Pastoral Helps
Showing 1801–1850 of 4136 resultsSorted by latest
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Pastoring With Elders
$14.99Kevin is a preaching elder in an Associated Gospel Church in Canada (AGC). Their elders have had a growing influence on other congregations and have frequently been asked to share their effective shepherding-elder model. So, how do you grow elders? Many pastors are looking for another program or quick fix to accomplish this end. However, the answer is rooted in the theology of ministry and the need to focus on the biblical mandate given to pastors rather than the tyranny of expectations inherent in pastor-led churches.This book is designed to help senior pastors walk through a process of deconstructing their understanding of pastoring and redirect them to a focused ministry within a plurality of shepherd-elders.
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Homiletical Beat : Why All Sermons Are Narrative
$18.99Promoting the idea of sermon as narrative, Eugene Lowry’s first book, The Homiletical Plot, became one of the most influential preaching books of the latter part of the 20th century. While the sermon as narrative has become conventional preaching wisdom, it is largely misunderstood. Sermons are, by definition, narratives and as such, they have plots. At the same time, the sermon is not a story. While similar in many ways, narratives and stories are distinct. Therefore, to think of narrative preaching as merely one of many homiletical styles is to misunderstand and reduce the nature of the sermon. The sermon is more than just an option for the preacher; rather, it is, by definition, a narrative because it happens in time, not in space. This changes everything because the sermon ceases to be something a preacher constructs, like a thesis or even a painting. Instead, it is more like a piece of music – something a preacher plays within intuitively, to a constant beat – time after time, week after week. In light of this revelation, what are new strategic aims for sermon preparation and delivery?
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Church Transfusion : Changing Your Church Organically From The Inside Out
$24.95In Church Transfusion Neil Cole and Phil Helfer, co-founders of Church Multiplication Associates, will first point out that change is possible with God, but only with God. In the second half of the book they will lay out some of the actual practical considerations to weigh if you want to release real organic health in your church.
Using multiple examples of very different kinds of churches that have been through the process, the authors present ways that leadership and practices need to change in order to release organic church movements from their midst. Chapters cover:
*Leadershifts necessary
*Detoxification from dependence issues
*How to ignite change virally
*How to grandparent movements
*How to measure success in movementsThis book (another in the Leadership Network series) applies organic life principles to established churches with practical help that is holistic and natural. The content in this book will be helpful whether you are pastor of an established church or wanting to revitalize a small organic church.
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Joy Together : Spiritual Practices For Your Congregation
$22.00Guidance and examples for Christian leaders as they seek ways to involve their congregations or small groups in spiritual practices
Although interest in spiritual practices has grown in recent years, most of the books available address individuals who wish to try Christian disciplines such as fasting or fixed-hour prayer. This book, by contrast, offers guidance and examples to Christian leaders as they seek ways to involve their congregations or small groups in spiritual practices.
In Joy Together, Lynne M. Baab describes six spiritual practices that congregations can attempt together: thankfulness, fasting, contemplative prayer, lectio divina, hospitality, and Sabbath keeping. She goes on to explore how these practices can help with congregational life and discernment and provides practical instructions for communicating with group members. Discussion questions are included at the end of each chapter so groups can delve into the topics more fully
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Effective Bible Teaching (Reprinted)
$25.00Why does Bible study flourish in some churches and small groups and not in others? In this updated edition of a trusted classic, two Christian education specialists provide readers with the knowledge and methods needed to effectively communicate the message of the Bible. The book offers concrete guidance for mastering a biblical text, interpreting it, and applying its relevance to life. Its methods, which have been field-tested for twenty-five years, help pastors, teachers, and ministry students improve their classroom skills. Readers will learn how to develop the “big idea” of a passage and allow the text itself to suggest creative teaching methods. This new edition has been updated throughout and explores the changed landscape of Bible study over the past two decades. Readable and interdisciplinary in approach, this book will help a new generation of Bible students teach in a purposeful and unified way.
Contents
Part 1: Effective Teaching
1. The Changing Landscape of Bible Study
2. The Church’s Unfinished Task
3. The Tasks of the Effective Teacher
4. The Teacher: The Human Element in Teaching
Part 2: The Methods of Effective Bible Teaching
5. Discovering Unity in Biblical Passages: The Genre and Structure of a Passage
6. Thematic Unity in Biblical Passages: Teaching the Big Idea
7. Bridging the Gap
8. Principles of Biblical Interpretation
9. Understanding the Methods of Inductive and Directed Bible Studies
10. Leading Inductive Bible Studies
Part 3: The Bible We Teach
11. What Kind of Book Is the Bible?
12. Types of Writing in the Bible
13. Teaching the Stories of the Bible
14. Teaching the Poetry of the Bible
15. Teaching Other Genres of the Bible
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Scent Of Water
$15.99A Scent of Water is a message of hope for the Christian school movement, a movement that is currently lacks vision, struggles with enrollment declines and battles budget limitations. This message derives from scriptural truth and the findings of empirical research and recommends a means for restoring a vision for the ministry. The local Christian school must become the site for transforming the movement into one that focuses upon student learning and a clear delineation of student goals. The authors examine schools as social and cultural systems that must be understood. A Scent of Water describes the type of leadership that must characterize the movement and proposes an active, vibrant and collaborative role for classroom teachers, working with building principals who see themselves as capacity builders, building strength and knowledge within the teaching staff to bring a scent of water that will revitalize and transform the movement.
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Cry Of Tamar (Revised)
$34.00In this comprehensive, practical, and gripping assessment of various forms of violence against women, Pamela Cooper-White challenges the Christian churches to examine their own responses to the cry of Tamar in our time. She describes specific forms of such violence and outlines appropriate pastoral responses.
