Download or read book Loving Your Community written by Stephen Viars and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2020-01-21 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are you and your church making a difference in your community? Are you meeting needs in a positive, proactive, and loving way? Too often when churches are presented with a need outside their walls, they operate on the principle of "Say no unless you have to say yes." Don't want that to be your church's legacy in your community? Drawing on more than 30 years of service to the community surrounding Faith Church in Indiana, pastor Stephen Viars shows you how to develop a dynamic, giving relationship with your community, one in which your natural response to needs is "Yes! How can we help?" No matter the size, location, demographics, or issues in your community, the approach found in this practical book will help you improve people's lives, draw them into productive conversation about the hope you have in Christ, and glorify God.

Download or read book We Love Our City written by Raymond Beaty and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2018-02-06 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The subtitle of the book is an actual quote from one of our City Council members. I was asked to make a presentation to the City Council one evening on all the projects we as a church, had partnered with the city on to provide social services to our community. One of the reasons for the report was to introduce the newest partnership, in which we as a church would become the citys official graffiti abatement team. After everyone on the City Council took an opportunity to thank our church for the services we were providing to the community, one of them said, Because of all that The Fathers House is doing in our community, the city is a better place to live in. This is how a church in the community became the communitys church.

Download or read book Community of Love written by John Main and published by Burns & Oates. This book was released on 1999 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together Father Main's insights into a range of issues: the hunger for prayer, the community of love, the monastic adventure, the spiritual relevance of Mary, and the inner journey of death.

Download or read book Neighborliness written by David Docusen and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2022-03-15 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do you want to love your neighbor as yourself but don’t know where to start? This practical, accessible guide to bridging the dividing lines of politics, race, and economics, both individually and as the church, will help you amplify Jesus in your community and build God’s kingdom. When asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus gave a two-part answer: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and also “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love God. Love others. Jesus’ simple command to love your neighbor can feel overwhelming when your neighbor looks, lives, and votes differently than you do. Racial and economic tensions across the country have resulted in deep dividing lines that seem really intimidating to cross. Docusen breaks down these lines in approachable chapters, including topics like these: how to actively seek out people you can benefit and encourage, what it means to find a diverse and supportive community that fulfills needs, examples of real-life experiences, including highlights and missteps of Docusen’s ongoing journey, and how churches can teach on difficult topics with grace and truth. Neighborliness is a practical guide to bridging those dividing lines and learning to recognize and amplify the beauty of God in our communities. Backed by David’s speaking and training through the Neighborliness Center, this book will help individuals and churches reach out to their neighbors, love them through Christ, and build God’s kingdom.

Download or read book Where Did Our Love Go written by Gil Robertson and published by Agate Publishing. This book was released on 2013-01-21 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Where Did Our Love Go?, an anthology of essays written by many major public figures and celebrities, will explore the substantive issues related to marital problem in the African-American community. From the "my baby's mama" syndrome to the more serious implications of what a generation of single-parent households will mean to future generations, this comprehensive collection will provide an in-depth discourse on the trends and issues that have caused the problematic behaviors within African-American relationships to persist with little sign of relief. The book will consist of a total of 40 essays divided equally into 4 lifestyle categories (single, married, divorced, and widowed), to present a wide cross section of perspectives on this subject. Marriage plays an essential role in maintaining the vitality and character of a community, so it is deeply unsettling for many African Americans to find that the value of this institution has lost its allure. While marriage among African Americans has always fallen below the average of other population segments, the gap today has grown so pronounced that the subject has sparked an intense national dialogue. A 2006 Washington Post article, “Is Marriage for White People,” created waves of controversy on the issue. In 2010, Nightline dedicated an entire broadcast to this growing crisis. The marriage gap in Black America has become such an open secret that it’s now the source of endless bad jokes and prime time reality shows. The statistics even back this up, as according to the U.S. Census, 43.3% of black men and 41.9% of black women in America have never been married, and the rate of decline is nearly twice the national average. Marriage is a rite of passage that is fundamental to every culture, which underscores the tremendous need for an active dialogue to take place that will lay a foundation for discovery. With essays from 50 Cent, Viola Davis, Jabari Asim, Darnell Williams, Faith Evans, Mara Brock Akil, and more, Where Did Our Love Go? will ignite the fight for that conversation to begin.

