Before white churches can pursue diversity, we must first address the faulty discipleship that has led to our segregation in the first place. Pastor David Swanson proposes that we rethink our churches' habits, or liturgies, and imagine together holistic, communal discipleship practices that can reform us as members of Christ's diverse body.
When children have a listening companion who hears, acknowledges, and encourages their early experiences with God, it creates a spiritual footprint that shapes their lives. Lacy Finn Borgo draws on her experience of practicing spiritual direction with children as she introduces key skills for engaging kids in spiritual conversations, offering sample dialogues, prayers to use together, and ideas for play, art, and movement.
While the Free Churches rightly sought to cleanse the church of the abuses of sacramentalism, in that process they also set aside some of the church's historic practices and theology. In response to this liturgically thin space, Mennonite theologian and minister John D. Rempel considers the role of the sacraments and ritual within the Free Church tradition, helping us perceive the sacramental nature of our faith and worship.
Those who experience and survive cancer live in bonus time, a season of grace that can be both disorienting and wonderful. In this honest and hopeful account, two-time survivor Alec Hill helps readers recalibrate expectations, grapple with survivor's guilt, and steward the opportunities for new purpose and growth. Survivors and caregivers can discover how encountering death can bring us to a different kind of life.
Does God call women to serve as equal partners in marriage and as leaders in the church? With careful exegetical work, Lucy Peppiatt considers relevant passages in Ephesians, Colossians, 1 Peter, 1 Timothy, and 1 Corinthians. There she finds a story of God releasing women alongside men into all forms of ministry, leadership, work, and service on the basis of character and gifting, rather than biological sex.
Christian ministries increasingly prioritize urban areas—big cities and suburbs are considered more strategic, more influential, and more desirable places to live and work. As a ministry strategy, focusing on big places makes sense. But the gospel of Jesus is often unstrategic. Pastor Stephen Witmer, using helpful stories and practical advice, lays out an integrated theological vision for small-place ministry today.
The #MeToo movement has revealed sexual abuse in every sphere of society, including the church. But all too often, churches have been complicit in protecting abusers, reinforcing patriarchal power dynamics, and creating cultures of secrecy, shame, and silence. Disclosing candid stories of abuse, pastor and survivor Ruth Everhart offers God's hope to survivors while shining a light on the prevalence of sexual misconduct within faith communities.
How can church planters and their congregations flourish for the long haul? Written by a diverse team of scholar-practitioners and filled with real-world insights, stories, and questions for reflection and discussion, this guide gives church planters and their teams the tools to be theologically reflective, spiritually grounded, and missionally agile.
Informed by sociology, psychology, and theology, this updated edition of an established textbook investigates how human sexuality originates both biologically and socially. Laying the groundwork for a normative Christian interpretation of sexuality, this work explores what authentic sexuality looks like as well as forms of "inauthentic sexuality" such as sexual harassment, pornography, and rape.
The church's response to child and adolescent mental health disorders has too often been characterized by fear and misinformation rather than grace or wisdom. Psychologist Matthew Stanford educates Christians about a range of common mental health disorders—from both scientific and biblical perspectives—so that the church may offer young people hope, a holistic view of human nature, accessible care, and supportive community.