The second edition of this groundbreaking work is thoroughly updated and examines not only where the church has made progress since 1995 but also where women remain at unchanged or even greater risk of violence.
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Feasting On The Word Worship Companion Year C 1
$42.00A new worship resource in the acclaimed Feasting on the Word series
The Feasting on the Word Worship Companion: Liturgies for Year C, Volume One, is the first of six volumes (two for each lectionary year) in a new series for worship leaders and pastors. Based on the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL), this book is an invaluable aid that provides all liturgical pieces needed in preparing for worship each week. A team of eleven ecumenical and seasoned liturgy writers, under the creative leadership of Kimberly Bracken Long, offer a multitude of poetic prayers and responsive reading for all parts of worship. In addition, drawn from the lectionary each week are a question for reflection and household prayers for morning and evening so churches can include them in their bulletin for parishioners.
During times of the year when two different tracks of Old Testament texts are offered by the RCL, this resource offers an entire set of materials for each track. Also, a CD-ROM is included with each book and easily enables planners to cut and paste relevant readings, prayers, or questions into worship bulletins.
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Grace Participants Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$14.99Grace.
We talk as though we understand the term. The bank gives us a grace period. The seedy politician falls from grace. Musicians speak of a grace note. We describe an actress as gracious, a dancer as graceful. We use the word for hospitals, baby girls, kings, and premeal prayers. We talk as though we know what grace means.
But do we really understand it? Have we settled for wimpy grace? It politely occupies a phrase in a hymn, fits nicely on a church sign. Never causes trouble or demands a response. When asked, “Do you believe in grace?” who could say no?
Max Lucado asks a deeper question: Have you been changed by grace? Shaped by grace? Strengthened by grace? Emboldened by grace? Softened by grace? Snatched by the nape of your neck and shaken to your senses by grace?
God’s grace has a drenching about it. A wildness about it. A white-water, riptide, turn-you-upside-downness about it. Grace comes after you. It rewires you. From insecure to God secure. From regret riddled to better-because-of-it. From afraid to die to ready to fly. Grace is the voice that calls us to change and then gives us the power to pull it off. Let’s make certain grace gets you.
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Different Kind Of Christmas
$9.99Every year, we say we’re going to cut back, simplify, and have a family Christmas that focuses on the real reason for the season-Jesus. But every year, advertisements beckon, the children plead, and it seems easier just to indulge our wants and whims. Overspending, overeating, materialism, and busyness rob us of our peace and joy and rob Jesus of his rightful role as the center of our celebration. This book of devotional readings is designed to draw your entire family into closer fellowship with God as you respond to this Christmas season and the call of God to live generously all year around. The devotional includes thirty short readings, Scripture, prayer, and stories about helping others at Christmas. A Different Kind of Christmas: Devotional Readings for the Season is a great gift idea for family, friends, teachers, and ministry leaders.
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Different Kind Of Christmas Leader Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$11.99A Different Kind of Christmas is a practical and inspirational study for the Advent season. Based on Mike Slaughter’s popular book Christmas Is Not Your Birthday, this five-week study will empower your family and your church to reclaim the broader missional meaning of Jesus’ birth and experience a Christmas season with more peace and joy than any toy or gadget could ever bring. This comprehensive resource includes a 64-page Leader Guide containing everything needed to guide your group through the study. Inside you’ll find five full session plans, discussion questions, and activities, as well as multiple format options and suggestions of ways to make the study a meaningful experience for any group. Sessions include: 1. Expect a Miracle 2. Giving Up on Perfect 3. Scandalous Love 4. Jesus’ Wish List 5. By a Different Road Help your church cast a vision for how Christians can experience the true joy of living and giving like Jesus beginning with the Christmas season and continuing as a lifestyle. This six week study helps participants see the traps and discontentment of consumerism and the call of God to live generously to fulfill God’s mission in the world.
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Andrew Paradigm : How To Be A Lead Follower Of Jesus
$16.99The current trend in church leadership involves looking for a highly gifted leader who will take over, direct the future, cast a vision, and attract the faithful to a new mission or purpose. This desire for a leader to come to the rescue is eerily reminiscenet of the desire of the Israelites for a king, so they could “be like every other nation.” In spite of Samuel’s warnings, the people insisted, so God reluctantly gave them King Saul. That didn’t go so well. While we always need good, new, and talented leaders, we also need leaders who know how and when to be good followers. Particularly in a culture of distrust, leadership must be granted, earned, and supported by those who are willing to follow. Leading begins with the counter-intuitive command: “Come, follow me.” This imperative is far from easy. Many turned away from Jesus, unable to follow. However, one excellent model of “followership” stood out from the rest – the little-known disciple Andrew. In fact, Andrew is the model and paradigm for being a Lead Follower. Excellent Christian leadership is more about following Jesus than it is about learning the latest fads or tricks from business, the marketplace, or the academy. Being an excellent Christian leader involves first and foremost being an excellent and faithful follower of Jesus Christ.
