"Here is a volume that is sure to be welcomed by anyone who teaches topics related to postmodernism. But it will be especially appreciated by teachers of religious education and practical theology because Friedrich Schweitzer does more than discuss various interpretations of postmodernism and its critiques. He paints a picture of the postmodern life cycle, which he claims is itself a theological issue. The brilliance of his treatment is further enhanced by the European and North American perspectives he engages in his critique of religious imagery, religious education, and pastoral theology within the context of present day pluriformity. Particularly unique is the author's attempt to make his work available to a broad audience. This book is public theology in its best sense."
A memoir of John O. Humbert, who served as Deputy General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) from 1977 to 1985. In August 1985 at the Disciples' Des Moines General Assembly the Reverend Dr. Humbert was elected General Minister and President, the chief executive of the 1.2 million member denomination. Before serving as Deputy for eight years, Dr. Humbert was pastor of congregations for twenty-eight years in Ohio and Maryland.He is the fourteenth ordained Disciples minister in his family's line of ministers dating back six generations to his great-greatgreat-grandfather, James Foster, a colleague of the Disciples founders, Thomas and Alexander Campbell. Foster was the first in the family line of ordained ministers leading to Humbert. Mrs. James Foster, Martha, along with her parents Thomas and Lucy Hodgens, and family, were members of Thomas Campbell'sPresbyterian congregation in Ahorey, Ireland, before the three families' immigrated to Washington Township in western Pennsylvania.
The apostle Paul often gets a bad rap with progressive Christians, primarily due to his reputation as being anti-woman, anti-Jew, anti-sex, pro-slavery, and a guilt-mongerer. But what if Paul isn't really Progressive Christianity's Enemy #1, but rather a strong biblical ally for justice and inclusion?
When the unexpected comes and words escape you, 99 Prayers Your Church Needs (But Doesn't Know It Yet) provides the prayer your congregation or pastor needs. From comfort for a family dealing with addiction, to a celebration of the new pastor, these 99 prayers will help you respond to unexpected events of your congregation's life.
The author discusses how to preach about racism thoughtfully and sensitively to predominantly white congregations.
As nationalism, patriarchy, and alt-right fear-mongering threaten our troubled nation, the pulpit has again become a subversive space of sacred resistance. In this provocative and powerful collection of sermons from diverse pastors across America, hear the brave and urgent voice of Christians calling for radical change rooted in love, solidarity, and justice. Preaching as Resistance resists, confronts, and troubles the dangerous structures of authoritarianism and oppression crashing in from all sides – and proclaims the transformation, possibility, and hope stirring in the gospel of Christ. From big-steeple churches in big cities to rural congregations in red states, preaching as resistance is practiced in a wide variety of social contexts and preaching styles, inspiring and equipping listeners to respond to the call of justice. Ideal for pastors and church leaders, Preaching as Resistance also provides the opportunity to experience hopeful, welcoming Christian voices rooted in the gospel values of love, solidarity, and justice. In these challenging times when Christianity is so often misrepresented, misunderstood, and misused for unjust agendas, take heart and find your own voice in this collection of resistance sermons from everyday pastors across the country.
Every year millions of people engage in suicidal activity. Yet the Church remains largely silent about mental health, depression, and suicide. Pastor Rachael Keefe shares her own story of depression and suicidality, and provides resources, scriptures, and prayers for clergy, suicide loss survivors, and those struggling with suicidality.
Reanimate your congregation by Drawing on Holy Currencies--an altogether awesome (and fun!) way to explore your gifts and purpose in the world! This interactive graphic workbook is filled with drawings, doodles, questions, invitations, songs, meditations, and more spirited exercises to explore the amazing ways you give and receive in life.
What can one person do to change the world? Be inspired by real stories of ordinary people who changed their neighborhoods. Transforming Communities will give you the vision, the tools, and the encouragement to start your own transformations.
Barbara Mosley de Souza shares the stories of the women she taught and worked with during her 40 years of service in Brazil, 14 as a social worker for the local Catholic church, 8 with the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers), and 18 with Global Ministries. She provided health education to empower women in the favelas (shantytowns) of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. With her students, she designed and published the curriculum for a Community Health Educators Training Course and proved that knowledge builds self-esteem, thus empowering her students to become multipliers, encouraging more women to change their own lives and the lives of others.
