Social Issues
Showing 351–400 of 1243 resultsSorted by latest
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Possibility Of America
$21.00Add to cartPublished in the years following 9/11, David Dark’s book The Gospel according to America warned American Christianity about the false worship that conflates love of country with love of God. It delved deeply into the political divide that had gripped the country and the cultural captivity into which so many American churches had fallen.
In our current political season, the problems Dark identified have blossomed. The assessment he brought to these problems and the creative resources for resisting them are now more important than ever. Into this new political landscape and expanding on the analysis of The Gospel according to America, Dark offers The Possibility of America: How the Gospel Can Mend Our God-Blessed, God-Forsaken Land. Dark expands his vision of a fractured yet redeemable American Christianity, bringing his signature mix of theological, cultural, and political analysis to white supremacy, evangelical surrender, and other problems of the Trump era.
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Tough Gynes : Violent Women In Film As Honorary Men
$42.00Add to cartIn Borderline, Stan Goff unpacked the association of masculinity with war. In Tough Gynes, using an incisive and often darkly humorous study of nine films featuring violent female leads, he untangles the confusion about “masculinity constructed as violence” when our popular stories feature women as violent protagonists. Whether read individually or with a group, Tough Gynes raises compelling questions about gender and violence, with a few provisional answers. Plus, you get to watch movies as you read it.
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Studying The Image
$54.00Add to cartThe field of anthropology provides rich insights into the world of people and cultures. But it also presents challenges for Christians in the areas of cultural relativism, evolutionary theory, race and ethnicity, forms of the family, governments and war, life in the global economy, the morality of art, and religious pluralism. Most significantly it raises questions regarding the truth and how we can know it. This book provides the opportunity to investigate such questions with both the informed understanding of anthropological theory and ethnography, and the larger framework and commitment of Christian biblical and theological studies. So equipped, readers are encouraged to investigate for themselves the depths and intricacies of topics in anthropology that are especially relevant for Christians.
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Studying The Image
$34.00Add to cartThe field of anthropology provides rich insights into the world of people and cultures. But it also presents challenges for Christians in the areas of cultural relativism, evolutionary theory, race and ethnicity, forms of the family, governments and war, life in the global economy, the morality of art, and religious pluralism. Most significantly it raises questions regarding the truth and how we can know it. This book provides the opportunity to investigate such questions with both the informed understanding of anthropological theory and ethnography, and the larger framework and commitment of Christian biblical and theological studies. So equipped, readers are encouraged to investigate for themselves the depths and intricacies of topics in anthropology that are especially relevant for Christians.
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Gender Violence And Justice
$39.00Add to cartGender, Violence, and Justice is a volume of collected essays by an expert in the field of violence against women and pastoral theology. It represents over three decades of research, advocacy, and pastoral theological reflection on the subject of sexual and domestic violence. Topics include intimate partner violence, sexual abuse and trauma, and clergy sexual misconduct; controversial theological issues such as forgiveness; and, as well, positive frameworks for fostering well-being in families, church, and society.
Framed by a foreword and an introduction that place this work in the context of new and contemporary challenges in theory and practice, these essays show an evolution of issues and frameworks for theology, care, and activism arising over time from the movement to end violence against women (both within and beyond religious communities)-while at the same time demonstrating an unchanging core commitment to gender justice.
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Who Do You See When You Look At Me
$9.99Add to cartWho do you see when you look at me? Most notice my wheelchair, my voice, or my crazy hair. I am me, just me, doing my best to live each day to the fullest I can. There is more to me than you might realize. I have gifts and talents that make me unique. There are also things I do just like you- things we have in common that you might not even know. When we take the time to learn about each other, something grand happens- love and understanding. Open your mind, your soul, your heart, and you will see the real me… when you look at me.
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Europe And The Refugee Crisis
$160.00Add to cartAn I. B. Tauris And Company Title
Since 2014, more than 60 million people have been displaced from their homes across the Middle East and Africa. The European Refugee Crisis, as it has come to be known, is now the largest such crisis since the aftermath of World War II. How have local communities reacted to the influx of asylum seekers? And what can we learn from their responses?
Frances Trix here offers a wide-ranging ethnographical and anthropological study of local, individual responses to refugees, from Macedonia to Germany. Based on extensive interviews and field work in Europe, Trix focuses for the first time on the ways that refugees have been welcomed – or not, as the case may be – by various individuals and communities. Her work ranges from Macedonians who established an NGO and lobbied to allow the refugees to use the train, to the police charged with border management; from a German organic food store owner who by her actions set the positive tone in her village, a retired IT manager who coordinates refugee volunteers for his entire town, to the district work organisation director who deems refugees unsuitable for multiple reasons. The material is measured throughout against Trix’s anthropological experience, as well as reference to the historical and political contexts in which events are unfolding. This book is essential reading for all those working on the refugee crisis and the prospects – both local and global – for the future.
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Common Ground : Talking About Gun Violence In America
$18.00Add to cartEvery time a shooting makes national headlines, the same debates erupt: Is the problem guns or mental health? Why is the United States unique in its gun violence problem? Can we reduce this violence while protecting the right to bear arms?
Newtown, Connecticut, native and Disciples of Christ minister Donald V. Gaffney brings a calm and compassionate voice to these complex questions, offering a guide for individuals and groups to reflect on and discuss guns and gun violence. Common Ground explores the place of guns in our individual and national histories, violence in Scripture, the legal issues surrounding gun rights, and ways in which we as moral, life-valuing people can bridge the divide to help solve the problem of gun violence in the United States. To move beyond the talking points and rhetoric dominating gun violence discussions, Gaffney concludes chapters with questions for reflection and discussion to encourage self-examination, exploration, and evaluation of potential solutions to gun violence.