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Counseling And Christianity
$35.99Foreword
1 Setting The Stage For The Five Approaches
2 Moving Models Into Practice
3 A Levels Of Explanation Approach By Thomas G. Plante
4 An Integration Approach By Mark McMinn
5 A Christian Psychology Approach By Diane Langberg
6 A Transformational Approach By Gary Moon
7 A Biblical Counseling Approach By Stuart W. Scott
8 Distinctives And Dialogue
9 Conceptualization And Contextualization
10 Case Scenarios For Further Exploration
Author Index
Subject IndexAdditional Info
What does authentic Christian counseling look like in practice? This volume explores how five major perspectives on the interface of Christianity and psychology would each actually be applied in a clinical setting. Respected experts associated with each of the perspectives depict how to assess, conceptualize, counsel and offer aftercare to Jake, a hypothetical client with a variety of complex issues. In each case the contributors seek to explain how theory can translate into real-life counseling scenarios. This book builds on the framework of Eric L. Johnson’s Psychology & Christianity: Five Views. These include the Levels-of-Explanation Approach, the Integration Approach, the Christian Psychology Approach, the Transformational Approach and the Biblical Counseling Approach. While Christianity and Counseling can be used independently of Johnson’s volume, the two can also function as useful companions. Christians who counsel, both those in practice and those still in training, will be served by this volume as it strengthens the connections between theory and practice in relating our faith to the mental health disciplines. They will finally get an answer to their persistent but unanswered question: “What would that counseling view look like behind closed doors?”Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
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Christian Ministers Manual (Expanded)
$24.99Updated and expanded with 32 pages of additional content designed to meet the growing demands of busy ministers, the Christian Minister’s Manual is an essential tool for ministers. This DuoTone edition includes an online access code
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Will Our Children Have Faith (Expanded)
$26.95Foundational text for Christian formation of children by well-known author, priest and scholar
Includes a Study Guide, by faith formation specialist Sharon Ely Pearson
Originally written in 1976, revised in 2000, and translated in six languages, this classic critique of Christian education is newly revised and expanded and includes Westerhoff’s overview and perspective on the state of Christian education over the past forty years – plus his role in that history.
According to Westerhoff, instead of guiding faith formation within the family, the church, and the school, we relegate religious education to Sunday morning classes. There, children learn the facts about religion, but how will they learn or experience faith? How can we nourish and nurture the faith of children, instead of only teaching the facts?
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Complete Guide To Godly Play 8
$34.95The final volume in the best-selling The Complete Guide to Godly Play series
Includes supplemental material summarizing the literature about Godly Play as well as an overview of the entire curriculum.
This Montessori approach gives children a strong foundation in the Christian language system.
These new lessons tie all others together, including “The Greatest Parable – Jesus” (4 lessons), “Knowing Jesus in a New Way” (7 lessons), “Jesus and Jerusalem: The Story of Holy Week,” “The Church” and lessons and artifacts into a single, overarching lesson.
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Making The Most Of The Lectionary
$23.95A practical guide to the Lectionary, written by a world authority
A valuable resource for enhancing liturgical understandingWhat is the point of the Lectionary? What are the problems and opportunities that it presents to those who use it? What are its strengths and weaknesses as an aid to worship? How can it be used and communicated most effectively today? These are among the key questions Thomas O’Loughlin addresses in this stimulating and much needed liturgical guide to the design, history, theology, and purposes of the Lectionary.
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Embracing A Life Of Meaning (Student/Study Guide)
$16.95Newest Embracing title taps Kathleen Norris for unique 5 to 10 session study
The newest installment in the Embracing collection features the essential components of earlier works: (1) DVD with five 10 to 15 minute presentations by the host, in this case Kathleen Norris, including her interpretive interactions with a small group, plus (2) a printed guide with all the material needed by participants and facilitator.
Norris provides a unique viewpoint of “what matters most,” including BELIEF (that to which we give our hearts), THE BIBLE (the collective story/tradition of the Christian people), COMMUNITY (where individualism and imperfection meet grace and acceptance), PLACE (setting faith within the physical space of home, church, land, and people) and US (what it means to remain in God’s image, countering our selfishness to embrace the world and its needs).
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Cup Of Salvation
$18.95The only book of its type designed specifically for laity, offering practical tips and theological underpinnings of this Eucharistic ministry
Companion volume to A Manual for Eucharistic Visitors
In the Episcopal Church, the term Eucharistic Minister is used to denote someone who assists the priest with administering the Eucharist, often handling the wine.
Ely offers historical perspective on this ministry, a theological overview, practical tips, plus an invitation to engage in the spiritual dimensions of serving one’s local congregation as a Eucharistic Minister. She concludes the book with a chapter on how to establish this ministry in a local parish.
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Helping Kids Include Kids With Disabilities (Revised)
$30.00Children with disabilities are part of God’s family, but people don’t always treat them that way. In this book you’ll discover how to help kids and their leaders welcome and include kids with disabilities at church or school. This revised edition contains a wealth of helpful information for understanding disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder; AD/HD; behavioral challenges; hearing, visual, and speech/language impairments; intellectual disabilities; physical disabilities; learning disabilities; and severe or multiple disabilities.
This book also includes guidelines and forms to help churches identify and meet needs, lesson plans for presenting information on each area of disability, fact sheets about specific disabilities to share with adult leaders, and much more. It’s an indispensable resource for teachers, Sunday school leaders, church staff, and anyone who works with children.
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Discerning Gods Will Together (Revised)
$31.00Bible study, research, and fieldwork merge in this book of practical principles for decision making by spiritual discernment. The step-by-step approach can be used to help any size group learn a new way to make decisions–a way that is interactive, spiritual, and rooted in faith practices and community. Small groups, committees, church boards, church leaders at all levels, and seminary professors will find this book valuable.
