Social Issues
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Standing With The Vulnerable
$22.99Add to cartIntroduction
1. Understanding Development
2. Understanding Poverty
3. God’s Compassion For The Poor
4. The Transformation Tree
5. Development And Transformation
6. Harmful Beliefs And Poverty
7. Replacing Harmful Beliefs With God’s Truth
8. Relationships And Transformation
9. The Church And Poverty
10. Reflection And ReviewAdditional Info
The world has needs. Children are orphaned, refugees are displaced and families are devastated by natural disasters. But God is greater than those needs, and he works through his people to accomplish healing and transformation. God calls us to integral mission, obeying both the Great Commission and the Great Commandment in ministering to people’s spiritual, physical, emotional and social well-being. This curriculum from World Relief is designed to mobilize the church to engage the great causes of our day, stand with the vulnerable and meet the needs of our neighbors as Jesus did. These ten sessions show how shaping our fundamental beliefs and values lead to better actions and results. Together we can alleviate poverty, welcome the stranger and transform communities at home and around the world. Join with others in learning how to love God, love your neighbors and put that love into action. -
Beyond The Abortion Wars
$23.99Add to cartNow in paperback! A terribly timely take on the polarized abortion debate
The abortion debate in the United States is confused. Ratings-driven media coverage highlights extreme views and creates the illusion that we are stuck in a hopeless stalemate. In this book (published in hardcover in March 2015) Charles Camosy argues that our polarized public discourse hides the fact that most Americans actually agree on the major issues at stake in abortion morality and law.
Unpacking the complexity of the abortion issue, Camosy shows that placing oneself on either side of the typical polarizations – pro-life vs. pro-choice, liberal vs. conservative, Democrat vs. Republican – only serves to further confuse the debate and limits our ability to have fruitful dialogue. Camosy then proposes a new public policy that he believes is consistent with the beliefs of the broad majority of Americans and supported by the best ideas and arguments about abortion from both secular and religious sources.
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Ministering In Honor Shame Cultures
$32.99Add to cartFailing to understand honor and shame cultures can lead to cross-cultural roadblocks in ministry and relationships for Westerners. Georges and Baker examine the Bible through the lens of honor and shame and join their cross-cultural experience and reflection in this informed exploration and guide to ministry in honor and shame contexts.
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Transgender
$6.99Add to cartIntroduction
1. Culture
2. Compassion
3. Convictions: Creation
4. Convictions: Fall
5. Convictions: Redemption And Glory
6. Wisdom
Further ReadingAdditional Info
There’s been huge cultural change in the last few decades. Same-sex marriage would have been unthinkable 20 or 30 years ago. Now it’s almost universally accepted in the Western world. Now suddenly the issue of transgender is the next big social, cultural issue that has dominated the headlines.Vaughan Roberts surveys the Christian worldview and seeks to apply these principles to the many complex questions surrounding gender identity. This short book gives an overview and a starting point for constructive discussion as we seek to live in a world with different values, and love, serve and relate to transgender people.
Talking Points is a series of short books by Vaughan Roberts, designed to help Christians think, talk and relate to others with compassion, conviction and wisdom about today’s big issues.
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Just Capitalism : A Chrstian Ethic Of Economic Globalization
$48.00Add to cartJust Capitalism is a Christian moral defense of economic globalization as a system that is well-suited to provide the necessary material needs that are prerequisite for human community and flourishing. Global-based market exchange offers the development and distribution of the goods of creation for humans to enjoy and share. Globalization also offers “the most realistic and promising way of exercising a preferential option for the poor.” Waters argues that economic globalization, and thus capitalism, is a necessary condition for sustaining human life but not a sufficient condition for enabling human flourishing. Even though globalization is generally compatible with Christian theological and moral claims and can realistically facilitate the well-being of the human family, it must be reoriented toward koinonia-human community, communication, fellowship-as the global economy’s primary goal in order to help actualize human flourishing. Readers will gain insight about how economic globalization (and thus capitalism) is good for the human family and can be made better by certain reorientations that are compatible with Christian moral values. Waters provides a mature and civil counterargument against knee-jerk condemnations of economic globalization and capitalism.