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Raising White Kids
$19.99Add to cartWith a foreword by Tim Wise, Raising White Kids is for families, churches, educators, and communities who want to equip their children to be active and able participants in a society that is becoming one of the most racially diverse in the world while remaining full of racial tensions. For white people who are committed to equity and justice, living in a nation that remains racially unjust and deeply segregated creates unique conundrums. These conundrums begin early in life and impact the racial development of white children in powerful ways. What can we do within our homes, communities and schools? Should we teach our children to be “colorblind”? Or, should we teach them to notice race? What roles do we want to equip them to play in addressing racism when they encounter it? What strategies will help our children learn to function well in a diverse nation? Talking about race means naming the reality of white privilege and hierarchy. How do we talk about race honestly, then, without making our children feel bad about being white? Most importantly, how do we do any of this in age-appropriate ways? While a great deal of public discussion exists in regard to the impact of race and racism on children of color, meaningful dialogue about and resources for understanding the impact of race on white children are woefully absent. Raising White Kids steps into that void.
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Terrorism In Pakistan
$110.00Add to cartAn I. B. Tauris And Company Title
Since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Pakistan has faced the threat of terrorism in different forms and shapes. Yet in recent years the threat has taken on a new dimension. After 9/11 the US campaign against Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan led to a surge in unrest and violence in Pakistan. Al-Qaeda gained a foothold in tribal regions of Pakistan via their local supporters, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), currently led by Mullah Fazlullah, who unleashed a new wave of terror across Pakistan. Since then, more than 60,000 Pakistanis have been killed as the result of TTP-orchestrated insurgency and terrorist attacks and Pakistan’s society, economy and its international image have suffered at the hands of TTP and its affiliated groups. As a result of several military operations many TTP leaders have taken refuge in Afghanistan where they have joined hands with the terrorist group ISIS, the so-called Islamic State, or Daesh by its local name. Pakistan’s nascent democratic set-up, in the form of the government of Nawaz Sharif, is struggling to curb this menace. This is the first book to cover all aspects of terrorism in Pakistan and to reveal the composition, ideology, approaches and strengths of TTP and its affiliates. It is essential reading for policy-makers, strategists, security experts and students to understand the intricate contours and dimensions of insurgency and terrorism within Pakistan.
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Color Of Life
$18.99Add to cartCara Meredith grew up in a colorless world. From childhood, she didn’t think issues of race had anything to do with her. A colorblind rhetoric had been stamped across her education, world view, and Christian theology.
Then as an adult, Cara’s life took on new, colorful hues. She realized that her generation, seeking to move beyond ancestral racism, had swung so far that they tried to act as if they didn’t see race at all. But that picture neglected the unique cultural identity God gives each person. When Cara met and fell in love with the son of black icon, James Meredith, she began to listen to the stories and experiences of others in a new way, taking note of the cultures, sounds and shades of life already present around her. After she married and their little family grew to include two mixed-race sons, Cara knew she would never see the world through a colorless lens again.
A writer and speaker in an interracial marriage and mixed-race family, Cara finds herself more and more in the middle of discussions about racial justice. In The Color of Life, she asks how do we navigate ongoing and desperately-needed conversations about race? How do we teach our children a theology of reconciliation and love? And what does it mean to live a life that makes space for seeing the imago Dei in everyone? Cara’s illuminating memoir paints a beautiful path from white privilege toward racial healing, from ignorance toward seeing the image of God in everyone she meets.
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Church And Foster Care
$16.99Add to cartWith roughly 500,000 children and growing in America’s foster care system, the new mission field for the church is clear. The Church & Foster Care shows how to simply engage in life-giving ministry to an underserved community. From real-life situations, foster care parent, educator, and advocate Dr. John DeGarmo lays out why God is calling the church to become involved. Sharing from the decades of support he received from his local church, this book is filled with practical and manageable suggestions on how to meet practical needs while planting seeds of faith.
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Making A Difference
$18.00Add to cartThe great challenge for the Christian in a post-Christian context is how to impact this fallen world with our faith. In Making a Difference, beloved theologian R. C. Sproul shows readers how to confront today’s moral and social issues with an effective biblical response. Dr. Sproul first examines the major philosophies that affect the way Americans think and act:
–secularism, existentialism, humanism, and pragmatism–and then presents ideas on how to apply a biblical perspective to spheres of public life that need the Christian’s influence today: economics, science, art and literature, and government. -
12 Lies That Hold America Captive
$17.99Add to cartIntroduction: The Lies That Bind
Lie 1: We Are A Christian Nation
Lie 2: We Are All Immigrants
Lie 3: We Are A Melting Pot
Lie 4: All Men Are Created Equal
Lie 5: We Are A Great Democracy
Lie 6: The American Dream Is Alive And Well
Lie 7: We Are The Most Prosperous Nation In The World
Lie 8: We Are The Most Generous People In The World
Lie 9: We Are The Land Of The Free
Lie 10: We Are The Home Of The Brave
Lie 11: America Is The Greatest Country On Earth
Lie 12: We Are One Nation
Conclusion: Leaving Our Nets To Follow Jesus
Acknowledgments
Appendix 1: Poem Exercise
Appendix 2: Ethnic Identity Interview
Appendix 3: Lament, Confess, Repent, Reconcile
NotesAdditional Info
“America is a Christian nation.”“All men are created equal.”
