This piece detailed several types of questions pastors receive but have a difficult time answering. While we can’t answer all of life’s questions, we hope that our resources can help. Here are books and studies that might ease the process of answering each of these difficult questions.
Out of the mouths of babes
“Some of the toughest questions pastors receive come from the youngest members of their congregations.”
Seven Things John Wesley Expected Us to Do for Kids by Christopher Miles Ritter
I Wonder by Elizabeth Caldwell
Three Simple Questions for Children
What Do We Tell the Children? by Joseph M. Primo
Passing it On by Kara Oliver
Right or wrong?
“Pastors are sometimes asked about offering grace toward those with whom we disagree. Topics in the news generate questions about responding to those with a different point of view.”
Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White by Adam Hamilton
When Christians Get it Wrong by Adam Hamilton
A Fellowship of Differents by Scot McKnight
The Trouble with the Truth by Rob Renfroe
First Corinthians: Living Love When We Disagree by Melissa Spoelstra
How can we…?
“The hardest questions I get as a pastor are the practical how-to questions in which people are looking for easy program solutions to what are often societal, cultural, and relational problems.”
Passionate Church by Mike Slaughter and Karen Perry Smith
Fear of the Other by William H. Willimon
Race in a Post-Obama America by David Maxwell
Public Faith in Action by Miroslav Volf and Ryan McAnnally-Linz
See, Know & Serve the People Within Your Reach by Thomas G. Bandy
Unasked questions
“I think some of the hardest questions are the ones pastors never get. For example, countering the rampant culture of ‘everything happens for a reason’ mentality that skips over the really difficult questions of theodicy.”
Ask by Scott J. Jones and Arthur D. Jones
Half Truths by Adam Hamilton
Making Sense of the Bible by Adam Hamilton
Reading the Bible Again for the First Time by Marcus J. Borg
Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? by Brian D. McLaren
Why?
“Why does God allow cancer, poverty, hunger, war, natural disaster, or any of the other evils we experience?”
The Will of God by Leslie D. Weatherhead
Why? by Adam Hamilton
When Grief Breaks Your Heart by James W. Moore
God in Pain by Barbara Brown Taylor
When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold S. Kushner
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