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Embrace : Gods Radical Shalom For A Divided World
$17.99Add to cartIntroduction
1. Embracing The Place
2. The Ones We Avoid
3. God Likes Pumpkin Pie
4. Breaking Barriers
5. Give Me Fifteen
6. Take Me Out To The Ballgame
7. Natural Justice
8. Love Even Our Enemies
9. Yes, Black Lives Matter
EpilogueAdditional Info
The walls between us seem impenetrable. We live in an age of strife and division. Factors like race, class, values and lifestyles keep us from connecting with others in meaningful ways. It’s easier to avoid or ignore people who make us uncomfortable or who we just do not like. But God’s call to the church is to do just the opposite. Leroy Barber has spent decades pursuing reconciliation and justice amongst groups of vastly diverse people. He knows the challenge of embracing those who are difficult to embrace, yet he advocates that the way to radical shalom on earth is through pursuing these relationships. We have the opportunity as the people of God to bring true peace and unity to a world that desperately needs it. Embrace the challenge to show a divided world the bridge-building power of God’s love. -
Washed And Waiting (Expanded)
$16.99Add to cart“Gay,” “Christian,” and “celibate” don’t often appear in the same sentence. Yet many who sit next to us in the pew at church fit that description, says author Wesley Hill. As a celibate gay Christian, Hill gives us a glimpse of what it looks like to wrestle firsthand with God’s “No” to same-sex relationships. What does it mean for gay Christians to live faithful to God while struggling with the challenge of their homosexuality? What is God’s will for believers who experience same-sex desires? Those who choose celibacy are often left to deal with loneliness and the hunger for relationships. How can gay Christians experience God’s favor and blessing in the midst of a struggle that for many brings a crippling sense of shame and guilt? Weaving together reflections from his own life and the lives of other Christians, such as Henri Nouwen and Gerard Manley Hopkins, Hill offers a fresh perspective on these questions. He advocates neither unqualified “healing” for those who struggle, nor their accommodation to temptation, but rather faithfulness in the midst of brokenness. “I hope this book may encourage other homosexual Christians to take the risky step of opening up their lives to others in the body of Christ,” Hill writes. “In so doing, they may find, as I have, by grace, that being known is spiritually healthier than remaining behind closed doors, that the light is better than the darkness.” This updated and expanded edition of the original book includes an additional chapter that continues Wesley’s story and further reflections on spiritual friendships and how the church can be a more welcoming place for those who choose to embrace a celibate calling.
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Liberating Sexuality : Justice Between The Sheets
$28.99Add to cartFor two thousand years, Christianity has been wrong about sex. To this day Christians grapple with defining gender, sexism, heterosexism, and what constitutes healthy sex. Miguel A. De La Torre–noted ethicist and scholar on the intersection of religion with race, class, gender, and sexuality–shines new light on these intimate issues in Liberating Sexuality, a provocative compilation of his writings that apply justice to the most private parts of our lives.
Grounded in biblical scholarship, Liberating Sexuality will help you discover new ways of thinking about God beyond gender, heterosexism, masturbation, and many other topics. Wrestle with controversial topics such as an androgynous Jesus, ethical S&M, and confronting racism in one’s sexual preference. Gain a critical understanding of how others view their own sexuality in ways you could never before comprehend.
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Christians In The Crosshairs
$14.99Add to cartIntroduction: Why This Book On Christian Persecution?
Part 1: The Meaning And Magnitude Of Christian Persecution
1. Toward A Definition Of Christian Persecution And Martyrdom
2. Christian Persecution Around The World Today
Part 2: The Biblical Portrait Of Persecution
3. The Genesis Of Persecution And Martyrdom: Abel Or Stephen?
4. Sermon On The Mount: “Blessed Are The Persecuted”
5. The Gospel Of Mark: Following Jesus Comes At High Cost
6. Luke And Acts: Persecution In Salvation History And The Early Church
7. Paul’s Letters: The Righteousness Of Christ Enflames Persecution
8. The Book Of Hebrews: A Call To Remember The Persecuted
9. Peter’s Epistles: Persecution And The Blessed Life
10. John’s Writings: “Idolspizing” And Vindication
Part 3: The Implications And Practical Applications
11. The Presence Of Christ: The Source And Comfort Of Persecution
12. Ministry To The Persecuted Church: Why It Should Be The Top Soical Justice Concern For The Church
13. You Can Make A Difference
Additional Info
“My hope for all who read this volume,” writes the author, “is a strengthened faith. One of the most surprising aspects of studying persecution has been its effect on me. I thought I would be dour and woeful-defeated-after hearing of great suffering. The opposite is true. The gospel-with its resurrection power-is able to take the worst situations and reframe them in victory. Hearing stories of triumph through suffering has been nothing short of glorious. Studying persecution biblically has led to the same conclusion. The gospel is truly the power of God to salvation for all who believe. Studying persecution has encouraged stronger faith. My hope is that this book will have such an effect for you as you consider what the Scriptures teach about persecution.” -
Sodom Or Salem
$15.00Add to cartWriters Publishing Group Publication
Vicki Shearin sounds an alarm of warning to the church in America after being awakened by the voice of God. Sodom or Salem? Is the question Vicki heard that literally woke her up after falling asleep one night. Sodom represents judgment and Salem is the earliest name for Jerusalem, which means peace. With compelling historical evidence and scriptural revelation, Vicki explains how “We the People” can avoid Sodom, choose Salem, and turn America back to the founding principles that made her the greatest nation on earth!
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Never Said
$10.99Add to cartAnnie and Sarah are fifteen-year-old fraternal twins-who only spend time together because they’re under the same roof. Annie’s life has long been focused around her appearance and the beauty pageants that celebrate it, whereas Sarah’s interests are sports and her runner boyfriend, Jeremy. Then Annie begins to gain more and more weight, and all she seems to hear from her mother is, “You used to be so pretty,” followed by the latest diet to try. Things begin to unravel for Sarah as well. Jeremy-her boyfriend of more than a year-decides to see if he and Sarah are “right” for each other, dumping her in order to get his head on straight. Sarah is devastated. Her family is crumbling. The love of her life is dating other people. Her sister is getting heavier and more depressed. When Sarah learns, through gentle questioning, that a neighbor and very good family friend has been sexually abusing her sister, she knows she must act and help the sister who seemingly always had it all. Told in alternating points of view, Never Said is the story of a family that has been caught up in what doesn’t matter and about two sisters who realize that their relationship-no matter how different the two of them are-is most important.
