Pastoral Helps
Showing 601–650 of 4114 results
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5 Loaves Two Fish 12 Volunteers
$14.99Add to cartSixty-two percent of food pantries and meal programs in the United States are faith-based. Most of these ministries are transactional; people needing food interact with church volunteers to earn access to direct service.
Elizabeth Magill advocates relational ministry as a better model for food ministry. People donating food or money eat with the people who need food and get to know them as they serve alongside them. Those needing food share all aspects of the ministry, including planning, setting up, leading, serving, and cleaning. As volunteers become better acquainted, they can form deep, meaningful relationships, creating a new way to be the church.
Five Loaves, Two Fish, Twelve Volunteers tells the stories of 8 churches that share food ministry with people who need their services. Full of practical advice, this book emphasizes that building relationships and offering radical welcome is more important work for churches than efficiency or order.
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End Of Youth Ministry
$22.99Add to cartWhat is youth ministry actually for? And does it have a future? Andrew Root, a leading scholar in youth ministry and practical theology, went on a one-year journey to answer these questions. In this book, Root weaves together an innovative first-person fictional narrative to diagnose the challenges facing the church today and to offer a new vision for youth ministry in the 21st century.
Informed by interviews that Root conducted with parents, this book explores how parents’ perspectives of what constitutes a good life are affecting youth ministry. In today’s culture, youth ministry can’t compete with sports, test prep, and the myriad other activities in which young people participate. Through a unique parable-style story, Root offers a new way to think about the purpose of youth ministry: not happiness, but joy. Joy is a sense of experiencing the good. For youth ministry to be about joy, it must move beyond the youth group model and rework the assumptions of how identity and happiness are imagined by parents in American society.
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Restoring The Shattered Self
$32.99Add to cartNearly every professional counselor will encounter clients with a history of complex trauma.
Yet many counselors are not adequately prepared to help those suffering from complex posttraumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD), including survivors of child abuse, religious cult abuse, and domestic violence. A lack of consistent terminology in the field makes finding resources difficult, but without reliable training counselors risk inadvertently retraumatizing those they are trying to help. In this second edition of Restoring the Shattered Self, Heather Davediuk Gingrich provides an essential resource for Christian counselors to help fill the gap between their training and the realities of trauma-related work. Drawing on over thirty years of experience with complex trauma survivors in the United States, Canada, and the Philippines, she ably integrates the established research on trauma therapy with insights from her own experience and an intimate understanding of the special concerns related to Christian counseling. In addition to presenting a three-phase treatment model for C-PTSD based on Judith Herman’s classic work, Gingrich addresses how to treat dissociative identity disorder clients, respond to survivors’ spiritual issues, build resilience as a counselor in this taxing work, and empower churches to help in the healing process. This new edition is updated throughout to match the DSM-5 and includes new content on how the body responds to trauma, techniques for helping clients stay within the optimal zone of nervous system arousal, and additional summary sidebars. With this thoughtful guide, counselors and pastors will be equipped to provide the long-term help that complex trauma survivors need to live more abundantly. -
When Narcissism Comes To Church
$24.99Add to cartWhy does narcissism seem to thrive in our churches?
We’ve seen the news stories and heard the rumors. Maybe we ourselves have been hurt by a narcissistic church leader. It’s easy to throw the term around and diagnose others from afar. But what is narcissism, really? And how does it infiltrate the church? Chuck DeGroat has been counseling pastors with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, as well as those wounded by narcissistic leaders and systems, for over twenty years. He knows firsthand the devastation narcissism leaves in its wake and how insidious and painful it is. In When Narcissism Comes to Church, DeGroat takes a close look at narcissism, not only in ministry leaders but also in church systems. He offers compassion and hope for those affected by its destructive power and imparts wise counsel for churches looking to heal from its systemic effects. DeGroat also offers hope for narcissists themselves–not by any shortcut, but by the long, slow road of genuine recovery, possible only through repentance and trust in the humble gospel of Jesus.
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Healing The Christian Church
$14.95Add to cartAre you looking to improve the relevance, life, and health of your church? In Healing the Christian Church, author Al Pomeroy offers a fresh, unique, and sustainable approach that will consistently produce good ground. Addressing church leadership, he provides practical advice and a resource for those wanting to see their church succeed beyond the status quo, and he discusses how to prevent the church from dealing with unnecessary problems. It requires more than reading the Bible, attending services, and listening to sermons. Leaders must let go of fear, bitterness, envy, and more to build the spirits of those involved. Pomeroy provides opportunities for personal reflection, inspires action, and motivates a response, helping one assess whether their actions are helping or harming the church. Healing the Christian Church conducts an open and honest discussion on how easily a lack of knowledge and apathy has resulted in shattered lives, ineffective leaders, and paralyzed churches. Delivering a fresh approach supported by scripture, it presents several ways to address current and potential problems.
