Denominational Concerns
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Once And Future Roman Rite
$32.95Add to cartEver since Paul VI imposed a new set of liturgical books, Roman Catholic faithful have suffered the effects of a hasty and far-reaching reform permeated with nominalism, voluntarism, Protestantism, rationalism, antiquarianism, hyperpapalism, and other modern errors. But man is not master over divine liturgy; rather, all of us are called to be stewards of it, from the lowest-ranking layman to the pope himself.
Dr. Peter Kwasnieski argues that sacred Tradition is the guiding principle for all authentic Christian liturgy, which originates from Christ and is guided by the Holy Spirit throughout the life of the Church. The prominent identifying traits of the classical Roman Rite-and indeed of all traditional rites, Eastern and Western-are absent from the Novus Ordo, estranging it from their company and making it impossible to call it “the Roman rite.”
To respond to this crisis of rupture, we must return fully to the Tridentine Rite, the Roman rite in its robust perennial richness, for which no special permission is or could ever be needed.
Fidelity to the traditional Latin Liturgy is, at its root, fidelity to the Roman Church and to Christ Himself, Who has lovingly inspired the growth and perfection of our religious rites for two thousand years. This awe-inspiring gift of tradition allows us to taste, even now, the banquet of the promised land of heaven.
Whats Church All About
$18.95Add to cartThis book explores the real questions that young people ask, including their negative and sometimes irreverent questions. It then provides four supplementary chapters based on advanced questions for adults and a vision for the Church of the future. It uses real stories to flesh out the intentions of Scripture and Church teaching, drawing also on contemporary culture and learning. It avoids Church-talk that means nothing to young people, but also unwraps the Church’s hidden treasures in an accessible way. The book has been influenced by both the recent synod on youth and the current discussions in the Plenary Council of the Church in Australia.
American Methodism Revised And Updated
$39.99Add to cartThe essential guide to American Methodism revised and updated through 2020.
Four of Methodism’s most respected teachers give us a vivid picture of 260 years of Methodist experience in America. The revised edition updates the Methodist movement’s story through 2020, including the social, political, economic, technological, and global disruptions that cause faith communities and denominations to pull apart.
American Methodism Revised and Updated begins with the explosion of evangelical Pietism and revolutionary Methodism, the First Great Awakening, as an independent nation was formed.
It then highlights key 19th century themes and Methodist contributions, such as spreading scriptural holiness through missions and literature, planting tens of thousands of Sunday schools and churches by Circuit Riders, the pivotal Methodist schism between abolitionists and enslavers, the innovative building of schools and hospitals into the next century, and the revivalism of the Second Great Awakening.
Finally it explores the movements of 20th century Methodism, including the expansion of home and foreign missions, the Methodist drive for Prohibition, the decision for nationwide reunification on the cusp of World War II, reunification with the United Brethren during the Vietnam War, the Methodist ordination of women during the 1950s, Black Methodist leadership in the 1960s Civil Rights movement, and the liturgical renewal or reformation of worship (ancient and future).
Dont Look Back
$18.99Add to cartHope and help for pastors and congregations who are asking, What now? And What’s next?
Some pastors and congregations have managed remarkable innovation, creation of new ministries, courageous pruning of old programs, and rediscovery of core Wesleyan convictions in recent years. Others have experienced a long, slow-motion, downward cycle of loss.
We might be tempted to ‘sit down’ wherever we are, looking back at all that’s happened, shaking our heads in disbelief. But it’s time to stand up, to move forward. Will Willimon shows what that could look like. He spent a year committed to asking questions and careful listening in conversations with clergy, organizational leaders, and parishioners across the U.S. What’s next for Methodist church folk?
As you read, join in the process of asking and listening. The honesty, wisdom, and inspiration you find here may point you in new directions. What do you think God is up to in the present moment? What should we stop doing and begin doing, responding to God’s call now? What are the biblical texts, stories from our past, and core Wesleyan convictions that might guide us from this point?
And are we at Good Friday or at Easter?
As Willimon writes in his Introduction, “Let’s have a decent burial for yesterday’s good intentions and then partner with the Holy Spirit in creating tomorrow’s church.” This is a book to read and reflect on with colleagues, congregants, and Methodist friends.
Vatican Code : American Diplomacy In The Time Of Francis
$29.95Add to cartThere are many who are intrigued by the institution of the Holy See under the pontificate of Pope Francis. The Vatican Code opens a curtain to the Holy See from a unique angle. It browses some of the highlights of the papacy from 2013 to 2017 as well as some of its murkier elements. It profiles some of the personalities and the daily and long-term innerworkings of the United States Embassy with the Vatican. The Vatican Code provides key insights into the sensitive negotiations of an American ambassador to the Holy See and will help readers understand the intricacies of this unique role.
Ambassador Kenneth Hackett was born and raised in Boston, educated by the Jesuits at Boston College High School and Boston College. He did graduate study at New York University and took a sabbatical at the University of South Carolina. Following three and a half years with the Peace Corps in Ghana, he spent forty years with Catholic Relief Services (CRS), nineteen of which he was the chief executive officer and president. He was appointed as United States ambassador to the Holy See in August 2013.
Shaped By Worship
$9.95Add to cartThe newest book in the Little Books on Liturgy series, focused on the intersection of liturgy and formation.
Juan Oliver, Custodian of the Book of Common Prayer, outlines why rituals and liturgy have great meaning in forming individuals and communities. His work is focused on topics such as the sacraments, worship, mystery and the sacred.
Ideal for group or individual study in churches, seminaries, and schools of ministry.
2023 Churchmans Ordo Kalendar January 2023 Through December 2023
$4.95Add to cartA popular 12-month wall calendar from January 2023 through December 2023.
Offers a traditional use of the Revised Common Lectionary and The Anglican Service Book. Includes a full listing of the traditional feasts and devotional days celebrated throughout the Anglican Communion. Days are color-coded to indicate proper vestment colors.
What Kind Of Christianity
$30.00Add to cartLike most Americans, Presbyterians in the United States know woefully little about the history of slavery and the rise of anti-Black racism in our country. Most think of slavery as a tragedy that “just happened” without considering how it happened and who was involved. In What Kind of Christianity William Yoo paints an accurate picture of the complicity of the majority of Presbyterians in promoting, supporting, or willfully ignoring the enslavement of other human beings. Most Presbyterians knew of the widespread physical and sexual violence that enslavers visited on the enslaved, and either approved of it or did nothing to prevent it. Most Presbyterians in the nineteenth century-whether in the South or the North–held racist attitudes toward African Americans and put those attitudes into daily application. In short, during that period when the Presbyterian church was establishing itself as a central part of American life most of its members were promoting slavery and anti-Black racism. In this important book William Yoo demonstrates that to understand how Presbyterian Christians can promote racial justice today, they must first understand and acknowledge how deeply racial injustice is embedded in their history and identity as a denomination.
Legacy Of Melchior Rinck
$39.99Add to cart“Reformer. Revolutionary. Anabaptist.After witnessing the failure of the peasants’ movement in sixteenth-century Germany, Melchior Rinck was motivated by a passion to see both church and society reformed. His name appears in sixteenth-century lists of significant early Anabaptist leaders, but he has not received much scholarly attention. In this first full-length study of Rinck’s life, relationships, ministry, debates, theological emphases, impact, and legacy, Stuart Murray paints a portrait of an underappreciated Anabaptist pioneer who did not fit neatly into any of the major branches of the movement but developed his own approach. Rinck was vehemently opposed to infant baptism because of the damage this practice did to church and society, more nuanced than many other Anabaptists in his views on church and state, and convinced that love was the supreme divine characteristic and the highest calling of humanity. The Legacy of Melchior Rinck contains previously untranslated writings and the first complete collection of extant works by and about Rinck, offering readers a comprehensive but readable introduction to Rinck’s pioneering role in the unusually tolerant territory of Hesse and an opportunity to consider his legacy. “
People Called Metodistas
$32.99Add to cartChurch renewal always happens from the margins, never from the center. Church renewal burns with fiery passion among the LatinX pueblos and barrios, and this energy in Latin America can be harnessed to reform doctrine, worship, and the core purpose of Methodists. Emil Brunner said that “the church exists by mission as fire exists by burning.” At times, this fire has burned brightly and served as a light to the nations. Sometimes it has been mishandled and caused harm, and still at other times, it seems to dwindle to a few embers. The flame of church renewal burns brightly among many poor and marginalized followers of Christ. The Holy Spirit, like the wind, blows where it will, but some places are windier than others. Social peripheries are particularly windy places. This book tests whether renewal of doctrine, worship, and mission can happen by looking to the experience of Methodists in LatinX and Latin American ecclesial contexts. In true Wesleyan spirit, this renewal does not confine itself to Methodism, but the people called metodistas share in the movement’s fundamental calling to reform the church universal in its mission to the world.
Presbyterian Polity For Church Leaders Updated Fourth Edition
$28.00Add to cartNewly updated for the revised Directory for Worship.
This detailed, comprehensive interpretation of the Presbyterian Book of Order is the most complete resource of its kind. Joan S. Gray updated this best-selling book to include the revised Directory for Worship. It explains the system of Presbyterian government, from sessions to presbyteries to synods to the General Assembly itself.
Amidst Us Our Bleoved Stands
$24.99Add to cartWhen it comes to baptism and the Lord’s Supper, many Baptists reject the language of sacrament. As a people of the book, the logic goes, Baptists must not let tradition supersede the Bible. So Baptists tend to view baptism and Communion as ordinances and symbols, not sacraments.
But the history of Baptists and the sacraments is complicated. In Amidst Us Our Beloved Stands, Michael A. G. Haykin argues that earlier Baptists, such as Charles Spurgeon, stood closer to Reformed sacramental thought than most Baptists today do. More than mere memorials, baptism and Communion have spiritual implications that were celebrated by Baptists of the past. Haykin calls for a renewal of sacramental life in churches today-Baptists can and should be sacramental.