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Letter To My Anxious Christian Friends
$18.00Add to cartThe last few years have seen dizzying social change in the United States. Many of these changes-such as the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage-seem to challenge or overturn long-standing Christian teachings, while disputes over issues such as immigration, racism, and the abuse of police authority create uncertainty and confusion about what a faithful Christian response looks like. Small wonder, then, that the dominant mood among many Christians is anxiety about what it means to be a follower of Jesus in the world today.
In a clear and readable style, leading Christian ethicist David P. Gushee explores the many social and political changes that are causing Christian anxiety, offering ways to understand and act on these issues that are grounded in the reign of God rather than in human fear. What do we see when we look at a given political issue, argument, or candidate? What do we wish to see? And what might Christian faith contribute to seeing, interpreting, and acting rightly in this particular moment? Gushee helps average Christians think through and make sense of their fears and anxieties about rapid social change in American society, showing how our faith is calling us not to fear and worry but to hope.
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Twilights Last Gleaming
$19.99Add to cartNever in recent history have Christians been more discouraged and fearful about our Country’s future. Economic chaos, immorality, terrorism and global turmoil have convinced many that we are living in the twilight days of America. Dr. Robert Jeffress agrees. But this is not the end of the story, he writes in Twilight’s Last Gleaming. Although we cannot prevent America’s eventual demise, we can delay it…and make a difference for eternity at the same time. For everyone who wonders what can be done right now within our culture, our churches, in the voting booth and our neighborhoods Jeffress answers with biblical insight and real-world clarity, showing Christians how to seize this unprecedented opportunity and point people to our only Hope.
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Mind Of Terror
$15.99Add to cartWhat motivates Islamic terrorists? What is in the mind of terror? Our news reports from the Middle East cover events-bombings, massacres, and suicide attacks. Our newscasters take time to explain who the players are-from Hezbollah to the Iranian Quds, from ISIS to the Palestinian National Authority. But there is something underneath these events and players that fuels atrocity after atrocity in the Middle East. What is it? Tass Saada provides the answer to that question as he delves into the mind of terror, explaining what motivates extremist groups throughout the Middle East. A former Muslim and a onetime sniper with Yasser Arafat’s Fatah organization, Tass has lived it himself. At age 42, he steered his life in a radical new direction, committing it to Jesus. Tass not only describes the motivations and aspirations of those who live in the Middle East, he also outlines a peaceful solution. We can plant seeds of hope that will transform not only the Middle East, but also our increasingly diverse neighborhoods at home. Discover the mind behind terror and how to oppose its grip.
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Stream : Refreshing Hearts And Minds, Renewing Freedom’s Blessings
$21.99Add to cartThe Stream provides the refreshing life-giving water that must begin to flow freely if we are to restore freedom and rebuild America before it’s too late. Robison’s focus for 2016 and beyond is the restoration of the Christian faith and the renewal of an America whose foundations have eroded. The Stream charts a clear path to personal revival and spiritual revolution in our culture, values, morals, and in government.
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50 Ways To Help Save The Earth (Revised)
$18.00Add to cartRebecca Barnes outlines fifty ways in which you, your congregation, and your local community can help fight global warming and enjoy participation in a vital part of Christian discipleship. In 50 Ways to Help Save the Earth, Revised Edition, she makes a clear connection, in a practical and unintimidating way, between stewardship of the earth and living one’s faith.
This easy-to-follow book consists of seven chapters on topics related to global climate change: “Energy,” “Food and Agriculture,” “Transportation,” “Water,” “People,” “Other Species,” and “Wilderness and Land.” Each chapter begins with a statement on how the content relates to global warming, followed by action items ranging from individual efforts to activities that encourage the involvement of the congregation and wider communities.
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Reconciliation Reconsidered : Advancing The Conversation On Race In Churche
$19.99Add to cartReconciliation Takes Time.
A broad racial divide mars Churches of Christ, and courageous leaders from across the United States have joined together to listen to one another. Rather than adopt a posture of resignation, they have met for honest, God-honoring conversation.
In Reconciliation Reconsidered, Tanya Brice pulls together the early fruit she has gleaned from this ongoing conversation about racial reconciliation. Learn about yourself in the context of community as you explore these key ideas:
Exercise truth-telling: it’s what is needed before any reconciliation can happen
Discover how race relations are not as simple as you think
Challenge your stereotypes
Understand the meaning of current events like the Ferguson shooting in fresh ways
Revisit Christ’s teachings with a careful eye toward discipleship and love of your neighborEach chapter concludes with discussion questions that can help you and others navigate this perplexing and difficult topic.
