Denominational Concerns
Showing 451–500 of 970 resultsSorted by latest
-
Methodisms Founder John Wesley Believed In Angels
$16.99Add to cartDo we have good angels assigned to us as well as evil angels? Author Don R. Harper shares true stories about angels and how they influence our lives from the cradle to the grave. Enjoy quotations from Methodism’s founder John Wesley including why and how you must be born again.
-
Jonathan Edwards For Armchair Theologians
$24.00Add to cartThis witty and illuminating volume introduces the life and writings of the great American theologian and preacher Johathan Edwards (1703-1758). The most studied figure in American religious history and an iconic figure of the American colonial period, Edwards is well known and highly regarded as a stalwart defender of Calvinist theology and his Puritan heritage. As James P. Byrd deftly reveals, however, Edwards was also a brilliant thinker and passionate pastor who wrestled continuously with the most important issue of his time, the relationship between faith and reason. Exploring his life, most important writings, and enduring legacies, Jonathan Edwards for Armchair Theologians provides an engaging overview of a man far more complex and multifaceted than most understand.
-
Conversations With Scripture 2 Isaiah (Student/Study Guide)
$21.95Add to cartEngages readers with the astonishing beauty and depth of Second Isaiah and its relevance today
Newest entry in the only Bible study series written from a uniquely Anglican perspective
For use by adult formation programs in parish group settings and by individuals
Study and reflection questions included
Beautifully designed interior with margin glosses, pull quotes, boxes
-
Spiritual Direction : A Practical Introduction
$36.99Add to cartSpiritual direction has been an intrinsic part of the Christian tradition since the earliest days of the church when desert mothers and fathers were sought out for their wisdom and guidance. Today, the popularity of retreats and renewed interest in monastic spirituality has put spiritual direction in the spotlight. It is shedding its rather exotic, mystical associations and is increasingly regarded as a core component of Christian ministry. This guide aims to equip clergy and laity engaged in this task, or in training for it. It includes, Part One: What is spiritual direction? This is an exploration of biblical, historical and contemporary models of spiritual direction. What makes a good spiritual director? Part Two covers listening and responding to God, prayer, paying attention, discernment, interpreting religious experience, recognising God in the every day, journalling, and holy leisure. Part Three covers listening and responding to others, listening to stories and experience, looking for signs of grace, pain
-
Book Of Common Prayer Personal Edition
$49.99Add to cartThe perfect style for a wide variety of uses, such as pew book or special gift, the Personal Edition includes a Family Record section with certificates for the rites of Baptism, Confirmation, and Marriage. All bindings feature ribbon markers and gilded page edges. Includes Revised Common Lectionary.
-
Happiness And Holiness
$40.00Add to cartThe 17th century writer Thomas Traherne is increasingly being recognised and studied as a theologian as well as a poet. The discovery, in 1997, announced by the author of this volume, of five new prose works and a poetic work has given huge impetus to the study of Traherne in literature and theology. Two editions of Complete Works are in preparation (OUP and Boydell & Brewer) and a major autobiography is due in 2006.
This affordable, concise introduction to Traherne’s life and work concerns Traherne primarily as a theologian and places him in an historical and intellectual context he has thus far lacked. It demonstrates his distinctive contribution to Anglican theology.
Consisting of a 10,000 word introductory essay and biography it is followed by extracts from Traherne’s work under the following headings: Creatures and Powers, Holiness and Happiness, Sin and Salvation, Christian Liberty, Advice on Ministry, Prayers.
This affordable, concise introduction to Traherne’s life and work concerns Traherne primarily as a theologian and places him in an historical and intellectual context he has thus far lacked. It demonstrates his distinctive contribution to Anglican theology.Consisting of a 10,000 word introductory essay and biography it is followed by extracts from Traherne’s work under the following headings: Creatures and Powers, Holiness and Happiness, Sin and Salvation, Christian Liberty, Advice on Ministry, Prayers.
-
Transforming Disciples
$26.95Add to cartMaking disciples through Christian formation too often looks like a limited number of educational programs offered to child, teen, and adult “consumers” who move on if they don’t find what they want. How can we make the transition from consumer religion to participatory faith by building congregational relationships that nourish people spiritually and empower them to risk living, worshipping, learning, and serving God and each other in new and enlivening ways?