5 Means Of Grace
$10.99Add to cartWesley showed us ways to reorder our lives through the “means of grace.” Recharge. Reboot. Reorder. Whatever you want to call it, we need a process that helps us continuously renew our relationship with God so that we don’t drift away from our faith. Based on The Wesley Covenant for Renewal, Five Means of Grace is a six-week, video-based study that will show you how to reorder your life through prayer, searching Scripture, receiving the Lord’s Supper, fasting, and conferencing (worshiping together). You’ll learn how to recognize and affirm the outward signs, words, and actions of an invisible divine grace, deepening your relationship with God and making your faith more complete. A Leader Guide and DVD are also available.
Presbyterian Ruling Elder Updated Edition
$18.00Add to cartThis valuable resource on the role of the Presbyterian elder covers many basic topics. It examines the Presbyterian and Reformed understanding of the Christian faith as well as the qualifications for the office of elder, its importance for the church, and the functions of the office.
?It discusses the role of the elders in the session and in the presbytery and their relationships to pastors and to the whole church.
5 Marks Of A Methodist
$10.99Add to cartFive clear practices for anyone who identifies as a Christian.Five marks confirm our identity as genuine and fruitful followers of Christ:
1. A Methodist Loves God
2. A Methodist Rejoices in God
3. A Methodist Gives Thanks
4. A Methodist Prays Constantly
5. A Methodist Loves OthersThis brief book, suitable for sharing with others, provides a meditation on each of these characteristics. Prayerfully apply them to your journey with Jesus. If you are part of the worldwide Methodist or Wesleyan family, these five marks will grant a greater knowledge and appreciation for why and how you follow Jesus. If you are located in another part of the body of Christ, you can emerge with a solid foundation to keep your spiritual house standing strong. Christians marked by these five habits, when taken together have character.
Each chapter ends with questions for reflection or discussion.
Wonder Of Grace
$13.95Add to cartThe author develops the concept of salvation by grace from the choosing of the believer by grace to the glorifying of the believer through grace. Each of the fifteen chapters is devoted to one aspect of the grace God bestows on the believer in the process of salvation. And as he progresses through the chapters, the reader will grow in the knowledge and confidence that salvation is by grace alone and that God is worthy of all praise and glory.
Radical Welcome : Embracing God, The Other, And The Spirit Of Transformatio
$22.95Add to cartFor the fifteenth anniversary of its publication, this revised edition features a new introduction from the author on the state of the church and its “radical welcome” today, along with new reflections on how it continues to reshape the church.
This book is at once a theological, inspirational, and practical guide for congregations that want to move beyond diversity and inclusion to present a vision for the church of the future: one where the gifts, voices, and power of marginalized groups bring new life to the mainline church. Based on two years of work and over 200 interviews with people in congregations all around the United States–in urban, suburban, and rural settings–it asks the question: How do we face our fears and welcome transformation in order to become God’s radically welcoming people?
Each chapter introduces a particular congregation and the challenges it faced, and lays out the theological underpinnings of tackling fears head-on to embrace change as a welcome part of community life. This new edition features essays from Michael B. Curry, Mark Bozzuti-Jones, Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, and Mark Richardson.
Saint Gallen Mafia
$24.95Add to cartIn the mid-1990s, a clandestine group of high-ranking churchmen began gathering in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Opposed to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the circle plotted a revolution in stealth.
By 2015, their secret ached to be told. Before an audience, Cardinal Godfried Danneels joked of being a part of a “mafia.” But as explosive as Danneels’s confession was, a thick cloud of mystery still enshrouds the St. Gallen mafia.
In this compelling book, Julia Meloni pieces together the eerie trail of confessional evidence about the St. Gallen group. Copiously researched and grippingly narrated, The St. Gallen Mafia sheds light on the following:
*The mysteries of the 2005 conclave, where mafia members grew divided over a plan to back Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as pope.
*The war against Benedict XVI by the mafia’s Cardinal Achille Silvestrini – and the mysterious “confessions” believed to be linked to him.
*The enigmatic, complicated relationship between the mafia’s Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini and Benedict XVI.
*The mafia writings that presaged a new Francis – and the 2013 conclave that elected him.
*Martini’s enduring role as an “ante-pope” – a “precursor” for Pope Francis.
Reclaiming Vatican 2
$17.95Add to cartDuring the past five decades, the Second Vatican Council has been alternately celebrated or maligned for its supposed break with tradition and embrace of the modern world. But what if we’ve gotten it all wrong? Have Catholics–both those who embrace the spirit of Vatican II and those who regard it with suspicion–misunderstood what the council was really about?
Fr. Blake Britton discovered the truth and beauty of the council while he was in seminary and he has witnessed firsthand the power of its teachings in the life of his own parish. In Reclaiming Vatican II, Britton presses beyond the political narrative foisted upon the post-conciliar Church and contends that Vatican II was neither conservative nor liberal, but something much more beautiful and challenging.
Britton clears up misconceptions about the council and reveals how–when properly understood and applied–it fosters a richer experience of being the Church.
World Of Marian Apparitions
$39.95Add to cartThe only book of its kind in the world. The most important Marian apparitions in the past century since Fatima, collected in one spellbinding volume.
Dozens of apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary — from all over the world — have attracted the attention of the faithful and been authenticated by local ecclesial authorities. The avalanche of “information from Heaven” has been gaining force and rising to a crescendo. If you want to understand what Mary has been warning mankind about and what we need to prepare for, this book is for you.
Over 500 pages of captivating accounts/events. Now in English, Polish Mariologist Wincenty aszewski provides historical accounts of events and statements of each visionary, analyzing and explaining the messages.
Over 800 photos and illustrations. Contemporary, fabulously colorful photos of the sanctuaries and places of apparitions, historical documents, faces of the visionaries, and reproductions of Our Lady in sacred art help make the visions come alive in your sight. Our book shows everything that others only try to describe.
Over 50 maps showing the locations of the apparitions and pilgrimage sites. Thanks to its breathtaking layout, the book combines the features of armchair travel, reference guide, with an electrifying narrative.
Timeless quality. This Marian collection is perfect for a unique gift.
Pandemic And The People Of God
$25.00Add to cartWeaves together insights from anthropology and theology to provide an analysis of the role of the Church in responding to the pandemic.
Much Fine Gold
$8.95Add to cartWhat is the lectionary? How did it come into existence?
How does this contemporary lectionary nourish Christian faith and life? Further, why does the lectionary employ metaphor, the richest form of language, in the midst of the worshiping assembly? How do the biblical readings prepare worshippers for the church’s mission? Well-known liturgist and author Gail Ramshaw opens up the logic and purpose of this widely used resource.
The basics of Episcopal and Anglican worship in North America are explored in this Little Books series, which invites parishioners and newcomers to consider both the beauty of worship and Episcopal ethical commitments.
Abide In Peace
$8.95Add to cartIn a world and nation marked by suffering and division, Marcus Halley invites readers to explore rituals of healing and reconciliation in parish practice.
How is Christian community fostered when healing and reconciliation are prayerfully and actively sought? How do the ancient rituals of healing practiced among us today form a community committed to the Way of Love, the Way of Healing? And how does such practice lead the Christian community to seek peace?
The basics of Episcopal and Anglican worship in North America are explored in this Little Books series, which invites parishioners and newcomers to consider both the beauty of worship and Episcopal ethical commitments.
For The Life Of The World
$8.95Add to cartHow do the core actions of worship nurture life with God?
The ecumenical movement of the 20th century revealed a common pattern of worship among Christian communions, a pattern that bears the imprint of distinctive denominational emphases. In this exploration of that pattern, Samuel Torvend invites readers to delve into this flexible tradition that centers a parish in the life of God given for the life of the world.
The basics of Episcopal and Anglican worship in North America are explored in this Little Books series, which invites parishioners and newcomers to consider both the beauty of worship and Episcopal ethical commitments.
Cloud Of Witnesses
$19.99Add to cartIndonesia is home to the oldest Mennonite community outside of Europe and North America. Author John D. Roth traces the 170 year history of Mennonites in Indonesia alongside the larger cultural and religious history of the country.
By weaving the legacy of European colonization and Dutch Mennonite missions into the history of the indigenous Anabaptist Mennonite churches in Indonesia, Roth creates a rich narrative tapestry.
A Cloud of Witnesses traces the emergence of the three Mennonite related groups found today in Indonesia.
Like all churches, they have each integrated the good news of the gospel with the local culture, ethnic identity, religious currents, and national history in a distinctive way.
In July 2022, these three Mennonite groups in Indonesia will collaboratively host the seventeenth global assembly of Mennonite World Conference in Semarang, Java.
A Cloud of Witnesses helps to orient other members of the global Anabaptist Mennonite church to the history and identity of this unique group of churches while also providing practical travel tips, recipes, reference notes on culture and language and tourist sites —
making it the perfect accompaniment for those who plan to travel to Indonesia for Mennonite World Conference in the summer of 2022.
Womens Lectionary For The Whole Church Year W
$36.95Add to cartWhat would it look like if women built a lectionary focusing on women’s stories?
What does it look like to tell the good news through the stories of women who are often on the margins of scripture and often set up to represent bad news? How would a lectionary centering women’s stories, chosen with womanist and feminist commitments in mind, frame the presentation of the scriptures for proclamation and teaching?
The scriptures are androcentric, male-focused, as is the lectionary that is dependent upon them. As a result, many congregants know only the biblical men’s stories told in the Sunday lectionary read in their churches. A more expansive, more inclusive lectionary will remedy that by introducing readers and hearers of scripture to “women’s stories” in the scriptures.
A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church, when completed, will be a three-year lectionary accompanied by a stand-alone single year lectionary, Year W, that covers all four gospels.
Womens Lectionary For The Whole Church Year A
$36.95Add to cartWhat would it look like if women built a lectionary focusing on women’s stories?
What does it look like to tell the good news through the stories of women who are often on the margins of scripture and often set up to represent bad news? How would a lectionary centering women’s stories, chosen with womanist and feminist commitments in mind, frame the presentation of the scriptures for proclamation and teaching?
The scriptures are androcentric, male-focused, as is the lectionary that is dependent upon them. As a result, many congregants know only the biblical men’s stories told in the Sunday lectionary read in their churches. A more expansive, more inclusive lectionary will remedy that by introducing readers and hearers of scripture to “women’s stories” in the scriptures.
A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church, when completed, will be a three-year lectionary accompanied by a stand-alone single year lectionary, Year W, that covers all four gospels. Year A features the Gospel of Matthew with John interwoven as is the case in the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) and Episcopal Lectionary.
