Publications

by Mahan Siler

AnamCara: Collegial Clergy Communities

This book raises the question: what if pastors offered their leadership from within the context of intentional community? And if so, what form might it take?

This book is a resource and a guide for clergy who are interested in forming their own collegial group. Written from the experience of a pastor in ongoing community, the vision of AnamCara, small communities of collegial friends, is explored.

Ordering information can be found here.

Exile or Embrace? Congregations Discerning Their Response to Lesbian and Gay Christians

This book is a story of a congregation addressing its covenant with homosexual persons drawn from the journal entries of its pastor between 1986 and 1992. The narrative describes the incremental movement of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, toward defining its relationship with gay Christians.

Exile or Embrace has two audiences in mind. It is a resource to leaders of congregations, both clergy and lay, who are asking three questions: How will our church be in covenant with homosexual persons? Are we ready to have a conversation about this question? And, if so, how might we lead this process of discernment?

A second audience is those asking a more personal question: As a Christian, how will I respond to homosexual orientation and behavior, whether in my life or in some else’s life? The book is full of stories about persons of faith who have lived this question.

Available through bookstores, and at amazon.com.