-
Better Get It In Your Soul
$23.95Add to cartThis book offers hope to parishes searching for a way to make their liturgies more meaningful in the local context. Written by a priest and a musician who have worked together for many years in the Canterbury House ministry at the University of Michigan, this book describes methods that demonstrate a respect for others’ gifts and skills, discernment of spiritual needs, and welcoming the creative force of the Holy Spirit into the planning process. Though thoroughly based in the Book of Common Prayer liturgy, the experience and ideas presented here are described in ways that will be useful to all liturgical denominations.
-
From Holidays To Holy Days
$20.95Add to cartRather than criticizing trappings of the holiday season, this book looks at them from the viewpoint of Christian contemplation, once aptly described as “a long, loving look at the real.” The author, a Benedictine monk who lives in the center of downtown Newark, New Jersey, invites the reader to join him on his daily walks as he points out dozens of often-unnoticed connections between our holidays and the spiritual meaning of Advent and Christmas. In a string of colored lights, a crowd of shoppers, or the window of a toy store, he uncovers such traditional Advent themes as watchful waiting, repentance, and selfless love. On the bustling sidewalks, he introduces us to Isaiah, John the Baptist, and Jesus himself, all speaking their ancient Advent and Christmas messages of peace and hope and good will.
-
Restoring The Anglican Mind
$16.00Add to cartWith the Lambeth Conference of 2008 in mind, the author presents this timely proclamation to Anglicans across the world of the need to return to a “Western Orthodoxy”. Canon Middleton takes us back to early principles and shows us how they still speak to us today.
-
Light To The Darkness
$21.95Add to cartLight to the Darkness is a fresh interpretation of the well-loved Advent traditionof Lessons and Carols. Replacing the usual scriptural readings from the Old and New Testaments are first-person dramatic monologues based on these and other passages of scripture. Special emphasis is given to the role of the prophets, pointing the way to the Messiah and offering guidance to the Hebrew people, while providing very contemporary guidance for the 21st-century.
With a reading for each day of Advent, churches can choose pieces for their services of Lessons and Carols, while individuals can use the book for private devotions. Suggested music for these services is also included, encompassing a broad range of selections to accommodate parishes? needs and abilities. -
Liturgy For The Whole Church
$28.95Add to cartThis fresh collection of group readings and simple dramas based on stories from scripture, together with meditations, story-telling methodology, and an instructed Eucharist, helps church leaders design liturgy for children and adults who worship together. Includes seasonal introductions, congregational readings, meditations, simple dramas, stories, simple sermons, and tableaux vivants.
-
History Of Presbyterian Missions
$48.00Add to cartThis comprehensive volume features a collection of interpretive essays on the work of missions in the Presbyterian Church for over sixty years. It discusses events and challenges to the churchs mission activities and to its missionaries and examines the ways in which changes in denominational structures impacted mission work. Reflections from Presbyterian mission leaders, firsthand accounts from missionaries, and an overview of the work in specific mission areas from Latin America to East Asia make this an ideal resource for those involved in Presbyterian missions, scholars, and all those who seek to understand the breadth and depth of Presbyterian missions during this period.
-
Heritage In Crisis
$50.99Add to cartAcknowledgements
Introduction
1. The Identity Crisis Facing Churches Of Christ
2. The Generation Gap In The Church Of Christ
3. Where We Are In The Discussion Or “Desecularizing The Church Of Christ In The 21st Century”
4. The Holy Spirit And Christian Union
5. Baptism And Our View Of Other Denominations
6. Hermeneutics
7. Instrumental Music
8. Purpose And Style In Worship
9. Women’s Roles
10. The Qualification And Selection Of Elders
11. Missionary Societies And Denominational Structures
12. Theological Trends From 1960 To The Present
Afterward
Bibliography
Index
Additional Info
The Churches in Christ are in growing disagreement about the direction that the Restoration Movement should take. A Heritage in Crisis introduces the background of this “identity crisis,” evaluates nine specific issues that threaten to divide the Churches of Christ today–such as worship styles and women’s roles–and suggests changes Churches in Christ can make in order to facilitate the change back to God’s original intent for the church. More than simply an academic examination of doctrinal issues, A Heritage in Crisis seeks to identify a path by which the Churches of Christ might move into a future illuminated by the light of God’s Word. -
Feasting On The Word Year B 1
$55.00Add to cartThis new lectionary commentary series offers the most extensive resource for preaching on the market today. When complete, the twelve volumes will cover all of the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with moveable occasions such as Christmas Day, Epiphany, Holy Week, and All Saints Day.
