Seller: Coffee Cat Books, Chapel Hill, NC, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Very Good. 1987. Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Paperback. Clean interior with no markings, unmarked. Blue illustrated covers; light shelf wear & rubbing to covers; no rips, tears, or stains; saddle-stitched binding secure, solid & square. 48 pp. 10x7. A late-1980s Lutheran pastoral-care study on congregational retention by Omar Stuenkel, issued under the Augsburg imprint before the ELCA merger. Ships from the USA, quickly & w/care. ___________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________ SYNOPSIS & HISTORY: Caring About Inactive Church Members addresses a persistent concern of late-twentieth-century Protestant parish ministry: the structural and pastoral challenge of declining congregational participation. Written by Lutheran pastor and editor Omar Stuenkel, the work offers a framework for understanding the social and spiritual reasons individuals drift away from active church life. Rather than resorting to administrative pressure or simplistic growth strategies, it advocates a relationship-centered approach rooted in pastoral care, listening, and mutual support, with practical methodologies for visitation programs, lay-led outreach, and small-group structures. Published in 1987 by Augsburg Publishing House, the work reflects the parish-renewal and congregational-retention movements of late 1980s mainline American Protestantism. Omar Theodore Stuenkel was an influential Lutheran theologian and editor who served as managing editor of The Lutheran Witness and aligned with the moderate wing of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod; this was among his final books under the independent Augsburg imprint before the 1988 ELCA consolidation. It is collected in the fields of American religious history, Lutheran pastoral practice, and vintage denominational publishing. Seller Inventory # C0VG-ES061726g12