Download or read book We Were Spiritual Refugees written by Katie Hays and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2020-02-18 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Church reimagined for a new day Katie Hays, planter-pastor of Galileo Church, shares the story of departing from the traditional church for the frontier of the spiritual-but-not-religious and building community with Jesus-loving (or at least Jesus-curious) outsiders. Now well-established, Galileo Church “seeks and shelters spiritual refugees” in the suburbs of Fort Worth, Texas—especially young adults, LGBTQ+ people, and all the people who love them. Told in funny, poignant, and short vignettes, Galileo's story is not one of how to be cool for Christ. Like its founder, Galileo is deeply uncool and deeply devout, and always straining ahead to see what God will do next. Hays says curiosity is her greatest virtue, and she recounts how her curiosity led her to share the good news with people who are half her age and intensely skeptical. If you are all-in with Jesus but have trust issues with church, We Were Spiritual Refugees will give you hope for finding a community-of-belonging to call home.
Download or read book This Our Exile written by James Martin and published by Orbis Books. This book was released on 2011 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An American Jesuit combines spiritual writing, travel narrative, history, and humor to describe his time working with refugees in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya.
Download or read book God Gets Everything God Wants written by Katie Hays and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gospel of hope, inclusion, and defiance If God gets everything God wants, and if what God wants is you, can anything stand in God’s way? Too many Christians have been taught that core aspects of who they are—their gender, their sexual orientation, their politics, their skepticism—prevent God from loving them fully. For these individuals, church has been a painful experience of exclusion, despite the reality that Jesus was the embodiment of God’s radical inclusion. Katie Hays invites weary Christians, former Christians, and the Christ-curious to take another look at God through the testimony of our biblical ancestors and to reimagine the church as a community of beautiful, broken, and burdened people doing their best to grow into their baptisms together. Hays insists that yes, God does get everything God wants, and—even better—we’re invited to want what God wants, too, and want it “more and more and more, until life feels abundant and eternal and delicious and drunken with possibility.” This is a message of stouthearted faith anchored in wonder—not false certainty. Atheists are welcome. Those who feel uneasy inside a church are welcome. Those still angry at other Christians are welcome. Because no matter what we’ve experienced, the God who still adores this world is the God of hope, inclusion, and defiance of the powers that be. And for those who are willing to collaborate in “the painstaking work of examining our Christian faith and sorting it out—the good stuff from the harmful stuff, the stuff with integrity from the stuff we simply inherited from family or church or . . . the cultural air we’re breathing”—there await life-giving possibilities found nowhere else.
Download or read book 1 Peter written by John D. Barry and published by Lexham Press. This book was released on 2014-08-28 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the old adage goes, you have to ask the right questions before you can get the right answers. And that's exactly what the Not Your Average Bible Study series helps you do. Rather than spoon-feeding you with individual facts, this study of 1 Peter coaches you on how to think through the text as a whole. Tested and proven in Bible Study Magazine, it's perfect for group and individual studies alike. Peter shows us that we are refugees. His letter, written to persecuted Christians, is one of hope. Although we may face trials and experience pain and confusion in our life journeys, our inheritance is "kept in heaven." Like early Christians, we are en route to a far greater kingdom. And we are not alone in our journey--Jesus shows us the way. He bears our burdens and teaches us how to live. Each section of the guide begins with a concise introduction, providing context for the biblical passage. Next, you'll consider questions designed to prompt your own in-depth study. You'll also find specific prayer suggestions, along with ideas for further research. Experience the joy of discovering biblical insights for yourself--then apply these lessons to your everyday life. This is not your average Bible study
Download or read book A Theology of Migration written by Groody, Daniel G. and published by Orbis Books. This book was released on 2022-10-06 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A systematic look at migration that seeks to reimagine the operative political, social, and cultural narratives of immigration through a Eucharistic theology"--
Download or read book Refugee Diaspora written by Sam George and published by William Carey Publishing. This book was released on 2018-10-15 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: God is at work among refugees everywhere. Will you join? Refugee Diaspora is a contemporary account of the global refugee situation and how the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ is shining brightly in the darkest corners of the greatest crisis on our planet. These hope-filled pages of refugees encountering Jesus Christ presents models of Christian ministry from the front lines of the refugee crisis and the real challenges of ministering to today’s refugees. It includes biblical, theological, and practical reflections on mission in diverse diaspora contexts from leading scholars as well as practitioners in all major regions of the world.
Download or read book Family of Origin Family of Choice written by Katie Hays and published by . This book was released on 2021-04-20 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Testimonies for LGBTQ+ Christians and all who love them What happens in a family when one member comes out? How does LGBTQ+ identity affect relationships with parents and grandparents, siblings and cousins? What does Christian love require and make possible for families moving forward together? A social scientist and a pastor, both from Galileo Church on the outskirts of Fort Worth, Texas, asked their LGBTQ+ friends from church to help them understand how they navigate relationships with their affirming, non-affirming, and affirming-ish families of origin, even as they also find belonging in other families of choice. The resulting stories, crafted from interviews with fifteen queer Christians and family members, kept anonymous at their request, are as varied as the colors of the rainbow. Over the years, some grew closer to their families of origin; others grew more distant. Some were surprised by the hardness of heart they encountered; others were amazed by the breadth of their family's love. Most all describe a trajectory, a journey, from the coming-out moment till now and beyond, as their families of origin, like all families, remain a work in progress.