Writing Work Of The People
$18.95Add to cartInvites readers to use their own voices to enliven personal and collective worship.
What ideas, hopes, dreams, and laments do the words of worship stir in our hearts and minds? What images of God swirl up out of our communal prayers and hymns to shape what we believe and who we are as people of faith? We know that words can heal and draw us together, or words can hurt and divide. Christian communities proclaim and embody this wisdom each time we celebrate God’s Word made flesh in Jesus.
Words for worship that arise from worshiping communities themselves, that give voice to their particular laments and joys, hold an oft-overlooked power. These communal words are both shaped by and spiral out to speak to global concerns.
Leaders and worshipers in differing contexts write and speak in a wide variety of ways. As such, this book is for pastoral leaders, chaplains, and other ministers who imagine, craft, and offer worship words for each Sunday–and in the diversity of everyday moments.
This Band Of Sisterhood
$14.95Add to cartGet to know the first five Black women to be elected diocesan bishops within the Episcopal Church.
During this moment, with the #metoo movement, Black Lives Matter, and the increased feelings of division in our country, Black women clergy in the Episcopal Church have voiced a need to come together, believing that their experiences and concerns may be very different than those of other clergy. That need is answered here in This Band of Sisterhood.
The five Black women bishops featured in this book can provide a compass for how to journey along these new paths. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, Carlye J. Hughes, Kimberly Lucas, Shannon MacVean-Brown, and Phoebe A. Roaf offer honest, vulnerable wisdom from their own lives that speaks to this time in American life.Both women and men will find this book invaluable in discerning how God might be calling them to use their own leadership skills.
Luthers Small Catechism For Kids
$16.99Add to cartAn easy-to-use resource for teaching the faith in a simple way. Colorful icons and illustrations guide children through each tenet of faith as encouraged in Luther’s Small Catechism. Older elementary-aged students will be able to read and study concepts from the 2017 Explanation of the catechism in developmentally appropriate terms and in a way they understand.
Embodied Liturgy : Virtual Reality And Liturgical Theology In Conversation
$26.95Add to cartCan the ‘reality’ of the Eucharist be maintained online?
Author C. Andrew Doyle, in a well-researched and thoughtful study of both virtual reality and liturgy, argues that the Eucharist is not a formulaic rehearsal of words and rituals but an embodied and lived experience. This requires a shared place and presence. While the church should not shy away from virtual ministry, we should be wary of using the technological realm for the celebration of the Eucharist, an act that is an outward and visible sign of our spiritual union with God and one another. It brings us closer to friend and stranger for the transformation of individuals into unity in Christ. The context of the ritual-with people, objects, words, and all sorts of nuance-creates intimacy with God and each other.
This unique book is especially timely and will be of interest to scholars, liturgists, and those interested in sacramental theology in the digital age.
Human Families : Identities, Relationships, And Responsibilities
$40.00Add to cartPresentations from the 2020 annual conference of the College Theology Society apply theological methodology and insights to pressing issues surrounding the theme of human families and Christianity. Topics include the impacts of economic inequality and insecurity on family and community life, the unique concerns and experiences of families of color, and the particular challenges facing migrant families within the ongoing global crisis.
Behold What You Are
$14.95Add to cartBehold What You Are is written to open the possibilities of liturgy and liturgical awareness, in the church and of the church, Sunday by Sunday, season by season.
In a world increasingly and sharply divided, the image of the body of Christ can provide an alternate and life-giving narrative. We don’t just gather to worship God; we gather to worship God together, even when that gathering is online. And we go forth together to be the body of Christ, that the world might be repaired and restored to God. This body is not finite and exclusive; it is porous and open to all.
Our traditions are a wonderful springboard for refreshed liturgical expressions in settings within and beyond our church buildings. These expressions can connect with people who would not otherwise enter a beautiful but somewhat austere structure. With some thoughtful reflection and intentionality, the public expression and formation of the body of Christ through liturgy can become more vital for all.
What We Hold In Trust
$29.95Add to cartThe specific concern in What We Hold in Trust comes to this: the Catholic university that sees its principal purpose in terms of the active life, of career, and of changing the world, undermines the contemplative and more deep-rooted purpose of the university. If a university adopts the language of technical and social change as its main and exclusive purpose, it will weaken the deeper roots of the university’s liberal arts and Catholic mission. The language of the activist, of changing the world through social justice, equality and inclusion, or of the technician through market-oriented incentives, plays an important role in university life. We need to change the world for the better and universities play an important role, but both the activist and technician will be co-opted by our age of hyper-activity and technocratic organizations if there is not first a contemplative outlook on the world that receives reality rather than constructs it. To address this need for roots What We Hold in Trust unfolds in four chapters that will demonstrate how essential it is for the faculty, administrators, and trustees of Catholic universities to think philosophically and theologically (Chapter One), historically (Chapter Two) and institutionally (Chapters Three and Four). What we desperately need today are leaders in Catholic universities who understand the roots of the institutions they serve, who can wisely order the goods of the university, who know what is primary and what is secondary, and who can distinguish fads and slogans from authentic reform. We need leaders who are in touch with their history and have a love for tradition, and in particular for the Catholic tradition. Without this vision, our universities may grow in size, but shrink in purpose. They may be richer but not wiser.
Church Cracked Open
$16.95Add to cartSometimes it takes disruption and loss to break us open and call us home to God. It’s not surprising that a global pandemic and once-in-a-generation reckoning with white supremacy–on top of decades of systemic decline–have spurred Christians everywhere to ask who we are, why God placed us here and what difference that makes to the world.
In this critical yet loving book, the author explores the American story and the Episcopal story in order to find out how communities steeped in racism, establishment, and privilege can at last fall in love with Jesus, walk humbly with the most vulnerable and embody beloved community in our own broken but beautiful way.
The Church Cracked Open invites us to surrender privilege and redefine church, not just for the sake of others, but for our own salvation and liberation.
Anglicanism : A Reformed Catholic Tradition
$23.99Add to cartWhat is Anglicanism? There are many associations that come to mind. Whether it is the buildings, the unique history, the prayers, or church government, often we emphasize one aspect against others. Is the Anglican church a Protestant church with distinctive characteristics, or a Catholic Church no longer in communion with Rome? In Anglicanism: A Reformed Catholic Tradition, Gerald Bray argues that some theological trajectories are more faithful than others to the nature and history of the Church of England. Readers looking to understand the diversity, nature, and future of Anglicanism will be helped by Bray’s historical examination.
Why Are You Afraid Have You No Faith
$19.95Add to cartThe COVID-19 pandemic has left an indelible mark on our lives, and the same is true for the Church. Masses were suspended for months, people could not receive the sacraments, and during that time Pope Francis celebrated Mass alone every day. Why are you afraid? Have you no faith? collects some of the words from the pope’s daily homilies when the world was in isolation during the “long Lent” in the spring of 2020, as well as Angelus messages and prayers he delivered.
This book is filled with poignant photos that bring to life Pope Francis’ words of support and encouragement, especially from his extraordinary blessing “Urbi et Orbi” in an empty St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on March 27, 2020. The dozens of photos in this book illustrate the themes often evoked by the Holy Father during the pandemic, including fraternal love, solidarity, the common good, and the virtue of hope.
Commemorating an historically important chapter in both the papacy of Francis and the history of the modern world, this book is another avenue by which the Holy Father shares his uplifting message of wisdom, hope, and love with those who have suffered in pain, loneliness, and fear. Despite the dire challenges we have faced during this pandemic, Pope Francis reminds us that evil does not destroy confidence in God, and it does not break the solidarity of humanity.
Common Thread : Liturgy Looking Forward
$16.95Add to cartThe Episcopal Church is embarking on a new era of liturgical reform, giving us an opportunity to reflect on why we do what we do as a body.
A Christian understanding of life sets every act of personal or communal worship as a response; we look on ourselves and everything around us with curiosity, wonder, awe, fear, love, hope, and uncertainty about what it all means for us and how we feel about it. Worship begins as a response, but reaches into the future and makes alterations to adapt to changing circumstances. This is essential reading as the General Convention approaches and these conversations continue.
What Is The Church And Why Does It Exist
$12.99Add to cartWhat is the church? And why does it exist? These are essential questions for those who seek to follow Jesus in community.
David Fitch delves into the origins of the church, exploring the identity and calling of the body of Christ in scripture and church history. Learn about the Christian practices that shape the church and how our understandings of church might change in light of the life of the church through the centuries. At a time when the church in the US is losing credibility and cultural privilege, Fitch calls us to embrace historic Anabaptism as a model for thriving as God’s people in our own time and place.
The Jesus Way: Small Books of Radical Faith delve into big questions about God’s work in the world. These concise, practical books are deeply rooted in Anabaptist theology. Crafted by a diverse community of internationally renowned scholars, pastors, and practitioners, The Jesus Way series helps readers deepen their faith in Christ and enliven their witness.
What Is Gods Mission In The World And How Do We Join It
$12.99Add to cartWhat does God’s mission look like? Who is supposed to carry it out–and how?
Juan F. Martinez and Jamie Pitts lead us on an inquiry into God’s mission in the world: what it is, what it is not, and who is invited to be part of it. If Jesus is truly God’s mission incarnate, we need to look at what Jesus did and how he did it. Martinez helps readers understand what mission means, why Christians in the past have made missteps, and how we can learn from Christian communities that are spreading the good news of Jesus today. Doing mission in the way of Jesus may look different from what many assume, but it is a call that the church cannot afford to miss.
The Jesus Way: Small Books of Radical Faith delve into big questions about God’s work in the world. These concise, practical books are deeply rooted in Anabaptist theology. Crafted by a diverse community of internationally renowned scholars, pastors, and practitioners, The Jesus Way series helps readers deepen their faith in Christ and enliven their witness.
*Accessible Jesus-centered theology from an Anabaptist perspective
*Designed for use by individual readers, small groups, and Christian education classes
*Glossary of terms and discussion and reflection questions in each volume
Church And The Racial Divide
$26.00Add to cartThe only Catholic bishop who has consistently written on race matters, Bishop Braxton begins this timely book with a probing personal introduction in which he describes his family’s history and his experience as an African American that he brought to his ministry as a Catholic priest and bishop. In speeches, homilies, and pastoral letters–in some cases prompted by police shootings and the Black Lives Matter movement–he lays out a vision of healing for the church and the nation, informed by a quest for conversion, justice, and reconciliation.