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Wesleyan Journey Pastor Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$13.99Add to cartThe transforming work of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer was a central theme of John Wesley’s life and work.
In The Wesleyan Journey: A Workbook on Salvation, beloved pastor and author Maxie Dunnam invites readers to spend time every day exploring Wesley’s understanding of salvation through prayer, study, and reflection.
Based on John Wesley’s theology and the Bible’s teaching on what it means to be saved, this workbook will help readers consider anew God’s ever-present grace, the experience of acceptance, pardon, and forgiveness, and the lifelong journey to become more Christ-like.
The Pastor Guide offers guidance and tips for pastors on how to use, promote, and share this study, with ideas for how to incorporate it into worship and invite people into the journey. It also contains short session guides and leader helps to facilitate group discussion through an eight-week study.
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Intentional Churches : How Implementing An Operating System Clarifies Visio
$18.99Add to cartIn spite of many church leaders and Christian researchers doubt about the local church’s relevancy and ability to grow, there are many churches growing and making disciples. They are implementing a revolutionary new Intentional Growth Planning operating system.
Pastors and church leaders are frequently frustrated and overworked, not knowing how to create systems and structures to support church growth and the making of more and better disciples. Just as laptops and smart phones have an operating system, the church needs a biblically-based operating system which its various programs and activities can effectively plug in to. In Intentional Churches, church growth leaders Doug Parks and Bart Rendel unveil a proven and practical operational system that will help leaders clarify their unique vision, filter trends and new idea through their mission, improve implementation abilities, and maintain unity and alignment to what matters most. It is a repeatable and transferable process any church can learn!
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Analog Church : Why We Need Real People, Places, And Things In The Digital
$20.99Add to cartWhat does it mean to be an analog church in a digital age?
In recent decades the digital world has taken over our society at nearly every level, and the church has increasingly followed suit–often in ways we’re not fully aware of. But as even the culture at large begins to reckon with the limits of a digital world, it’s time for the church to take stock. Are online churches, video venues, and brighter lights truly the future? What about the digital age’s effect on discipleship, community, and the Bible? As a pastor in Silicon Valley, Jay Kim has experienced the digital church in all its splendor. In Analog Church, he grapples with the ramifications of a digital church, from our worship and experience of Christian community to the way we engage Scripture and sacrament. Could it be that in our efforts to stay relevant in our digital age, we’ve begun to give away the very thing that our age most desperately needs: transcendence? Could it be that the best way to reach new generations is in fact found in a more timeless path? Could it be that at its heart, the church has really been analog all along?
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Embodying Integration : A Fresh Look At Christianity In The Therapy Room
$30.99Add to cartDiscussing spirituality and religion in the therapy room is increasingly accepted, some even forgetting that integration of psychology and Christianity was once a rare thing.
Yet even as the decades-long integration movement has been so effective, the counselor’s lived context in which integration happens grows increasingly complex, and the movement has reached a new turning point. Christian practitioners need a fresh look at integration in a postmodern world. In Embodying Integration, Megan Anna Neff and Mark McMinn provide an essential guide to becoming integrators today. Representing two generations of counselor education and practice, they model how to engage hard questions and consider how different theological views, gendered perspectives, and cultures integrate with psychology and counseling. “Many students,” they write, “don’t want models and views that tend to simplify complexity into categories. They are looking for conversation that helps them dive into the complexity, to ponder the nuances and messiness of integration.” More than focusing on resolving issues, Neff and McMinn help situate wisdom through personally engaging, diverse views and narratives. Arising from conversations between an up-and-coming practitioner and her veteran integrator father, this book considers practical implications for the day-to-day realities of counseling and psychotherapy. Personal stories, dialogues between the coauthors, and discussion questions throughout help students, teachers, mental health professionals, and anyone interested in psychology and faith to enter–and continue–the conversation.
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Connections Year A Volume 3 Season After Pentecost
$55.00Add to cartDesigned to empower preachers as they lead congregations to connect their lives to Scripture, Connections features a broad set of interpretive tools that provide commentary and worship aids on the Revised Common Lectionary.
This nine-volume series offers creative commentary on each reading in the three-year lectionary cycle by viewing that reading through the lens of its connections to the rest of Scripture and then seeing the reading through the lenses of culture, film, fiction, ethics, and other aspects of contemporary life. Commentaries on the Psalms make connections to the other readings and to the congregation’s experience of worship.
Connections is published in partnership with Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
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Your Time Starved Marriage Workbook For Women (Workbook)
$12.99Add to cartReclaim your time. Reconnect your marriage. Do you feel overscheduled and underconnected? Do you wish there was a surefire way to create more meaningful time together each day? Reclaim your time together and all the relational benefits that go with it. Your Time-Starved Marriage isn’t about being more productive-it’s about being more connected.