For each lectionary text, preachers will find four brief essays on the exegetical, theological, pastoral, and homiletical challenges of the text, with freedom to begin where they choose. They may decide to focus on the Gospel text, for instance, by reading all four essays provided for that text. Or they may decide to look for connections between the Hebrew Bible, Psalm, Gospel, and Epistle texts by reading the theological essays on each one.
Each lectionary year will consist of four volumes, one for the Advent and Christmas season, one for Lent and Easter, and one for each half of Ordinary Time.
While the twelve volumes of the series will follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume will contain an index of biblical passages so that non-lectionary preachers may make use of its contents.
-
Work Of Jesus Christ In Anabaptist Perspective
$26.95Add to cartHow have Anabaptists traditionally understood the work of Christ? How should Mennonites and other Christians think today about the saving work of God in Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection? In this book, 20 leading theologians, biblical scholars, pastors, and others offer their reflections.
-
On Holy Ground
$21.00Add to cartGuided prayer is one of the main tools of spiritual direction and a popular focus for many retreats. Based on the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, its aim is to help people make good choices that enable them to live in freedom before God. Prayerful reading of the scriptures and helping to interpret readers’ reactions (which can be revealing) are its basic methods. This book explains the ‘nuts and bolts’ of this key aspect of spiritual direction.
-
Eastern Path To Heaven
$19.95Add to cartGeshe Michael Roach and Christie McNally have, for the last ten years, explored together the ancient cities, rare manuscripts, and oral traditions of India and Tibet which bear witness to teachings of Thomas – the disciple that Jesus sent to the east. The Eastern Path to Heaven presents the great ideas that came to those lands through Thomas, and describes how we can use authentic Christian teachings of ancient Asia to achieve six goals of life: physical health; financial security; love; happiness; freedom from aging and death; and fulfilment in the service of others. Brief, accessible, chapters each open with a quotation by Jesus from the New Testament that speaks to achieving the six goals according to the wisdom of the Eastern side of the Christian family. Brief historical summaries show how the teachings of Jesus entered India with Thomas, traveling along the routes pioneered by Alexander the Great, and then reached Tibet. These sketches utilize information from Syrian, Coptic, Greek, Tibetan, and Sanskrit manuscripts, often translated by the authors for the first time.
-
New Church For A New World
$16.00Add to cartThe volumes in the Foundations of Christian Faith series explore central elements of Christian belief in a clear and concise manner.
In this new volume, pastor and distinguished church leader John Buchanan reviews the history of the Christian community, examines the realities of the church worldwide, and looks forward to the future where a new church may be needed to meet the challenges of a new world. Buchanan describes changes impacting the church and invites Christians to be hopeful and look for signs of what God might be calling the church to be in our time and beyond.
A New Church for a New World is insightful, informative, and ideal for individual or group study.
-
Transforming Congregations
$25.95Add to cartHow can our patterns of congregational life and mission renew themselves and adjust to changing culture without selling out what Episcopalians stand for? How can local faith communities stay resilient and hopeful? What styles and practices of spirituality do most to enrich our mission?
These are some of the questions James Lemler poses in this book on mission for clergy and congregational discussion. As with evangelism, there is both good and bad news about Episcopalians and mission. Lemler also provides a variety of models for moving forward in mission and hope, to a more abundant future.