Global Catholicism : Profiles And Polarities
$30.00Add to cartGlobal Catholicism critically examines and analyzes the emerging patterns and trends surrounding Pope Francis’s controversial call for a “synodal” church, for Catholics to be missionary disciples, and for a Church that goes to the peripheries. By surveying Catholic churches around the world, the author anticipates an emerging Church that is more polycentric than European, one that is less privileged and has a more inclusive governance with an expanded ministry, and one that emphasizes dialogue with other cultures and religions.
What Is Gods Kingdom And What Does Citizenship Look Like
$12.99Add to cartWhat is God’s kingdom? And what does it look like to live as a loyal citizen of God’s reign?
Cesar Garcia leads us on a searching examination of what it means to belong to God’s kingdom, how Jesus’ life and ministry demonstrate about our call to seek it first and how our allegiance to Jesus challenges and reshapes our loyalties to political systems and governments. Learn about theological concepts such as the separation of church and state and kingdom ethics, and explore practices for people seeking to embody God’s kingdom community.
The Jesus Way: Small Books of Radical Faith delve into big questions about God’s work in the world. These concise, practical books are deeply rooted in Anabaptist theology. Crafted by a diverse community of internationally renowned scholars, pastors, and practitioners, The Jesus Way series helps readers deepen their faith in Christ and enliven their witness.
Who Was Jesus And What Does It Mean To Follow Him
$12.99Add to cartWho was Jesus? And what does it mean to follow him?
Nancy Elizabeth Bedford helps us consider the identity and mission of Jesus of Nazareth. Learn about the incarnation, how Christians have understood Jesus to be both human and divine, and what his radical teachings and ministry can mean for us today. Find out how Christians through the centuries have understood who Jesus is and explore communal and individual practices for following him.
The Jesus Way: Small Books of Radical Faith delve into big questions about God’s work in the world. These concise, practical books are deeply rooted in Anabaptist theology. Crafted by a diverse community of internationally renowned scholars, pastors, and practitioners, The Jesus Way series helps readers deepen their faith in Christ and enliven their witness.
Methodist Mission At 200
$19.99Add to cartFor more than 200 years, Methodists have shared God’s love with the world and relieve human suffering by offering healing, hope, and holiness everywhere. Serving Faithfully Amid the Tensions tells the story of these global efforts, beginning with John Stewart’s ministry among the Wyandotte Nation in America, and what we as Methodists have learned about God’s mission along the way. This book also describes how Global Ministries is living out these lessons of cooperation, humility, relationship, and practicing holistic mission that promotes personal, social, and cosmic transformation as we work and live amid the tensions that enrich and expand our awareness of Methodist identity in God’s diverse world.
Im Black Im Christian Im Methodist
$16.99Add to cartTen personal narratives reveal the shared and distinct struggles of being Black in the Church, facing historic and modern racism.
It’s uncertain that Howard Thurman made the remark often attributed to him, “I have been writing this book all my life,” but there is little doubt that he was deeply immersed in reflection on the times that bear an uncanny resemblance to the present day, which give voice to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Our “life’s book” is filled with sentence upon sentence of marginalization, pages of apartheid, chapters of separate and unequal. Now this season reveals volumes of violence against Blacks in America.
Ten Black women and men explore life through the lens of compelling personal religious narratives. They are people and leaders whose lives are tangible demonstrations of the power of a divine purpose and evidence of what grace really means in face of hardship, disappointment, and determination. Each of the journeys intersect because of three central elements that are the focus of this book. We’re Black. We’re Christians. We’re Methodists. Each starts with the fact, “I’m Black,” but to resolve the conflict of being Christian and Methodist means confronting aspects of White theology, White supremacy, and White racism in order to ground an oppositional experience toward domination over four centuries in America.
Grounded Upon Gods Word
$9.95Add to cartA Sermon On The Mount Publishing Title
For centuries, little was known or remembered about Jakob Ammann except his prominent role in the contentious division which split the Swiss Brethren into Amish and Mennonite factions. For too long, Ammann was portrayed as a troublemaker, solely to blame for the division. But in the last thirty years, new research has shed light on Jakob Ammann’s personal life outside of the Amish division.
In this book, gain insight into how Jakob Ammann, born to Protestant parents and baptized as a baby, became an Anabaptist leader, and learn about his life and ministry. See how, in spite of his failures, Ammann is a person to be admired for his zeal and refusal to compromise, as well as for his humility and repentance.
Daily Feast Meditations From Feasting On The Word Year B
$44.00Add to cartFeasting on the Word has quickly become the most popular lectionary commentary series in use today. This is the first in a new series of daily devotionals that draws from the wealth of writing in the commentaries to present inspirational reflections, responses, and prayers for each day of the lectionary year.
Each day of the week contains Scripture passages for the coming Sunday from the Revised Common Lectionary, excerpts from the commentaries for reflection, a response, and a prayer. Additional material is provided for each Sunday.
These handsome volumes will be packaged in a soft leather-like cover with rounded corners, a stamped cover, and a sewn-in ribbon to help you keep your place.
Feasting on the Word is a twelve-volume lectionary commentary series that presents brief essays on each of four perspectives–exegetical, theological, pastoral, and homiletical–for each of the four Sunday readings. The series is edited by Barbara Brown Taylor and David L. Bartlett with a distinguished editorial board, and has been produced in partnership with Columbia Theological Seminary. For more information about the series and other related projects, visit FeastingontheWord.net.
What Does Justice Look Like And Why Does God Care About It
$12.99Add to cartWhat does justice look like? And why does God care about it?
Colin and Judith McCartney take us on a bold exploration of justice through the lens of scripture and the life of Jesus. Find out how Christians across the centuries have understood and lived God’s call to justice. Discover communal and individual practices for living a life of justice in our time and place.
The Jesus Way: Small Books of Radical Faith delve into big questions about God’s work in the world. These concise, practical books are deeply rooted in Anabaptist theology. Crafted by a diverse community of internationally renowned scholars, pastors, and practitioners, The Jesus Way series helps readers deepen their faith in Christ and enliven their witness.
Who Are Our Enemies And How Do We Love Them
$12.99Add to cartWho are our enemies? And what would it mean to love them?
Hyung Jin Kim Sun leads us on an exploration of God’s call to love our enemies. What did Jesus demonstrate and teach about loving enemies? How is nonviolence connected to Christian faith and spirituality? Isn’t violence sometimes necessary? Does loving our enemies really work? What is the goal of enemy love and how can it be applied in our everyday lives? This book won’t answer every question about a Christian practice of nonviolence, but it will lead toward a deeper faith as we consider how to live with enemies in a violent world.
The Jesus Way: Small Books of Radical Faith delve into big questions about God’s work in the world. These concise, practical books are deeply rooted in Anabaptist theology. Crafted by a diverse community of internationally renowned scholars, pastors, and practitioners, The
Jesus Way series helps readers deepen their faith in Christ and enliven their witness.
Churchs Best Kept Secret
$16.95Add to cartThe Church’s Best-Kept Secret is a short primer which lays out the basics of Catholic social teaching in a way accessible to the ordinary Catholic as well as to any other person of good will attempting to grasp this often profoundly misunderstood area of Church doctrine and practice.
Writing in everyday language for the non-scholar, award-winning writer Mark Shea concisely describes the roots of Catholic social teaching in Scripture and Tradition and gives simple, practical examples of how it works in ordinary life. Sketching the meaning of the Dignity of the Human Person, the Common Good, Subsidiarity, and Solidarity, Shea bridges the gulf in our politics and cultural warfare to make the case that Catholic Social Teaching, properly understood, is common sense, as well as the path to living a happier and more just common life for each human person.
Listening Together : Global Anglican Perspectives On Renewal Of Prayer And
$15.00Add to cartWith 85 million members in more than 165 countries, the Anglican Communion represents a wide variety of opinions on mission, theology, and how to live and act as God’s people. Listening Together focuses on the renewal of prayer and the religious life, with stories and reflections from faithful leaders from across the Communion.
“Nothing is more important to our relationship with God than prayer through Jesus Christ,” says Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury. “Renewal of the religious life and renewal of prayer go hand in hand: There will not be one without the other. It is about letting God into every last part of our life.”
Listening Together is the third of a three-book series to help Anglicans around the world discuss shared challenges and opportunities for mission and ministry.
Strong In The Face Of Tribulation His Words During The Coronavirus Pandemic
$22.90Add to cartA Libreria Editrice Vaticana Title
This volume is divided into three sections.
First we find the words that Pope Francis pronounced from 9 March – 18 May 2020 as he sustained the entire ecclesial community in this time of trial. They are, more or less, the daily homilies during Mass at the Casa Santa Marta and the Angelus and Regina Coeli texts and a few other messages. Listening to his words helps us reflect and hope, it makes us feel in communion with and united to Peter.
Then there is the first appendix which gathers together the indications given by the Church to continue to live and to receive the grace of the Lord, the gift of forgiveness and the Eucharist, the power of the Easter liturgies when we cannot participate physically in the Sacraments.
Finally, the second appendix, where we find the prayers and supplications for difficult moments. They are texts that originate from various ecclesial contexts and diverse historical epochs. Thus they can be a further source of sharing for the universal Church. There are prayers for the sick, for the liberation from evil, to entrust ourselves confidently to the action of the Holy Spirit.
Where The People Go
$19.99Add to cartA barn raising. A quilting bee. A credit union. A socially responsible investment.
Where the People Go tells the story of Anabaptist-Mennonite efforts to enable communal forms of sharing. Mutual aid, stewardship, and generosity are deeply embedded in the Christian faith and have been actively nurtured among Anabaptist-Mennonite groups. Spontaneous forms of assistance–a barn raising, a quilting bee, shared meals–are the best-known expressions of such compassion and generosity, but the commitment to “sharing one another’s burdens” has also found expression in more formal structures.