Six sessions include:
1. Is Your Marriage Slipping into the Future?
2. Busyness-the Archenemy of Marriage
3. Time Styles-Uncovering your Unique Approach to Time
4. Prioritizing Primetime-Maximizing your Moments
5. Time Bandits-Catching Your Time-Stealers Redhanded
6. Time Mines-Where You’re Sure to Strike Gold -
Your Time Starved Marriage Workbook For Men (Workbook)
$12.99Add to cartConnect your time styles–and your hearts.
The way you spend your time not only defines you as a man, it also defines your marriage and reveals the value of your relationship. Your Time-Starved Marriage Workbook for Men helps you find more time with your wife–and enjoy it more together.
Here are the hands-on, practical tools you need to dramatically reclaim the times you’ve been missing together and make every moment with your loved one count. Designed to be used either on your own or in a small group, this workbook helps you work with your wife to incorporate the new lessons you’ve both learned while reading Your Time-Starved Marriage. This workbook includes exercises for each chapter in the book, plus a small-group discussion guide designed to be used with Your Time-Starved Marriage DVD.
You’ll take five or ten minutes on your own to do each exercise and then compare the results with your wife. These exercises are designed to help you deepen your relationship with each other as you apply proven principles that help you manage your time as a couple. Your Time-Starved Marriage Workbooks can help you be more connected to each other, leading to a deeper level of contentment, satisfaction, and commitment in your marriage.
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Extraordinary Ministry In Ordinary Time
$12.99Add to cartWhat energizes someone in pastoral ministry for the long haul? Holy days like Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost are the exception. Ordinary Time, the longest season of the Christian year, is where pastors spend most of their ministry.
James Harnish invites pastors and other ministers to see Ordinary Time as a metaphor for the ordinary days of ministry. “Whether we thrive or merely survive depends on what we do with the ordinary days,” he writes.
Harnish encourages ministers to develop spiritual disciplines and personal relationships to nourish their souls for long-term ministry. He highlights the importance of reflection on scripture, spiritual reading, journaling, prayer, and spiritual conversation with trusted friends.
This 6-week study focuses on themes Harnish found crucial in over four decades of ministry: Power, People, Places, Proclamation, Perseverance, and Promise. Daily readings help readers develop their own spiritual formation practices to sustain their life and ministry.
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Better Together Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$12.99Add to cartIn a time when societal disruptions are rampant-have you wanted to cut and run?
Have you considered your own gender versus the opposite in a defensive way?
If we are honest, we all have. And that truth is where we begin to be set free. We are only as strong as our understanding of our differences-and they are many and varied and begin with each our fingerprint. But we were not created alone, or separately. We were in fact created of and from and in the image of the same God. Until God created man AND woman, he called everything he created ‘good.’ When he saw us together, he declared, “It is VERY good” Gen 1:1-31.
So how then, in a current state of division at every intersection of life, do we return to the flourishing of men and women together as originally intended?
In this six-session study (DVD/downloads sold separately), author, activist, and headlining international speaker Danielle Strickland will guide us through our differences and mutuality with a biblical lens and foundation. She will teach and inspire us to face the core challenge that drives all division-FEAR-and to change the story of our culture. We will transform and become examples of equality and equity as in the Garden of Eden where we were made better, together.
Designed for use with Better Together Video Study (sold separately).
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Bible And Moral Injury
$36.99Add to cartThe Bible and Moral Injury offers an exploration (with case studies) of the interpretation of biblical texts, especially war-related narratives and ritual descriptions from the Old Testament, in conversation with research on the emerging notion of moral injury within psychology, military studies, philosophy, and ethics. This book explores two questions simultaneously:
*What happens when we read biblical texts, especially biblical stories of war and violence, in light of emerging research on moral injury?, and
*What does the study of biblical texts and their interpretation contribute to the emerging work on moral injury among other fields and with veterans, chaplains, and other practitioners?The book begins by explaining the concept of moral injury as it has developed within psychology, military studies, chaplaincy, and moral philosophy, especially through work with veterans of the U.S. military’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. A major part of this work has been the attempt to identify means of healing, recovery, and repair for those morally injured by their experiences in combat or in similar situations.
A key element for the book is that one feature of work on moral injury has been the appeal by psychologists and others to ancient texts and cultures for models of both the articulation of moral injury and possible means of prevention and healing. These appeals have, at times, referenced Old Testament texts that describe war-related rituals, practices, and experiences (e.g., Numbers 31). Additionally, work on moral injury within other fields has used ancient texts in another way–namely, as a means to offer creative re-readings of ancient literary characters as exemplars of warriors and experiences related to moral injury. For example, scholars have re-read the tales of Achilles and Odysseus in The Iliad and The Odyssey in dialogue with the experiences of American veterans of the Vietnam war and the moral struggles of combat and homecoming.