This is a revised and updated version of the book, originally published in 1997. This new version includes revised and updated material, as well as a new introduction by Charles Olsen.Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
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Community Is Messy
$19.99First Things First: Blood, Sweat And Spit
Community Is Messy
Everything Is An Experiment
Lead Yourself Well
Growing People Grow People
Discipleship Is Not Linear
Small Groups Should Happen In Real Life
Systems Are Made To Be Destroyed
Wear Out Your Welcome
Navigating The MessAdditional Info
Drawing on her background in environmental engineering and her role as pastor of discipleship at National Community Church in Washington, D.C., Heather Zempel assesses the perils and possibilities inherent in small groups and other environments for Christian community. The book helps leaders begin to see the inherent “mess” of such gatherings as raw material for arriving at something beautiful.Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
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Caring Liturgies : The Pastoral Power Of Christian Liturgy
$24.00Caregiving practices in churches often center around listening and giving counsel, making referrals, and creating support groups for specific needs. In Caring Liturgies, Susan Marie Smith proposes that Christian ritual is both a method and a means for helping people through liminal times of transition and uncertainty, even vulnerability and fear. It teaches readers to recognize the ritual needs of fellow Christians and thus create post-baptismal rites of passage and healing that might strengthen and support them in the fulfillment of their ministries.
The book extends the usefulness of denominational “occasional services” books and other resources by suggesting ways to build a rite around a central symbolic action, pointing out issues of ritual honesty and ethics, and identifying skills and attributes necessary to preparing and leading a rite. Numerous narrative examples help to flesh out the principles and illustrate the key argument: that rituals are necessary means to enable human growth and maturity, both through times of suffering and times of transition, and that ritual-making leaders are central to the ongoing health of the church.
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Will The Real Church Please Stand Up
$16.95In this challenging and thought-provoking book, author James David Montgomery points out that although churches dot almost every street corner in America, many have strayed from God’s original design. He believes too many churches today stand in stark contrast to the first century church that turned the world upside down. Rev. Montgomery calls on Christians of every denomination to return to their roots and rediscover what made the early church great. He reminds us of the building-shaking, great-grace, fear-of-God-preaching, Pharisee-defying, souls-added-to-the-church-daily explosions of God’s glory in the book of Acts.
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Family Ministry : A Comprehensive Guide (Revised)
$65.99Introduction
Structure And Purposes
Resources
Acknowledgments
Section 1: The Context Of Family Ministry
1. Our Genealogy: A Brief History Of The American Family
Fighting About Family Kinship And Households
Colonial America
Frontier America
Slavery And Family Life For African Americans
The Industrial Revolution And Beyond
Conclusions
2. The American Family Today
Today’s Family Statistics
Why Defining Family Is Important
Conclusion
3. The Family In Christian Thought
Early Christianity Changes And Challenges
Family Life
The Catholic Church: Marriage As Sacrament
The Protestant Reformation
The Enlightenment
The Church And Non-European Cultures
The Church And Families In Recent History
Learning From History
4. A Biblical Frame For Defining Family In The Beginning . . .
Jesus’ Life: A Transformation Of “Family”
Jesus’ Teachings By Word And Example
The Ethiopian Eunuch
The Family Of God
Implications For The Church
5. An Agenda For Family Ministry
The Development Of Family Ministry
Defining Family Ministry
Family Ministry As PerspectiveSection 2: Family Formation
6. Fieldguide Of Family Relationships
A Family Story
Single Adults
Married Adults
Parents Siblings Older Adult Families
Who Are Families?
7. Family Development
Developmental Stages
The Processes Of Family Development
We Are Family
Cyclical Phases Of Family Development
Family Life As Christian Formation
8. Families In Physical And Social Space
The Ecosystemic Approach
Habitat Adaptation And Stress
Possibilities And Complexities Of An Ecosystemic Approach
Emergencies, Crises And Catastrophes
Strong Families
9. Culture And Family Identity
Families In Culture
The Unique Culture Of Families
Becoming Culturally Competent Family
Identity Family Rituals
Family Stories
Implications For Family MinistrySection 3: The Processes Of Family Life
10. Family Interaction
Types Of Communication
Conflict And Anger
Forgiveness And Repentance
Intimacy Implications For Family Ministry
11. Power And Roles
Jesus’ Teaching About Power
Gender Roles
Discipline
Family Violence
12. Working Together
Defining Family Faith
Biblical Narratives Of Family Faith
A Story Of Family Faith
Service As A Family Affair
Engaging Families In Ministry
Hospitality Woven Into Family LifeSection 4: Leading Family Ministry
13. Congregational Life As Family
Ministry
Worship
ChristAdditional Info
North American families are in crisis, and the need for family ministry is more evident than ever. In her many years of ministry, research and teaching, author Diana Garland has found that the strength of Christian families is rooted in their faith and nurtured in their congregations. Garland believes that Christian families gain strength in part because of their communities of faith. Twelve years after first coming to print, the award-winning Family Ministry has been given a significant makeover. In this new edition Garland takes a three-pronged approach to family ministry, which includes developing families grounded in Christian faith, helping families live the teachings of Jesus with one another, and equipping and supporting families as they learn to serve others. The insights gained are organized into four main sections: The Context for Family MinistryFamily FormationFamily DynamicsLeading Family Ministry Garland examines and fully integrates the historical, sociological, theological and biblical contexts to understand the role and meaning of family in the life of Christians and the church. She perceptively connects these explorations with the social and cultural context of the early twenty-first century.
Now revised and updated throughout, Diana Garland’s core text for ministers and others in the helping professions provides a comprehensive look at the Christian purpose of family and the complex world our families inhabitAdd to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
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Speaking Of Dying
$26.00This book reminds the church of its considerable resources when it ministers to the terminally ill. Typically, a terminal diagnosis triggers denial of impending death and a full-scale resort to the techniques and resources of modern medicine. If a cure is not forthcoming, the patient and his or her loved ones experience a sense of failure and bitter disappointment.