Now more than ever, it's time to preach. The election of Donald Trump left countless faith leaders across the country speechless. Now that he is president, silence must give way to prophetic preaching.
What happens when a people can take no more injustice rained down upon their sons and daughters? When each new travesty echoes the cries of ancestors killed for the color of their skin? How do a people rediscover hope? And how do they use that new-found hope as momentum and strength for change? In his powerful new book Stakes Is High, pastor, activist, and community leader Michael W. Waters blends hip-hop lyricism and social justice leadership, creating an urgent voice demanding that America listen to the suffering if it hopes to redeem its soul. Weaving stories from centuries of persecution against the backdrop of today's urban prophets on the radio and in the streets, Waters speaks on behalf of an awakened generation raging against racism - yet fueled by the promise of a just future. Through the pain and hard but holy work, you will hear the call to join the faithful struggle for racial justice.
When the screams of innocents dying engulf you, how do you hear God's voice? Will God and God's people call you to life when your breath is strangled out of you?
ΓÇïChris Crass calls on all of us to join our values to the power of love and act with courage for a world where Black lives truly matter. A world where the death culture of white supremacy no longer devours the lives of Black people and no longer deforms the hearts and souls of white people. In addition to his own soul-searching essays and practical organizing advice in his "notes to activists," Chris Crass lifts up the voices of longtime white anti-racist leaders organizing in white communities for Black Lives Matter. Crass has collected lessons and vibrant examples of this work from rural working class communities in Kentucky and Maine, mass direct action in Wisconsin and New York, faith-based efforts among Jewish communities, Unitarian Universalists, and the United Church of Christ, and national efforts like Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) and Jewish Voice for Peace.ΓÇ¿
Trauma therapist Teresa B. Pasquale offers healing exercises, true-life examples, and life-giving discussion for anyone suffering from the very real pain of church hurt. Pasquale, a trauma survivor herself, understands the immeasurable value of our wounds once we've acknowledged them and recovered in community. That's why the wounds are "sacred," and the hope this book offers is a powerful message to anyone suffering from this widespread problem. This book explores the nature of emotional wounds, trauma, and spiritual hurt that come from negative religious experience. Some of the features are: -Stories from a wide range of persons hurt by negative religious experience -Healing and contemplative practices to help readers explore their own spiritual story and practical ways to move towards personal healing -A journey through the experience of trauma in religious settings and how it is both relatable to other forms of trauma and distinctive-outlining both facets -An exploration of the author's own personal and professional understanding of hurt, trauma, PTSD, and the power of resiliency and healing
A new and expanded version of Seamless Faith, now with more than a dozen new spiritual practices and additional resources for parents, kids, grandparents, and communities that care about families! Add family faith moments to your daily routine with little or no prep, and share meaningful spiritual experiences with your children! Traci Smith, a pastor and mother of three, offers ways to discover and develop new spiritual practices as a family, whether you're a new seeker or a lifelong follower. Faithful Families is brimming with easy, do-it-yourself ideas for transforming your family's everyday moments into sacred moments! Faithful Families helps you: connect faith to your family's everyday life; add family faith moments into your daily routine; learn new spiritual practices alongside your children; teach your children to appreciate religious diversity with time-tested non-Christian and Christian spiritual practices; respond to life's everyday challenges and opportunities with meaningful practicesFaithful Families is the perfect gift for Parents, Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles; Baptisms; Baby Showers; New Families; Christian educators and those they serve; Preschool Classes; and GodparentsFaithful Families is part of The Young Clergy Women Project
What if we could actually change the world by telling better stories? What if the world we have-with its racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, religious hatred, ecological disregard-is exactly the world we have spun into existence through the stories we have told? In his new book, Melvin Bray insists that a better world is possible if the stories around which we organize our lives begin to match the beauty we imagine is possible. Bray puts forth his own daring yet faithful reimaginings of classic faith stories that inspire more beautiful, more just, more virtue-filled ways of being in the world.Better offers a spiritual path on which people-for whom life has called into question many of their assumptions about God and the world-can continue to hold onto their faith, while joining others of goodwill in seeking sustainable, cooperative, and courageous answers to the seemingly intractable problems of our time.
