Download or read book This United Church of Ours written by Ralph Milton and published by Wood Lake Publishing Inc.. This book was released on 2000 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Except for Bibles and hymnbooks, no other book has been read and appreciated by as many United Church people. From what to wear and where to sit at church to theology and ethics, Ralph Milton covers it all with his signature easygoing style. Updated with new statistics, and expanded to reflect a church that is reconciling the past and celebrating the future, this third edition is both informative and revealing, and just in time for The United Churchs 75th Anniversary celebrations. If you think you already know the church, you will be surprised at what you have taken for granted. If you are just beginning your faith journey, this book provides an opportunity to discover the rich, inclusive community that is The United Church of Canada. The new, in-bound 12-session study guide contains tips for starting a study group, discussion questions, and preaching ideas for pastors.

Download or read book This United Church of Ours Fourth Edition written by Ralph Milton and published by Wood Lake Publishing Inc.. This book was released on 2016-12-21 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Our Church written by Roger Scruton and published by Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2014-02-01 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For most people in England today, the church is simply the empty building at the end of the road, visited for the first time, if at all, when dead. It offers its sacraments to a population that lives without rites of passage, and which regards the National Health Service rather than the National Church as its true spiritual guardian. Here, Scruton argues that the Anglican Church is the forlorn trustee of an architectural and artistic inheritance that remains one of the treasures of European civilization. He contends that it is a still point in the centre of English culture and that its defining texts, the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer are the sources from which much of our national identity derives. At once an elegy to a vanishing world and a clarion call to recognize Anglicanism's continuing relevance, Our Church is a graceful and persuasive book.

Download or read book This United Church of Ours written by Milton, Ralph and published by Winfield, B.C. : Wood Lake Press. This book was released on 1981 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book This United Church of Ours Fourth Edition written by Ralph Milton and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Book of Worship written by United Church of Christ and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Faith on the Move written by Julie McGonegal and published by The United Church of Canada. This book was released on 2021-01-01 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our spiritual practices carry us through the times of transition in our lives, when we wander in a metaphorical desert. For migrants, refugees, and immigrants, the journey is more than a metaphor. Daily reflections by diverse contributors invite us to reflect on and embody God’s welcome and love for people who are on the move for a variety of reasons. A study guide for groups is included.

Download or read book Confessing Our Faith written by Roger Lincoln Shinn and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This "reinterpretation" of the Statement of Faith adopted by the United Church of Christ in 1959 includes a description of the process that led to the original interpretation, and boldly indicates where the statement expresses firm convictions and where it encourages continuing discussions.

Download or read book Thriving Churches written by Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd and published by The United Church of Canada. This book was released on 2021-01-01 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THRIVING CHURCHES tells the story of two United Church ministers who travelled across Canada visiting flourishing United Churches to uncover the reasons for their success. Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd, minister at Westworth United Church in Winnipeg, visited urban churches, and Tammy Allan, minister at Olds-Sundre Pastoral Charge, Alberta, visited rural churches. They found these churches shared a number of features that helped them not only survive but also thrive through challenging times. Filled with concrete examples from congregations of all sizes, this book will inspire. Also included is an eight-session study guide on spiritual attributes of thriving churches.