“We are the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
Except when we’re not.
These commonly held ideas break down in the light of hard realities, the study of Scripture, and faithful Christian witness. The president is not the messiah, the Constitution is not the Bible, and the United States is not a city on a hill or the hope for the world. The proclaimed hope of America rings most hollow for Native peoples, people of color, the rural poor, and other communities pressed to the margins.
Jonathan Walton exposes the cultural myths and misconceptions about America’s identity. Focusing on its manipulation of Scripture and the person of Jesus, he redirects us to the true promises found in the gospel. Walton identifies how American ideology and way of life has become a false religion, and shows that orienting our lives around American nationalism is idolatry. Our cultural notions of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are at odds with the call to take up our cross and follow Jesus.
Ultimately, our place in America is distinct from our place in the family of Jesus. Discover how the kingdom of God offers true freedom and justice for all.
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Healing Racial Divides
$19.99Add to cartCan the church help America emerge from its racist shadows empowered to heal racial divides? Church pastor and former police officer Terrell Carter says yes.
While our faith inarguably calls Christians to unity, the hard fact remains: we’re still tragically divided when it comes to race, even – and especially, many say — in our churches. Racism pervades our faith, our relationships, and our institutions in deep, often imperceptible ways. In Healing Racial Divides, Terrell Carter, a pastor, professor and former police officer takes us on a revelatory journey into the abyss of the racial divide and shows us how we’ve arrived at this divisive place. Understanding racism’s roots – and our place in it – we surface more committed and empowered to defeat racism once and for all.
Drawing from the Bible, scholarly research, and personal experience as a both a former police officer and a black pastor serving white congregations, Carter unpacks the deep roots of racism in America, how it continues to be perpetuated today, and practical strategies for racial reconciliation. Looking forward, he shapes a bold and faithful vision for healing racial division through multicultural communities focused on relationship, listening, and learning from each other.
With a pastor’s heart and an academic’s head, Carter invites us to look at where we’ve been-and where God calls us as spiritually mature Christians, seeking healing and true unity on earth.
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Reaching Your Addicted Loved One
$16.99Add to cartAs a teenager, Victor Torres was a gang warlord and heroin addict on New York City’s violent streets. Through the ministry of David Wilkerson and Nicky Cruz, Victor had a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ and came to realize that God had a purpose for his life. Victor has spent the last forty-five years helping tens of thousands of young men and women find freedom from drug addiction and gang life. Now, he answers your toughest questions about your addicted loved one. Without pulling punches or promising easy answers, Victor provides wisdom and expertise that can lead you toward success.
Some of the questions Victor addresses are…
-How can I know if my loved one has a substance abuse problem?
-How can I tell the difference between helping and enabling?
-What if my loved one refuses to get help?
-When should I call the police?
-What should we look for in a treatment program?
-What can I expect when my loved one comes out of treatment?
-How do I prepare for relapse?God did not create your loved one to be an addict or a loser. On the contrary, God created him or her for a better life. Although, for the moment, it may seem like you are losing your loved one, they still have a God-given destiny and a purpose. No matter how bad the picture may look now, there is always hope.
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Spiritual Practices In Community
$20.99Add to cartNtroduction: Going Deeper Together
1. Leading Spiritual Practices
2. Practicing Silence With Others
3. Exploring Scripture Together
4. Simple Prayers That Transform Community
5. Processing Life Together
6. Active Prayer With One Another
7. Sharing Life On Life
8. The Rhythm Of Life In Community
9. Corporate Discernment
Conclusion: Getting Started
Acknowledgments
Helpful BooksAdditional Info
Spiritual practices don’t have to be scary.Diana Shiflett has been leading groups of all descriptions in spiritual practices for many years, and she understands the difficulties involved: the potential for awkwardness and self-doubt, the nagging question of whether anyone’s getting anything out of this at all. But more than that, she understands the value of spiritual practices: their deep roots in the history and worship of God’s people, and their ability to calm our distracted minds and hearts so we are ready to hear the voice of Jesus.
In this personal, hands-on guide, Shiflett walks us through a wide array of spiritual practices, from communal silence and Scripture meditation to active prayer and corporate discernment. She proves a reliable guide, offering step-by-step instructions, pointing out hazards and pitfalls, and sharing her own experiences with honesty and humor.
With this book as a guide, these spiritual practices can become life-giving resources in your ministry setting for years to come.
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Preaching About Racism
$24.99Add to cartHelping pastors preach about racism to white congregations.
Of all the activities that come with being a minister, sermon preparation can loom largest – especially when racism is the subject. You’ve got to address racism with your white congregation from the pulpit. But, truthfully, you can’t wrap your head around how to preach about this topic thoughtfully and sensitively.
In Preaching about Racism, preaching professor and pastor Carolyn Helsel speaks directly to other white preachers about how to address racism from the pulpit. In her first book, Anxious to Talk about It: Helping White Christians Talk Faithfully about Racism, Helsel addressed the anxiety white Christians experience around conversations about race. In this follow-up, Helsel provides strategies and a theoretical framework for crafting biblical and theological sermons that incorporate insights from social sciences and psychology, gleaned from more than a decade of writing and teaching about racism.
Written for the busy pastor, several chapters are quick reads – helpful reminders as you prepare a thoughtful and sensitive sermon – while others dig deeper on the theory behind the crucial work of dismantling racism.