Alongside these trends, consideration of moral injury has increasingly made its way into works on pastoral theology, Christian chaplaincy, and moral theology and ethics. These initial interpretive moves suggest a need for an extended and full-orbed examination of the interpretation of biblical texts in dialogue with the emerging formulation and practices of moral injury and recovery. This book will not simply be an effort to interpret various biblical texts through the lens of moral injury. It also seeks to e
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Acres Of Diamonds Participants Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$9.99Add to cartAre you in a season of life where every search for direction, encouragement, or fulfillment seems to come up empty? You thought God had you in a place to thrive and grow, but you are ready to call it quits. There has to be something better.
You don’t need a new garden; you just need to learn how to dig! In Acres of Diamonds, pastor and New York Times bestselling author Jentezen Franklin helps you discover the unfathomable riches Jesus Christ has for you. Rather than chase after a better life, you can celebrate the untold spiritual provision to be found even in the midst of spiritual deprivation. Readers will learn to cherish where God has placed them as they uncover the hidden potential within their families, jobs, ministries, and communities . . . right where they are.
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Study
$14.99Add to cart“While physical training has some value, training in holy living is useful for everything. It has promise for this life now and the life to come.” 1 Timothy 4:8
Christians crave a deeper, more intimate relationship with God. Spiritual disciplines are activities and practices that guide you in your daily walk through life bringing you closer to Christ. They also help you to make a difference in our world. Practicing these spiritual disciplines opens you to God’s transforming love and help you experience Holy Living.
This is one of series of eight books. Each book in this series introduces a spiritual practice, suggests way of living the practice daily, and provides opportunities to grow personally and in a faith community with others who engage with the practice. Each book consists of an introduction and four chapters and includes questions for personal reflection and group discussion.
This is one of series of eight books. Each book in this series introduces a spiritual practice, suggests way of living the practice daily, and provides opportunities to grow personally and in a faith community with others who engage with the practice. Each book consists of an introduction and four chapters and includes questions for personal reflection and group discussion.
Other disciplines studied: Celebration, Confession, Discernment, Neighboring, Simplicity, and Worship.
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Multiplication Effect : Building A Leadership Pipeline That Solves Your Lea
$19.99Add to cartMost pastors say that the need to identify and develop leaders is critical to the health and growth of their church. Yet, most churches do not have an intentional plan for doing this. In this book, Mac Lake reveals a practical strategy for addressing this problem.
How do you develop leaders in a church setting–good leaders, qualified leaders, leaders who are committed, who possess the DNA of the church, and leaders who produce results? The majority of churches have tried everything, but is what they are doing working? Unfortunately, in most cases, no. The Multiplication Effect is a proven, tested program, designed using unique training modules to help identify potential leaders, equip and disciple them at every level of their leadership journey, and empower them to multiply themselves by developing other leaders. Churches who use this plan will become “cultures” of leader development built into the structure and mission statement of the church and thus solve their leadership shortage.
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Nice Participants Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$9.99Add to cartWe live in a culture that prizes niceness as one of its highest virtues. Niceness keeps the peace, wins friends, gains influence, and serves our reputations well, but it also takes the teeth out of our witness and the power out of our faith. When we choose to be nice instead of faithful, we bear fruits that are bland, bitter, empty, or rotten to the core.
In this life-changing curriculum, Sharon Hodde Miller explores the seemingly innocent idol that has crept into our faith and quietly corrupted it, producing the bad fruits of cowardice, inauthenticity, shallowness, and more. Then she challenges participants to cultivate a better tree, providing practical steps to reclaim our credibility as followers of Christ and bear better, richer, more life-giving fruits.
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Easter Mysteries Participant Guide To The Film With Leader Helps
$14.99Add to cartThe story is a celebration that sheds a new light onto the biblical figures of Christ’s story in human terms–ordinary people with hopes, dreams and fears, uncertain of what lies ahead.
The music, libretto and lyrics are by Tony Award-winning Broadway producer John O’Boyle. Danny Goldstein is the Director of the motion picture with Musical Arrangements and Music Direction by Milton Granger.
The cast consists of talented Broadway veterans who have graced the stages of Les Miserables, Mary Poppins, Porgy and Bess, and Phantom of The Opera, and more.
The video can be watched in one event with discussion at intermission and after the conclusion or viewed in three segments in a small group setting. The Participant Guide to the FIlm includes a summary of each act with discussion questions, selections from the key lyrics, interviews, comments from creators and cast, and leader helps in the back for planning a one-night event or a three-session group study.
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Simplicity : Spiritual Practices For Building A Life Of Faith
$14.99Add to cart“While physical training has some value, training in holy living is useful for everything. It has promise for this life now and the life to come.” 1 Timothy 4:8
Christians crave a deeper, more intimate relationship with God. Spiritual disciplines are activities and practices that guide you in your daily walk through life bringing you closer to Christ. They also help you to make a difference in our world. Practicing these spiritual disciplines opens you to God’s transforming love and help you experience Holy Living.