Seventy-five years ago, Mennonite Mutual Aid emerged to organize the principle of sharing within a growing Mennonite denomination. A dynamic organization from the beginning, MMA moved quickly from a burial and survivor’s aid plan to include health, property, and automobile insurance. In coming decades, the organization shifted its focus from mutual aid to stewardship and generosity, symbolized by a growing emphasis on socially responsible investment programs, wholistic health, financial planning, and services associated with its member-owned credit union. Always an agency of the Mennonite church, MMA, now known as Everence, has balanced its spiritual commitments with an increasingly complex regulatory environment, the national strains associated with the health-care debate, the shifting sensibilities of its customers, and the organizational complexities of a major corporation.
This story of Everence captures the stresses and idealism of a church-related institution committed to mutual aid, stewardship, and generosity during its seventy-five-year history.
From Samuel To Solomon
$28.95Add to cartAfter a fifteen-year hiatus, and fourteen other published titles, Prof. David J. Engelsma continues the Unfolding Covenant History series, a covenantal exposition of the Old Testament.
The Old Testament history covered in this volume is extensive, covering the account of the life and significance for the covenant of Samuel, Saul, David, and Solomon. This is the history recorded in 1 and 2 Samuel; 1 Kings 1-11; 1 Chronicles 10-29; and 2 Chronicles 1-9. In addition, the volume takes into consideration other passages in scripture (Psalms) that reflect on this history.
This history is also rich in significance with regard to the development of God’s covenant and covenant dealings with his people. It includes the institution and early functioning of the office of the prophet; the institution of the office of king; the stark contrast between the people’s choice as king, in the charismatic, but reprobate, Saul, and God’s elect, David; and the realization of the fellowship of the covenant in the Old Testament in the temple. Among the fascinating and controversial events of the history on which the volume sheds light is the appearance to Saul of the “witch of Endor.”
Outsider : Pope Francis And His Battle To Reform The Catholic Church
$24.00Add to cartThough Pope Francis remains one of the most popular figures in the world, his pontificate has stirred up powerful opposition. Some reject his merciful openness to divorced and remarried Catholics and the priority he places on mercy above rigid doctrine. Others reject his outspoken defense of migrants, his critiques of capitalism, and calls to protect the environment. Most of all, they are frightened by his insistence that the Church must place living out the message of the Gospel with integrity ahead of serving and maintaining institutional power.
In this book, Christopher Lamb, The Tablet’s reporter in Rome, examines the Pope’s ministry and agenda for the church, as well as the forces of opposition mobilized against him. What will this mean and portend for the Catholic Church? Will Pope Francis move the church in the direction he wants, or will his critics succeed in thwarting his efforts?
What Is The Trinity And Why Does It Matter
$12.99Add to cartHow is the one God also three persons? How is Jesus fully God and fully human? Who in the world should we pray to? And why does any of it matter?
Steve Dancause offers a succinct and profound investigation into how what we think about God as Trinity matters in our faith, our work, and our love. It matters because the walls of our churches are cracking around us. We can keep patching things up, but it is better to go to the foundation and do the hard digging. With the right foundation, the structure holds, and it stands the test of eternity. And it is only in Jesus, and the Trinity he reveals to us, that we build our lives on solid rock. Let’s dig down together.
The Jesus Way: Small Books of Radical Faith delve into big questions about God’s work in the world. These concise, practical books are deeply rooted in Anabaptist theology. Crafted by a diverse community of internationally renowned scholars, pastors, and practitioners, The Jesus Way series helps readers deepen their faith in Christ and enliven their witness.
*Accessible Jesus-centered theology from an Anabaptist perspective
*Designed for use by individual readers, small groups, and Christian education classes
*Glossary of terms and discussion and reflection questions in each volume
They Also Serve
$29.99Add to cartWhen a bishop is elected-as is done in The United Methodist Church-it is not only the one elected who is asked to serve but his or her spouse and family as well. Hear the stories of the women and men whose commitment to service often meant leaving behind careers and lives of their own to embark on a life-changing journey revolved around the ministry of their spouse. Through hardships, celebrations, and everyday struggles, these spouses found their own paths of ministry, answering the calls that were also placed upon their lives.
Things Which Become Sound Doctrine
$27.95Add to cartA Sermon On The Mount Publishing Title
“When the dust all settles, you can be sure that Aaron is still standing at the same place he has always stood.”
Aaron M. Shank had an out-sized influence on the 20th-century conservative Mennonite church. In this biography, you will discover the leadership he provided with his passion for following Christ, for teaching sound doctrine, and for retaining Scriptural applications historically held by the Mennonite Church. Aaron provided leadership for both the formation of the Eastern Pennsylvania Mennonite Church as well as the formation of the Pilgrim Mennonite Conference. He and Marjorie endeared themselves to many in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, and to many others beyond. His doctrinal teaching and his lifetime of service with integrity helped shape the conservative Mennonite church moving into the 21st century.
Liminal Papacy Of Pope Francis
$27.00Add to cartAn expert on the papacy and Vatican II, Massimo Faggioli draws from world history, politics, papal biographies, and the documents of Vatican II for this incisive analysis of Francis’s developing pontificate. He notes that Francis’s is a liminal papacy, one that gives attention to the poor, to the peripheries, and to relations between the Vatican and other religions, with an emphasis on synodality and on the Church as the people of God. He also contrasts Francis with his immediate predecessor Benedict XVI and John Paul II, and shows his similarities with the spirit of John XXIII, the architect of Vatican II.
Why Do We Suffer And Where Is God When We Do
$12.99Add to cartThe Jesus Way series helps readers encounter big questions about the reign of God in the world. Concise and practical books deeply rooted in Anabaptist theology. Start small.
Cancer, hurricanes, hunger, suicide: suffering is the most profound challenge to faith that many people will face.
Valerie G. Rempel leads readers into a gentle meditation on the many questions surrounding why we suffer. How can God be all-loving and all-powerful? Why don’t prayers seem to work? Is pain always redemptive? And what do the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus reveal about suffering? We may not find answers to all our questions, but we can lean into the God big enough to absorb all of them.
The Jesus Way: Small Books of Radical Faith delve into big questions about God’s work in the world. These concise, practical books are deeply rooted in Anabaptist theology. Crafted by a diverse community of internationally renowned scholars, pastors, and practitioners, The Jesus Way series helps readers deepen their faith in Christ and enliven their witness.
Are We Really Better Together Revised Edition
$15.99Add to cartThe authors set out to address the division within The United Methodist Church and contend that remaining united is hurting the church and the proclamation of the gospel.
Recognizing that conservative and progressive Methodists are sincere in their beliefs, the authors doubt that one side will convince the other to change their minds. They therefore suggest that a fair and amicable separation is the best course of action.
The United Methodist Church is at a crossroads. We are a divided church and the truth is we are a hurting church.
Some of us believe that our differences are so great and the ongoing battle so destructive that it’s time to part ways. For over four decades conservative and progressive United Methodists have expended enormous emotional, financial and spiritual resources to gain the upper hand in a denomination that has declined every year since its founding in 1968. Surely our efforts and our finances would be better devoted to evangelism, discipleship and missions. For the sake of the lost and the poor, shouldn’t we set each other free to pursue what we believe to be God’s calling upon our lives and our ministries?” (From the Introduction)
From the Faultlines collection, resources intended to inform conversations around human sexuality and the church.
Querida Amazonia : The Beloved Amazon – Apostolic Exhortation
$9.95Add to cart“Everything that the Church has to offer must become incarnate in a distinctive way in each part of the world, so that the Bride of Christ can take on a variety of faces that better manifest the inexhaustible riches of God’s grace.” – Pope Francis, Querida Amazonia: Post-Synodal Exhortation Concerning the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon
In this apostolic exhortation, Querida Amazonia (“The Beloved Amazon”), Pope Francis offers a response to the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon held in Rome in October 2019 and its final document The Amazon: New Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology.
The pope writes this exhortation to all the faithful calling us to the task of addressing the serious social, environmental, and spiritual issues facing the region, sharing his four dreams for the people of the Amazon:
*A social dream – in which we fight for the dignity of the poor in the region
*A cultural dream – in which the riches and beauty of the Amazonian culture is preserved
*An ecological dream – in which we all strive to preserve the natural beauty of the Amazon
*An ecclesial dream – in which the faithful boldly create paths of inculturation, so that the goodness of the Amazonian culture is brought to fulfillment in light of the GospelPope Francis asks: “How can we not struggle together? How can we not pray and work together, side by side, to defend the poor of the Amazon region, to show the sacred countenance of the Lord, and to care for his work of creation?”
Welcome To The Church Of The Nazarene
$8.99Add to cartWelcome to the Church of the Nazarene is an engaging introduction to church membership, written in everyday language for the new Christian or for the Christian who is new to the Church of the Nazarene.
Readers will learn about:
The history of the Church of the Nazarene: of the church to the ministry of Phineas F. Bresee, a short but complete history of the Church of the Nazarene’s early days.
What Nazarenes believe: The Articles of Faith of the Church of the Nazarene and basic Christian doctrines from a Wesleyan perspective, explained in everyday language.
How the church is organized: From global to local, how the church is organized in leadership, finances, and ministry.
What it means to be a member of the Church of the Nazarene: Topics include growing as a Christian, tithing your income, serving in ministry, and sharing your faith.
How Nazarenes live as Christians: How Nazarenes respond to controversial social issues.
Eating Together Becoming One
$29.95Add to cartIn November 2015, Pope Francis called on theologians to explore whether normal Catholic practice should be changed to allow Christians, belonging to other churches, to share fully at the table when they take part in a Eucharist celebrated by Catholics. Thomas O’Loughlin provides his contribution to that challenge in this volume. He argues that the various ways of thinking about what we are doing in the liturgy should lead us to see intercommunion as enhancing our participation in the mystery of the Church and the mystery we celebrate.
Catechism Of The Catholic Church
$29.95Add to cartIncludes the 2018 revision of no. 2267 promulgated by Pope Francis!
Here are the essential elements of our faith presented in the most understandable manner, enabling everyone to read and know what the Church professes, celebrates, lives, and prays.
This second edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church has been revised in accordance with the official Latin text promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1997. It also has been enhanced by the addition of more than 100 pages that feature the following:
*An analytical index translated from the Latin text
*A glossary of terms
United States Catholic Catechism For Adults
$29.95Add to cartThe United States Catholic Catechism for Adults is an adaptation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and it is presented to Catholics of the United States . . .