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Resurrection Shaped Life
$17.99Add to cartCan we begin to experience the resurrection in our ordinary life on earth? Bishop Jake Owensby says yes as he re-examines the biblical concept of resurrection and how Jesus’ resurrection influences his followers every day
A resurrection-shaped life:
Finds hope through honest reflection on the past.
Discovers meaning in suffering.
Moves beyond shame and blame toward self-acceptance and compassion.
Emerges from loss and regret to find contentment and joy.
Develops forgiveness as a habitual way of life.
Transcends “us-them” divisions to form inclusive community.
Draws strength from the hope of life after life.
A Resurrection Shaped Life explains how we begin to experience resurrection in Christian practices such as repentance and forgiveness and discusses how new life emerges from our small deaths: suffering, shame, regret, and loss. -
Modern Technology And The Human Future
$30.99Add to cartPreface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Machine Technology And Human Being
2. The Momentum And Inertia Of Modern Technological Development
3. The Technological World View
4. Remembering Where We Are And Who We Are
5. What On Earth Shall We Do?
A Personal Conclusion
Epilogue: On Eucharistic Embodiment
Author Index
Subject Index
Scripture IndexAdditional Info
Technology is not neutral.From the plow to the printing press, technology has always shaped human life and informed our understanding of what it means to be human. And advances in modern technology, from computers to smartphones, have yielded tremendous benefits. But do these developments actually encourage human flourishing?
Craig Gay raises concerns about the theological implications of modern technologies and of philosophical movements such as transhumanism. In response, he turns to a classical affirmation of the Christian faith: Jesus Christ, the eternal Word of God, took on human flesh. By exploring the doctrine of the incarnation and what it means for our embodiment, Gay offers a course correction to the path of modern technology without asking us to unplug completely.
The doctrine of the incarnation is not neutral either. It presents us an alternative vision for the future of humanity.
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Can White People Be Saved
$40.99Add to cartNo one is born white. But while there is no biological basis for a white race, whiteness is real. What’s more, whiteness as a way of being in the world has been parasitically joined to Christianity, and this is the ground of many of our problems today. It is time to redouble the efforts of the church and its institutions to muster well-informed, gospel-based initiatives to fight racialized injustice and overcome the heresy of whiteness.
Written by a world-class roster of scholars, Can “White” People Be Saved? develops language to describe the current realities of race and racism. It challenges evangelical Christianity in particular to think more critically and constructively about race, ethnicity, migration, and mission in relation to white supremacy.
Historical and contemporary perspectives from Africa and the African diaspora prompt fresh theological and missiological questions about place and identity. Native American and Latinx experiences of colonialism, migration, and hybridity inspire theologies and practices of shalom. And Asian and Asian American experiences of ethnicity and class generate transnational resources for responding to the challenge of systemic injustice. With their call for practical resistance to the Western whiteness project, the perspectives in this volume can revitalize a vision of racial justice and peace in the body of Christ.
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You Welcomed Me
$16.99Add to cart1. Are We For Or Against?
2. That Could Be Me
3. Real Concerns
4. This Is Our Story
5. Getting Practical
6. Form A Human Chain
7. Here Is Life
Acknowledgments
Appendix A: Organizations For Next Steps
Appendix B: Resources For Next Steps
NotesAdditional Info
“Wait, Dad. Are we for them or against them?”Kent Annan was talking with his eight-year-old son about the immigrant and refugee crises around the world. His son’s question, innocent enough in the moment, is writ large across our society today. How we answer it, Annan says, will reveal a lot about what kind of family, community, or country we want to be.
In You Welcomed Me, Annan explores, in his usual compelling way, how fear and misunderstanding can motivate our responses to people in need. Instead, he invites us into stories of welcome-stories that lead us to see the current refugee and immigrant crisis in a new light. He also lays out simple practices for a way forward: confessing what separates us, listening well, and partnering with, not patronizing, those in need. His stories draw us in, and the practices send us out prepared to cross social and cultural divides.
In this wise, practical book, Annan invites us to answer his son’s question with confident conviction: “We’re for them”-and to explore with him the life-giving implications of that answer.
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Uncommon Love : God’s Heart For Christian Parents Of Gay Kids
$16.99Add to cartUncommon Love is a landmark Bible study and the first of its kind. In a culture where gay rights, gay marriage, and a surplus of gender issues have recently exploded in the media, more and more kids are coming out–and many of these are from Christian homes with Christian parents who don’t know what to do, how to respond, where to draw boundaries or if they even should. Scripture, which is the foundational basis for how to live the Christian life, has even been brought into question, further confusing the hearts and minds of Christian parents. Mary Comm presents a comprehensive navigational map for Christian parents whose kids (whether minor or adult) have Same-Sex Attraction or are living the LGB lifestyle. The primary purpose of Uncommon Love is to help parents maintain a loving, mutually respectful relationship with their LGB children and shows parents how to offer compassionate understanding and unconditional love without compromising their own identity, faith, and values.
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Braving The Future
$16.99Add to cartHumanity is nearing a technological tipping point. Futurists tell us that the blistering pace of technological, scientific, and social change is ushering in an era in which human bodies merge with devices, corporations know everything about us, and artificial intelligence develops human and even godlike potential. In possession of the most powerful tools history has ever seen, we will be faced with questions about wisdom, authority, faith, desire, and what it means to be human.
