May 2026: Read, Consider, Do
A round-up of links and good reading for this month
Hello, friends and readers!
Today, we’re sharing a few things that we hope will be beneficial for your spiritual formation and community engagement.
Thanks, as always, for being here!
To Read:
Pete Ford shared a review of Of Grace and Bombs, a compilation of Shane Claiborne’s journals from his time in Iraq at the beginning of the US invasion in 2003. (Published by Englewood Press in Fall 2025).
C. Christopher Smith really appreciated this post about preaching from Fleming Rutledge. Chris said, “This post is pure gold for anyone who preaches. I don't preach often, and don't think of myself as a preacher, but I will save this article and refer to it often.”
Dana VanderLugt was one of the speakers at The Festival of Faith & Writing a few weeks ago, and she shared a lovely and poignant reflection on the power of books and conversation.
Christine Youn Hung wrote an excellent post for CCDA about how more than proximity is required to foster belonging. Check it out here.
To Consider:
How can your church community lean into story rather than argument?
What roles do stories play in your congregational life?
The stories we tell (and are told) about ourselves and our world are crucially important because they offer us whatever measure of coherence and meaning we find in life. They do this in part by offering us ways to tie together the disparate elements of our lives. … Thus, an ongoing challenge for any faith community is to sort through the role stories play in its common life and in the lives of each disciple.
—Phil Kenneson, et al. The Shape of Our Lives
To Do:
Take our survey! If you are a young person between the ages of 21-35, we want to hear from you! The survey will be closing soon.
Download the 2026 Summer Reading Guide from The Englewood Review of Books. Summer reading doesn’t have to be all fluff, after all. (Not that there is anything wrong with reading some fluff!) Whether you'll have lots of time poolside or just more daylight to enjoy after work, we hope you'll find a great title to dive into here.
Join us here in Indianapolis on July 9-11 for the Ekklesia Project’s annual gathering. Learn more and register here.
Coming Soon:
Throughout the month of May, we look forward to sharing posts about…
a faithful congregational response to AI and large language models
what it means to think of churches as communities of exiles practicing hospitality
stories from the Cultivating Communities experience of Hopwood Memorial Christian Church in East Tennessee
more in our series about Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age