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Return To Justice
$22.00Add to cartReclaiming an Evangelical History of Activism
In recent years, there has been renewed interest by evangelicals in the topic of biblical social justice. Younger evangelicals and millennials, in particular, have shown increased concern for social issues. But this is not a recent development. Following World War II, a new movement of American evangelicals emerged who gradually increased their efforts on behalf of justice.This work explains the important historical context for evangelical reengagement with social justice issues. The authors provide an overview of post-World War II evangelical social justice and compassion ministries, introducing key figures and seminal organizations that propelled the rediscovery of biblical justice. They explore historical and theological lessons learned and offer a way forward for contemporary Christians.
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Love In The Face Of ISIS
$13.99Add to cart7 Prayer Strategies for the Crisis in the Middle East
Thousands of Christians in the Middle East have been persecuted and martyred by ISIS in the past year alone. The number is increasing. Most believers, seeing the atrocities, long to help–but how? In this timely, compelling book, Lorraine Varela offers powerful spiritual strategies to effect change–no matter where you live. Varela exposes the spirit behind ISIS and provides seven specific prayer directives that release God’s character and purposes into the crisis.Real-life stories of supernatural protection will encourage and remind you to believe that God does indeed have an answer. Discover how to pray effectively about the growing violence of radical Islam. Join other believers–and declare to ISIS that Love is coming after them.
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Impossible People
$16.00Add to cart1. New World, Old Challenge
2. The Greatest Challenge Ever
3. The War Of Spirits
4. Exploring The Heart Of Darkness
5. Life With No Amen
6. Yesterday, Today, Forever
7. Give Us The ToolsAdditional Info
The church in the West is at a critical moment. While the gospel is exploding throughout the global south, Western civilization faces militant assaults from aggressive secularism and radical Islam. Will the church resist the seductive shaping power of advanced modernity? More than ever, Christians must resist the negative cultural forces of our day with fortitude and winsomeness. What is needed is followers of Christ who are willing to face reality without flinching and respond with a faithfulness that is unwavering. Os Guinness describes these Christians as “impossible people,” those who have “hearts that can melt with compassion, but with faces like flint and backbones of steel who are unmanipulable, unbribable, undeterrable and unclubbable, without ever losing the gentleness, the mercy, the grace and the compassion of our Lord.” Few accounts of the challenge of today are more realistic, and few calls to Christian courage are more timely, resolute?and hopeful. Guinness argues that we must engage secularism and atheism in new ways, confronting competing ideas with discernment and fresh articulation of the faith. Christians are called to be impossible people, serving an Impossible God. -
Who Will Care For The Orphan
$31.99Add to cartThis book is an important contribution for all United Methodists concerned that their denomination is approaching irrelevance. Within its pages Dr. Lavender offers a Biblical, Wesleyan and means-tested approach that both saves the lives of millions of orphans and vulnerable children and inspires evangelical hope for the church.
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Who Will Care For The Orphan
$17.99Add to cartThis book is an important contribution for all United Methodists concerned that their denomination is approaching irrelevance. Within its pages Dr. Lavender offers a Biblical, Wesleyan and means-tested approach that both saves the lives of millions of orphans and vulnerable children and inspires evangelical hope for the church.
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Global Warning : Prophetic Details Revealed
$20.99Add to cartAre you willing to become a watchman for the Lord? In Global Warning, Bill Vincent urges us all to take a stand for America. In an effort to seek out and purge the wickedness that has seeped its way into the highest places in our society, Bill calls each of us to spend time in prayer and ready ourselves to deliver His warnings. Turn away from social media. Turn off your TVs. Look inward for the Word of God. His Word alone guides us to the truth, to the dangers of our society, and the call to action. When our Lord sounds the alarm, will you take up His call? Employ your faith, nourish your soul, and ready yourself for His Word. Grab your copy today.
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Global Warning : Prophetic Details Revealed
$15.99Add to cartAre you willing to become a watchman for the Lord? In Global Warning, Bill Vincent urges us all to take a stand for America. In an effort to seek out and purge the wickedness that has seeped its way into the highest places in our society, Bill calls each of us to spend time in prayer and ready ourselves to deliver His warnings. Turn away from social media. Turn off your TVs. Look inward for the Word of God. His Word alone guides us to the truth, to the dangers of our society, and the call to action. When our Lord sounds the alarm, will you take up His call? Employ your faith, nourish your soul, and ready yourself for His Word. Grab your copy today.
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Spiritual Friendship After Religion
$20.95Add to cartHardly a day goes by without some poll or news story documenting the changing relationship between the general population and religion, often accompanied by predictions of doom. The rise of the “nones” and the “dones” leaves many adrift in a world with multiple complex challenges. Providers of “spiritual friendship”-pastors, spiritual directors, pastoral counselors, concerned Christians-will need to change their approach as those with whom they interact distance themselves from the church. How should we talk with the “nones” and the “dones” about their spiritual lives? How can we be with them in their struggles when they are suspicious of our motives? These are questions providers of spiritual friendship face every day. This book offers answers that can help them look at their work in new ways. Stewart-Sicking presents an innovative approach to spiritual friendship, addressing major challenges of modern life and significant challenges in the lives of individuals, as well as making accessible scholarship on the subject that is difficult for practitioners to access.