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Reciprocal Church : Becoming A Community Where Faith Flourishes Beyond High
$20.99Add to cartIntroduction: Reciprocal Church
Part 1: A Theological Vision For The Reciprocal Church
1. Eating Melon On Tuesdays: Young People And Faith
2. Galloping Mares: The Gospel Without Christ’s Church
3. A Vital Identity: God Gathers A People
4. A Vital Purpose: Christ Is Reconciling Relationships
5. A Vital Avenue: The Spirit Transforms You, Me, And UsPart 2: Values And Practices For Flourishing Communities
6. Tetherballs And Floodlights: Valuing Memory
7. The Oxpecker’s Gift: Valuing Mutuality
8. Seeing Beyond The Epidemic: Recognizing Potential
9. Moving Beyond The Epidemic: Valuing Contribution
10. Windmills Of Hope: Valuing MaturityEpilogue: Faith Flourishes With Practice
Acknowledgments
Discussion Questions
NotesAdditional Info
The church faces an unprecedented loss of rising generations. Young adults who were active and engaged in the local church are leaving the community behind after high school. What can we do? Responding to these concerning statistics, Sharon Galgay Ketcham reflects theologically on the church community and its role in forming faith. She exposes problems in the way leaders conceive of and teach about the relationship between individual faith and the local church, and offers fresh solutions in the form of values and practices that can shape a community into a place where faith will flourish in those both young and old. -
Welcoming Justice : Gods Movement Toward Beloved Community (Expanded)
$18.99Add to cartWe have seen progress in recent decades toward Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of beloved community. But this is not only because of the activism and sacrifice of a generation of civil rights leaders. It happened because God was on the move.
Historian and theologian Charles Marsh partners with veteran activist John Perkins to chronicle God’s vision for a more equitable and just world. Perkins reflects on his long ministry and identifies key themes and lessons he has learned, and Marsh highlights the legacy of Perkins’s work in American society. Together they show how abandoned places are being restored, divisions are being reconciled, and what individuals and communities are now doing to welcome peace and justice.
Now updated with a new preface to reflect on current social realities, this book reveals ongoing lessons for the continuing struggle for a just society. Come, discover your part in the beloved community. There is unfinished work still to do.
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1 By One
$24.99Add to cartApollo Publishers
A passionate and heartrending memoir of tragedy and perseverance from a former opioid addict in an opioid addicted community, and an up-close look at America’s new health crisis.
Behind closed doors, thirty-six million people around the world abuse opioids, three million of them are in the US. Nick Bush was one of them. Forty-five thousand people in the US die annually from the disease, two lives lost to it were Nick’s sister and brother, five were his friends. Opioid addiction is recognized as the nation’s worst health crisis. Because of it, the average American lifespan is decreasing.
Incredibly, the stories of the people suffering from opioid addiction rarely get told. In One by One, Nick steps out of the opioid shadows to share his page-turning true story. He is remarkably candid about how he became an addict, as well as the stories of those around him, in a community ravaged by the disease. Nick, though, is a survivor. Here he tells how, and inspires us to know that the war against opioid addiction is one that we can win if only we are willing to bring humanity to the disease, faces to the addiction.
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Church Forsaken : Practicing Presence In Neglected Neighborhoods
$22.99Add to cart“There are no God-forsaken places, just church-forsaken places.” -Jon Fuller, OMF International
Jonathan Brooks was raised in the Englewood neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. As soon as he was able, he left the community and moved as far away as he could. But through a remarkable turn of events, he reluctantly returned and found himself not only back in Englewood but also serving as a pastor (“Pastah J”) and community leader.
In Church Forsaken, Brooks challenges local churches to rediscover that loving our neighbors means loving our neighborhoods. Unpacking the themes of Jeremiah 29, he shows how Christians can be fully present in local communities, building homes and planting gardens for the common good. His holistic vision and practical work offers good news for forgotten people and places. And community stakeholders and civic leaders will rediscover that churches are viable partners in community transformation in ways that they may never have considered.
God has always been at work in neglected neighborhoods. Join Pastah J on this journey and discover new hope for your community.
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Jesus Economy : A Biblical View Of Poverty The Currency Of Love And A Patte
$16.99Add to cartYou know people around the world are struggling. A homeless man holds a sign that reads, “Anything helps.” A poor child lives in a slum swarming with flies. A refugee mother is on the brink of starvation. You ask yourself, “But what can I do about such big problems?”
You’re looking for long-term solutions. John D. Barry shares incredible, and often shocking, stories about working among the impoverished and unchurched in the U.S. and abroad. And since Barry is a Bible scholar, Jesus’ Economy is also deeply rooted in the Scriptures. It is a personal, sometimes funny, often heartbreaking account that presents a revolutionary pattern for lasting change.
Jesus’ Economy is based on self-sacrifice. His currency is love. It’s called Jesus’ Economy because it’s about creating a spiritual and physical economy for those who need it most. Here is a thoroughly biblical and compassionate pattern for addressing issues of poverty and offering the hope of the gospel. Jesus’ Economy
– Shows how you as an individual can best encourage renewal in your community.
– Demonstrates how your church community or any group can alleviate poverty.
– Presents a unified plan for creating jobs, spreading the gospel, and meeting basic needs.
– Focuses on community development and sustainability– lasting change, globally and locally.Jesus’ Economy is a call to address our own spiritual poverty–as people who can too easily become distant from Christ–and it is a call to address the physical poverty all around us in a smart and sustainable way. Jesus’ teachings show that with simple, everyday choices, you can make the world a better place and create enduring change. Here’s how to live Jesus’ economy–a currency of love.