At its core, the spiritual practice of simplicity enables us to eliminate from our lives all the things–both material possessions and thoughts, habits, and attitudes–that distract us from God so that God has complete freedom to work in and through us. Simplicity brings freedom, balance, and perspective to our lives and enables us to align our priorities with the priorities of God. It reorients us and allows us to be open to the present moment. Developing the spiritual practice of simplicity is key to a healthy, vibrant relationship with God and others. This book helps us know how to begin and implement this practice.
This is one of series of eight books. Each book in this series introduces a spiritual practice, suggests way of living the practice daily, and provides opportunities to grow personally and in a faith community with others who engage with the practice. Each book consists of an introduction and four chapters and includes questions for personal reflection and group discussion.
Other disciplines studied: Celebration, Confession, Discernment, Neighboring, Study, and Worship.
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Renewing Communication : Spirit-Shaped Approaches For Children Youth And Fa
$29.99Add to cartHow can we as Christian leaders make the most of our communication to help others become more like Christ? Colleen Derr draws on decades of experience in education and church ministry to offer a holistic strategy for transformational communication, showing that communication powered by the Spirit needn’t be limited to the pulpit or classroom, but can include everyday interactions and relationships.
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Holy Moments : Activities For Teaching Children About Worship
$19.99Add to cartHoly Moments: Activities for Teaching Children About Worship is a library of activities created to help children fully understand how and why we worship together as a community of faith.
These simple activities cover each of the elements of a typical traditional or contemporary worship service, and are perfect for adding holy moments to your children’s church, worship service, Sunday school, or children’s event.
Parent letters and reproducibles are included to help the children and their families experience holy moments at home and connect them to what they have experienced at church.
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Get Your Life Back Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$12.99Add to cartWe live in soul-scorching times. The 24-7 onslaught of contemporary life–with its never-ending feed of global tragedies, demands for our attention, and pressures of work, family, and friends–has left us feeling ragged, wrung-out, and emptied. But if we have no margin in our lives, how do we find room to change anything?
In this life-changing video Bible study (DVD/digital downloads sold separately), John Eldredge distills a lifetime of wisdom into five practical and ready-to-implement practices for putting your life back together. These practices include: (1) the one-minute pause, (2) benevolent detachment, (3) practicing kindness, (4) getting outside, and (5) stepping back from technology. These practices, ready for the taking, will enable you to begin recovery, focus on what matters most, disengage from the tragedies of this broken world, and discover the restorative power of beauty.
You don’t need to abandon your life to get it back. You can restore it here and now. And you will never be the same.
Designed for use with Get Your Life Back Video Study (sold separately).
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ReVisioning : How To Stay Sharp At Every Stage Of Your Church’s Life
$17.99Add to cartAn ARC Resources Title
Vision. It can be a very slippery thing. As leaders, we can have a crystal-clear sense of purpose and direction at some points, but they may seem like foreign objects from time to time. Sooner or later, it happens to all of us. In this book, Pastor Greg Surratt shares his story of asking himself hard questions… and finding the answers to be both surprising and inspiring. He addresses the crucial topics of limitations, culture, and legacy, but he also dives into harder issues of how to handle heartaches and what actually captures the hearts of the people we lead. Re-Visioning is designed to recharge our leadership batteries and equip us to inspire our teams with humility, boldness, and joy.
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Serve Your City Participants Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$6.95Add to cartAn ARC Resources Title
This Participant’s Guide small group curriculum draws people to the heart of God, reveals their unique giftedness, and points them to practical opportunities to reach the people in their neighborhoods and communities.
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Serve Your City
$17.99Add to cartAn ARC Resources Title
Through the pages of the Gospels, we see Jesus model a “show and tell” life and ministry to His followers- He “showed” them how to serve by healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and caring for the poor-and while He was demonstrating compassion, He taught them, “telling” them of God’s immense love. This is the way to show God’s heart of compassion for the people in our cities and towns, and this is the way to break down barriers so people will listen to the life-changing message of the gospel of grace. In this book, you’ll sense Dino’s heart, be inspired by his stories and learn from his experiences, as well as many ARC churches that are serving their cities with a Jesus-style no-strings-attached kind of love. This is at the core of who ARC is – a deep passion to see churches thrive as part of the cities they serve.
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Forgiveness : A Practical And Pastoral Companion
$27.00Add to cartEvery day we hear stories of people caught up in conflict, violence, trauma and abuse, which can affect anyone in any walk of life. Each of us needs to offer forgiveness as well as receive it, but how?
Designed to accompany everyone on a personal or communal journey of forgiveness, this companion also offers an important resource for all engaged in listening, reconciliation and pastoral care, including clergy, counsellors and spiritual directors. It explores:
-Why forgiveness is important;
-What forgiveness is;
-Who can forgive;
-Offering forgiveness;
-Receiving forgiveness;
-How communities respond to tragedy;
-God’s forgiveness. -
Better Bible Study Book (Student/Study Guide)
$22.25Add to cartIn this verse-by-verse study of the Book of Hebrews, Jen Wilkin explores how God “provided something better for us” in the person of Jesus Christ (Heb. 11:40). Through stories of Old Testament heroes and practices, the author of Hebrews demonstrates how the new covenant is superior to the old and how Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of every promise. Explore familiar verses in context of the entire Bible, learning how to place your hope and faith in Christ alone.