-
Young Restless Reformed
$17.99Add to cartFrom places like John Piper’s den, Al Mohler’s office, and Jonathan Edwards’s college, Christianity Today journalist Collin Hansen investigates what makes today’s young Calvinists tick. Church-growth strategies and charismatic worship have fueled the bulk of evangelical growth in America for decades. While baby boomers have flocked to churches that did not look or sound like church, it seems these churches do not so broadly capture the passions of today’s twenty-something evangelicals. In fact, a desire for transcendence and tradition among young evangelicals has contributed to a Reformed resurgence. For nearly two years, Christianity Today journalist Collin Hansen visited the chief schools, churches, and conferences of this growing movement. He sought to describe its members and ask its leading pastors and theologians about the causes and implications of the Calvinist resurgence. The result, Young, Restless, Reformed, shows common threads in their diverse testimonies and suggests what tomorrow’s church might look like when these young evangelicals become pastors or professors. “Collin Hansen invites us on a voyage of discovery, learning how our restless youth are discovering anew the great doctrines of the Christian faith. Weary of churches that seek to entertain rather than teach, longing after the true meat of the Word, these young people are pursuing doctrine. Discover how God is moving among the young, the restless, and the Reformed.” Tim Challies, author, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment; blogger at Challies.com “Young, Restless, Reformed is the product of some outstanding research. This book will help the reader gain valuable insight into the growing Reformed movement in America.” Jerry Bridges, author of The Pursuit of Holiness “Collin Hansen has uncovered a fresh movement of young Christians for whom doctrine fuels evangelism, kindles passion, and transforms lives. Read it and rejoice.” David Neff, editor-in-chief, Christianity Today media group “A number of strategic ministries have been quietly upholding the doctrines of grace, planting churches, seeing people converted, teaching the whole counsel of God. It is time for quiet gratitude to God and earnest intercessory prayer that what has begun well will flourish beyond all human expectation.” D. A. Carson, Research Professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School “This lively account is must reading for ministry leaders working with young adults. A wake-up call to ba
-
Social Ministry In The Lutheran Tradition
$22.00Add to cartThis indispensable volume offers a fundamental rationale or “case” for Lutheran engagement in social services by highlighting the biblical warrants, panoramic historical expressions, and deep theological under-pinnings of such Christian corporate social engagement.
Social Ministry in the Lutheran Tradition gathers the insights of historians, theologians, and organizational leaders to address this task.
-
Reweaving The Sacred
$19.95Add to cartIdeal growth and development tool for small congregations in all mainline denominations
Simple, clear exercises and techniques to help leaders and members pinpoint problems and claim and identify gifts and values of their shared history, in order to engage in a ministry of renewal, welcome, and growth
-
Methodism In Recovery
$30.99Add to cartBroken bodies mend. Depressed minds heal. Storm-tossed cities rebuild. Troubled institutions recover. Churches experience renewal. So why not the Methodist Church? This book confronts the facts and invokes the Spirit. It will explore the multiple meaning of recovery and the denomination’s prospect for recovering. It will take seriously the possibility that recovery of Methodism may not require–or include–the survival of The United Methodist Church as a denomination. That is part of the mystery of recovery. By confronting provocative questions relating to funding missions, declining membership, itinerancy, guaranteed appointments, ordination requirements and authorization, the author helps Methodism take those crucial first steps on the road to recovery.
-
Transforming Vocation
$26.95Add to cartIn the Episcopal Church, it seems the only real purpose and end of Christian discernment is professional ordination, either to the priesthood or to the vocational diaconate. This book deals with such questions as, How can both communities and individuals discern a call from God within the vocations and tasks in which they find themselves? How can the Church deal creatively with its confusion about the differing roles and authority of ordained and lay ministers?
-
Transforming Evangelism
$25.95Add to cartHow can Episcopalians reclaim evangelism primarily as an enriching spiritual practice? How soon will we recognize that our traditional hands-off approach has led to a crisis of evangelism with our own children? How can we learn to practice evangelism in an multicultural and multifaith society ? and to what purpose? What styles and practices of spirituality do most to enrich our sense of evangelical calling?
These are some of the questions David Gortner asks in this book on evangelism for clergy and congregational discussion. He delivers both good and bad news about Episcopalians and evangelism, and provides models and spiritual practices to feed the growing hunger in our churches for good news.
-
1979 Book Of Common Prayer Readers Edition
$81.00Add to cartThis handsome edition of the Book of Common Prayer features a large, easy-to-read typeface which is perfect for use in public worship settings or for people with vision difficulties. This new edition includes the Revised Common Lectionary.
