Download or read book Becoming a Justice Seeking Congregation written by William K. McElvaney and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2009-09 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on sound biblical, theological, and liturgical grounding, Becoming a Justice Seeking Congregation offers practical know-how strategies from McElvaney's ministry and from the experiences of others addressing justice issues in a variety of settings. Idealism and realism are combined in a "rubber hits the road" local church kind of justice discernment and discovery. Designed as an ecumenical study guide for local congregations, clergy groups, and seminarians, Becoming a Justice Seeking Congregation addresses the why, what, where, and how questions related to practicing justice. It provides a fresh invitation for the church to work for systemic change in the world. Advance praise for Becoming a Justice Seeking Congregation "Bill McElvaney is a reliable and sure-footed guide who traces out the deep and urgent connections between faith and social reality. In this book he brings both his long years of reflective study and his heart filled with passion to the hard issues facing faith. Readers will surely feel both assured and summoned by his words." -Walter Brueggemann, Emeritus Professor of Old Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia "For forty years I have witnessed and appreciated Bill McElvaney's consistent commitment to the struggle for social justice and peace. His faithful track record in this challenging area of ministry gives him the practical and theological authority to write this book." -Zan W. Holmes, Jr., Pastor emeritus, St. Luke Community United Methodist Church, Dallas, Texas

Download or read book The Just Church written by Jim Martin and published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. This book was released on 2012-09-21 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are you ready for a new way to seek justice – an ancient way to know God? Finally, a practical guide on how to do justice and grow in discipleship —from those on the frontlines of the battle in the world’s darkest and most dangerous places. Jim Martin and International Justice Mission are experts not only at bringing rescue to victims of violence, sex trafficking, slavery, and oppression, but also, at bringing churches into the fight, through concrete steps that actually make a difference. Learn how to carry out one of the Bible’s core commands—to seek justice—in a way that amounts to more than mere words and good intentions. In the process, you’ll discover one of the most powerful tools to grow faith and deepen discipleship. In The Just Church, Martin shares tangible, accessible strategies to respond to God’s call to seek justice, defend the widow and orphan, and rescue the oppressed . . . whether in far-off places or right in your own community

Download or read book Becoming a Just Church written by Adam L. Gustine and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2019-02-12 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How should the local church think about justice? Adam Gustine provides a theological vision for the church's identity as a just people, where God's character and the pursuit of shalom infuses every aspect of our congregational DNA. In this renewed vision, the church becomes a prophetic alternative to the broken systems of the world and a parable of God's intentions for human flourishing and societal transformation.

Download or read book Generous Justice written by Timothy Keller and published by Penguin Books. This book was released on 2012-08-07 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Keller explores a life of justice empowered by an experience of grace.

Download or read book Seeking Justice written by United Methodist Church (U.S.). General Board of Global Ministries and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Encyclopedia of Christian Education written by George Thomas Kurian and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2015-05-07 with total page 1667 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christianity regards teaching as one of the most foundational and critically sustaining ministries of the Church. As a result, Christian education remains one of the largest and oldest continuously functioning educational systems in the world, comprising both formal day schools and higher education institutions as well as informal church study groups and parachurch ministries in more than 140 countries. In The Encyclopedia of Christian Education, contributors explore the many facets of Christian education in terms of its impact on curriculum, literacy, teacher training, outcomes, and professional standards. This encyclopedia is the first reference work devoted exclusively to chronicling the unique history of Christian education across the globe, illustrating how Christian educators pioneered such educational institutions and reforms as universal literacy, home schooling, Sunday schools, women’s education, graded schools, compulsory education of the deaf and blind, and kindergarten. With an editorial advisory board of more than 30 distinguished scholars and five consulting editors, TheEncyclopedia of Christian Education contains more than 1,200 entries by 400 contributors from 75 countries. These volumes covers a vast range of topics from Christian education: History spanning from the church’s founding through the Middle Ages to the modern day Denominational and institutional profiles Intellectual traditions in Christian education Biblical and theological frameworks, curricula, missions, adolescent and higher education, theological training, and Christian pedagogy Biographies of distinguished Christian educators This work is ideal for scholars of both the history of Christianity and education, as well as researchers and students of contemporary Christianity and modern religious education.