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Answering Jihad : A Better Way Forward
$19.99Add to cartFrom New York Times bestselling author and former Muslim Nabeel Qureshi comes this personal, challenging, and respectful answer to the many questions surrounding jihad, the rise of ISIS, and Islamic terrorism. San Bernardino was the most lethal terror attack on American soil since 9/11, and it came on the heels of a coordinated assault on Paris. There is no question that innocents were slaughtered in the name of Allah and in the way of Jihad, but do the terrorists’ actions actually reflect the religion of Islam? The answer to this question is more pressing than ever, as waves of Muslim refugees arrive in the West seeking shelter from the violent ideology of ISIS. Setting aside speculations and competing voices, what really is Jihad? How are we to understand Jihad in relation to our Muslim neighbors and friends? Why is there such a surge of Islamist terrorism in the world today, and how are we to respond? In Answering Jihad, bestselling author Nabeel Qureshi (Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus) answers these questions from the perspective of a former Muslim who is deeply concerned for both his Muslim family and his American homeland.
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Philosophy In Seven Sentences
$18.99Add to cartPhilosophy is not a closed club or a secret society. It’s for anyone who thinks big questions are worth talking about. To get us started, Douglas Groothuis unpacks seven pivotal sentences from the history of western philosophy?a few famous, all short, none trivial. Included are:
Socrates?The unexamined life is not worth living.
Augustine?You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.
Descartes?I think, therefore I am.
Pascal?The heart has reasons, that reason knows nothing of.Protagoras, Aristotle and Kierkegaard round out this quick tour. Since every philosopher has a story, not just a series of ideas, Groothuis gives us a bit of each one’s life to set the stage. The seven sterling sentences themselves, while they can’t tell us all there is to know, offer bridges into other lands of thought which can spark new ideas and adventures. And who knows where they might lead?
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Orphan Syndrome : Breaking Free And Finding Home
$24.99Add to cartA counselor outlines the symptoms of a wounded orphan spirit vs. a healthy spirit and how an orphan spirit affects our relationships and ability to receive love. From alienation, disconnection, restlessness, to an inability to sense God’s love, the syndrome is characterized by the lie that says, “You’re on your own.” Nick Eno provides dynamic, real-life examples of individuals who have struggled with this syndrome, and those who have been healed and transformed by the love of God. How to break free from the bondage of the orphan syndrome to finding your home in God as his son or daughter.
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Orphan Syndrome : Breaking Free And Finding Home
$13.99Add to cartA counselor outlines the symptoms of a wounded orphan spirit vs. a healthy spirit and how an orphan spirit affects our relationships and ability to receive love. From alienation, disconnection, restlessness, to an inability to sense God’s love, the syndrome is characterized by the lie that says, “You’re on your own.” Nick Eno provides dynamic, real-life examples of individuals who have struggled with this syndrome, and those who have been healed and transformed by the love of God. How to break free from the bondage of the orphan syndrome to finding your home in God as his son or daughter.
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Healing The Ravaged Soul
$24.00Add to cartCascade Books
“Why does God hate me?” “How can I believe in a God who has allowed my suffering?” These are just two of the difficult spiritual questions that survivors of child sexual abuse struggle with. In addition, survivors often have mixed feelings about the church because of perceived judgment and indifference, their own shame, or their discomfort with certain aspects of worship. Of the many aftereffects of sexual abuse, spiritual wounds are the least talked about, yet they are central to adult survivors who seek to heal and find faith and meaning in their lives. With grace and gentleness, this book seeks to answer survivors’ spiritual questions and address some of the common misconceptions that often develop when young victims attempt to understand what has happened to them. It explores the origins of their spiritual issues with clear psychological insights and guides survivors on a spiritual journey toward healing, wholeness, and a deeper relationship with God. -
Do Ask Do Tell Lets Talk
$9.99Add to cartConversations among friends accomplish more than debates between opponents…
Conversations on controversial issues do not to go well when the dialogue happens community-to-community or figurehead-to-figurehead. Whether it’s race, religion, or politics, groups don’t talk well with groups. Too much is at stake when we feel like our words and actions speak for the collective whole. Platforms and podiums will never accomplish what can only be done around dinner tables and in living rooms.
Two individuals from those respective groups are much more likely to forge a good relationship, influencing one another in various ways. Unfortunately, an individual who listens well is often viewed by his or her collective compatriots as engaging in compromise; at the group level, representing each side fairly feels too much like agreement.
That is why the aim of this book is friendship. Friendship is the level at which influence can be had, because the dialogue does not seek to represent an agenda but to understand a person. Friendship is what protects good points from becoming gotcha moments.
The subject for which this approach may be most vital for the modern church may be homosexuality and same-sex attraction (SSA). Yet our approach has tended to be more polemical or political than pastoral and personal.
Churches have articulated their position on a conservative sexual ethic. Churches have re-examined the key biblical texts that are challenged in defense of a progressive sexual ethic. As important as these things are, however, they do not equip everyday Christians to develop meaningful friendships with people who experience same-sex attraction or have embraced a gay identity.
In the absence of relationship, our theology becomes theory.
Many Christians are seeing that the church’s unwillingness to befriend people who experience SSA has blocked us from engaging with the subject of homosexuality on a person-to-person level. We are reticent to engage relationships where it feels probable that there will be awkwardness.