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Insider Outsider : My Journey As A Stranger In White Evangelicalism And My
$17.99Add to cartGod boldly proclaims throughout the book of Acts, “There is no ethnic home team when it comes to Christianity.” But the minority experience in America today–and throughout history–too often tells a different story.
When Pastor Bryan Loritts wrote an op-ed piece in Christianity Today about this “evangelical gentrification” in the American church, he received an overwhelming response of more than one million views and sparked a provocative national conversation. In Insider Outsider, Loritts dives deeper into what it’s like to be a person of color in predominantly white evangelical spaces today and where we go from here. Drawing on insightful snapshots through history, eye-opening personal experiences, and biblical exposition, Loritts awakens both our minds and hearts to the painful reality of racial divides as well as the hope of forgiveness.
As Loritts writes, “It is impossible to do theology devoid of cultural lenses and expressions. Like an American unaware of their own accent, most whites are unaware of the ethnic theological accent they carry.” Insider Outsider bears witness to the true stories that often go untold–stories that will startle, enlighten, and herald a brighter way forward for all seeking belonging in the family of God.
This seminal book on race and the church will help Christians discover how they can learn the art of listening to stories unlike their own, identify the problems and pitfalls that keep Sunday morning the most segregated hour of the week, and participate in an active movement with God toward a holy vision of what Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls “life together.”
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Lens Of Love
$22.00Add to cartIn order to engage the Bible in the spirit of justice, compassion, and love, Jonathan L. Walton suggests reading the Bible in its world for our world. Perfect for individual or group study, A Lens of Love helps Christians to read and interpret the Bible morally and confidently as they engage society’s pressing issues. Walton provides interpretive tools to help understand the context of the Scriptures along with the Scriptures themselves in order to engage the richness of the Bible as they strive to live in the world in a biblically grounded, theologically sound, and socially responsible way.
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Not Your White Jesus
$20.00Add to cartJesus is not white. Jesus is not American. Jesus does not want to make America great. While many of us grew up looking at gleaming portraits of Jesus with blond, flowing hair and hearing sermons reaffirming that we have the answers to save a fallen world, the real Jesus-a Middle Eastern Jew preaching radical, humble, self-emptying love-calls us to a different life.
As we see oppression and hate run rampant in our nation, it’s as if Christianity has lost sight of the red letters altogether. Sheri Faye Rosendahl takes a look at important social issues in our society, the responses of American Christians, and the true ways behind the red letters. Not Your White Jesus addresses the need to reexamine the true ways of Jesus that we find clearly in the red letters, enabling readers to discover what it truly means to follow the ways of Jesus in contrast to following the ways of the American Christian elite.
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Finding Holy In The Suburbs
$16.99Add to cartIntroduction
1. Worshiping Granite Countertops
2. When Your Worth Is Measured In Square Footage
3. Circling The Suburbs In My Minivan
4. Beyond The Gated Community
5. Where The Sidewalk Ends
6. You’re Not A Barbie, You Belong
7. This Isn’t Pinterest-Worth Entertaining
8. Open Hearts And Open Hands
9. The Opportunity Of Cul-De-Sacs
10. Paper Birds And Human Flourishing
Conclusion
Discussion QuestionsAdditional Info
Commuters. Tract homes. Strip malls.Is this what you think of when you think of the suburbs? Or do you think of safety, beauty, comfort, and ease?
More than half of Americans live in the suburbs. Ashley Hales writes that for many Christians, however: “The suburbs are ignored (‘Your place doesn’t matter, we’re all going to heaven anyway’), denigrated and demeaned (‘You’re selfish if you live in a suburb; you only care about your own safety and advancement’), or seen as a cop-out from a faithful Christian life (‘If you really loved God, you’d move to Africa or work in an impoverished area’). In everything from books to Hollywood jokes, the suburbs aren’t supposed to be good for our souls.”
What does it look like to live a full Christian life in the suburbs? Suburbs reflect our good, God-given desire for a place to call home. And suburbs also reflect our own brokenness. This book is an invitation to look deeply into your soul as a suburbanite and discover what it means to live holy there.
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Placemaking And The Arts
$32.99Add to cartWe are, each one of us, situated in a particular place.As embodied creatures, as members of local communities and churches, as people who live in a specific location in the world, we all experience the importance of place. But what role does place play in the Christian life and how might our theology of place be cultivated?In this Studies in Theology and the Arts volume, Jennifer Allen Craft argues that the arts are a significant form of placemaking in the Christian life. The arts, she contends, place us in time, space, and community in ways that encourage us to be fully and imaginatively present in a variety of contexts: the natural world, our homes, our worshiping communities, and society. In so doing, the arts call us to pay attention to the world around us and invite us to engage in responsible practices in those places.Through this practical theology of the arts, Craft shows how the arts can help us by cultivating our theological imagination, giving shape to the Christian life, and forming us more and more into the image of Christ.
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Real : The Surprising Secret To Deeper Relationships
$15.99Add to cartIntroduction
1. Finsta And Rinsta
2. The Way We Were
3. True To Yourself?
4. The Joy Of Repentance
5. Your Roots Are Showing
6. Dealing With Sirens
7. True Authenticity
Epilogue: A Land Without RepentanceAdditional Info
Every woman longs for authentic friendships with others-but in a world of carefully-curated social media, most of us are merely keeping up appearances. Both online and offline, we’re all prone to only presenting the best side of ourselves.This book shows us that the secret to growing the relationships we crave is in developing a biblical habit of repentance. By being honest about our sin before God and receiving his forgiveness, we’re freed be honest about our sin with others. When we drop the act and allow ourselves to be vulnerable by sharing our struggles, not only are we strengthened in our fight against sin, but we experience authentic fellowship and real friendship.