Download or read book Resurrecting Church written by John Cleghorn and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2021-03-02 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Resurrecting Church interweaves three strands. First, it is the remarkable turnaround story of Caldwell Presbyterian Church, which was on the edge of extinction when author John Cleghorn filled the role of pastor. Second, Cleghorn tells the story of his own growth and liberation from the myopia of privilege. Cleghorn traded his position as senior vice president of the nation's largest bank for ministry and the dusty and dated church office at Caldwell Presbyterian. The third strand includes the stories of several diverse congregations researched by the author. These congregations are examples of faith communities that have taken risks, deepening empathy and seeking justice. Through these stories, the book updates the "same old" conversation about church vitality in timely and surprising ways. Cleghorn raises these important questions: Can churches survive, even be resurrected, at the intersections of race, sexuality, class, and faith background? Can congregations be liberated by rebuilding around those on the margins who have been wounded by church? As more US cities become majority-minority, the "mainline" church remains stubbornly white and homogeneous. Church leaders and thinkers are seeking ways to build more racial diversity and radical welcome. This book provides hope and practical examples of how this can happen. Cleghorn declares, "God is doing what Isaiah calls 'a new thing'" in congregations where multiple types of diversity intersect, erecting spiritual hospitals for the wounded and marginalized. For the church, these intersections provide both a current lens of self-examination and avenues to growth in faith. With stories, people profiles, and insights from their leaders and members, this book breaks new ground with practical learning and lessons drawn from original research and the lived experience of intersectional churches across the US.

Download or read book A Just Peace Church written by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The classical just war criteria were helpful in a world of soldiers in uniforms with negotiated holidays. But just war no longer proves helpful in a world where small bands of terrorists with modest bundles of cash can do unspeakable terror to unarmed civilians. In this new world, war itself has become dysfunctional. What are the theological, political, and programmatic bases needed to become a peacemaking church? A Just Peace Church seeks to locate a position between pacifism and just war.

Download or read book Organizing Justice Church written by Paul Kittlaus and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2023-09-28 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Called to work on social justice in the church in the early 1960s, Paul Kittlaus tells his story of defining the issues for his time, finding colleagues who would be trusty companions on a rather rough path, learning and teaching skills for social change, and empowering both clergy and laity to define their faith in terms of justice for those who are poor and marginalized. He also calls to the church of today to place social change and justice at the center of its ministry.

Download or read book How the Nations Rage written by Jonathan Leeman and published by HarperChristian + ORM. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can the church move forward in unity amid such political strife and cultural contention? As Christians, we’ve felt pushed to the outskirts of national public life, yet even within our congregations we are divided about how to respond. Some want to strengthen the evangelical voting bloc. Others focus on social justice causes, and still others would abandon the public square altogether. What do we do when brothers and sisters in Christ sit next to each other in the pews but feel divided and angry? Is there a way forward? In How the Nations Rage, political theology scholar and pastor Jonathan Leeman challenges Christians from across the spectrum to hit the restart button by shifting our focus from redeeming the nation to living as a nation already redeemed rejecting the false allure of building heaven on earth while living faithfully as citizens of a heavenly kingdom letting Jesus’ teaching shape our public engagement as we love our neighbors and seek justice When we identify with Christ more than a political party or social grouping, we can return to the church’s unchanging political task: to become the salt and light Jesus calls us to be and offer the hope of his kingdom to the nations.

Download or read book Holy Contradictions written by Rev. Brian Milford and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2018-02-20 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How might United Methodists bear witness to graceful and mutually respectful ways of living in the Wesleyan tradition amid enduring disagreements about same-gender relationships and related church practices? The contributors engage the question by asking themselves: • How do I approach this question in light of my particular social location? • What do I believe is most at stake, most at risk, and most needed at this time in the life of The UMC? • How does my understanding of scripture and our theological task shape how I envision how we might best live into the future? From the Faultlines collection, resources intended to inform conversations around human sexuality and the church.

Download or read book Little Book of Biblical Justice written by Chris Marshall and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2005-11-01 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The purpose of this Little Book is to identify some characteristic features of the Bible's teaching on justice. "The Bible has had a profound impact on the development of Western culture. So exploring biblical perspectives on justice can help us appreciate some of the convictions and values that have helped shape Western political and judicial thought. "Christians also regard the Bible as a uniquely important source of guidance on matters of belief and practice. What the Bible has to say about justice, therefore -- both social justice and criminal justice -- ought to be of great significance for Christian thought and action today. "Yet coming to grips with biblical teaching on justice is by no means easy." Upfront, Marshall addresses the many complexities that surround "justice" in the Bible: the Bible seems to hold conflicting points of view; there is a huge amount of data to deal with; the world of the Bible and our present world are vastly different. Marshall's honest treatment of this subject is direct, yet almost lyrical in tone. He manages a thorny, multi-faceted subject clearly and ultimately singles out the broad areas of theological agreement among the Bible's writers. Highly stimulating. Highly inspirational.