Here the authors show what is lost when the church abdicates its own resources of faith in the face of dying. They outline a practical theological response to terminal illness and the event of dying, showing how the liturgy–particularly baptism–prepares Christians to die and how the Eucharist sustains us in our dying. They also discuss how to talk to a dying person and how to preach on death and dying. Thus this is not a book on grief or even on death so much as it is on the process of dying and how the church can more faithfully and effectively engage those who are dying. The book includes a foreword by Stanley Hauerwas.
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Parables For Today
$16.00The parables of Jesus seem to be an unending source of inspiration for teachers and preachers and it is possible to return to them again and again to find a new message in them. That is certainly the experience of Professor Hunter who, after the great success of his Preaching the New Testament (which was reprinted within its first year of publication), has here produced a second series of sermons on the best-known Gospel parables. Those who know his books already will need no further prompting; those who do not will find him here on his best form, the clarity of insight in no way dimmed by the years of experience.
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Fresh Expressions And The Kingdom Of God
$27.00Mission Shaped Church, the groundbreaking report which has sold over 20,000 copies has transformed understandings of mission in the UK. Fresh Expressions, which sprang into being in its wake, is an established presence in Britain, the USA and Canada. This important book poses a challenging question: what are the aims of mission and are they being achieved through Fresh Expressions? This book argues that mission is equally about social transformation or, in biblical terms, building the kingdom of God, as well as building the church. Theological reflection and stories from front line practitioners in churches in the sacramental traditions (with their heritage of service in poor communities) combine to create a unique, timely and valuable resource which includes contributions from leading names in the study and practice of mission today.
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Lectionary Worship Aids Series 9 Cycle C
$28.95The Revised Common Lectionary is not just to provide a guide to scripture reading during the church year. It can help shape the entirety of our worship. The themes for each Sunday service, as created by the lectionary, can be further explored and appreciated through Reed’s poetic prayers and responsories, as well as through musical selection suggestions. By involving all of the senses in worship, congregations can gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for the various themes highlighted in the lectionary, themes such as grace, mercy, justice, and others.
Lectionary Worship Aids allows ministers and worship leaders to tie the entire worship experience together for their congregations. Reed’s insights will prove invaluable in leading congregations into the presence of God not only on Sunday but also on holidays and other special occasions.
Topics covered in this resource include:
Calls to Worship
Suggested Hymns
Collects for the Day
Prayers of Confession
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They All Were Looking For A King Cycle C
$12.95In this volume of sermons prepared by Wayne Brouwer, the reader will find illustrations that help to explain God’s message in new and interesting ways. Finding stories and word pictures that more easily tie into the Lectionary readings for each Sunday will help the person in the pulpit make his sermon more compelling to the people in the pews.
In They All Were Looking for a King, the author brings the reader new insights to the age-old message surrounding the birth of Christ. As Christians eagerly anticipate the arrival of the babe of Bethlehem, Brouwer explores the gospel from new perspectives that the reader will find to be invaluable. These messages will be helpful in a variety of ways:
Illuminating illustrations and sermon starters
Group Bible study
Personal devotions
Sermon titles included in this collection are:
A Cry in the Dark
A Dance in the Desert
Creating Community the Hard Way
Many others for the seasons of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany
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Lectionary Preaching Workbook Series 9 Cycle C
$49.95When it comes to preaching from a lectionary, it can often be a daunting task to create new ways of preaching about a passage that has been around for thousands of years. It would seem that, after a while, there would be no new ways of looking at a scripture passage. A different perspective, however, can be most beneficial in finding a new way to help your congregation see each of the readings.
This is the inspiration behind the Lectionary Preaching Workbook series. By providing new insights into each of the readings in the Revised Common, Roman Catholic, and Episcopal Lectionaries, Mark Ellingsen has given pastors everywhere the tools they need to effectively relate the heart of the scriptures to their congregations, combining the best of scholarly techniques with pastoral experience. Each of these illustrations and thematic explorations provide the perfect jumping point for pastors to take a text and create thought-provoking, inspirational messages. Its easy-to-use format and illuminating commentary make the Lectionary Preaching Workbook an essential addition to any pastor’s library.
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Coaching Life Changing Small Group Leaders
$26.99Small groups transform churches-and lives. Small group leaders often feel the weight of shepherding their small group members.
But who shepherds the shepherd? Small group coaches fill a unique role by providing support and guidance for group leaders.
When you’re called to coach a small group leader in your church, your mind may be filled with questions: Am I godly enough? What do I have to offer? How do I begin? Although the challenge seems immense, Bill Donahue and Greg Bowman break down the work of coaching small group leaders into achievable steps.
This expanded and updated edition offers field-tested and biblically supported advice on such topics as modeling a surrendered life to those you coach, gaining the tools and wisdom you need for coaching, and helping leaders grow spiritually.
This workbook can be used as a stand-alone resource to train coaches, or it can be used with the training videos taught by the authors, available on the Equipping Life-Changing Small Groups DVD (sold separately).
For those who want to coach with excellence and truly help small group leaders thrive, this go-to guide offers practical answers and inspiring examples. You’ll find both challenge and promise in these pages as you learn to carry forth your God-given calling with confidence.
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Grief Relief : Scriptural Guide Book To Recovery After The Death Of A Child
$15.99Born in 1961, Rebecca, whose nickname is Becky, was born into the most dire of circumstances. The fifth child of poor parents; whose marriage was already at the point of collapse. Becky was critically premature; her mother Barbara’s most difficult delivery; and only breach birth. In all, her mother would go on to have seven children. Barbara struggled while working for seventy-five cents an hour, at a nearby dry cleaners. Her father Loyd worked less and less as the years went by, due to the most extreme form of chronic alcoholism.