Admittedly, this book is not as “neat” as you might like for it to be. Many tensions will be navigated; maybe not all contradictions will be avoided. However, when it comes to being salt and light for the sake of the gospel, it seems far better to choose possible messiness over guaranteed ineffectiveness.
That means we must realize that it is good for us to have conversations where we don’t know what to say. This is part of the ess
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Path To Freedom
$16.99Add to cartDo you know someone who struggles with the demons of drug or alcohol addiction? Have you ever met a person who has contemplated, attempted, or succeeded at suicide? If your response is yes, then “A Path to Freedom” may provide answers where previously there were none. This book is comprised of faith driven examples in how God’s light can overcome any form of darkness in a person’s life, and how good shall prevail above evil.
“A Path to Freedom” contains true accounts of the struggles, hardships, and dark secrets that many people carry around every day. Life can be difficult and unforeseen events can devastate a decent person, as it surely did for Victor Leonard. Fortunately, he was granted the Lord’s grace so that others may be blessed with a magnificent calm in the mighty turmoil of life.
May the love of Christ enrich your life and set you on a new path; one that makes you smile and say, “I am going to be alright today.”
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Why Do You Think I Call You Mama
$25.99Add to cartWhen her own mother does not recognize her, a daughter is faced with the reality of how dementia has stolen her mother’s mind. Deborah Keys offers readers her intensely personal journal entries of caring for her mother on a daily basis. With honesty that’s intimate, raw, and often humorous, Keys shares nitty-gritty trials and triumphs, provides tips for caregivers, while also highlighting a common journey where loved ones can find solace, community, and ultimately peace. Those whose loved ones have descended into dementia, or who care for them, will find understanding, hope, and help in this one woman’s story.
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Why Do You Think I Call You Mama
$11.99Add to cartWhen her own mother does not recognize her, a daughter is faced with the reality of how dementia has stolen her mother’s mind. Deborah Keys offers readers her intensely personal journal entries of caring for her mother on a daily basis. With honesty that’s intimate, raw, and often humorous, Keys shares nitty-gritty trials and triumphs, provides tips for caregivers, while also highlighting a common journey where loved ones can find solace, community, and ultimately peace. Those whose loved ones have descended into dementia, or who care for them, will find understanding, hope, and help in this one woman’s story.
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Trouble Ive Seen
$29.99Add to cartWhat if racial reconciliation doesn’t look like what you expected? The high-profile killings of young black men and women by white police officers, and the protests and violence that ensued, have convinced many white Christians to reexamine their intuitions when it comes to race and justice.
In this provocative book, theologian and blogger Drew G. I. Hart places police brutality, mass incarceration, antiblack stereotypes, poverty, and everyday acts of racism within the larger framework of white supremacy. Leading readers toward Jesus, Hart offers concrete practices for churches that seek solidarity with the oppressed and are committed to racial justice.
What if all Christians listened to the stories of those on the racialized margins? How might the church be changed by the trouble we ve seen?
Key Features:
-Written by well-known theologian and blogger Drew Hart with foreword by Christena Cleveland
-Hard-hitting analysis of racial injustice in the twenty-first century
-Provides a call to action for Christians committed to racial justice and creative proposals for antiracist practices for churches -
Dwelling In The Land
$16.99Add to cartIf you are gay, but celibate, how do you find a way to express your identity as a believer without being defined by your sexual orientation?
An important new volume by the author of Out of Egypt
Some Christians who think of themselves as “gay” have sought healing and sexual reorientation. Some have chosen a freer interpretation of the biblical texts. Others don’t know where they belong or what they should believe. Still others remain gay-identified yet choose celibacy. All have found that their sexual orientation strongly influences, even defines, who they perceive themselves to be.
Jeanette believes that to identify herself as “gay” does not do justice to what God has been doing in her life. Christians belong to Christ. “I have been born from on high and have a completely new DNA, God’s DNA, residing in me and flowing through me,” says Jeanette. “I am no longer a sinner but a saint. I am a daughter of the King.”
With intelligence, compassion and fellow-feeling Jeanette explains what it means, as a Christian who has wrestled for the whole of her adult life with same-sex attraction, to live honestly and consistently as a Bible-believing Christian.
Dwelling in the Land considers what it means for Christians, who are attracted to other members of the same sex, to live fully under the lordship of Christ. Author Jeanette Howard, believes that homosexuality is not part of God’s plan for His world, and has chosen to remain celibate despite experiencing same-sex attraction. She has come to believe that to identify herself as “gay’ does not do justice to what God has been doing in her life. Instead of being identified by your sexuality, as a Christian you are identified by the fact that you belong to Christ. Some gay Christians have sought healing. Others have turned away from a conservative interpretation of the biblical texts. Others have remained celibate and invested their lives in Christian service. All have found that their sexual orientation has strongly influenced who they perceive themselves to be, and how others perceive them. Allowing God to dismantle your false identity permits you to live out of your authentic self. As you grow in Christ you are able to perceive true goodness and health; you rid yourself of old habits of thinking; you learn to recognize what is holding others back; and discover new areas of ministry. You do not have to accept the labels that the world-and the church-attach to you. -
Blood Bought World
$16.00Add to cartIf the Church is to rise up full of people who don’t give a damn about the fleeting pleasures of this life and who care only for the glory of Jesus and His Kingdom, we must once again grasp what made Jesus so immanently killable. If Jesus had been born in our day, the council that condemned Him would have included a couple of well-known evangelical pastors, a few outspoken pro-life leaders, a conservative- libertarian-leaning politician, and at least one Bible-thumping fundamentalist. Jesus was murdered by church people, for churchy reasons.