(10 sessions)
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Get Out Of Your Head Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$16.99Add to cartHave you ever wanted to be an entirely new version of you? Like a character re-do or makeover?
Have you ever felt like who you are now isn’t all that you were meant to be?
You’re on to something if you answered yes, and you’re going to be surprised if you aren’t so sure!
Sometimes we are content being good, and yet our insides are in complete disarray-but because no one knows it, we assume we are okay. This work we are going to do through our study of the book of Philippians might be the most important thing we’ve ever done. But we don’t do it merely as another self-improvement project.
The Bible knows nothing of a connected regenerate person, filled with the Spirit, whose goal is to just survive.
Our faith journey here on Earth is not meant to be summed up to a behavior modification. Our journey should be a radical departure from the world and how it thinks. Our journey should represent a supernatural intervention remaking us into whom God built us to be.
We want to be women who set our minds on Christ, better yet realizing we have already been given the mind of Christ and therefore, we are deeply and intrinsically motivated and moved by an entirely different source. Not only do we make Jesus happy, but we find our complete happiness in Him. These are truths that if we could only believe, would change everything. It is possible to waste our lives because we never learn to take our thoughts captive.
This six-session Bible study (DVD/digital downloads sold separately) dives head first into Paul’s letter to the Philippians, imploring and encouraging them to become entirely new kinds of humans whose minds are set solely on Christ. Bestselling author and Bible teacher, Jennie Allen steps through the book of Philippians with purpose and intention, unpacking the simple, but difficult truth of allowing ourselves and our minds to be transformed in the name of Christ. Jennie confronts our current cultural struggles while relating valid and trusted answers in Scripture that inspire real change from the inside out.
Each session will include video teaching, group discussion, and personal study time of digging deeper, reflection, consideration, response, imagination, and Scripture memory.
Designed for use with the Get Out of Your Head Video Study (sold separately).
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Last Pastor : Faithfully Steering A Closing Church
$32.00Add to cartGail Cafferata was heartbroken when the church she pastored voted to close its doors. It may have been the right decision, but it led to a million questions in her mind about her call, leadership, and future. She began to think that other pastors who close churches perhaps go through this same experience. This led her to obtain a grant from the Louisville Institute to conduct a sociological study of over 130 pastors in five historically established denominations (Episcopal, Lutheran, United Methodist, Presbyterian, and United Church of Christ) who were called to serve churches that closed. This book tells the results of that study, which consisted of many interviews, and the hard-won lessons learned by these courageous pastors.
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What Is Jesus Doing
$40.99Add to cartHow do we understand Jesus’ present activity in a challenging, post-Christian context? Leading thinkers in pastoral theology, homiletics, liturgical theology, and missiology consider how to recognize the divine presence and join in what God is already doing in all areas of church ministry. With deep theological reflection, personal stories, and practical suggestions, this is a compelling interdisciplinary conversation.
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Loving Your Community
$20.00Add to cartAre 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.
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Collected Sermons Of Walter Brueggemann Volume 3
$44.00Add to cartThis collection features sixty sermons by Walter Brueggemann, preached mostly in the last five years. For his final public appearances, he preached at various churches and the Festival of Homiletics, including his last address there in 2018. Most of these are based on lectionary texts, with numerous sermons on Advent-Christmas and Lent-Easter texts. Preachers will find inspiration in the handful of sermons covering special occasions or themes, including confirmation, evangelism, and funerals.
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Leaders Journey : Accepting The Call To Personal And Congregational Transfo
$27.99Add to cartThis book helps pastors and church leaders understand the role their personal transformation as Jesus’s disciples plays in effective congregational leadership. It shifts the focus of leadership from techniques and charisma to spiritual transformation and developing emotional maturity so leaders can effectively lead congregations to embrace change. End-of-chapter discussion questions are included. The first edition sold more than 20,000 copies and has been regularly used as a textbook over the past fifteen years. The second edition has been revised throughout and includes a greater emphasis on Bowen Family Systems Theory.
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Collected Sermons Of David Bartlett
$46.00Add to cartThis collection of fifty-two sermons shows beloved New Testament scholar David Bartlett at his best. Bartlett, who died in 2017, spent his career teaching and mentoring preachers at The University of Chicago Divinity School, Yale Divinity School, Union Presbyterian Seminary, and Columbia Theological Seminary, as well as serving as a pastor in American Baptist churches. Thus, he has generations of friends and former students who knew him for his quick wit, passion for justice, and deep knowledge of the Bible.