It is our hope that this United States Catholic Catechism for Adults will be an aid and a guide for deepening faith. It may serve as a resource for the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults and for the ongoing catechesis of adults. It will also be of interest for those who wish to become acquainted with Catholicism. Finally, it can serve as an invitation for all the faithful to continue growing in the understanding of Jesus Christ and his saving love for all people.
Includes the 2018 revision of no. 2267 promulgated by Pope Francis.
Discovering Pope Francis
$29.95Add to cartThe dangerous tendency to reduce theological positions to political ones has always fueled divisions in the Church, and it plagues debates surrounding Pope Francis’s teaching today. This collection of essays was born of a landmark international symposium designed to promote theological understanding by contextualizing the thought of Pope Francis–from his understanding of history to his theology of mission–within important theological conversations rarely heard in the US Catholic Church. Its contributors demonstrate decisively that Pope Francis’s magisterium is the fruit of a profound and distinctive, yet deeply Catholic, intellectual engagement with the theological and ecclesial traditions of the Church.
Contributors include: Austen Ivereigh, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Rodrigo Guerra Lopez, Bishop Robert Barron, Massimo Borghesi, Susan K. Wood, SCL, Rocco Buttiglione, Guzman Carriquiry Lecour, Peter J. Casarella, Brian Y. Lee, Thomas L. Knoebel
God Has Promised
$3.99Add to cart“There hath not failed one word of all his [God’s] good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant” (1 Kings 8:56), King Solomon declared to the nation of Israel at the dedication of the Temple called by his name.
The faithful people of God who lived before Solomon, fourscore generations later, and down to our own day will add their testimony to the king’s. For while, in the words of the poet, “God hath not promised skies always blue,” there are in His Word unnumbered pledges of His love, care, and concern that are ours.
Seventh-day Adventists find a great number of promises they know are of God in the writings of Ellen G. White. A few of the hundreds in those writings are brought together here for comfort, consolation, encouragement, and to meet many other needs of God’s children as they travel the sometimes dark road to heaven.
Speaking Of God
$31.99Add to cartDo you ever think you’re forgetting how to talk about God? Or never learned how?
Theology is nothing more–and nothing less–than speaking together about God. Still, a lot of us don’t know where to start.
In Speaking of God, pastor and theologian Anthony Siegrist helps readers recover a basic language around Christian theology. The sweeping epic of Scripture serves as the scaffold for this accessible book. In vivid and even humorous writing, Siegrist introduces us to scholars and pilgrims and traditions that disclose essential truths about God and Jesus Christ, as well as concepts like creation, sin, redemption, the church, and discipleship. By plumbing the works of theologians such as Augustine, Julian of Norwich, Antonia Gonzalez, and Kazoh Kitamori, Siegrist offers readers an introduction to Christian theology throughout the ages, emphasizing common threads of thought and practice across traditions.
Learning to talk about God requires courage and humility; this handbook of Christian theology will help you gain both. Join the deepest, longest conversation in the world.
Speaking Of God
$18.99Add to cartDo you ever think you’re forgetting how to talk about God? Or never learned how?
Theology is nothing more–and nothing less–than speaking together about God. Still, a lot of us don’t know where to start.In Speaking of God, pastor and theologian Anthony Siegrist helps readers recover a basic language around Christian theology. The sweeping epic of Scripture serves as the scaffold for this accessible book. In vivid and even humorous writing, Siegrist introduces us to scholars and pilgrims and traditions that disclose essential truths about God and Jesus Christ, as well as concepts like creation, sin, redemption, the church, and discipleship. By plumbing the works of theologians such as Augustine, Julian of Norwich, Antonia Gonzalez, and Kazoh Kitamori, Siegrist offers readers an introduction to Christian theology throughout the ages, emphasizing common threads of thought and practice across traditions.
Learning to talk about God requires courage and humility; this handbook of Christian theology will help you gain both. Join the deepest, longest conversation in the world.
Why Did Jesus Die And What Difference Does It Make
$12.99Add to cartWhy did Jesus die? And how does his death change us and our world? These questions stand at the center of our faith. But that doesn’t mean they are simple or straightforward.
Michele Hershberger helps us peer deeply into the meaning of the cross by sifting through Scripture and the life of Christ. Learn about theological concepts like sin, salvation, and atonement. Find out how Christians across the centuries have thought about Jesus’ death. Discover how Jesus’ life, crucifixion, and resurrection change everything.
The Jesus Way series delves into big questions about God’s work in the world. These concise, practical books are deeply rooted in Anabaptist theology. Crafted by a diverse community of internationally renowned scholars, pastors, and practitioners, The Jesus Way series helps readers deepen their faith in Christ and enliven their witness.
What Is The Bible And How Do We Understand It
$12.99Add to cartReading the Bible is one thing. Understanding how the Bible came to be and how it can guide our faith and life? That’s quite another.
Dennis R. Edwards offers a succinct and profound investigation of Scripture. By holding up Jesus as the interpretive key and inviting us to read the Bible with the marginalized, Edwards challenges us to a Christ-centered approach to hermeneutics. What does it mean to read the Bible with Jesus at the center? How does Scripture illuminate the work of God in the world? Edwards shines light on contemporary debates about the Bible and calls us to faithful, loving interpretations and applications of the Word of God.
The Jesus Way series delves into big questions about God’s work in the world. These concise, practical books are deeply rooted in Anabaptist theology. Crafted by a diverse community of internationally renowned scholars, pastors, and practitioners, The Jesus Way series helps readers deepen their faith in Christ and enliven their witness.
Living Faithfully Revised And Updated
$14.99Add to cartThere is deep disagreement about what The United Methodist Church should teach about homosexuality, same gender marriage, and the ordination of LGBTQ persons. In 2019, a special session of General Conference was held to consider these issues and how they will be addressed by The United Methodist Church in the future. Yet many have felt that the outcome of the special session did not lead to resolution, but to increased tension and deepening division.
Living Faithfully is designed to help you understand the shape of this debate and what it means for the present and the future. Each chapter includes background on the Bible, Christian theology, history, stories from diverse viewpoints, and United Methodist structure and practice to guide reflection and conversation. You’ll also find definitions of key terms and information about upcoming events.
The four chapters are:
1. Is the Practice of Homosexuality Incompatible with Christian Teaching?
2. Is Same-gender Marriage Compatible with Christian Teaching?
3. Is Ordaining Practicing Homosexuals Compatible with Christian Teaching?
4. Where Are We Now?This revised four-week study contains an updated fourth chapter that describes the outcome of the 2019 General Conference and the ongoing debates and responses to it. It will help you understand and grapple with various views about the ministry and teaching of The United Methodist Church around issues of human sexuality. It will lead you to have honest, well-informed, and grace-filled conversations with others about these matters and the calls for change. And it will help you discern, in prayer and conversation, how you can respond faithfully in love of God and neighbor.
A Leader Guide is included with lesson plans to help facilitate a four-session small group study.
From the Faultlines collection, resources intended to inform conversations around human sexuality and the church.
Receiving Jesus : The Way Of Love
$16.95Add to cartPractical and inspiring ways to practice a Jesus-centered life
So often we think of the Christian faith as an obligation or as a set of beliefs that we must hold. With this outlook, we can lose sight of what is most important: the invitation to experience a loving, personal relationship with God. It’s a relationship we can trust, where we can find refuge and solid ground upon which to stand. The Way of Love set forth by the Episcopal Church’s Presiding Bishop Michael Bruce Curry is the journey of a lifetime. It’s a way of knowing God, receiving and sharing Jesus’ love, and being a blessing to the world. Mariann Edgar Budde shares her thoughts on how the reader can come to know–to receive–Jesus more deeply in practicing the Way of Love. Through the seven practices that have been put before us: to turn, to learn, to pray and to worship, to bless, to go, and to rest, she will share biblical stories, wisdom from the Christian tradition, and her own personal stories of spiritual growth.
Abuse And Cover Up
$28.00Add to cartWritten for readers deeply concerned for the future of the church, this book seeks to answer two questions: Why is the culture of the Catholic Church, despite Vatican II’s emphasis on collegiality and transparency, still prone to covering up abuses of power? How can this culture change in order to move forward? A timely book on the sex abuse crisis by a scholar who is adept at weaving insights from the social sciences into a framework of practical theology.
In Your Eyes I See My Words
$38.00Add to cartA Fordham University Press Title
Pope Francis was a first in many ways: the first pope from the Americas, the first Jesuit, the first Francis, the first child of immigrants from old world, nurtured and transformed by the new world, and returned to lead the whole world. His eloquent homilies and speeches have inspired the faithful of Argentina for decades, largely through his gift of oratory, tracing back to his time as a bishop, archbishop, and cardinal in his home country. To be published in English for the first time in their entirety and with contextual annotations, In Your Eyes I See My Words, Volume 1, collects his homilies and speeches from 1999 to 2004. Volume II spans from 2005-2008, and Volume III, from 2009-2013, concludes with his prophetic last homily before being elected to the papacy.
This illuminating collection presents an extraordinary opportunity to understand the vision of a great pastor. His words bear witness to the deep experience of faith among God’s people while also showcasing his own extraordinary ability to connect with communities of faith. Through these homilies and speeches, Pope Francis humbly displays his abilities as a wordsmith, a patient and attentive teacher, an inspired and faithful theologian, and a sensitive pastor uniquely attuned to his people, offering ready guidance for their journeys, but also journeying with them.
The first of a three-volume translation of Pope Francis’ theological, pastoral, anthropological and educational thought provides rich insights into the mind and theological unfolding of a spiritual leader who has become beloved all across the globe. Within it we see Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio–later Pope Francis–ministering to the needs of the people while also engaging with the political, technological, and societal forces affecting their daily lives. Here is an ecclesial voice not afraid to challenge the politicians, the culture-makers and media moguls–even his own ordained and lay church ministers–to live a life of faithfulness marked by justice, equality, and concern for the needs of everyone, urging all to rely on the “vitality of memory” and the “recovery of hope.” In Your Eyes I See My Words also provides a glimpse into the political, social, and religious environment of Argentina and Latin America, providing a unique perspective of the issues confronting the faithful and how those issues motivated and nurtured Pope Francis’ understanding of the Church’s mission to all segment
I Walk With Angels
$18.00Add to cartJames Engel (1925-1989) was a part of the generation of musicians who shaped Lutheran church music during the mid-to-late-20th century. As such, he played an important role in the history of Lutheran church music. Engel was known by his colleagues and students as an excellent musician, choir director, composer and teacher. He had a positive influence on the next generation of Lutheran musicians. In his later years, he became well-known as a composer of church music. His organ and choral works have been performed by many musicians through the years. One of Engel’s signature choral works is titled “I Walk with Angels.”