In Blood-Bought World, Toby Sumpter pinpoints the raw spots where modern-day Christians have allowed respectability, comfort, fear, love, fitness, authenticity, or other idols to become “fig leaves” to shield us from the Persons of the Trinity. We have relegated God to Sunday school presentations instead of following Jesus on the path to real authority and power: the cross.
God’s undiluted sovereignty demolishes every false human claim of autonomy. Men and women who know Jesus have no patience for a polite social club with religious jargon. The real Christian faith, delivered to the saints and driven by the Holy Spirit, is a wild, rambunctious, healing force set on the redemption of the world. That is what “being Christian” means: Hello, World! Jesus bought this place with His blood. Deal with it.
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Thinking About Sex
$14.00Add to cart“Very many people, including not a few Christians, do not find the Christian tradition very helpful for making sense of sex. It is not that people willfully forsake a demanding sexual ethic for a more easygoing worldly one. It is that they often cannot see the point of its ‘demandingness.'”
Thus begins author Adrian Thatcher’s project of laying out an unashamedly and wholeheartedly liberal approach to sex and sexuality. Fully aware that for some the word liberal has taken on negative connotations, Thatcher builds on a liberalism in which individuals are encouraged to make up their minds about what faith is and how they are to apply it to their own lives, recognizing that within the boundaries of faith there is much scope for variety in individual belief and practice.
Using familiar theological ideas, biblical passages, and Christian doctrines, Thatcher sets out to place them intelligibly in a twenty-first-century context. Subjects covered include desire, bodies, sexual difference, marriage, spirituality, and sexualities.
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People To Be Loved
$18.99Add to cartChristians who are confused by the homosexuality debate raging in the US are looking for resources that are based solidly on a deep study of what Scripture says about the issue. In People to Be Loved, Preston Sprinkle challenges those on all sides of the debate to consider what the Bible says and how we should approach the topic of homosexuality in light of it. In a manner that appeals to a scholarly and lay-audience alike, Preston takes on difficult questions such as how should the church treat people struggling with same-sex attraction? Is same-sex attraction a product of biological or societal factors or both? How should the church think about larger cultural issues, such as gay marriage, gay pride, and whether intolerance over LGBT amounts to racism? How (or if) Christians should do business with LGBT persons and supportive companies? Simply saying that the Bible condemns homosexuality is not accurate, nor is it enough to end the debate. Those holding a traditional view still struggle to reconcile the Bible’s prohibition of same-sex attraction with the message of radical, unconditional grace. This book meets that need.
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Dangerous Act Of Loving Your Neighbor
$18.99Add to cart15 Chapters
Additional Info
2011 Christianity Today Book Award winner! Jesus didn’t see a sick woman, he saw a daughter of God. He didn’t see an outcast from society, he saw a child of Israel. He didn’t see a sinner, he saw a person in the image of the Creator. Are we able to see others with the eyes of Jesus? Seeing rightly is the beginning of renewal, forgiveness, healing and grace. Seeing rightly, says Mark Labberton, is the beginning of how our hearts are changed. Through careful self-examination in the Spirit, we begin to bear the fruit of love toward others that can make a difference. Here is a chance to reflect on why our ordinary hearts can be complacent about the evils in the world and how we can begin to see the world like Jesus. With each chapter broken into brief segments punctuated by questions, this book is ideal for both personal reflection and group discussion. See what happens when you take a chance on the dangerous act of loving your neighbor. Your vision might just be changed forever. -
Living In A Gray World
$16.99Add to cartIn today’s world, the topic of homosexuality seems to be part of everyday conversation in the media, in politics, and even inside churches, with pressure to accept one view or the other. And if you’re a Christian teen, there seems to be few easy answers to the issues you regularly encounter, such as: Can you be friends with someone who is gay? What if your sister is a lesbian, or you sometimes wonder if you might be as well? Does the Bible really say homosexuality is wrong? What does God want us to do and say? Preston Sprinkle has encountered these same questions, and as a theologian and a college professor he has dealt with these issues firsthand. Through honest conversation, real-life examples, and biblical research, Sprinkle unpacks what we can know to be true, and how Scripture’s overall message to us today allows us to move forward and find answers that align with God’s intent.
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America The Beautiful
$18.99Add to cartWhat is America becoming? Or, more importantly, what can she be if we reclaim a vision for the things that made her great in the first place?
In America the Beautiful, Dr. Ben Carson helps us learn from our past in order to chart a better course for our future.
From his personal ascent from inner-city poverty to international medical and humanitarian acclaim, Carson shares experiential insights that help us understand:
*what is good about America
*where we have gone astray
*which fundamental beliefs have guided America from her founding into preeminence among nationsWritten by a man who has experienced America’s best and worst firsthand, America the Beautiful is at once alarming, convicting, and inspiring. You’ll gain new perspectives on our nation’s origins, our Judeo-Christian heritage, our educational system, capitalism versus socialism, our moral fabric, healthcare, and much more.