Catherine Parks empowers women to fight side by side against their sin, and shows how by getting real about our struggles, we can create genuine community in an “I’m fine” culture.
This book is great for reading with your book group, women’s group, accountability partner, or one-to-one mentor-discussion questions are included for every chapter.
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Amazing Grace Abounding Love
$19.99Add to cartFeeling alone and afraid, six-year-old Darlene hides under the porch, crying. When her sister finds her, Darlene is unable to explain the fear she faces at nighttime.
Later, as a wife and a mother, she processes the impact of the sexual abuse while struggling with depression. Through this deep emotional pain, she recognizes that Christ has already won the victory over Satan. But can she forgive her father? And can she find peace as she sets out to learn the truth about her biological mother?
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Opening The Doors 2nd Edition Enhanced
$29.95Add to cartWaterside Press
Ideal for outsiders, volunteers and others helping out with prisoners, Opening the Doors contains wise advice based on years of experience. It places imprisonment in a Christian context and captures the essence of why some people end up in prison. -
Jericho Unmasked : An Entrapped Lesbian’s Journey To Freedom
$12.99Add to cartGod’s word never returns void.
Before she was six years old, Cari Gintz found salvation in Christ, but childhood abuse, trauma sustained through legalistic religion, and an ongoing struggle with her sexual identity took a steep toll on her relationship with God. A wall of brokenness surrounded her life, encasing her within a fortress where depravity and darkness reigned.
But even as Cari struggled through decades of pain and searching, a scarlet cord tethered her to God, leading to one miraculous moment that would collapse the walled fortress that kept her from realizing His full purpose for her life.
Tracing her journey through darkness and back into the light of God’s never-ceasing love, Cari’s memoir showcases the redemptive power of the God who never lets his children go. Sensitively told, this story offers encouragement to those with family members or friends struggling with issues of sexual identity, by underscoring the power of divine possibility, the necessity of showing love to the broken, and the importance of relational, believing prayer.
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Minority Experience : Navigating Emotional And Organizational Realities
$20.99Add to cartPreface
Introduction: What Is A Minority?Part 1: Understanding The Minority Experience
1. Self-Doubt: Understanding Pain
2. Pain, Power, And The Past: Three Distinctives Of The Minority Experience
3. Domestication: Understanding Power
4. Weariness: Understanding The PastPart 2: Redeeming The Minority Experience
5. Challenges In Organizational Development: How To Diversify Your Organization
6. Seeing Pain With Eyes Of Compassion
7. Stewarding Power With Hands Of Advocacy
8. Reframing The Past With A Heart Of Wisdom
9. The Challenge And The OpportunityAcknowledgments
Study Guide
Notes
Author Index
Subject Index
Scripture IndexAdditional Info
It’s hard to be in the minority.If you’re the only person from your ethnic or cultural background in your organization or team, you probably know the challenges of being misunderstood or marginalized. You might find yourself inadvertently overlooked or actively silenced. Even when a work environment is not blatantly racist or hostile, people of color often struggle to thrive-and may end up leaving the organization.Being a minority is not just about numbers. It’s about understanding pain, power, and the impact of the past. Organizational consultant Adrian Pei describes key challenges ethnic minorities face in majority-culture organizations. He unpacks how historical forces shape contemporary realities, and what both minority and majority cultures need to know in order to work together fruitfully. If you’re a cultural minority working in a majority culture organization, or if you’re a majority culture supervisor of people from other backgrounds, learn the dynamics at work. And be encouraged that you can help make things better so that all can flourish. -
Dignity Revolution : Reclaiming Gods Rich Vision For Humanity
$16.99Add to cartIntroduction: A Person’s A Person
1. With Glory And Honor
2. Losing Our Humanity
3. Dignity Rediscovered
4. Race And The Nations
5. The Start Of Life
6. Justice, Prisons, And Immigration
7. Death, Disease, And Healthcare
8. Work And Poverty
9. Identity, Sexuality, And Marriage
10. Technology And Our Digital Age
11. Religious Liberty
12. Politics
Outro: Learning From The Zong-What Will Be Our Legacy?Additional Info
As Christians, we want to make a difference in this world. We want to have an impact not only on our immediate family and community, but on wider social issues. We want to protect the vulnerable and engage with the issues that really matter. But how?This book shoes us how wonderful, liberating and empowering it is to be made in God’s image – and how this changes how we see ourselves and all other humans, and how we treat them and advocate for them.
Some will feel the call to run for office… others will roll up their sleeves and join the good work of non-profit ministry… and others might simply find little ways to incorporate this vision of human dignity into their everyday lives, and change their community one word, one action, one person at a time.
Each one of us can be, and are called to be, part of this new movement-a human dignity revolution that our societies need, and that we-you-are uniquely placed as Christians to be join.
This compelling book shows you how to join the dignity revolution.
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Love The World
$15.99Add to cartThis beautifully written book aims to increase our love for the world through reflecting on what we have discovered about it, and using this as a basis for further meditation and spiritual enrichment. It opens by looking at the beginning of the universe and the mystery of being, then moves on to our world, its atmosphere, the miracle of water and things we often take for granted but are essential to our health and happiness. Finally, it focuses on our relationship to the earth. Each section offers a short introduction, based on scientific discovery, a meditation, and an exercise in awareness and sensitivity.
