The Ever-Widening Circles - eBooks.

The Ever-Widening Circles

By Marg Shrader

Discover Marg Schrader’s inspiring life story of faith, leadership, and service, showcasing how God’s call can lead to ever-widening circles of love and ministry.

Read this book to:

• Gain insights into a life lived in response to God’s call across diverse ministries and life stages.
  
• Learn practical wisdom for spiritual direction, retreat planning, and interfaith ministry.
  
• Explore how faith can guide personal and professional growth through challenges and opportunities.
  
• Be inspired by an example of courageous leadership in the church, including advocacy for inclusivity and justice.
  
• Reflect on the impacts of spiritual and sexual abuse and the church’s role in fostering healing.
  
• Draw encouragement for ageing gracefully and remaining active in faith and service.
  
• Engage with questions and reflections to deepen your own spiritual journey.
  
  

Features

• Personal memoir spanning eight decades of faith-filled leadership and ministry.
  
• Reflections on Marg’s work as a teacher, deaconess, spiritual director, and Moderator of PCANZ.
  
• Dedicated chapters on healing from abuse, dream therapy, and creating safe church environments.
  
• Includes writings, speeches, and reflections on interfaith exploration and contemplative prayer.
  
• Richly illustrated with colour and black-and-white photographs documenting her journey.
  

You are buying a zipped file containing three eBook editions of this 192 page book in PDF, ePub and Mobi formats.

ISBNs PDF 9781991027474
ePub/Mobi 9781991027481

Includes colour and b/w photos
Published 2023
Philip Garside Publishing Ltd

Click here for Print book

Description

The Ever-Widening Circles by Marg Schrader is a compelling memoir chronicling a life devoted to faith, ministry, and service. Born in Melbourne, Marg began her journey as a teacher and Methodist deaconess before stepping into an extraordinary role as a wife, mother to eight children, and ordained Presbyterian minister. Her life reflects a continual response to God’s call, from leading local congregations to becoming the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Marg’s story is both deeply personal and profoundly universal. She candidly addresses challenges like grief, spiritual and sexual abuse, and the complexities of leadership. Yet, her unwavering faith and commitment to God’s work shine through, offering encouragement and practical wisdom for readers navigating their own paths.

The book delves into Marg’s pioneering efforts, such as establishing The Still Point contemplative prayer centre, and her advocacy for inclusivity within the church. It also explores her interfaith ministry and work with L’Arche communities, reflecting her ever-expanding circles of influence.

With rich storytelling, thought-provoking reflections, and practical insights, this book is essential reading for church leaders, spiritual seekers, and anyone inspired by a life lived in faithful response to God’s call.

• • •

Praise for The Ever-Widening Circles

The Ever-Widening Circles
By Marg Schrader
Reviewed by Mary Betz
in Tui Motu InterIslands March 2024
https://tuimotu.org/

"In this beautiful memoir, Marg recalls life as a continual listening for God’s next call. Born and raised in Australia, she found her way to Christianity, becoming a primary school teacher, Methodist deaconess, college chaplain and counsellor, all by her late 20s.

In 1966, she married widowed Presbyterian minister Warren, and moved to New Zealand, parenting his seven children and one of their own. Marg was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry, and active in Spiritual Growth Ministries.

In 1992, she opened The Still Point, a centre for contemplative prayer, and soon after was elected Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand. Later she continued her spiritual direction practice on the Kapiti Coast and became a pastoral minister for L’Arche. Now in her 80s, she lives in profound gratitude for the richness of life.

Marg’s remarkable energy, vitality and commitment to God and life shine through these pages, which also include some of her writing and speaking on church, abuse, dreamwork, spiritual direction and ageing. Her clear-sightedness, forthrightness and courage will be an inspiration for anyone in ministry, especially women."

• • •

“This book deserves a diversity of readerships. It is personal; the story of the ever-unfolding life of one who has been a primary school teacher, and Methodist Deaconess in Australia; then wife, mother to eight children, minister, and Moderator of PCANZ. The author has packed love, excitement, compassion and adventure into her life.

If you are Presbyterian, Methodist, or more widely ecumenical in New Zealand Marg’s story will delight you. If you are local church or have given up on your local or national church, this book will resonate in all sorts of ways. If you have lived for eight or more decades, or engage with parents or grandparents in that cohort, you will be in for shared adventures and new insights.

Parts move rapidly and are compulsive reading. For anyone who has been sexually or spiritually abused by a clergyman, church leader, or fellow Christian, chapters 11 and 13 explore the effects of sexual and spiritual abuse. If you are a minister, lay preacher or youth leader seeking to make church safe, inclusive, and wholesome, these chapters are essential reading.

The book covers a range of topics from the nurturing and mutuality of Marg working with Sister Judith Ann O’Sullivan and Sister Yvonne Munro to create The Still Point retreat centre; to the multiple challenges and opportunities when the author was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand in 1995 and 1996.

Chapter titles include Moderator’s Memories, Dreams and Dream Therapy. One chapter is the keynote speech to the PCANZ Assembly, 2018. Highlights for this reviewer were L’Arche, and Old Age is Not For Wimps.

The theme “Ever-Widening Circles” takes us to where Marg is now. The book concludes with the author enjoying her life in Kapiti as it continues in new, quietly exciting, and convivial ways.”