-
Through Julians Window
$16.00Add to cartLike her 14th century predecessor Julian of Norwich, Sr Elizabeth lives as a solitary attached to a religious community. Like Julian, she is available to all who come for help, advice or direction. In Julian’s cell were three windows – one looking into the sanctuary of the church, one opening on to a secluded garden where she could attend to her own physical needs and a third where she conversed with all who came for help. Sr Elizabeth relates the three different aspects of these windows to the three things that Julian desired of God – contrition, compassion and longing for God. So deeply did she desire these qualities that she asked God to ‘wound’ her with them, but they became gifts of healing for herself and for others. Through contrition she learned her limitations and her need of others, compassion enabled her to become an effective spiritual guide and in longing for God she found purpose and meaning for her whole life.
-
Partakers Of The Divine Nature
$37.00Add to cartThis critical volume focuses on the concept of deification in Christian intellectual history. It draws together Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant scholars to introduce and explain the theory of deification as a biblically rooted, central theme in the Christian doctrine of salvation in diverse eras and traditions. The book addresses the origin, development, and function of deification from its precursors in ancient Greek philosophy to its nuanced use in contemporary theological thought. The revival of interest in deification, which has often been seen as heresy in the Protestant West, heralds a return to foundational understandings of salvation in the Christian church before divisions of East and West, Catholic and Protestant. Originally published in hardcover, this book is now available in paperback to a wider readership.
-
Book Of Common Prayer Personal Edition
$66.00Add to cartThe perfect style for a wide variety of uses, such as pew book or special gift, the Personal Edition includes a Family Record section with certificates for the rites of Baptism, Confirmation, and Marriage. All bindings feature ribbon markers and gilded page edges. Includes Revised Common Lectionary.
-
Substance Of The Faith
$23.00Add to cartThis useful and insightful volume aims to illustrate, espouse, and renew the discipline of doctrinal theology, particularly as exemplified historically by Martin Luther and his theological reflection on the Trinity.
The authors, steeped both in Luther’s works and in the doctrinal tradition, show how dogmatics in the Lutheran tradition entails a delicate juxtaposition of credal commitment, scriptural interpretation, and doctrinal elaboration. Their respective chapters retrieve surprising historical insights about Luther’s own practice of doctrinal theology, the interaction of the credal and doctrinal dimensions with a nuanced hermeneutic of scripture, and the future shape of a doctrinal theology genuinely responsive to the gospel and the present age.
-
Doctrinal Standards In The Wesleyan Tradition (Revised)
$35.99Add to cartThe history of Wesleyan family of churches doctrines
What are our core beliefs? Doctrinal Standards in the Wesleyan Tradition, Revised Edition, narrates the history of the formation of Wesleyan doctrines, describing how they were transplanted from the British Isles to North American, how they became constitutionally protected in Wesleyan-rooted churches.
The first edition of this book affected the outcome of the 1988 General Conference of The United Methodist Church as the delegates decided many then-disputed doctrinal issues. This revised edition addresses the continuing hunger for more precise and useful information on the doctrinal traditions of mainline Protestantism. Hence the arguments have been updated with more than 400 changes.
Included are doctrinal statements for the Evangelical United Bethren, Free Methodist, Methodist Protestant, Wesleyan, Nazarene, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, Christian Methodist Episcopal, and African Methodist Episcopal Churches; as well as an outline syllabus of a Course on the Articles of Religion.
-
Book Of Common Prayer 1979 Gift Edition
$32.99Add to cartThis gift edition of The Book of Common Prayer by Oxford University Press features a durable imitation leather cover, stained page edges, a ribbon marker, presentation page, and baptismal, confirmation and marriage certificates. It also includes the Revised Common Lectionary.
-
Growth In Agreement 3
$68.99Add to cartThis volume contains the official dialogue results and common statements issued between 1998 and 2005 by an astonishingly wide range of Christian churches and communions. Reflected here are the solid advances made by well-established dialogue partners, as well as explorations in dialogue by churches new to the dialogue process at world level. Also included is the ecclesiology text adopted by WCC member churches at their assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
-
Presbyterian Handbook For Pastors
$18.00Add to cartThe Presbyterian Handbook has engaged thousands of Presbyterians and other Christians in their everyday faith with a distinctive blend of historical and theological information, fun-filled facts, and practical tips on being a churchgoing follower of Jesus Christ.