While living in the ghetto and enduring the harshest depravation imaginable, God sent His messengers with The Good News of Jesus Christ. Becky faithfully rode the church bus with her elder siblings, starting at around the age of two years old while carrying her own spare diaper, in a brown paper bag. Her mother would instruct, “Don’t dirty your diaper while you’re gone.” The story is told that she never did! Becky refused to be left behind, and grew up cherishing the Bible stories she was taught at “The First Church of the Nazarene,” in Rock Island, Illinois. Becky also attended regularly at Grant Elementary; her public grade school, a Bible study that was held after hours in the school cafeteria. The truth is, Becky never fully perceived until now, what God had indeed predestined for her, and that is why He saw to it that she knew His Holy Word from the start. She readily acknowledges, that if she hadn’t experienced the steadfast love of God early on, that He would have never been able to do the miraculous for her in 1990, when her doctor crudely informed, “The top of your babies head is missing!” The cataclysmic discovery that her baby was suffering from the disease of “anencephaly,” was rendered just two weeks before she was due to give birth for the first time at the age of twenty-nine.
Indeed, God’s hand has been upon Becky her entire life, but was never more providential than that fateful day on May 12, 1990, when her precious Melissa Ann was born, and returned straight back to heaven from whence she was sent. Melissa beat the odds by being born alive, and lived for three rapturous hours and eighteen glorious minutes upon this earth, cradled all the while in her parent’s adoring arms.
Afterwards, Becky spent vast hours alone in her prayer closet seeking God’s divine help and guidance. She needed to know what He had to say about all that was happening to her, as many more complications and obstacles were involved a
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Chained No More
$16.95Chained No More is a program that will minister healing and hope to anyone who has been touched by the pain of divorce. Robyn Besemann has developed biblically based materials that provide a framework for personal growth, a tool for helping others, and a step-by-step grid that produces transformational results.
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Amplifying Our Witness
$19.99Nearly twenty percent of adolescents have developmental disabilities, yet far too often they are marginalized within churches. Amplifying Our Witness challenges congregations to adopt a new, practice-centered approach to congregational ministry — one that includes and amplifies the witness of adolescents with developmental disabilities.
Replete with stories taken from Benjamin Conner’s own extensive experience with befriending and discipling adolescents with developmental disabilities, Amplifying Our Witness:
*Shows how churches exclude the mentally disabled in various structural and even theological ways
*Stresses the intrinsic value of kids with developmental disabilities
*Reconceptualizes evangelism to adolescents with developmental disabilities, emphasizing hospitality and friendship.Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
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Lectionary Stories For Preaching And Teaching Cycle C
$12.95Everyone loves a good story. Storytellers who excel at their craft have the ability to draw readers or listeners into the worlds they create, using characters and situations to entertain and enlighten us. Jesus, the Master Storyteller, often spoke using parables — short stories that conveyed a spiritual truth. By drawing his listeners into his story, he unlocked their minds and hearts to hear the truth he was trying to relate to them.
This compilation of stories for the seasons of Lent and Easter taken from StoryShare follows in that same tradition. StoryShare, a part of SermonSuite.com, is written by various authors brought together to meditate on scriptures in the Revised Common Lectionary for Cycle C and create stories that flesh out these passages, allowing readers to see these words in a new way. These stories can be whimsical and light-hearted or poignant and reflective, even tragic. But they all strive to bring us to a deeper understanding of the scriptures and the God who inspired them. Some of the stories are even based on actual events experienced by the authors, events that influenced their perspective on Christianity.
Useful as sermon illustrations, stand alone sermons, teaching aides, personal devotions, or even just for entertaining reading, “Stories for Teaching and Preaching “will draw you into new worlds with vibrant and engaging images, deepening your relationship with God in the process.
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Lectionary Preaching Workbook Series 9 Cycle C
$19.95“I am very impressed with the way Dr. Ellingsen outlines this” Lectionary Preaching Workbook… “Here is a splendid workbook. It is rich in detail and theological insight. Ellingsen writes clearly, is sensitive to context, and widens [our] horizons… This book should be required reading for all pastors, seminary students, and other lay people who are involved in ministry with adults and youth. It should be regarded as a textbook to enhance one’s knowledge about the meaning of the seasons or major festivals of the [church] year.”
Reverend Jesse Averett Jr.
Presiding Elder, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
“If a preacher is looking for quick and easy sermons, this tool is not what s/he is seeking. But if a preacher is looking for solid biblical scholarship, thoughtful exegesis, a possible preaching theme for each of the appointed lessons for each Sunday in the lectionary year accompanied by a variety of ideas for how that theme might be developed, then CSS’ latest “Lectionary Preaching Workbook” will be a valuable resource. Built around the Revised Common Lectionary and the Christian church year, Pr. Mark Ellingsen has put together a highly useful resource.
Ellingsen’s passion for justice and equality as applied to the social issues of the day comes through clearly in some of his “sermon moves” as well as the socio-economic and political illustrative connections he offers. Incorporating insights and quotations from a variety of sources — everything from modern brain research to Luther, Calvin, Liberation Theology, Bonhoeffer, Pascal, and Barth — Ellingsen strives to connect God’s word to our world in ways that the preacher will find stimulating and inspirational.”
Glenn L. Simmons
Assistant to the Bishop
Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
When it comes to preaching from a lectionary, it can often be a daunting task to create new ways of preaching about a passage that has been around for thousands of years. It would seem that, after a while, there would be no new ways of looking at a scripture passage. A different perspective, however, can be most beneficial in finding a new way to help your congregation see each of the readings.
