Contact for Churches in
NE, SD, ND, MT, CO:
Cheryl Lehmann
Shalom Reader's Club
1512 E. Mulberry St.
Sioux Falls, SD 57103 c
Contact for Churches in
MN, IA, IL, WI:
Shirley Hochstedler
Shalom Reader's Club
1163 Kola Ave.
Kalona, IA 52247
Check out books from: Central Plains Mennonite
Conference Office at
Box 101, Freeman, SD 57029
Phone: (605) 925-4463
Shalom Reader’s Club
Help Promote
Peace and Justice,
As well as Reading, in your Church
Congregation!
(All children preschool through 8th grade
)
Earn a
FREE Book
by reaching your age group reading goal!
Purpose:
The Central Plains Mennonite Conference welcomes you and your youth to the Shalom Reader’s Club.
The Bible teaches us much about peace, love and justice. We believe that Christ mandated a new perspective and practice in response to these issues. The Hebrew word for this is “Shalom”. We hope that by reading these books you will discover new ways of looking at the world as you learn about people in other lands and other times.
We desire that youth will become aware of the religious, social, and cultural issues that people face in our age that are, in fact, ageless. By reading these books, questions will be raised about international events, world history, and God’s vision that will promote a discussion about faith in Jesus and what it means to be a disciple of the risen Christ in today’s world. The selection of these books does not necessarily imply an endorsement of the practices and beliefs of the characters in the book. However, the readers are presented with opportunities for discussion about issues of race, poverty, class distinctions, conflict, and cultural differences that divide us. We believe that Jesus Christ calls us to a new way of relating to each other--the way of Shalom.
As parents, pastors, teachers, and other caring adults talk with the youth as they read, inter-generational conversations will open doors of understanding. If the books are too advanced for some readers, they may want to have the books read to them. These stories may also be reinforced through drama in classrooms, or in children’s stories in worship services. This can be a community effort in the church whereby all benefit.
If a child has already been a Shalom Club Reader in past years, please read new books for this year.
Acknowledgements are given to “The Christian Peace Elf” project and the book, The Most Wanted Peace Books, written by and copyrighted by David Hiebert, 1988. The Shalom Reader’s Club was designed after the model which David Hiebert prepared especially for the Allegheny Mennonite Conference.
Thank you to Joan Friesen, of Henderson, NE, for researching peace and justice books and choosing those to include in the list.
The Shalom Reader’s Club program is sponsored by the Outreach and Service Committee of the Central Plains Mennonite Conference of the Mennonite Church, USA.
We desire that youth will become aware of the religious, social, and cultural issues that people face in our age that are, in fact, ageless. By reading these books, questions will be raised about international events, world history, and God’s vision that will promote a discussion about faith in Jesus and what it means to be a disciple of the risen Christ in today’s world. The selection of these books does not necessarily imply an endorsement of the practices and beliefs of the characters in the book. However, the readers are presented with opportunities for discussion about issues of race, poverty, class distinctions, conflict, and cultural differences that divide us. We believe that Jesus Christ calls us to a new way of relating to each other--the way of Shalom.