See also past Partners Video Reviews    

Effective Stewardship
One DVD (color) consisting of five 20-minute video lessons and separate spiral-bound Study Guide. $39.95. Additional Study Guide copies available with quantity pricing options (2008); Acton Media, 161 Ottawa Avenue NW, Ste. 301, Grand Rapids, MI 49503; phone: (616) 454-3080.

Acton Media’s Effective Stewardship offers a compact, biblically anchored stewardship curriculum that boasts first-rate production values and theological depth. It makes an excellent resource for teaching stewardship, not only from the ground up, but from the soul up.

Effective Stewardship takes participants far beyond enhancing personal financial skills or congregational giving. Instead, the five lessons explore the theological richness of Christian stewardship in its many dimensions: Talents, Environment, Fellow Man, Institutions, and Finances.

It may be tempting to jump to the last lesson on finances first. The financial aspect is the one that many of us see as the be-all and end-all of stewardship in a congregational setting.

But resist the temptation. The first four lessons provide a powerful foundation for seeing financial stewardship in new perspective. From the first lesson on talents, presented clearly and in an engaging way, we see how the power of incarnational theology and a clear understanding of vocation, broadens and transforms attitudes about stewardship.

The lessons “Fellow Man” and “Institutions” move the focus of stewardship from the individual to the community. We are reminded that family, church, government, and other social units are critical to good stewardship of God’s creation. Environmental stewardship receives its due as the global/local physical context in which all other stewardship is worked out.

When it comes to questions of financial stewardship such as tithing and first fruits giving, the lessons learned previously transform the discussion. When notions of accountability, vocation, relationships, and a broader understanding of personal and community responsibility become part of our response to God’s gifts, stewardship cannot help but be transformed.

The production values and the nationally recognized presenters and participants are first rate. The study guide is clear, concise, and easy to use. A list of reading resources as well as group discussion questions accompany each lesson. Additional “on your own” questions let students continue deeper into the lesson after class.

The Power of Forgiveness: A Film by Martin Doblmeier
One DVD (color) 78 min. plus bonus features. $24.95 + $5.00 shipping (2008) Journey Films, 1413 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22314; phone: (800) 486-1070; www.journeyfilms.com.

Martin Doblmeier, director of the award-winning Bonhoeffer documentary, has created another must-have DVD for any congregation’s library, The Power of Forgiveness.

Already, Power has won Best Documentary at the Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival (2007) and the Silver Screen Award at the 2008 U.S. International Film and Video Festival.

Doblmeier crosses the globe as well as religious, ethnic, and denominational lines to illustrate how human beings “do” forgiveness.

From Vietnam to Beirut, Pennsylvania’s Amish country to Northern Ireland, Ground Zero to Jerusalem, we see the many dimensions of forgiveness and the challenges facing people of faith as they struggle to forgive and be forgiven. The stories we hear in the DVD are, each in its own way, deeply moving and compelling on many levels.

It may be death camp survivor Elie Wiesel telling the German Bundestag that the time has come to ask Israel for forgiveness for the Holocaust. Or the researcher studying forgiveness who suddenly has to put his theories into action when his aged mother is brutally murdered in her own home during a botched robbery.

We also hear from familiar names such as Thich Nhat Hanh, Thomas Moore, Marianne Williamson, and Bishop Desmond Tutu. But some of the most compelling words come from the family members, survivors, teachers, businessmen, and scientists who, in their own ways, are searching for ways to forgive and be forgiven.

This film can easily be viewed in one sitting or used as the basis for a multipart study of forgiveness. Segments of the interviews would make powerful sermon illustrations. Highly recommended.

Living the Questions 2.0 (2007)
Three color DVDs, approx. 140 min. per disc. 5501 N. Seventh Ave. PMB 733; Phoenix, AZ 85013-1755; Phone: (877) 838-9843; www.livingthequestions.com.

Living the Questions 2.0 is a significantly revised and expanded release of the video and Web-based small-group exploration of progressive Christianity. (The earlier version was reviewed in the May/June 2007 issue of Lutheran Partners.)

“Significantly” expanded and revised is putting it mildly. The video component of this teaching system has expanded to three DVDs, each containing seven learning sessions grouped around a common theme: Invitation to the Journey, Reclaiming the World, and Call to Covenant.

The learning sessions (keyed to a 20-minute video segment) cover a wide range of topics. Social Justice: Realizing God’s Vision, Restoring Relationships, Thinking Theologically, and The Prophetic Jesus are just four of the 21 sessions. Individual sessions can be flexibly organized to suit specific learning goals in classroom, retreat, or other small group settings.

A greatly expanded roster of 30 scholars, preachers, and other voices of progressive Christianity contribute their experience and expertise in these DVDs. In addition, the cost of the DVD package includes a year’s subscription to access a variety of downloadable written support materials to complement the teaching sessions.

Geoffrey Scott, Lutheran Partners’ video review editor, is pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, Menomonie, Wisconsin.