This is the inspiration behind the “Lectionary Preaching Workbook “series and this special edition for Lent and Easter. By providing new insights into each of the readings in the Revised Common, Roman Catholic, and Episcopal Lectionaries, Mark Ellingsen has given pastors everywherAdd to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
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Navigating The Sermon Cycle C
$34.95For each Sunday in Cycle C, the writers and editors of “Charting the Course,” an integral part of Emphasis: A Lectionary Preaching Journal from CSS Publishing Company, delve into the heart of the lectionary readings, providing you, the pastor with in-depth lectionary-based commentary; relating several fresh, solid ideas — based squarely on the lectionary texts — for creating sermons that speak powerfully to your audience. The team of Navigating the Sermon looks for overall topics for the entire Cycle C church year that hold the readings together. Then, they zero in on the theme and the specific scripture links, suggesting directions for the sermon and worship service. Since a single application for each week may not provide what you are looking for at that particular time, Navigating the Sermon in most cases suggests several ideas, giving you the opportunity to select the one that matches your specific needs.
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Why Not Now Leaders Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$9.99Like most of the rest of us, Christian students tend to set the bar too low for themselves, especially when it comes to actively following Jesus. This 6-week Bible study curriculum and correlated-but-stand-alone daily devotional will challenge students to accept the mission to live like Jesus now, not later, by telling the stories of adolescents from the Bible and in modern life who did — and are doing — significant and amazing things in the world and for the God who saves. In a society where cultural adolescence is lingering into the 30s, its no wonder Christian students often fail to confront the call to act meaningfully on their faith in Christ. It’s easy to package that commitment with big ideas like picking a college, a spouse, and a career — and then to never quite get around to it.
God, however, posts no minimum age on discipleship, and his book contains several examples of younger people both willing and able — in his power — to do extraordinarily difficult and necessary things with their lives for him. Why Not Now? will mine stories from the young lives of Miriam, Joseph, David, Solomon, Daniel, and Mary to find why and how they said yes to God before they would have been old enough to rent a car in our modern society. All six of these people believed God could use their lives to do something that mattered. What is holding us back?
To bolster the argument and generate interest in the books, Why Not Now? will also seek contributions from living examples of people who are doing or have done things we just don’t expect students to do these days. Abby Sunderland, for instance, generated worldwide controversy for attempting to sail around the world solo simply because she was 16 at the time. How dare she? How cold her parents allow that? Another 16-year-old, cheerleader Kealey Oliver, recently made news for courageously tackling a shoplifter at the local mall rather that letting him escape. She saw it as her responsibility to stand for justice. And 17-year-old Steven Ortiz made headlines by demonstrating the practical wisdom of bartering his way from an old cell phone to a convertible Porsche.
Why Not Now? will use stories like theirs — and those from Scripture — to equip youth leaders to challenge students to use their unique gifts, skills, and opportunities right now to do bigger things with their lives for God’s glory. The curriculum will include teaching outlines, commentary, group activities, discussion questions, a
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Mindful Ministry : Creative Theological And Practical Perspectives
$35.99A constructive resource linking the skills required by clergy in their day-to-day ministry with active reflection on what it means to be a reflective practitioner.
Christian ministry requires a wide range of skills as well as the ability to reflect theologically. Part 1 considers how clergy and those who work with them can explore the skills required, while Part 2 focuses on identifying, considering and acquiring the necessary skills. The authors consider among others caring, praying skills, guiding, organizing and liberating as well as the skills of weakness.
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In Season Out Of Season
$30.00This latest collection of sermons by Eric James is also the best, drawing as it does on a lifetime of experience, a deep personal faith, and a love of people, music, literature and the richness of life. It also has a valedictory quality, since during the period covered by the collection the charity Christian Action, of which Eric James had been director, closed down after fifty years, and he resigned from being Preacher to Gray’s Inn, an office which he had held for nineteen years. Here too is a farewell to an era, with ‘In memoriam’ sermons on a number of distinguished figures who embodied that era, and constant references to a world which is passing away.aHowever, that is only part of the story. In Season, Out of Season is dedicated to an ordinand preparing to preach to the next generation, and like Eric James’s favourite collect, ‘0 God, who hast prepared for them that love thee such good things as pass man’s understanding…’, it is full of hope for the future.
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People Of The Way
$24.95There is a renewed conversation about identity and mission in American Anglicanism today, based on the recognition that the church’s context in the U.S. has dramatically changed. The legacies of establishment, benefactor approaches to mission, and the ‘national church’ ideal are no longer adequate for the challenges and opportunities facing the 21st century church.
But if the Episcopal Church is no longer the Church of the Establishment and the benefactor model of church is dead, what is the heart of Episcopal mission and identity?
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Genesis
$19.99Studying the Bible can be a daunting prospect, with each passage revealing new truths at every reading. The Studies on the Go series is designed to help keep your youth group focused and exciting, exploring the rich depths in every book of the bible.
In Genesis, Laurie Polich-Short delivers a set of 30 in-depth study sessions to unlock the potential in the first book of the Bible. Every chapter is examined with care and matched with questions to promote discussion in a group study setting. These segments also include tips to help your students apply what they learn in their everyday lives.
The Studies on the Go series has provided invaluable resources for small group leaders, and Genesis is a title in that same tradition. Structured study questions and varied discussion topics promise a rich experience and deeper understanding of God’s word for your small group.