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Urban Ministry Reconsidered
$50.00Add to cartChristian ministries often struggle to account for urbanization’s growing force, complexities, and reach-and to formulate theologically and sociologically appropriate responses. Urban Ministry Reconsidered features a collection of original essays by leading scholars and practitioners that explores current issues and challenges in urban communities.
Together these articles consider how cultural and structural frameworks have led to new conceptualizations and configurations of urban ministry. In addition, they examine the degree to which the social, spiritual, and organizational priorities of urban ministries have been reconceived in response to these shifts.
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Thing With Feathers
$9.99Add to cartEmilie Day believes in playing it safe: she’s homeschooled, her best friend is her seizure dog, and she’s probably the only girl on the Outer Banks of North Carolina who can’t swim
Then Emilie’s mom enrolls her in public school, and Emilie goes from studying at home in her pj’s to halls full of strangers. To make matters worse, Emilie is paired with starting point guard Chatham York for a major research project on Emily Dickinson. She should be ecstatic when Chatham shows interest, but she has a problem. She hasn’t told anyone about her epilepsy.
Emilie lives in fear her recently adjusted meds will fail and she’ll seize at school. Eventually, the worst happens, and she must decide whether to withdraw to safety or follow a dead poet’s advice and “dwell in possibility.”
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Healing Our Broken Humanity
$24.99Add to cartForeword By Willie James Jennings
Introduction: Nine Practices That Heal Our Broken Humanity
1. Reimagine Church
2. Renew Lament
3. Repent Together
4. Relinquish Power
5. Restore Justice
6. Reactivate Hospitality
7. Reinforce Agency
8. Reconcile Relationships
9. Recover Life Together
Epilogue: A Benediction And Prayer
Acknowledgments
Appendix One: Questions For Discussion And Engagement
Appendix Two: The Nine Transforming Practices Accountability Form
Appendix Three: Resources For Healing Our Broken Humanity
Notes
IndexAdditional Info
We live in conflicted times. Our newsfeeds are filled with inequality, division, and fear. We want to make a difference and see justice restored because Jesus calls us to be a peacemaking and reconciling people. But how do we do this?Based on their work with diverse churches, colleges, and other organizations, Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Graham Hill offer Christian practices that can bring healing and hope to a broken world. They provide ten ways to transform society, from lament and repentance to relinquishing power, reinforcing agency, and more. Embodying these practices enables us to be the new humanity in Jesus Christ, so the church and world can experience reconciliation, justice, unity, peace, and love.
With small group activities, discussion questions, and exercises in each chapter, this book is ideal to read together in community. Discover here how to bring real change to a dehumanized world.
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Cry For Help
$15.00Add to cartHuman hurt, abuse, and neglect are as real as the next breath that you will take. Rape, molestation, and sexual predators that strike from close range are often possessed with spirits of evil that can do damage that last a lifetime. But God, will always hear and respond to the cry of His people.
The transparency of NaTausha Clark is a blessing to the body of Christ. Her willingness to couple her personal pain with the truth of the printed promises of scripture are nothing short of amazing. This book is a must read for every Pastor who seeks to do effective ministry to those who have been wounded by sexual abuse; it is a healing balm for those who have suffered the indignity of being violated yet refuse to be victims but, have decided to be victors!
Clark is a victor and the journey that you will take in this text will prove to be life changing as she reveals her pain for the benefit of those who lack empathy, seek apathy and have refused pity to those that have been wounded but have seen the hand of God grant restoration like never before. Thank you Minister NaTausha Clark for allowing God to use your bruises to heal the brokenness of others.
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Reclaim Restore And Rebuild Includes Leaders Guide
$19.99Add to cartIf sexual brokenness–homosexuality or transgenderism–has touched your family, you’re on a painful and challenging journey. But you’re not alone.
Although Nehemiah lived more than two thousand years ago, he would have understood what you’re going through. He dealt with brokenness, weakness, and powerlessness in the face of his circumstances. His heart was broken over unfulfilled dreams. He is a role model for the challenges you face because he endured so much, yet he obeyed God and fulfilled God’s purposes for his life. His life reminds us that we often do not choose the circumstances God allows in our lives, but we can learn to make the best of them.
As you study portions of Nehemiah and the armor of God, you’ll learn to apply principles from these passages to help you reclaim and rebuild your relationship with a sexually broken family member or friend.
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Disabling Mission Enabling Witness
$24.99Add to cartIn recent decades churches have accommodated disabled people in various ways. Through access ramps and elevators and sign language, disabled persons are invited in to worship. But are they actually enfolded into the church’s mission? Have the able-bodied come to recognize and appreciate the potential contributions of people with disabilities in the ministry and witness of the church?Benjamin Conner wants to stimulate a new conversation between disability studies and Christian theology and missiology. How can we shape a new vision of the entire body of Christ sharing in the witness of the church? How would it look if we “disabled” Christian theology, discipleship, and theological education? Conner argues that it would in fact enable congregational witness. He has seen it happen and he shows us how.Imagine a church that fully incorporates persons with disabilities into its mission and witness. In this vision, people with disabilities contribute to the church’s pluriform witness, and the congregation embodies a robust hermeneutic of the gospel. Picture the entire body of Christ functioning beyond distinctions of dis/ability, promoting mutual flourishing and growing into fullness. Here is an enlargement of the church’s witness as a sign, agent, and foretaste of the kingdom of God.Here is a fresh and inspiring look at the mission of the church when it enfolds people with disabilities as full members.