Download or read book The Black Church written by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-02-16 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The instant New York Times bestseller and companion book to the PBS series. “Absolutely brilliant . . . A necessary and moving work.” —Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., author of Begin Again “Engaging. . . . In Gates’s telling, the Black church shines bright even as the nation itself moves uncertainly through the gloaming, seeking justice on earth—as it is in heaven.” —Jon Meacham, New York Times Book Review From the New York Times bestselling author of Stony the Road and one of our most important voices on the African American experience comes a powerful new history of the Black church as a foundation of Black life and a driving force in the larger freedom struggle in America. For the young Henry Louis Gates, Jr., growing up in a small, residentially segregated West Virginia town, the church was a center of gravity—an intimate place where voices rose up in song and neighbors gathered to celebrate life's blessings and offer comfort amid its trials and tribulations. In this tender and expansive reckoning with the meaning of the Black Church in America, Gates takes us on a journey spanning more than five centuries, from the intersection of Christianity and the transatlantic slave trade to today’s political landscape. At road’s end, and after Gates’s distinctive meditation on the churches of his childhood, we emerge with a new understanding of the importance of African American religion to the larger national narrative—as a center of resistance to slavery and white supremacy, as a magnet for political mobilization, as an incubator of musical and oratorical talent that would transform the culture, and as a crucible for working through the Black community’s most critical personal and social issues. In a country that has historically afforded its citizens from the African diaspora tragically few safe spaces, the Black Church has always been more than a sanctuary. This fact was never lost on white supremacists: from the earliest days of slavery, when enslaved people were allowed to worship at all, their meetinghouses were subject to surveillance and destruction. Long after slavery’s formal eradication, church burnings and bombings by anti-Black racists continued, a hallmark of the violent effort to suppress the African American struggle for equality. The past often isn’t even past—Dylann Roof committed his slaughter in the Mother Emanuel AME Church 193 years after it was first burned down by white citizens of Charleston, South Carolina, following a thwarted slave rebellion. But as Gates brilliantly shows, the Black church has never been only one thing. Its story lies at the heart of the Black political struggle, and it has produced many of the Black community’s most notable leaders. At the same time, some churches and denominations have eschewed political engagement and exemplified practices of exclusion and intolerance that have caused polarization and pain. Those tensions remain today, as a rising generation demands freedom and dignity for all within and beyond their communities, regardless of race, sex, or gender. Still, as a source of faith and refuge, spiritual sustenance and struggle against society’s darkest forces, the Black Church has been central, as this enthralling history makes vividly clear.

Download or read book Almost Christian written by Kenda Creasy Dean and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-07-16 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on the National Study of Youth and Religion--the same invaluable data as its predecessor, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers--Kenda Creasy Dean's compelling new book, Almost Christian, investigates why American teenagers are at once so positive about Christianity and at the same time so apathetic about genuine religious practice. In Soul Searching, Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton found that American teenagers have embraced a "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism"--a hodgepodge of banal, self-serving, feel-good beliefs that bears little resemblance to traditional Christianity. But far from faulting teens, Dean places the blame for this theological watering down squarely on the churches themselves. Instead of proclaiming a God who calls believers to lives of love, service and sacrifice, churches offer instead a bargain religion, easy to use, easy to forget, offering little and demanding less. But what is to be done? In order to produce ardent young Christians, Dean argues, churches must rediscover their sense of mission and model an understanding of being Christian as not something you do for yourself, but something that calls you to share God's love, in word and deed, with others. Dean found that the most committed young Christians shared four important traits: they could tell a personal and powerful story about God; they belonged to a significant faith community; they exhibited a sense of vocation; and they possessed a profound sense of hope. Based on these findings, Dean proposes an approach to Christian education that places the idea of mission at its core and offers a wealth of concrete suggestions for inspiring teens to live more authentically engaged Christian lives. Persuasively and accessibly written, Almost Christian is a wake up call no one concerned about the future of Christianity in America can afford to ignore.

Download or read book Covenant written by Jane Fisler Hoffman and published by The Pilgrim Press. This book was released on 2008-06-06 with total page 57 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, in light of the fractures within the United Church of Christ (UCC), encourages the members of the UCC to have meaningful discussions about the word "covenant". It is the author's hope that her resource will bring people together around this one word and show that, even with a diversity of views, people have more things in common than not in common. It contains nine thought-provoking sessions that explore the concept of covenant as it relates to the Hebrew Testament; Jesus Christ; God; our UCC heritage; the wider UCC; autonomy; and more.

Download or read book Lesser Evils written by Alydia Smith and published by The United Church of Canada. This book was released on 2021-12-13 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does your faith inform your daily choices? Lesser Evils reflects on the decisions we make every day, from “Do I take this parking space?” to “Do I wear this mask?” to “Do I choose to forgive you?” Daily scripture, reflections, personal questions, and prayers for individual devotions or group study explore how to attempt to seek wisdom and do good as followers of Jesus. A study guide for groups is included.

Download or read book The Call written by and published by Word Association Publishers. This book was released on 2019-04-04 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Join me in an adventure of moving a local church in western Pennsylvania from the traditional 1950’s style to a 21st century missions-minded contemporary congregation. In The Call you’ll find insights into the challenges of leading a church into uncharted waters, through the biblical teaching of effective evangelism and discipleship. Discover how the Bible, vision, creativity, teamwork, and more, relate to today’s postmodern churches. You are invited to share in the surprising love of God found just a few miles northeast of the city of Pittsburgh PA. The Call will encourage your congregation, regardless of your size. The Call encourages us to build a church on the foundation of scripture and address her specific needs. With resolve and perseverance, we can minister successfully to REACH, TOUCH, and BLESS our spheres of influence for Christ!