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High School TalkSheets Old Testament Epic Bible Stories
$19.99In just four short years, high school students develop friendships and habits that affect them for the rest of their lives. They need to be inspired through strong role models who embody Christian values. Where better to look for these influences than in the godly heroes of the Bible? The Talksheets series returns with another year of thought-provoking stories from the Old Testament to discuss with your youth group or bible studies. David Lynn shares discussion topics and questions written specifically with high school students in mind, promoting meaningful and thought-provoking conversations. The stories in these pages highlight pure moral principles and practices for teenagers to learn about and emulate. Each of the 52 epic bible stories is easy to use and fit to your lesson plan, including hints and tips to facilitate conversation. These lessons also include optional activities, giving teenagers to actively participate and have fun while they learn.
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Middle School TalkSheets Epic Old Testament Stories
$19.99Middle school students are exposed to a lot of outside influences they don’t necessarily understand. It’s important to establish moral guidelines and role models early on, so they can grow with a strong understanding of Christian values. Where better to look for these role models than in the godly heroes of the Bible?
The Talksheets series returns with another year of thought-provoking stories from the Old Testament to discuss with your youth group or bible studies. David Lynn shares discussion topics and questions written specifically with middle school students in mind, promoting meaningful and thought-provoking conversations. The stories in these pages highlight pure moral principles and practices for teenagers to learn about and emulate. Each of the 52 epic bible stories is easy to use and fit to your lesson plan, including hints and tips to facilitate conversation. These lessons also include optional activities, giving teenagers the opportunity to actively participate and have fun while they learn.
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Prayers For Advent And Christmas
$14.99This collection is ideal for the Sundays of Advent, as well as Christmas Eve services. It includes:
Invocations
Opening Prayers
Prayers of Confession
Pastoral PrayersDrawn from a variety of traditions, the prayers in this collection will aid any congregation as it worships throughout the journey of Advent.
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When The One You Love Is Gone
$11.99When a loved one dies, you don’t get over it, but you can move on.
The bad news is that we never fully “get over” the loss of those we hold most dear; we bear those scars to the grave. The good news is that God is at work in us turning our loss and pain into something beautiful. God can take the scars and the mess and the heartache of our lives– yours and mine– and use it to give new life, new life to us and new life to others.
God is not in the business of zapping our loved ones and stealing them away from us. But in a world where death waits for every person, God stands ready. God stands ready to receive our beloved dead as they cross over; and God stands ready to guide us through the saddest days, to walk with us through our grief, and to take us into places we never could have imagined places of hope and renewal. If God could take a cross and broken body and make of them redemption, God can take your pain and heartache and fashion them into new life.
This book is composed of the reflections that point to broader lessons that will help those who find themselves passing through grief, as well as the pastors, counselors, and friends whose job is to accompany the traveler.
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6 Deadly Sins Of Preaching
$17.99This ethics of preaching text identifies vices of irresponsible preaching practices. Preachers who fail to develop deep respect for their listeners or drift into a lack faithfulness to the Gospel can end up becoming:
* The Pretender (The Problem of In-authenticity)
* The Egoist (The Problem of Self-absorption)
* The Manipulator (The Problem of Greediness)
* The Panderer (The Problem of Trendiness)
* The Crusader (The Problem of Exploitation)
* The Demagogue (The Problem of Self-righteousness)Just as the church historically derived its Seven Holy Virtues (chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, & humility) by naming Seven Deadly Sins (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, & pride), Reid and Hogan call preachers to turn away from pulpit vices and strive to realize the homiletic virtues of becoming:
* Authentic (The Call to Be Genuine)
* Altruistic (The Call to Be Selfless)
* Careful (The Call to Exercise Self-Control)
* Passionate (The Call to Be Honest to God)
* Courteous (The Call to Woo a Reasoned Reception)
* A ‘Namer’ of God (The Call to Reveal an Ineffable God)The Six Deadly Sins of Preaching explores the difference between the irresponsible practices, unfortunate missteps, and mere unthinking mistakes in preaching. A chapter is devoted to Preaching Missteps (problems that do not rise to the level of being irresponsible) that includes:
* Short Changing the Process
* Waving a Red Flag
* Thou Shall Not Bore the Congregation
* Through the Looking Glass Darkly
* The Mumbler
* TMI-Too Much Information
* Your Cup Do Runneth Over
* Where’s This Sermon Going, Anyway?Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
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Real Conversations Participants Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$14.99For many teenagers, sharing their faith in Jesus to their friends is an overwhelming and scary prospect. Outreach is inviting their friends to a fun event once a year. In this entertaining DVD training, Jonathan McKee ignites the passion of Christian teenagers to live authentic lives and gives them tools to reach out to their friends in ways that won’t give them cold sweats! The message is simple: an authentic faith creates opportunities to talk about Jesus. In this dynamic DVD training, students will discover the secret to sharing the reason for the hope that’s within them.
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40 Days Of Community Devotional
$10.9940 Days of Community Devotional is a dynamic individual or small-group devotional journal that will help you learn how to fulfill God’s five purposes for your life. It includes the biblical support behind each purpose, the ways it applies to you and your circle of influence, and how you can use this knowledge to benefit God’s kingdom. According to Warren, from the beginning, God planned for Christians to fulfill his purposes in community with each other in our church families, small groups, and in the world as a whole. Why did God plan it this way? Because we’re better together! This 40 Days of Community Devotional will deepen your understanding of how God uses community for your own good and growth, as well as help you cultivate deeper relationships with those around you. Learn to fulfill God’s purposes … discover how we are better together. This devotional journal is designed for use with the 40 Days of Community DVD and 40 Days of Community Study Guide.
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