Those traits show through in these sermons. As Nora Tisdale says in the foreword: “All of the sermons in this volume give witness to David’s passion for preaching that is solidly grounded in the biblical text. Most of them actually begin, as Karl Barth urged preachers to begin, with the biblical text. If they don’t begin there, they always get there fairly quickly. And David’s interpretations of texts often surprise the reader with their freshness and clarity.”
In addition to individual sermons, several multiweek sermon series, including a series on Who Is Jesus? and Great Words of the Faith, are included.
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Pastor As Public Theologian
$22.00Add to cartMany pastors today see themselves primarily as counselors, leaders, and motivators. Yet this often comes at the expense of the fundamental reality of the pastorate as a theological office. The most important role is to be a theologian mediating God to the people. The church needs pastors who can contextualize biblical wisdom in Christian living to help their congregations think theologically about all aspects of their lives, such as work, end-of-life decisions, political involvement, and entertainment choices.
Drawing on the Bible, key figures from church history, and Christian theology, this book offers a clarion call for pastors to serve as public theologians in their congregations and communities. It is designed to be engaging reading for busy pastors and includes pastoral reflections on the theological task from twelve working pastors, including Kevin DeYoung and Cornelius Plantinga.
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Little Book For New Preachers
$14.99Add to cartOne of the central tasks of pastoral ministry is preaching the Word of God. Yet those who are called to ministry may feel unprepared, unable, or unwilling to step into this role. In this brief introduction to homiletics, seasoned preacher Matthew Kim provides proven insight and guidance about the importance and history of preaching, the characteristics of faithful preaching, and the personal habits of a faithful preacher.
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Know What Youre FOR Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$12.99Add to cartWhat do you want to be know FOR? This is a great question for any leader of an organization to ask, whether it is a church, a business, or a nonprofit. After all, when an organization is able to close the gap between what they are known for and what they want to be known for, it results in unprecedented growth.
However, as Jeff Henderson reveals in the Know What You’re FOR small-group study (DVD/video downloads sold separately), this is also a great question for believers in Christ to ask themselves. All too often today, people in the world know more about what those in the church are AGAINST than what they are FOR. Instead of perceiving believers as being people of grace, love, and acceptance, they see them as angry, pessimistic, and intolerant. Certainly, as believers in Christ, we are called to state the truth about the condition of the world and its problem with sin . . . but the Bible is clear we are also to love others, extend grace, and get along as much as possible.
Back in the days of the early church, the believers also struggled with how to “draw the line” when it came to accepting the sinner but not the sin. The Christians even held a council in Jerusalem to discuss the issue and whether Gentiles were required to following Jewish practices to follow Jesus. It was the ruling of James, the brother of Christ and leader of the church, “that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God” (Acts 15:19). The early church decided to be FOR bringing people into the family of God instead of putting up unnecessary barriers that would keep them out.
Today, we are called to do the same . . . in our work lives, our relationships, our community, and our world. In this hypercritical and cynical world, we are called to be a group for who and what we’re FOR. It’s a powerful strategy for business . . . but more importantly, it is a revolutionary way to live.
Designed for use with Know What You’re FOR Video Study (sold separately).
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Jesus Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$12.99Add to cartIn this six-session video Bible study (DVD/digital downloads sold separately), bestselling author Max Lucado explores the life and character of Jesus, helping participants become more familiar with the man at the center of the greatest story ever told. As Max explains in this study, for thirty-three years Jesus felt everything that we have ever felt: weakness, weariness, rejections. He got colds. His feelings got hurt. His feet grew tired. His head ached.
To think of Jesus in such terms almost seems irreverent. It is much easier to keep the humanity out of the incarnation. Clean up the manure from around the manger. Wipe the sweat out of his eyes. Pretend he never snored or hit his thumb with a hammer. There is something about keeping Jesus divine that keeps him distant, packaged, and predictable.
But we have to remember that by Jesus becoming human, God made it possible for us to see him and hear his voice. If we want to know what matters to God, all we need to do is look in the Bible to see what matters to Jesus. If we want to know what God is doing in our world, we need only ponder the words of Jesus. By learning more about the person Jesus was and is, we come to understand more clearly the people we were created to be.
Jesus will inspire group members to spend time at the foot of the cross and search the heart of the one who would rather die for them than live without them.
Designed for use with the Jesus Video Study (sold separately).
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Grace Of Les Miserables Leader Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$14.99Add to cartVictor Hugo’s Les Miserables is a truly epic story. Whether you’ve tackled the 1,400-page 19thcentury novel, witnessed the Broadway musical (and memorized its soundtrack), or seen the several screen adaptations of it, you already know the power of its story.
In the six-week Lenten study The Grace of Les Miserables, author and pastor Matt Rawle dives into six ideals found in the story–grace, justice, poverty, revolution, love, and hope–each represented by a character in Hugo’s story. As these imperfect and relatable characters interact, we can see how these ideals work together (perhaps even in spite of each other) out in the world.