Download or read book Don t Fire Your Church Members written by Jonathan Leeman and published by B&H Publishing Group. This book was released on 2016-01-15 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Church membership is not just a status, it’s an office. Leaders shouldn’t fire members from the responsibilities given to them by Jesus—they should train them! When members are trained, the church grows in holiness and love, discipleship and mission. Complacency and nominalism are diminished. Jesus gives every church member an office in the church’s government: to assume final responsibility for guarding the what and the who of the gospel in the church and its ministry. Similarly, Jesus gives leaders to the church for equipping the members to do this church-building and mission-accomplishing work. In our day, the tasks of reinvigorating congregational authority and elder authority must work together. The vision of congregationalism pictured in this book offers an integrated view of the Christian life. Congregationalism is biblical, but biblical congregationalism just might look a little different than you expect. It is nothing less than Jesus’ authorization for living out his kingdom rule among a people on mission.

Download or read book Ten Essential Strategies for Becoming a Multiracial Congregation written by Jacqueline J. Lewis and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 2018-03-22 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do churches build immunity from racial and ethnic tensions that threaten to divide rather than unite congregations? Jacqui Lewis and John Janka believe that the answer lies in the development of multiracial, multicultural communities of faith. Born of the authors' work with The Middle Project, an institute that prepares ethical leaders for a more just society, The Pentecost Paradigm is a collection of wisdom and best practices. Here you will find lessons, questions for conversation, and spaces for journaling. Use the workbook with your planning team, board members, lay leaders, and staff. Ten essential strategies are presented to help build communities that celebrate racial/ethnic and cultural diversity: Embracing Call and Commitment Casting the Vision Managing Change and Resistance Creating Congregational Identity Building Capacity Cultivating Community Celebrating in Worship Understanding Congregational Conflict Communicating and Organizing Collaborating in the Public Square In welcoming communities of faith where everyone is accepted just as they are, we can lead the way toward racial reconciliation and dismantle the prejudices that segregate our houses of worship.

Download or read book Steeplejacking written by Sheldon Culver and published by Ig Publishing. This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shows how a strident theocratic minority is attacking - or steeplejacking - mainstream churches in order to eliminate progressive voices and take control.

Download or read book Dignity written by Chris Arnade and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-06-04 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER "A profound book.... It will break your heart but also leave you with hope." —J.D. Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy "[A] deeply empathetic book." —The Economist With stark photo essays and unforgettable true stories, Chris Arnade cuts through "expert" pontification on inequality, addiction, and poverty to allow those who have been left behind to define themselves on their own terms. After abandoning his Wall Street career, Chris Arnade decided to document poverty and addiction in the Bronx. He began interviewing, photographing, and becoming close friends with homeless addicts, and spent hours in drug dens and McDonald's. Then he started driving across America to see how the rest of the country compared. He found the same types of stories everywhere, across lines of race, ethnicity, religion, and geography. The people he got to know, from Alabama and California to Maine and Nevada, gave Arnade a new respect for the dignity and resilience of what he calls America's Back Row--those who lack the credentials and advantages of the so-called meritocratic upper class. The strivers in the Front Row, with their advanced degrees and upward mobility, see the Back Row's values as worthless. They scorn anyone who stays in a dying town or city as foolish, and mock anyone who clings to religion or tradition as naïve. As Takeesha, a woman in the Bronx, told Arnade, she wants to be seen she sees herself: "a prostitute, a mother of six, and a child of God." This book is his attempt to help the rest of us truly see, hear, and respect millions of people who've been left behind.

Download or read book Kinship in the Household of God written by Cynthia Tam and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2021-10-07 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique volume contributes a profound-autism perspective to the ongoing discussion of belonging in the church. By taking readers into two church communities, the author explores the issues of belonging from those least welcomed by the church and consider what the church should do differently. Adopting a “we” approach, she emphasizes the unity of different members in Christ. As one body in Christ, all believers share Christ’s sonship and become children of God. The household concept invites readers to reconceptualize Christian relationships as covenantal kinship. The kinship relationship is established by God’s covenantal commitment fulfilled in Christ. With or without autism, any person who obeys God’s summons is incorporated into Christ’s body by the Spirit to become God’s child. Believers are thus siblings to one another. Viewing each person this way enables us to see beyond human differences and welcome one another as God’s gifts and indispensable members of the community.