Anna B Hoppe
$18.00Add to cartAnna B. Hoppe is one of the most prolific Lutheran hymn writers of the early 20th century. She composed hundreds of hymns along with opinion pieces and devotional writing. All the while, she lived quietly in Milwaukee, working as an office secretary and volunteering in various roles at her church. Despite her humble life, she became acquainted with several important Lutheran church musicians and pastors of her day and they, impressed by her work, helped to “spread the news” about her remarkable achievements. Today Lutherans still know her through just a few of her hymns–“O Son of God, in Galilee” (LSB 841, LW 400, LBW 426), “For Jerusalem You’re Weeping” (LW 390), and “Rise, Arise” (CW 30).
Luthers Lively Theology
$24.00Add to cartMartin Luther’s Small Catechism is the template and springboard for this book, the purpose of which is to add to what Luther teaches in the Small Catechism and to fill in its blanks, as it were, by expanding on the catechism, theme by theme, with over 400 quotations from other works by Luther along with 50 quotations by other authors or speakers. In addition, this book identifies the background of the five major parts of the catechism and addresses issues that are not addressed in the catechism. Luther’s theology of the cross, and its dispute with what he calls “the theology of glory,” runs all through Luther’s theology, most often without being identified as such. And it runs throughout his comments quoted here. One might say, as he once wrote, “The cross alone is our theology.” It is a theology that addresses the question: “What enables us to become right with God?” Is it obeying God’s law? Is it faithful religious practice? Is it standing up for justice? Is it doing to others what we would have others do to us? Is it simply trying our best? In contrast to the assumption that such positive actions bring us into a right relationship to God (an aspect of the theology of glory), Luther would say that none of these fine things can put us right with God. No matter how hard we try, we don’t measure up. In Luther’s own words: “It is certain that a human being must utterly despair of his or her own ability before being prepared to receive the grace of Christ.”
Skilfully Woven Knot
$27.99Add to cartThe noted preacher and spiritual writer Michael Mayne wrote extensively about Anglicanism’s distinctive theology and ethos, and how it could help the church speak to contemporary society.
This collection of his unpublished writings and lectures offers a vintage distillation of his wisdom and pastoral understanding that remains extraordinarily relevant. Michael Mayne’s wisdom calls the church back to its deepest spiritual identity and purpose, exploring:
-The nature of moderation and tolerance;
-The influence of daily prayer;
-What happens when Anglicans disagree;
-Unity in Christ despite diversity in practice;
-Learning from controversies.
Planning For Rites And Rituals Year A 2019-2020
$39.95Add to cartAll-in-one liturgical season planner for worship
Advent 1 2019 through Christ the King Sunday 2020 Planning for Rites and Rituals is the indispensable companion for worship planning for the Episcopal Church, following the three-year Revised Common Lectionary cycle and the church calendar. Presiders and preachers, worship team leaders, musicians, Christian educators, sacristans, and altar guilds will find this to be the perfect resource, putting all the elements for planning worship and seasonal observances in one handy volume. SEASONAL HELPS for each season of the Christian year:
– Introductions and approaches to preparing liturgies for the season
– Ideas for creating an environment appropriate to the season
– Rites, blessings, prayers, and litanies for the season
– Pageants and festivals for notable days
– Seasonal checklist WEEKLY HELPS for every Sunday and feast day of the church year:
– Introductions to the day: overview, color, preface, collect
– Summary of the readings and psalm, including both lectionary tracks
– Inclusive intercessions for the Prayers of the People
-Ideas for the day for worship and formation
– Hymn suggestions for the day from The Hymnal 1982; Wonder, Love, and Praise; and Lift Every Voice and Sing II
Infiltration : The Plot To Destroy The Church From Within
$24.95Add to cartIt took nearly two millennia for the enemies of the Catholic Church to realize they could not successfully attack the Church from the outside. Indeed, countless nemeses from Nero to Napoleon succeeded only in creating sympathy and martyrs for our Catholic Faith.
That all changed in the mid-19th century, when clandestine societies populated by Modernists and Marxists hatched a plan to subvert the Catholic Church from within. Their goal: to change Her doctrine, Her liturgy, and Her mission.
In this captivating and carefully documented book, Dr. Taylor Marshall pulls back the curtain on their nefarious plan, showing how these enemies of Christ strategically infiltrated the seminaries, then the priesthood, then the episcopacy, and eventually the cardinal-electors all with the eventual goal of electing one of their own as pope.
You’ll come to see that the seemingly endless scandals plaguing the Church are not the result, as so many think, of cultural changes, or of Vatican II, but rather the natural consequences of an orchestrated demonic plot to destroy the Church.
In these gripping pages, you’ll discover:
*How popes of the 1800s discovered a plot to infiltrate the Church
*How theologians suspected of being Modernists became Vatican powerbrokers.
*How modifications in Catholic canon law enabled predator priests like Theodore McCarrick to stay in positions of power.
*How Our Lady of La Salette gave a prophetic warning of the plot to infiltrate the Church.
*How the chief architect of liturgical reforms was discovered to be a Freemason.
*Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s role in exposing the Communist infiltration of the priesthood.
*How the confusing history of the Third Secret of Fatima relates to the infiltration of the Catholic Church.
*That Pope Paul VI explained that Vatican II was not infallible.
*How Pope Paul VI revoked the voting rights of cardinals over 80, thus guaranteeing that all voting cardinals were appointed by him.
*How the criteria for sainthood shifted from a person’s historical acts to his personal beliefs.
*The complex roots of the St. Gallen Mafia and how they plotted to modify Catholic doctrine and elect Pope Fran
Witnessing Together : Global Anglican Perspectives On Evangelism And Witnes
$15.00Add to cartWith 85 million members in more than 165 countries, the Anglican Communion represents a wide variety of opinions on mission, theology, and how to live and act as God’s people. Witnessing Together focuses on preaching the gospel in different contexts around the world, highlighting practices that are transforming communities of faith.
Each context is profoundly unique; opening a window on each of these enables the church in each place to share something of God with the church everywhere else. Unless we come together and share like this, our vision of God is small, impoverished, offers Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury. Stories of witnessing and sharing the love of God in Christ–of persevering in the hope of the resurrection–are the beating heart of the Church. Listen carefully to its different voices and their richness, Archbishop Welby says. Be open to its challenges, and be inspired to join in more fully with proclaiming the good news of Jesus.
Witnessing Together is the second of a three-book series to help Anglicans around the world prepare for the 2020 Lambeth Conference, when bishops from across the Anglican Communion will gather to discuss shared challenges and opportunities for mission and ministry.
Walking Together : Global Anglican Perspectives On Reconciliation
$15.00Add to cartWith 85 million members in more than 165 countries, the Anglican Communion represents a wide variety of opinions on mission, theology, and how to live and act as God’s people.
In Walking Together, global Anglican leaders share difficult and profound experiences of seeking reconciliation. If left to our own human devices, reconciliation is impossible, concedes Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury. But Walking Together focuses not on the human task of reconciliation but on God’s work, reminding us that when we seek reconciliation, we are merely joining in the work that God has already begun. These stories of communities walking together toward reconciliation offer hope, allowing us to glimpse the beauty of the people of God as they seek, despite their brokenness, to join in the work of the Kingdom.
Walking Together is the first of a three-book series to help Anglicans around the world prepare for the upcoming Lambeth Conference, when bishops from across the Anglican Communion will gather to discuss shared challenges and opportunities for mission and ministry.
Let The Children Come To Me
$18.95Add to cartA Cascadia Publishing House Title
Let the Children Come to Me, a resource for familes nurturing faith development of elementary-aged children, is structured around 12 Anabaptist faith practices: Scripture reading, prayer, community, bearing witness, service to one another, worship, nonviolence, steadfast faith, the centrality of Christ, communion, believers baptism, and stewardship.
Each faith practice is developed as a short unit (the equivalent of two page-spreads) and explored through stories from Anabaptist-Mennonite history–one from the sixteenth century and one contemporary, global story. These stories are accompanied by scripture passages, conversation-starters, prayers, and multiple options for family activities.
The book is supported by the Institute for the Study of Global Anabaptism (ISGA) of Goshen College, through the Bearing Witness Stories Project.
In Conversation 2
$17.95Add to cart* Second volume of the In Conversation series * Insights into the art of listening from former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and author Greg Garrett How is God speaking into our lives today? How do Christians discern what they’re being called to do? How do literature and culture intersect with the Scriptures and our tradition? And what might the work of the artist teach us about both spiritual practice and the vocational tasks of preaching and teaching? Be a fly on the wall and listen in as dear friends-one who happens to be the past Archbishop of Canterbury, the other, “one of the Episcopal Church’s most engaging evangelists” (Barbara Brown Taylor)-discuss their longtime passions and shared interests. In this new volume of the “In Conversation series,” Rowan Williams and Greg Garrett talk about friendship, the Church, the gift of great novels, the importance of Shakespeare, the art of writing poetry and fiction, the preaching event, engaging popular culture, the relationship between faith and politics, the practice of prayer, and the necessity of sacred community, modeling for us in the process both the vanishing art of conversation and an active engagement with faith, culture, and real life.
Call No One Father
$24.95Add to cart‘The ugliest perversion of the Church’ (Pope Francis)
When the chief bishop of the Catholic Church condemns clericalism in words like these, it’s time for Catholics – especially the people in the pews – to acknoweledge the seriousness of the situation and explore options to confront it.