Download or read book A Church of Our Own written by R. Stephen Warner and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this definitive collection of essays spanning fifteen years, R. Stephen Warner traces the development of the "new paradigm" interpretation of American religion. Originally formulated in the 1990s in response to prevailing theories of secularization that focused on the waning plausibility of religion in modern societies, the new paradigm reoriented the study of religion to a focus on communities, subcultures, new religious institutions, and the fluidity of modern religious identities. This perspective continues to be one of the most important driving forces in the field and one of the most significant challenges to the idea that religious pluralism inevitably leads to religious decline. A leading sociologist of religion, Warner shows how the new paradigm stresses the role that religion plays as a vehicle for the bonding and expression of communities within the United States--a society founded on the principle of religious disestablishment and characterized by a diverse and mobile population. Chapters examine evangelicals and Pentecostals, gay and lesbian churches, immigrant religious institutions, Hispanic parishes, and churches for the deaf in terms of this framework. Newly written introductory and concluding essays set these groups within the broad context of the developing field. A thoughtfully organized and timely collection, the volume is a valuable classroom resource as well as essential reading for scholars of contemporary religion.

Download or read book Our Father s World written by Edward R. Brown and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2008-03-24 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does the Bible have to say about creation care and the responsibility of Christians? Edward Brown offers a biblical framework for creation care as well as practical steps that ordinary Christians can take to exercise good ecological stewardship.

Download or read book The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy written by United Church of God and published by United Church of God. This book was released on 2010-09-10 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What's ahead for the United States and Britain? Is the world's most powerful nation—the United States of America—overlooked in Bible prophecy? Why are relatively small powers like Egypt, Syria and Lebanon mentioned, but no nation recognizable as the United States can be found? What about other major English-speaking nations such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia? In fact, many prophecies do mention these nations. But, without a proper understanding of history and the Scriptures, few can identify these countries and understand what lies ahead for them. The Bible study aid booklet, The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy, takes you on a remarkable journey through history and Bible prophecy to reveal an incredible story with sobering implications for the major English-speaking nations. You can't afford to be without this priceless information. Chapters in this ebook: -- Two Nations That Changed the World -- God's Commitment to Abraham and His Descendants -- What Is a Biblical Covenant? -- How God Shaped Israel's Future -- Does God Keep His Word? -- How Jacob Became Abraham's Heir -- Israel's Golden Age -- With Justice for All -- International Trade: A Source of Solomon's Wealth -- God's Covenant With David -- Were All the Israelites Deported? -- Are All Israelites Jews? -- The Mysterious Scythians Burst Into History -- Celts and Scythians Linked by Archaeological Discoveries -- Linguistic Links: What's in a Name? -- The Label Celt and Celtic Society -- Prophecies of Israel's Resettlement in Northwestern Europe -- Britain and the United States Inherit Joseph's Birthright -- Benjamin Disraeli: Maestro of Empire -- Advocates of British-Israelism -- The Bible In British and American History -- From Punishment to Destiny -- Dual Fulfillment in Bible Prophecy -- The Geography of Celtic-Scythian Commerce Inside this Bible Study Aid ebook: "Why has history been so benevolent and economically generous to Britain and the United States? Why have they been blessed so favorably over the nations that preceded them in history? The answer lies in the understanding and fulfillment of biblical prophecy." "God's promise to Abraham was not limited to a small and ancient people in the Middle East. It extends far into the future, and it is not limited by national boundaries." "Where can we find the descendants of Joseph, the lost tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh? This list of blessings eliminates most of the nations of the world as contenders. To find them we must ask: Which nations possess these blessings in our world?" "When we understand that the modern descendants of Joseph are the people of the United States and Britain, we see that over the past three centuries God has been true to His promises." "Though the United States and Britain do not appear in the Bible's prophecies of the end time under their present names, God hasn't ignored these nations. He identifies them in prophecy according to their ancestry. Most people simply haven't known where to look for them."