Senior Fellow

Senior Fellow Amy L. Sherman, Ph.D., directs Sagamore Institute’s Center on Faith in Communities (CFIC). CFIC is a capacity building initiative for congregations and faith-based and community-based organizations. Its aim is to help leaders invest more strategically and effectively in their communities as they address poverty and injustice. Sherman has led multiple evaluation projects for faith-based organizations, including the Christian Community Development Association, Jobs for Life, Caring for Kids, Viva Networks, the Urban Youth Workers Institute, and Outreach, Inc. She is a frequent speaker/trainer at gatherings for congregational and nonprofit ministry leaders.

Sherman is author of Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good (IVP, 2011) and Agents of Flourishing: Pursuing Shalom in Every Corner of Society (IVP, forthcoming May 2022). She has written several resource guides for community development practitioners, including The Charitable Choice Handbook for Ministry Leaders, The ABCS of Community Ministry: A Curriculum for Congregations; and Establishing a Church-based, Welfare-to-Work Mentoring Ministry: A Practical “How-to” Guide.

Sherman also works closely with Made to Flourish (MTF), a pastors’ network for the common good focused on issues of faith and work. Her book on that topic, Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good, won honors in 2013 as Christianity Today’s choice as Book of the Year in the Christian Living category. She writes regularly for MTF’s Common Good magazine and for madetoflourish.org.

Sherman is the author of seven books and over 100 articles and essays. Her most recent book is Agents of Flourishing: Pursuing Shalom in Every Corner of Society (IVP, forthcoming 2022). Her articles and essays have appeared in such magazines as The Public Interest, Policy Review, First Things, Christianity Today, Philanthropy, The American Enterprise, The Christian Century, and Books & Culture.

Sherman has led several major Sagamore research projects including the first major study of faith-based intermediary organizations; the largest national survey of Hispanic church-based community ministries in the U.S.; the largest survey ever of Christian women on their giving and volunteering patterns; a 6-city demonstration project on financial literacy for urban youth; and the development of FASTEN, the web’s largest clearinghouse of practical, educational materials and tools for organizations seeking the revitalization of their communities.

Sherman is founder and former executive director of Charlottesville Abundant life Ministries, a holistic, cross-cultural, whole-family, church-based outreach in an urban neighborhood of approximately 380 lower-income families.

Sherman earned her BA in Political Science at Messiah College (197) and her M.A. and Ph.D. in international economic development from the University of Virginia (1994). She volunteered for several years as a Senior Fellow with the International Justice Mission, is a longtime member of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville, VA, and is a passionate UVA men’s basketball fan.