In Call No One Father, Berise Heasly brings unique insights to her consideration of clericalism, based on many years as a professional educator and an informed Catholic layperson. She well understands that confronting clericalism head on will be insufficient to address its root causes and historical development. Rather, with skill and experience, she moves beyond exclusive binary (either/or) ways of thining to suggest other, gentler approaches, encouraging more transparency and accountability, with soundly based recommendations for seminary formation and the ongoing educationand formation of priests and ministers.
In the current situation, where many in the churches are demoralised and disheartened, Call No One Father provides a realistic appraisal, informed reflection, strategies for change and reformation, and above all, hope for the community called the Church.
Re Membering God
$19.95Add to cart* Reflections on tradition and change for the twenty-first-century church * Something for both newcomers and those familiar with liturgy and spirituality Like the scribe and master of the household cited by Jesus in Matthew 13, Re-membering God “brings out of treasure what is new and what is old,” and empowers us to go and do likewise. As both critique and encouragement for the church in the early part of the twenty-first century, it seeks to reclaim the foundational riches of the church’s liturgy and spirituality in the face of cul-tural change. These resources, some lost or neglected and others under-utilized, can help rebuild the church, raising up what has been cast down and renewing what has grown old. This series of reflections explore with discernment what is “fashionable,” and acknowledge the deepest and most endur-ing human needs and hopes, which only God can answer. Re-membering God puts liturgical and spiritual practice into terms easily understood by both newcomers and seasoned devotees, for the benefit of this and future generations. Understanding the value of the past and with an eye to the future, this book will inform our next conversations about evangelism and church growth.
Holy Love : A Biblical Theology For Human Sexuality
$14.99Add to cartDo conservatives or progressives “own” the teachings about what the Bible says about human sexuality and marriage? For some–perhaps a vocal minority–the question is no longer up for debate or discussion: conservatives win. For others, the issues are not that simple. A fresh, rigorous, but yet concise, theological examination of the Bible’s teachings is required. There are other ways to interpret scripture faithfully with respect to sexuality other than the conservative interpretation.
In Holy Love, Steve Harper strives to articulate the truth about the teachings of the Bible and Wesleyan tradition on human sexuality. This very accessible book is intended for church leaders, small groups, and those interested in understanding the Bible’s teaching on this fundamental component of human life, experience and relationships. The book will help church leaders and small groups make the constructive case that biblical, Christian teaching is compatible with faithful, covenantal love and intimacy amidst all sexual orientations.
Women Bishops Of The United Methodist Church
$20.99Add to cartBishop Sharon Zimmerman Rader and Margaret Ann Crain interviewed and collected stories from each of the women bishops elected in The United Methodist Church, the first denomination with women elected to the episcopacy. Through these stories, they seek to answer the following question:
What was it about these women that enabled them to persevere, claim authority, define leadership in their own ways, and rise to the episcopacy?
How did their presence challenge and change the church?
Their stories reveal how these clergywomen changed the Church while they blazed leadership trails both before and after their election to the episcopacy. The book will share inspirational stories and pivotal moments that illustrate how women manage the complexities of family, faith, and authority. It is about both realized and unrealized differences that women bishops made/make/will make in The United Methodist Church.
Their stories reveal how these clergywomen changed the Church while they blazed leadership trails both before and after their election to the episcopacy. The book will share inspirational stories and pivotal moments that illustrate how women manage the complexities of family, faith, and authority. It is about both realized and unrealized differences that women bishops made/make/will make in The United Methodist Church.
4D Impact : Smash Barriers Like A Smart Church
$17.99Add to cartThe 4D Church takes a critical and inspirational look at four aspects of 21st century church ministry: Culture, Hospitality, Worship and Technology. Each of these aspects is key for developing vital churches and healthy church leaders. The author uses real life lessons from the 11-year journey of Impact Church, which is currently #5 out of the 100 fastest growing United Methodist congregations in the United States, and examples from churches and the market place, to inform, equip, and inspire the reader. The 4D Church offers: a diagnostic tool in each chapter to determine the current health and status of the reader’s church, real time inspiration from practitioners who are experiencing health and growth, guidance for readers to discern their level of fitness for their church assignment-is the leader/reader well-matched, or mismatched?, and guidance for readers to determine if their church has reached a point of irreversible decline.
Humble Calvinism : And If I Know The Five Points, But Have Not Love…
$14.99Add to cart1. The Problem With Calvinists
2. Humble Calvinism Is Not An Oxymoron
3. Point One: Level Ground
4. Point Two: Love, Regardless
5. Point Three: Specific Service
6. Point Four: The Family Business
7. Point Five: Credit God
8. We’re Calvinists Best When We Aren’t Calvinists FirstAdditional Info
Humble Calvinism is both a helpful summary of what Calvinism is, and a helpful challenge to those who are convinced Calvinists. It calls us to hold Calvinism in our hearts, not just in our heads, so that we are humble and gracious as well as zealous for the truth, to the praise and glory of Christ and his church.Author Jeff Medders admits that he is quick to defend Calvinism, but often slow to humbly love Christians who take a different view. His warm-hearted, challenging (and surprisingly witty) book takes readers through the the five points of Calvinism, revealing that a true understanding has a humbling effect on our hearts, fueling a love of Christ and his people that builds others up, rather than tearing them down.
Boy A Magician And A Harlot
$17.95Add to cartInvites the reader behind the scenes of Bible stories – Opens new perspectives for individuals, study groups, and sermon writers What was the reaction of the head waiter at the wedding at Cana when he realized the wine had run out? What gave the man the idea to lower his paralyzed friend through the roof to see Jesus? What were the young men who accompanied Abraham and Isaac on the journey to the mountain thinking? Much of scripture is comprised of individuals who are unnamed but have important roles to play in biblical stories. This illustrated book offers first person accounts of twenty-one Bible stories (Old Testament, New Testament, and apocrypha) from the perspectives of bystanders or “sup-porting” characters, giving us an opportunity to imagine: how would we react? What would we say or do given similar circumstances today? This imaginative collection includes thought-provoking discussion questions for congregational or individual reflection, and can be invaluable for fresh perspectives in sermons and study groups.
How Luther Became The Reformer
$35.00Add to cartNo story has been more foundational to triumphalist accounts of Western modernity than that of Martin Luther, the heroic individual, standing before the tribunes of medieval authoritarianism to proclaim his religious and intellectual freedom, “Here I stand!” How Luther Became the Reformer returns to the birthplace of this origin myth, Germany in the late nineteenth century, and traces its development from the end of World War I through the rise of National Socialism. Why were German intellectuals-especially Protestant scholars of religion, culture, and theology-in this turbulent period so committed to this version of Luther’s story? Luther was touted as the mythological figure to promote the cultural unity of Germany as a modern nation; in the myth’s many retellings, from the time of the Weimar Republic forward, Luther attained world-historical status. Helmer finds in this construction of Luther the Reformer a lens through which to examine modernity’s deformations, among them anti-Judaism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Catholicism. Offering a new interpretation of Luther, and by extension of modernity itself, from an ecumenical perspective, How Luther Became the Reformer provides resources for understanding and contesting contemporary assaults on democracy. In this way, the book holds the promise for resistance and hope in dark times.
Presbyterian Worship Questions And Answers
$18.00Add to cartPresbyterian worship is known for its balance between form and freedom, seeking to be faithful to the leading of God’s Word and open to the movement of God’s spirit. For those who plan, lead, and participate in worship, living within this tension can be a creative challenge, one that poses many questions for our liturgical theology and practice.
Presbyterian Worship Questions and Answers draws on the author’s scholarly insights, pastoral instincts, and decade of experience in the Presbyterian denomination’s Office of Theology and Worship to provide accessible answers to the questions people frequently ask about Presbyterian worship along with a few we ought to ask more frequently. From the philosophical-What is worship and what does it have to do with real life?-to the practical-Why is there a pink candle and when do we light it?-Presbyterian Worship Questions and Answers seeks to shed new light on the meaning and mystery of worship in the Reformed tradition.
Another Time Another Place
$15.95Add to cartIn 1981, the name of the Church of England in Australia was officially changed to the Anglican Church of Australia. There was a growing awareness of independence and a sense of identity less reliant on formal, historic ties with England. Developing that awareness, this book acknowledges that the roots of Anglicanism in Australia were English, transported here through invasion and dispossession, and asks how the Anglican Church in Australia can replant itself in authentic Australian soil.
Behold He Cometh
$39.95Add to cartBehold, He Cometh is an essay-style commentary on the much disputed book of Revelation. By careful exegesis, the author gives a solidly Reformed, amillennial interpretation of scripture. This book sets forth in clear, concise language the comforting truths concerning the end times.
I Appeal To Scripture
$9.95Add to cartDisintegration threatened the nearly two-year old Anabaptist movement in 1526 in Switzerland and southern Germany. Quarrelling individuals with bizarre theology and behavior threatened the movement’s stability; ruthless persecution threatened its existence. Could Anabaptism survive much longer? It was a moment of great crisis–and great opportunity.
Engulfed in persecution, embroiled in doctrinal disputes, and lacking adequate leadership, the Anabaptist movement needed a compelling vision and a man to personify that vision. Thankfully, God sent a man to fill that role. His name was Michael Sattler. His story is one of faith, courage, and conviction.
Just Begin : A Sourcebook Of Spiritual Practices
$26.95Add to cart* Spiritual practices for beginners and practitioners all in one volume * Spurs people of faith to deeper self-awareness, holistic living, and prayer Just Begin is an indispensable reference tool for the interested spiritual practitioner who wants to add new methods and exercises to their mystical “toolbox.” In simple terms, basic steps, and encouraging language, Dr. Wigner introduces readers to more than 40 different practices from Eastern and Western traditions, encompassing everything from mindfulness to music, yoga to the Lord’s Prayer. In each short description, the focus is to “just begin” to practice and experiment, grow, and develop spiritually on the way. No one can take a journey without taking the first step, and Dr. Wigner provides the first steps for multiple practices in various religious traditions. These spiritual exercises will help spur people of faith to deeper self-awareness, holistic living, and prayer. The book’s sections are organized around types of practices: Meditating, Listening, Being, Sensing, and Embodying, with a final section: Doing. Each chapter forms a short three to five page introduction to a mystical practice, consisting of segments on definition, background, how to practice, resources for further study, journal prompts and discussion questions, and common problems that sometimes “get in the way” of one’s practice.