In keeping with his previous works, Matt Rawle brings us to the intersection of Church and Pop Culture by drawing parallels between the iconic story and musical and our Christian calling, inspiring us to both understand our faith and live it out in the world.
The Leader Guide contains everything needed to guide a group through the six-week study including session plans, activities, and discussion questions, as well as multiple format options.
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Grace Of Les Miserables
$16.99Add to cartVictor Hugo’s Les Miserables is a truly epic story. Whether you’ve tackled the 1,400-page 19thcentury novel, witnessed the Broadway musical (and memorized its soundtrack), or seen the several screen adaptations of it, you already know the power of its story.
In the six-week Lenten study The Grace of Les Miserables, author and pastor Matt Rawle dives into six ideals found in the story–grace, justice, poverty, revolution, love, and hope–each represented by a character in Hugo’s story. As these imperfect and relatable characters interact, we can see how these ideals work together (perhaps even in spite of each other) out in the world.
In keeping with his previous works, Matt Rawle brings us to the intersection of Church and Pop Culture by drawing parallels between the iconic story and musical and our Christian calling, inspiring us to both understand our faith and live it out in the world.
A DVD, Leader Guide, youth resources, and Worship Resource Flash Drive are also available for a six-week study.
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Will Willimons Lectionary Sermon Resource Year A Part 2
$26.99Add to cartWill Willimon is widely acclaimed as one of the top ten preachers in the world. For each Sunday of the Christian year, Will provides just what you need to begin the journey toward a sermon. This guide will stoke, fund, and fuel your imagination while leaving plenty of room to insert your own illustrations, make connections within your congregational context, and speak the Word in your distinctive voice. Guidance from Will Willimon is like sitting down with a trusted clergy friend and asking, “What will you preach next Sunday?” Year A Part 2 is part of a six-volume set that includes years A, B, and C (2 volumes per year) in the Revised Common Lectionary. Part 1 includes the Pentecost through the end of the church year, Christ the King/Reign of Christ Sunday.
Each week of sermon resources includes:
1.Readings
2.Theme title
3.Introduction to the Readings
4.Encountering the Text
5.Proclaiming the Text
6.Relating the Text -
Grace For The Children
$20.99Add to cartThe church’s response to child and adolescent mental health disorders has too often been characterized by fear and misinformation rather than grace or wisdom. Psychologist Matthew Stanford educates Christians about a range of common mental health disorders–from both scientific and biblical perspectives–so that the church may offer young people hope, a holistic view of human nature, accessible care, and supportive community.
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How To Lead In A World Of Distraction Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$12.99Add to cartIn this six-session video study (DVD/digital downloads sold separately), pastor Clay Scroggins builds on the principles he established in his bestselling How to Lead When You’re Not in Charge and shows participants how to take the next step in their leadership growth by developing emotional awareness. As Clay notes, we are all surrounded by “white noise”–a soul-masking tool that keeps us from hearing the voices in our lives that we really need to hear. Our busy lives, the numbing nature of entertainment, and the urgency of ministry all work together to create a toxic cocktail of emotional distraction. And while many leaders have learned to tune out this “white noise,” in the process they have become “deaf” to the inner issues to which they need to attend.
Emotional healing begins with emotional awareness–our ability to identify and understand our feelings. Developing such emotional awareness comes from engaging in spiritual practices such as fasting, meditation, Sabbath keeping, prayer, and hospitality. As Clay states, such practices today are often viewed as “countercultural,” but they are solidly biblical and instrumental for helping us identify our emotions.
Through the practices described in this guide, leaders will unmask unpleasant emotions–robbing them of their stronghold–and learn how to pay close attention to the desires within. The result is that business, church, and ministry leaders will be empowered to replace the chaos in their increasingly busy lives with an emotional competence that leads to a calmer, less stressed, and more fulfilling life than ever before.
Designed for use with How to Lead in a World of Distraction Video Study (sold separately).
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Cry Of The Blind
$10.99Add to cartA Gods Life Publishing Title
Today there is a cry rising to God from the Blind Bartimaecus’s all cross our nation. The church as a whole is deafened to their cry. The love of money has caused many leaders to be more focused on having things rather than carrying the great commission of obeying Christ by evangelizing the lost. The Cry Of The Blind will encourage the church to refocus to the hearing the cry of the blind, initiate a plan of action to rescue them and thus fulfill the Great Commission.
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Big Gospel In Small Places
$22.99Add to cartChristian ministries increasingly prioritize urban areas–big cities and suburbs are considered more strategic, more influential, and more desirable places to live and work. As a ministry strategy, focusing on big places makes sense. But the gospel of Jesus is often unstrategic. Filled with helpful stories and practical advice, pastor Stephen Witmer lays out an integrated theological vision for small-place ministry today.