Download or read book For the Love of Community Engagement written by Becky Hirst and published by . This book was released on 2021-04-19 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Becky Hirst is a skilled community engagement practitioner who is willing to tell it how it is. And she has grave concerns for the future of public participation. To have a thriving society, we need people and communities who are actively involved in civic life. For politicians, public servants, corporations, or planners to engage with communities in any positive way, they need to learn a new way of doing things. A wealth of sophisticated public consultation slogans, methods and frameworks are frequently seen. But we are close to breaking point. Some fundamental things are missing. And, right now, we need to focus our energies on them. As a matter of urgency. Whilst this book shines a clear light of day on hard truths we can't escape, the stories within it are about love, passion, enthusiasm and a heartfelt commitment to community empowerment and community building. Becky's expedition through her career to date is authentically presented as 20 easy-to-follow key insights, combined with 100 conversation starters to provide the reader with calls to both reflect and act. For the Love of Community Engagement seeks to inspire better public participation - and that it will!

Download or read book The Good and Beautiful Community written by James Bryan Smith and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2010-07-21 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this Good and Beautiful Series book, James Bryan Smith helps us know how to live in relationship with others as apprentices of Jesus. "Apprentices of Jesus are not part-time do-gooders," he writes. "They live in continuous contact with the kingdom of God, and are constantly men and women in whom Christ dwells. They do not sometimes tell the truth, sometimes live sacrificially or sometimes forgive. There are myriad opportunities for us to impact the world in which we live." Yet many times we've gotten it wrong, tending to emphasize personal faith over social justice or vice versa. In these pages Jim Smith shows us how to bring spiritual formation and community engagement together, and then once again offers spiritual practices that root new, true narratives about God and the world in our souls. His insight and humility as a fellow learner with us will lead us to live in authentic ways as a good and beautiful community of Christ-followers, shining the light of the Spirit into every relationship. The Good and Beautiful Series includes four essential discipleship books from James Bryan Smith. Work through these proven Bible study resources individually or with a group to learn who God is, what it means to be a Christian, how to live in community, and how to address toxic self-narratives that hinder spiritual growth.

Download or read book Think Red written by Larry Stoess and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2021-09-27 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Have you ever wondered what the church would look like if Christians began to take the words of Jesus seriously--the words some Bibles print in red? What if Jesus actually meant for us to do the things he said? What if those who "believe in Jesus" really did value the things he valued? Would the church look different? Would your neighborhood stay the same? In Think Red, Larry Stoess takes a close look at the values, the vision, and the mission of Jesus, and then holds up a mirror for us to see if our communities look anything like Jesus. If we dare look in the mirror we may be inspired to leave behind our obsession with consumer-based religion and follow the way of Jesus. Those who do will be set free to imagine creative and whimsical expressions of community.

Download or read book Almost Home America s Love Hate Relationship with Community written by David L. Kirp and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For David Kirp, a gifted storyteller and journalist, the concept of community stretches beyond a cliched figure of speech to describe what happens when people make decisions that reshape one another's lives. He has collected a fascinating variety of such stories from across America to re-create the immediate experience of community--tales that signify in their particulars, giving meaning to the much bandied-about idea of civic virtue. They paint a rich picture of how, for better and for worse, Americans live together. We meet two San Francisco families, one Nicaraguan and the other black, trying to live peacefully with each other; residents in the fire ravaged Berkeley hills, whose greed and architectural ambitions thwart attempts to build the new Eden of their dreams; parents and teachers fighting against long odds to improve the East Harlem public schools; residents of a small southern town caring for a parentless teenager with AIDS; residents of the New Jersey suburb of Mount Laurel deciding whether poor families will be allowed to live in "our town;" and neighbors choosing sides when a black teenager kills his gay white neighbor. While there are real heroes--Ethel Lawrence, the Rosa Parks of the affordable housing movement; and Deborah Meier, tireless advocate for better schools--the stories are mainly about ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events. These beautifully written tales reveal individuals in the process of forming new alliances or falling back on familiar ones, "bowling alone" or promoting the common good. They show us, past all self-delusion, who we really are.

Download or read book Common Objects of Love written by Oliver O'Donovan and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2002 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Widely respected as one of today's wisest and most articulate Christian ethicists, Oliver O'Donovan here explores the nature of personal and political behavior as it is -- or should be -- informed by Christian love. This profound look at contemporary life focuses on how moral reflection upon common objects of love has an effect on organized community -- in grandest terms, political society itself. O'Donovan begins with some lighthearted puzzles about teaching ethics and ends with an intense critique of the role of publicity in late-modern liberal culture. Showing, as Augustine believed, that we know only as we love, O'Donovan takes readers on a journey of thought through a series of current and historical issues ranging from the iconoclastic controversy of the ninth century to the terrible events of September 11, 2001. Based on the 2001 Stob Lectures at Calvin College, this volume will help readers learn how to think "from truths of Christian faith to conclusions in Christian action."