Download or read book You Welcomed Me written by Kent Annan and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2018-11-27 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Are we for them or against them?" In this wise, practical book on the refugee and immigrant crises around the world, Kent Annan explores how fear and misunderstanding can motivate our responses to people in need. Instead, he invites us into stories of welcome, laying out simple practices for a way forward across social and cultural divides.
Download or read book Church Refugees written by Josh Packard and published by Group Publishing, Inc. . This book was released on 2015-06-01 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They’re called The Dones. After devoting a lifetime to their churches, they’re walking away. Why? Sociologists Josh Packard and Ashleigh Hope reveal the results of a major study about the exodus from the American church. And what they’ve discovered may surprise you... -Church refugees aren’t who you’d expect. Among those scrambling for the exits are the church’s staunchest supporters and leaders. -Leaving the church doesn’t mean abandoning the faith. Some who are done with church report they’ve never felt spiritually stronger. -The door still remains open—a crack. Those who’ve left remain hungry for community and the chance to serve—and they’re finding both. Sifting through hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews, Packard and Hope provide illuminating insights into what has become a major shift in the American landscape. If you’re in the church, discover the major reasons your church may be in danger of losing its strongest members—and what you can do to keep them. If you’re among those done with church, look for your story to be echoed here. You’re not alone—and at last you’re understood. Share your story at TheDones.com
Download or read book Refuge Reimagined written by Mark R. Glanville and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2021-02-16 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mark R. Glanville and Luke Glanville offer a new approach to compassion for displaced people: a biblical ethic of kinship. Challenging the fear-based ethic that often motivates Christian approaches, they demonstrate how this ethic is consistently conveyed throughout the Bible and can be practically embodied today.
Download or read book Serving God in a Migrant Crisis written by Patrick Johnstone and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2018-06-26 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Millions are on the move in today's world, and Christians have a unique perspective on this migrant crisis: after all, Jesus was a refugee. Patrick Johnstone and Dean Merrill help us understand what's causing today's refugee crisis, explore Christian theology and tradition on migration, and show us how Christian workers around the globe are opening their hearts to embrace these modern outcasts.
Download or read book The God Who Sees written by Karen González and published by MennoMedia, Inc.. This book was released on 2019-05-21 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Meet people who have fled their homelands. Hagar. Joseph. Ruth. Jesus. Here is a riveting story of seeking safety in another land. Here is a gripping journey of loss, alienation, and belonging. In The God Who Sees, immigration advocate Karen Gonzalez recounts her family’s migration from the instability of Guatemala to making a new life in Los Angeles and the suburbs of south Florida. In the midst of language barriers, cultural misunderstandings, and the tremendous pressure to assimilate, Gonzalez encounters Christ through a campus ministry program and begins to follow him. Here, too, is the sweeping epic of immigrants and refugees in Scripture. Abraham, Hagar, Joseph, Ruth: these intrepid heroes of the faith cross borders and seek refuge. As witnesses to God’s liberating power, they name the God they see at work, and they become grafted onto God’s family tree. Find resources for welcoming immigrants in your community and speaking out about an outdated immigration system. Find the power of Jesus, a refugee Savior who calls us to become citizens in a country not of this world.
Download or read book They Come Back Singing written by Gary N. Smith and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For years, Gary Smith, a Jesuit priest, led a familiar life in the Pacific Northwest. Then, one day in 2000, he left that life behind to spend six years among Sudanese refugees struggling to survive in refugee camps in northern Uganda. He traveled to this dangerous, pitiless place to be with these forsaken people out of a conviction that "Jesuits should be going where no one else goes." Smith's journal is a vivid, inspiring account of the deep connections he forged during his life-changing experience with the Sudanese refugees in Uganda. Along the way, he discovered a suffering people who, despite being displaced by a brutal civil war, find the strength to let go of the many and deep sorrows of the past. Ultimately, They Come Back Singing is a window to the spiritual life and growth of a priest whose generous spirit and genuine love allow him to serve--and be served--in truly extraordinary ways.
Download or read book We re Not from Here written by Geoff Rodkey and published by Crown Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2019-03-05 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagine being forced to move to a new planet where YOU are the alien! From the creator of the Tapper Twins, New York Times bestselling author Geoff Rodkey delivers a topical, sci-fi middle-grade novel that proves friendship and laughter can transcend even a galaxy of differences. The first time I heard about Planet Choom, we'd been on Mars for almost a year. But life on the Mars station was grim, and since Earth was no longer an option (we may have blown it up), it was time to find a new home. That's how we ended up on Choom with the Zhuri. They're very smart. They also look like giant mosquitos. But that's not why it's so hard to live here. There's a lot that the Zhuri don't like: singing (just ask my sister, Ila), comedy (one joke got me sent to the principal's office), or any kind of emotion. The biggest problem, though? The Zhuri don't like us. And if humankind is going to survive, it's up to my family to change their minds. No pressure.