When infertility painfully interrupted Elizabeth Hagan's plan to start a family, the path of grace offered her another way. Instead of giving birth to a child, she birthed herself instead. Along the way, she learned you can't control how fast your dreams come true, if they come true at all, but you can find grace for embracing your life in the present tense, grief and all.Through her new book Birthed, Elizabeth Hagan offers her story as a companion and guide for living through your own pain and loss. For the one in eight couples who face infertility, you will know you are not alone and a long season of grief does not have to destroy your marriage or your friendships with childbearing friends. For those friends and family members of infertile couples, there are no "e;one size fits all"e; answers to a fertility journey-medically, emotionally, or spiritually-and the worst thing you can say is nothing at all. Adoption is never the complete solution to infertility, and through it all, pain can never be fixed, only lived through. So allow grace to help you begin to live today in the present moment.
Eric Law's foundational Holy Currencies (2013) demonstrated a new way ministries can think about the resources needed to do their work in their communities. Law's follow-up book, Holy Currency Exchange, shares a variety of tools for thinking differently about how those resources can mobilize ministries into new life, mission, and vitality. Examples include a restaurant ministry, programs for youth, an emergency rent loan fund for people in the neighborhood, worship service in Mexican restaurants, and many more. What could your ministry do?
The books in this series help preachers and students of preaching understand biblical texts in light of current scholarship. Each volume gives exegetical help, suggestions on how to preach important biblical texts, and sample sermons.This comprehensive resource is the first lectionary-based collection of prayers for the communion table. Included are communion and post-communion prayers for each Sunday in the lectionary cycle and selected special days. The prayers can be used both by congregations that offer separate prayers for bread and cup and by those that use a single prayer. An index is included for congregations that do not use the lectionary.
The shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, reignited a long-smoldering movement for justice, with many St. Louis-area clergy stepping up to support the emerging young leaders of today's Civil Rights Movement. Seminary professor Leah Gunning Francis was among the activists, and her interviews with more than two dozen faith leaders and with the new movement's organizers take us behind the scenes of the continuing protests. Ferguson and Faith demonstrates that being called to lead a faithful life can take us to places we never expected to go, with people who never expected us to join hands with them.Ferguson and Faith is the first book from the partnership of the Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE) and Chalice Press.
Coming home from military service is a process of reconnection and reintegration that is best engaged within a compassionate community. There are almost 20 million veterans and service members living in the United States, including more than one million Americans deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001. Post-war life can be challenging unless there are communities responding with compassion and hospitality. How churches welcome and respond will be critical to the well-being of our nation's veterans, their families, our local communities, and our nation. Zachary Moon, a commissioned military chaplain, has seen the unique challenges for those adjusting to post-war life. In this book, he prepares congregations to mobilize a receptive and restorative ministry with military service members and their families. Designed to be accessible to both clergy and laypersons, this is an ideal resource for individuals or small groups interested in addressing the opportunities and challenges facing veterans and their families. Discussion questions and other resources included will help support small-group dialogue and community building.
For Graduating seminary students, Stephen Sprinkle has written a practical theological guide for preparing for ordination in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), United Church of Christ, American Baptist Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), and other closely related denominations. He provides a theology of what ordination is and what it means to the person being ordained, to the life of the church at large, and to the congregation gathered for the celebration. Sprinkle includes "hands-on" practical guidance on how to plan the service, plus samples of ordination services from each of the four traditions.
Real questions, real responses. Examine questions and answers about Jesus that many of us were afraid to ask. Some of the questions discussed in this book include: Why did Jesus have to suffer so much before he died? Or did he have to? What happened during the "missing years" of Jesus'' life unaccounted for in the Bible? Does it really matter if Jesus was born to a virgin or not? What if Mary wasn''t a virgin, or if Joseph (or someone else) was the father? The Bible says that Jesus had siblings. Does that mean that there are people alive today who are from his family bloodline? Where are they? Who are they?
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