The Power of Asset Mapping: How Your Congregation Can Act on Its Gifts

by Luther K. Snow

Overview

Asset mapping isn't a new system or theory. It's a way of thinking, a doorway into an "open-sum" perspective rooted in the Bible and common experience. The Power of Asset Mapping, by long-time community developer Luther K. Snow, shows congregational leaders how to help a group recognize its assets and the abundance of God's gifts and to act on them in ministry and mission. Congregations will find the book easy to read and immediately useful. Leaders can begin with the tested Quick and Simple Asset Mapping Experience to strengthen and inspire any group in the congregation in as little as an hour. Futher tips, techniques, stories, and lessons drawn from the experience of diverse congregations will help readers discover how asset mapping works. Finally, Snow provides lessons about why asset mapping strengthens faith and community.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781566996709
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	04/01/2004
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	148
File size:	579 KB

About the Author

Luther K. Snow has worked with congregations and community and faith-based organizations on asset building for more than 25 years. He served as the director of the Congregational Asset Mapping Project for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He now conducts workshops and offers consulting to congregations and community organizations. He is the author of The Organization of Hope: A Workbook for Rural Asset-Based Community Development and Community Transformation: Turning Threats into Opportunities. You can visit his website at http://www.luthersnow.com/.

Table of Contents

Foreword by John McKnight and Jody Kretzmann
Preface
Acknowledgments

Part One: The WHAT: What Is Congregational Asset Mapping?

1: A Personal Asset Starter
Begin with Basic Assets
Look for Hidden Assets
Find the Assets inside Needs
Widen Your Circle
Connect the Dots

2: The Quick and Simple Congregational Asset-Mapping Experience
An Overview
1. Recognize Your Assets
2. Connect the Dots
3. Vote with Your Feet
Learning by Doing

Part Two: The HOW: How Do We Map Assets?

3: Basements, Halls, and Meeting Rooms: Opportunities Everywhere
Who, Me?
With Whom?
When Can I Put Asset Mapping in Action?
How Do I Introduce the Idea to a Group?
How Do I get Ready to Lead a Group?
How Will We Use Our Time?
Try It and See!

4: Before Step One: An Optional Jumping-Off Point
What Happens: Centering
The Facilitator's Task
The Process
Steering Clear of Dead Ends
Keys for Noticing God's Will
The Main Thing to Remember

5: Step One: Recognizing Our Assets
What Happens: Abundance
The Facilitator's Task
The Process
Steering Clear of Dead Ends
Keys for Recognizing Our Assets
The Main Thing to Remember

6: Step Two: Connecting the Dots
What Happens: Affinity
The Facilitator's Task
The Process
Steering Clear of Dead Ends
Keys for Connecting the Dots
The Main Thing to Remember

7: Step Three: Voting with Our Feet
What Happens: Release
The Facilitator's Task
The Process
Steering Clear of Dead Ends
Keys for Voting with Our Feet
The Main Thing to Remember

8: Reflecting on Asset Mapping: An End, a Beginning, a Renewal
What Happens: Reflection
The Facilitator's Task
The Process
Steering Clear of Dead Ends
Keys for Reflecting on Asset Mapping
The Main Thing to Remember

Part Three: The WHY: Why Does Asset Mapping Work?

9: The Inner Workings of Asset Mapping
Learning from Congregational Asset Mapping
Modeling Faith in Community
Good Cycles and Bad Cycles
Open-Sum and Fixed-Sum Dynamics
Breaking Out with Asset Mapping
Open-Sum Faith, Open-Sum Community

10: Frequently Shared Lessons
What Congregational Asset Mapping Is, and Is Not
Recapping Lessons from the Quick and Simple Experience
Strategy for Open-Sum Action
After the Quick and Simple Experience

11: More Frequently Shared Lessons: Congregational Life
Stewardship
Congregational Development
Faith Partnerships
Compassion and Justice in Public Life
Evangelism

Epilogue: An Asset Mapper Reads the Bible
The Fullness of Grace: The Parable of the Talents
The Wholeness of Grace: Psalm 23
The Presence of Grace: The Loaves and the Fishes
Coda

Appendix: Resources for Further Exploration