5 Books Your Pastor Should be Reading With Your Church

Below are five books your pastor should be reading with your church community.

I don’t mean to say these are the only ones – but they are a small selection of vital ones. And if your pastor won’t or can’t, I invite you to think of it as your opportunity and responsibility to launch a small group or two. I guarantee that even if you don’t resonate with all five, there will be one or two that will bring new depth and meaning within your church setting.

Without further ado, here they are.

My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem

The only book on this list that is not explicitly spiritual in nature, My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending our Hearts and Bodies is undoubtedly a spiritual book. If an engaged spirituality is all about developing the capacity to see ourselves and God more clearly, this book is a wisdom-filled guide in just that.

From the book description: “The body is where our instincts reside and where we fight, flee, or freeze, and it endures the trauma inflicted by the ills that plague society. [Trauma specialist Resmaa] Menakem argues this destruction will continue until Americans learn to heal the generational anguish of white supremacy, which is deeply embedded in all our bodies. Our collective agony doesn’t just affect African Americans. White Americans suffer their own secondary trauma as well. So do blue Americans—our police.”

Falling Upward by Richard Rohr

In this book, Richard Rohr dives into how we evolve and change as human beings, pointing us to a framework that helps us understand what transformation looks like.

From the book description: “In Falling Upward, Fr. Richard Rohr seeks to help readers understand the tasks of the two halves of life and to show them that those who have fallen, failed, or ‘gone down’ are the only ones who understand ‘up.’ Most of us tend to think of the second half of life as largely about getting old, dealing with health issues, and letting go of life, but the whole thesis of this book is exactly the opposite. What looks like falling down can largely be experienced as ‘falling upward.’ In fact, it is not a loss but somehow actually a gain, as we have all seen with elders who have come to their fullness.”

This Here Flesh by Cole Arthur Riley

In this brilliant book, Cole Arthur Riley perfectly encapsulated my experience of spirituality when she wrote: “contemplative spirituality is a fidelity to beholding the divine in all things.” Her words invite us beyond the church walls to understand the deep ways our bodies hold our stories.

From the book description: “In these deeply transporting pages, Arthur Riley reflects on the stories of her grandmother and father, and how they revealed to her an embodied, dignity-affirming spirituality, not only in what they believed but in the act of living itself. Writing memorably of her own childhood and coming to self, Arthur Riley boldly explores some of the most urgent questions of life and faith: How can spirituality not silence the body, but instead allow it to come alive? How do we honor, lament, and heal from the stories we inherit? How can we find peace in a world overtaken with dislocation, noise, and unrest? In this indelible work of contemplative storytelling, Arthur Riley invites us to descend into our own stories, examine our capacity to rest, wonder, joy, rage, and repair, and find that our humanity is not an enemy to faith but evidence of it.”

Wild Mercy by Mirabai Starr

This book…this book is amazing. It is life-changing. Or, at least, it certainly has been for me. After years of examining and deconstructing my experience of God as a white, male, Zeus-like figure, Mirabai’s words in this book helped me to finally put words to my actual experience of the Divine.

From the book description: “Wild Mercy provides a much-needed alternative to the models of religion and spirituality that have dominated history. Here, Mirabai invites you to welcome the wisdom of women back into the collective field where it may transform the human family, heal the ravaged Earth, and awaken the divine love in our hearts.”

Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh explores the connection between Christianity and Buddhism, focusing on the contemplative and mystical hearts of both traditions. It is a masterclass in spirituality and ultimately, for me, this book made me a better human – it’s that simple.

From the book description: “Thich Nhat Hanh has been part of a decades-long dialogue between two great contemplative traditions, and brings to Christianity an appreciation of its beauty that could be conveyed only by an outsider. In lucid, meditative prose, he explores the crossroads of compassion and holiness at which the two traditions meet, and he reawakens our understanding of both.”

And as a bonus: you could also check out my recent book Unmasking the Inner Critic: Lessons for Living an Unconstricted Life. In it, I weave together teachings of mystics, saints, poets, and prophets with reflection questions, body practices, and activities to help us move beyond some of our most challenging fears and negative inner narratives.

Brian McLaren writes, “All of us who are fortunate eventually reach a dead end, a point in our journey when we feel we have lost the plot and lost our way. At that moment, we face the necessity of doing some inner work, of facing our inner critic, of discovering who we want to be apart from the masks we wear and roles we play. In Unmasking the Inner Critic, Andrew Lang has created a beautiful and accessible guidebook to help you do the inner work central to the act of being human.”

If you order 3 or more, I’ll include a small group engagement guide and Zoom in for a session! (That offer is here.)

Each of these books offer us an alternative model for embodying ourselves within community – models that are human-positive, love-infused, and seek to make real heart-based change in our communities.

I sincerely hope you share one or more of these with your pastor and that they’ll bring new energy to your healing work in the world.

A reminder for those interested in Centering Prayer:

The 2023 Centering Prayer Summit is coming up! Join together in community with contemplative leaders like Cynthia Bourgeault, Carl McColman, Adam Bucko, Phileena Nikole, and many others as we explore how centering prayer helps us deepen our spirituality and relationship with God. You can find more info and register here!

Links on this page may be affiliate links, which means I get a small commission for sharing these books with you.