A Summer Reading List from Invite Welcome Connect
- Invite Welcome Connect
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
Five books for the slower season—classic and new thinking on evangelism, hospitality, and belonging
Summer gives congregations a little more breathing room, which makes it a good season to fill the shared shelf in the church office (or your own nightstand) with fresh thinking. Below is Invite Welcome Connect's own foundational text, alongside four newer titles from Church Publishing and Forward Movement, written by Episcopal and mainline leaders wrestling with exactly the questions Invite Welcome Connect congregations ask every day. Each title links directly to the publisher, so a purchase supports the ministries that produced these resources.
Invite • Welcome • Connect
Invite Welcome Connect: Stories & Tools to Transform Your Church
By Mary Foster Parmer · Foreword by Michael B. Curry · Forward Movement, 2018 · $20.00
The book that started it all. IWC's founder distills more than a decade of newcomer-ministry experience into a practical framework any congregation can use, with tools for assessing your own community's habits of invitation, hospitality, and follow-through. More than two dozen lay and clergy leaders contribute first-person stories of what changed when their churches put the framework into practice.
A Group Book Study Guide for church groups reading the book together is available on the Invite Welcome Connect website.
"It is a clarion call to the church," writes The Rt. Rev. Neil Alexander, former Bishop of Atlanta and former Dean of the School of Theology at Sewanee, in praise of the book.
Connect
Church Tomorrow? What the "Nones" and "Dones" Teach Us About the Future of Faith
By Stephanie Spellers · Foreword by Michael B. Curry · Morehouse Publishing (Church Publishing), December 2025 · $26.95
Spellers—who spent nearly a decade as Presiding Bishop Michael Curry's canon for evangelism and reconciliation—travels the country to ask why a majority of Millennials and Gen Zers have stepped away from organized religion, and what they're building instead, from a yoga circle at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco to a secular gathering in Atlanta. The book turns those conversations into a set of questions about what belonging could look like for the church ahead.
In his foreword, former Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry praises the book's vision as one "shaped by the way of Jesus and his love."
Welcome
Radical Welcome: Embracing God, the Other, and the Spirit of Transformation
By Stephanie Spellers, with new essays from Michael B. Curry and others ·Morehouse Publishing (Church Publishing), Revised 15th-Anniversary Edition, 2021 · $24.95
Built on two years of fieldwork and more than 200 congregational interviews, this modern classic argues that real welcome goes well beyond a diversity statement or a friendly greeter—it means letting the gifts and voices of marginalized people genuinely reshape congregational life. This anniversary edition adds a new introduction and fresh essays reflecting on how the book's ideas have held up over fifteen years.
"More than a primer, more than a handbook," writes The Rt. Rev. Barbara C. Harris, Bishop Suffragan (Ret.) of the Diocese of Massachusetts, calling it a must-read on authentic Christian inclusivity.
Invite
What Is Evangelism? A Little Book of Guidance
By Patricia M. Lyons · Church Publishing, 2019 · $13.95
A pocket-sized entry in Church Publishing's "Little Books of Guidance" series, this title argues that evangelism is a fruit of Episcopal sacramental identity rather than a marketing strategy bolted onto church life. Lyons gathers short stories of congregations sharing their faith both in person and online; proceeds from the book benefit Sandy Hook Promise.
Jerusalem Greer, former staff officer for evangelism for The Episcopal Church, writes that the book reminds readers "the first step in sharing the Good News is listening."
Invite • Connect
Will You? A Lenten Study of Baptismal Promises
By Amanda Perkins McGriff · Forward Movement, 2023 (created with the Episcopal Evangelism Society) · $12.00
Built around the five "Will you?" questions of the Baptismal Covenant, this five-week small-group study pairs daily reflections with real examples of evangelism in action. Written for Lent but easily adapted to any season, it comes with a free downloadable leader's guide for facilitators planning six group sessions, ending in a shared Eucharist.
"It was transformative in my own congregation," said Day Smith Pritchartt, Executive Director of the Episcopal Evangelism Society, of the study.
Pair any of these with the Invite Welcome Connect framework for a summer staff or vestry book study—and let us know what your congregation discovers.
What's on YOUR Summer reading list. Add a comment below to make your recommendation.
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