Download or read book A Riff of Love written by Greg Jarrell and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2018-10-12 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Surprising teachers. Tragic losses. Unexpected gifts. Every neighborhood has stories, and ways of singing the stories of their place. Start digging in, and you find all sorts of music. In a neighborhood skilled in improvisation, like Enderly Park, you also discover new ways to sing those songs, and a choir of new kinfolk to sing them with. Since 2005, author and saxophonist Greg Jarrell has been learning the songs of Enderly Park, his Charlotte neighborhood. A Riff of Love explores the riffs and melodies that comprise the life of the neighborhood and of QC Family Tree, the hospitality house where he lives. Though neighbors there face significant economic and political barriers, they still thrive. Funny, heartbreaking, and challenging in equal measure, these stories and essays about life in Enderly Park will surely inspire new improvisations towards community and neighbor-love for everyone who reads them.

Download or read book The Economics of Neighborly Love written by Tom Nelson and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2017-09-05 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Gospel Coalition Book Award What does the good news of Jesus mean for economics? Too often, Christian teaching and ministry have focused only on the gospel's spiritual significance and ignored its physical, real-world ramifications. But loving our neighbor well has direct economic implications, and in our diverse and stratified society we need to grapple with them now more than ever. In The Economics of Neighborly Love pastor Tom Nelson sets out to address this problem. Marrying biblical study, economic theory, and practical advice, he presents a vision for church ministry that works toward the flourishing of the local community, beginning with its poorest and most marginalized members. Nelson resists oversimplification and pushes us toward more complex and nuanced understandings of wealth and poverty. If we confess the gospel of Jesus, he insists, we must contend anew with its implications for the well-being of our local communities. Together we can grow in both compassion and capacity.

Download or read book Love Is an Orientation written by Andrew Marin and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2009-09-25 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Outreach Magazine Resource of the Year Award winner Golden Canon Leadership Book Award winner Relevant Magazine: Top 20 Best Overall Books winner Englewood Review of Books: Top 20 Best Overall Books winner Christian Manifesto Lime Award winner Andrew Marin's life changed forever when his three best friends came out to him in three consecutive months. Suddenly he was confronted with the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community (GLBT) firsthand. And he was compelled to understand how he could reconcile his friends to his faith. In an attempt to answer that question, he and his wife relocated to Boystown, a predominantly GLBT community in Chicago. And from his experience and wrestling has come his book, Love Is an Orientation, a work which elevates the conversation between Christianity and the GLBT community, moving the focus from genetics to gospel, where it really belongs. Why are so many people who are gay wary of people who are Christians? Do GLBT people need to change who they are? Do Christians need to change what they believe? Love Is an Orientation is changing the conversation about sexuality and spirituality, and building bridges from the GLBT community to the Christian community and, more importantly, to the good news of Jesus Christ.

Download or read book Love Approach 4 Proven Steps to Transforming Relationships in Your Family Church and Community written by Dr. Peggy Hartshorn and published by Hybrid Global Publishing. This book was released on 2021-05-21 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this story, Michael, Mariana, Katy, and Josh learn The L.O.V.E. Approach. You “listen” as they use it with people they care about. Finally, you discover what has changed in their personal lives as a result. In this book, you can also practice the 4 steps and see for yourself how transformational they can be – Listen and Learn, Open Options, introduce a new Vision and Value, and Extend and Empower!

Download or read book Indispensable Church written by Chris Sonksen and published by . This book was released on 2021-03-02 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Author and church growth expert provides a step-by-step framework for pastors and church attendees to put their passion into action by taking church outside of its four walls and to serving the local community"--

Download or read book Speaking Truth in Love written by David Powlison and published by New Growth Press. This book was released on 2005-11-28 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You probably speak 20,000 words a day, give or take, and each one influences those who listen. No wonder God has so much to say about our words. We are all counselors, whether we realize it or not! Speaking Truth in Love is a guide for communication that will change you, your words, and bring true comfort and healing to those you speak with.

Download or read book Tuesdays with Morrie written by Mitch Albom and published by Crown. This book was released on 2007-06-29 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A special 25th anniversary edition of the beloved book that has changed millions of lives with the story of an unforgettable friendship, the timeless wisdom of older generations, and healing lessons on loss and grief—featuring a new afterword by the author “A wonderful book, a story of the heart told by a writer with soul.”—Los Angeles Times “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.” Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher, or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, helped you see the world as a more profound place, gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was his college professor Morrie Schwartz. Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded, and the world seemed colder. Wouldn’t you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you, receive wisdom for your busy life today the way you once did when you were younger? Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man’s life. Knowing he was dying, Morrie visited with Mitch in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final “class”: lessons in how to live. “The truth is, Mitch,” he said, “once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” Tuesdays with Morrie is a magical chronicle of their time together, through which Mitch shares Morrie’s lasting gift with the world.