Download or read book God s Refugee written by John Daau and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-03-15 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: God's Refugee spans the first thirty years of Rev. John Chol Daau's life as a boy pastor, wandering refugee, and Anglican priest. The story begins in the rural and indigenous culture of the Jieng people in the small village of Baping. John is born into a dark spiritual world in which the ancestor gods must be appeased. Under the leadership of his uncle, and with only one copy of the New Testament, John begins a Christian movement within the village in which nearly a thousand people turn to Christ. Baping receives the message of Christ with joy, and at that tender moment, their village is invaded and destroyed. John is forced to run and hide in the wilderness and refugee camps of East Africa. As an orphan and refugee, John is denied every advantage in life, but God makes a way for him. Miraculously, he receives an education and a call to be a minister. John begins teaching the Christian faith to thousands of refugees and displaced persons from all over East Africa. Ultimately, John becomes, as his uncle prophesied at his birth, Chol Makeyn, "a true compensator for his people." "God's Refugee is not a work of fiction but a story of the lives of real people - South Sudanese Christians, victims of a war inflicted by the regime in Khartoum. I was there many times during that war and witnessed the indescribable suffering of the people, agonizing over the death of loved ones, enduring excruciating physical torture, and tragic displacement from their homes. But I was always profoundly humbled and inspired by the ways in which people such as Rev. John Chol Daau retained a living, radiant faith through their anguish. Theirs is a story that needs to be told as a celebration of the power of the God whom they worship and a challenge to us to be worthy of their faith." -The Baroness (Caroline) Cox, Member of the House of Lords and CEO HART (Humanitarian Relief Trust) Published in connection with Hartline Literary Agency, serving the Christian book community. Visit us at www.hartlineliterary.com.
Download or read book Jesus and John Wayne How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation written by Kristin Kobes Du Mez and published by Liveright Publishing. This book was released on 2020-06-23 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The “paradigm-influencing” book (Christianity Today) that is fundamentally transforming our understanding of white evangelicalism in America. Jesus and John Wayne is a sweeping, revisionist history of the last seventy-five years of white evangelicalism, revealing how evangelicals have worked to replace the Jesus of the Gospels with an idol of rugged masculinity and Christian nationalism—or in the words of one modern chaplain, with “a spiritual badass.” As acclaimed scholar Kristin Du Mez explains, the key to understanding this transformation is to recognize the centrality of popular culture in contemporary American evangelicalism. Many of today’s evangelicals might not be theologically astute, but they know their VeggieTales, they’ve read John Eldredge’s Wild at Heart, and they learned about purity before they learned about sex—and they have a silver ring to prove it. Evangelical books, films, music, clothing, and merchandise shape the beliefs of millions. And evangelical culture is teeming with muscular heroes—mythical warriors and rugged soldiers, men like Oliver North, Ronald Reagan, Mel Gibson, and the Duck Dynasty clan, who assert white masculine power in defense of “Christian America.” Chief among these evangelical legends is John Wayne, an icon of a lost time when men were uncowed by political correctness, unafraid to tell it like it was, and did what needed to be done. Challenging the commonly held assumption that the “moral majority” backed Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 for purely pragmatic reasons, Du Mez reveals that Trump in fact represented the fulfillment, rather than the betrayal, of white evangelicals’ most deeply held values: patriarchy, authoritarian rule, aggressive foreign policy, fear of Islam, ambivalence toward #MeToo, and opposition to Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ community. A much-needed reexamination of perhaps the most influential subculture in this country, Jesus and John Wayne shows that, far from adhering to biblical principles, modern white evangelicals have remade their faith, with enduring consequences for all Americans.
Download or read book Afterland written by Mai Der Vang and published by Graywolf Press. This book was released on 2017-04-04 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 2016 winner of the Walt Whitman Award of the Academy of American Poets, selected by Carolyn Forché When I make the crossing, you must not be taken no matter what the current gives. When we reach the camp, there will be thousands like us. If I make it onto the plane, you must follow me to the roads and waiting pastures of America. We will not ride the water today on the shoulders of buffalo as we used to many years ago, nor will we forage for the sweetest mangoes. I am refugee. You are too. Cry, but do not weep. —from “Transmigration” Afterland is a powerful, essential collection of poetry that recounts with devastating detail the Hmong exodus from Laos and the fate of thousands of refugees seeking asylum. Mai Der Vang is telling the story of her own family, and by doing so, she also provides an essential history of the Hmong culture’s ongoing resilience in exile. Many of these poems are written in the voices of those fleeing unbearable violence after U.S. forces recruited Hmong fighters in Laos in the Secret War against communism, only to abandon them after that war went awry. That history is little known or understood, but the three hundred thousand Hmong now living in the United States are living proof of its aftermath. With poems of extraordinary force and grace, Afterland holds an original place in American poetry and lands with a sense of humanity saved, of outrage, of a deep tradition broken by war and ocean but still intact, remembered, and lived.