Now comes The Presbyterian Handbook for Pastors, which captures all of the essential information any pastor needs to serve and lead in any situation in one volume. Complete with illustrations and bits of humor, this handy resource is ideal for Presbyterian pastors, lay pastors, seminary students, candidates for ministry, and all those seeking the perfect gift for their pastors.
-
Being United Methodist In The Bible Belt
$19.00Add to cartWritten in a humorous, accessible style, Being United Methodist in the Bible Belt is an easy-to-understand guide to the kinds of theological questions that many United Methodist youth and others ask. This concise book is an engaging and insightful resource for any United Methodist youth, parent, or educator seeking to better understand their unique brand of Christianity in light of the understandings of those from the evangelical tradition. With helpful sidebars explaining United Methodist history and polity and questions after each chapter for reflection and action, this book is ideal for Christian education courses for youth and adults, new member classes in United Methodist churches, as well as personal reading. This is an ideal book for adolescents and young adults and those who nurture them.
-
Anglican Papalism
$35.00Add to cartIn 1898 the Church of England was shaken to its roots by the then Pope’s declaration that Anglican orders of ministry were ‘null and void’. This threatened to create an unbridgeable gulf between the two Churches, yet some Anglicans responded creatively by demonstrating their loyalty and fidelity to Rome – the movement was known as Anglican Papalism and it laid the foundation for new respect and fresh dialogue that culminated in the friendlier message Vatican II. Anglo-Catholic readers will value this illustrated history of a small but powerful and characterful movement within Anglo-Catholicism.
-
Crossing : Reclaiming The Landscape Of Our Lives
$20.95Add to cartIlluminates the spiritual journey we all take and the choices we make by focusing on five of the monastic hours, from Vigils which reflect on the edges of the day and our own difficulty in choosing to begin the journey, through Compline or night prayer, the time for letting go and remembering the reality of death. Full of humor and eloquently written, Crossing shows Christians how to bring faith and human experience together.
-
Episcopal Haiku : The Church Its Ways And Its People 17 Syllables At A Time
$16.95Add to cartThe Episcopal Church’s rituals and foibles, character and characters, beauty and liturgy – seventeen syllables at a time.
Stand, sit, kneel, stand, kneel:
It’s quite a good workout for
a Sunday morning.Blessing animals
is a joyous day at church.
Who has ugly pets?– and many more!
Episcopal Haiku will delight Episcopalians with its humor and universally recognizable situations.
-
Celebrating The Eucharist
$31.95Add to cartIn this first new Eucharistic customary in nearly 20 years, Patrick Malloy, an Episcopal priest and liturgical scholar, presents a clear, illustrated guide for the presider and other leaders of liturgy, contemporary in approach but based on ancient and classic principles of celebration.
Like it predecessors, the 1979 Book of Common Prayer is long on telling the Church what to say, and short on telling it what to do. This leaves those with “choreograph” prayer book liturgies with a complex task and a powerful influence over the faith of the Church. The author begins with a concise theology of the liturgy that underpins all of his specific directives in the book.
-
Steeped In The Holy
$19.95Add to cartSteeped in the Holy seeks to reclaim the spiritual foundations for preaching, inviting clergy and students to see preparation and preaching not as an intrusion, but as an opportunity to engage with God, and to develop practices that deepen our relation with God and feed our preaching.
-
Future Of Lutheranism In A Global Context
$19.00Add to cartWhat are the strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and opportunities for Lutheran theology and the Lutheran church around the world? Contributors from around the world explore issues of helping leaders in the contemporary church understand the shifting ground of Lutheranism in the twenty-first century.
-
Building A Childrens Chapel
$35.95Add to cartBased on his work with young children at the Episcopal School of New York, teacher and storyteller Gordh offers a collection of stories from the Bible, arranged and told to create a meaningful childhood chapel for children ages 3-7 and their families. Originally conceived as a resource for use in day schools, it is also ideal for use in Sunday church schools in Episcopal and other mainline congregations.
-
Conversations With Scripture The Gospel Of John (Student/Study Guide)
$21.95Add to cartFor contemporary Christians, John’s Gospel is a paradox. On the one hand, it stresses boundaries: “No one comes to the Father except through me,” while on the other it stresses community: “I have no longer called you servants, but friends.” This book encourages readers to draw out the tensions between these two perspectives to make the gospel more meaningful to their lives.