An incisive manifesto of the values that shaped America’s past and must shape her future, America the Beautiful calls us all to use our God-given talents to improve our lives, our communities, our nation, and our world.
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American Exceptionalism And Civil Religion
$30.99Add to cartList Of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Exceptionalism And Civil Religion
1. The Origins Of American Exceptionalism
2. Expansion, Slavery And Two American Exceptionalisms
3. The Chosen Nation
4. The Commissioned Nation
5. The Innocent Nation
6. The Nation And Her Land
7. The Glorious Nation
8. Open Exceptionalism And Civic Engagement
IndexAdditional Info
Ever since John Winthrop told his fellow colonists in 1630 that they were about to establish a City upon a Hill, the idea of having a special place in history has captured the American imagination. Through centuries of crises and opportunities, many have taken up this theme to inspire the nation. But others have criticized the notion because it implies a sense of superiority which can fuel racism, warmongering and even idolatry.In this remarkable book, John Wilsey traces the historical development of exceptionalism, including its theological meaning and implications for civil religion. From seventeenth-century Puritans to twentieth-century industrialists, from politicians to educators, exceptionalism does not appear as a monolithic concept to be either totally rejected or devotedly embraced. While it can lead to abuses, it can also point to constructive civil engagement and human flourishing. This book considers historically and theologically what makes the difference.
Neither the term nor the idea of American exceptionalism is going away. John Wilsey’s careful history and analysis will therefore prove an important touchstone for discussions of American identity in the decades to come.
Read more: http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=4094#ixzz3ZOIKY5y5
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Messy Grace : How A Pastor With Gay Parents Learned To Love Others Without
$17.00Add to cartA pastor with an unforgettable inside story shows evangelicals how to nurture healthy, respectful, and biblically informed relationships with people in the LGBT community
When Caleb Kaltenbach was a toddler, his parents divorced and independently pursued homosexual lifestyles. As a result, Caleb was lovingly raised in the LGBT community, attending lesbian parties with his mother and her partner, marching in gay parades…and experiencing hatred and bitterness by Christians. To his enduring surprise, Caleb became a Christian-and a pastor-as a young adult.
Messy Grace invites readers into what may be the most urgent and difficult conversation evangelicals face today: “How can we relate to the gays, lesbians, and transgendered among us in a way that honors differences and demonstrates Christ’s love while adhering to what we believe Scripture requires?”
Through revealing personal story, biblical teaching, and practical solutions, Caleb’s non-judgmental voice and life-tested counsel will appeal to a broad psychographic of evangelicals who understand that despite the good intentions of most on this issue, some Christians have done great harm and we desperately need constructive answers.
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Unleashing Opportunity : Why Escaping Poverty Requires A Shared Vision Of J
$11.99Add to cartFalls City Press
The Center for Public Justice explores five key areas of injustice. For each issue Gerson explores the breadth of the problem, Summers applies a theological framework for considering solutions, & Thompson tells the story of people who have journeyed through these issues. This book helps everyday Christians realize how they can make a difference. -
Chosen : Reading The Bible Amid The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
$18.00Add to cart“The conflict is only ‘seemingly’ beyond solution, because all historical-political problems have solutions, if there is enough courage, honesty, and steadfastness.”
In Chosen?, Walter Brueggemann explores the situation in modern-day Israel that raises questions for many Christians who are easily confused when reading biblical accounts of God’s saving actions with the Israelites. Are modern Israeli citizens the descendants of the Israelites in the Bible whom God called chosen? Was the promise of land to Moses permanent and irrevocable? What about others living in the promised land? How should we read the Bible in light of the modern situation? Who are the Zionists, and what do they say?
In four chapters, Brueggemann addresses the main questions people have with regards to what the Bible has to say about this ongoing issue. A question-and-answer section with Walter Brueggemann, a glossary of terms, study guide, and guidelines for respectful dialogue are also included. The reader will get answers to their key questions about how to understand God’s promises to the biblical people often called Israel and the conflict between Israel and Palestine today.
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Islam And Terrorism Revised And Updated Edition (Revised)
$14.99Add to cartGabriel says that terrorists are practicing Islam just as Muhammad intended. As a child, Gabriel grew up in a Muslim family in Egypt and was heavily indoctrinated. By the age of twelve he had memorized the entire Qur’an. He went on to become a top student at the most prestigious Islamic university in the world, Al-Azhar in Cairo, Egypt. As a student and professor of Islamic history, he rubbed shoulders with those who are at the forefront of propagating the tenets of Islamic terrorism. He actually took classes with Sheik Umar Abd al-Rahman, who was convicted of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bomb attack and is now in prison. In this eye-opening book Gabriel explains:
*How Islam was influenced by the warlike Arabian culture of the 7th century
*Atrocities committed by Muhammad in the name of Allah
*The story of the Egyptian student who came to study education in America and went on to write the first handbook of terrorism in the twentieth century
*The prominence of jihad (war against infidels) in Islamic theology
*How Egyptian fundamentalists murdered and robbed Christians to raise funds for terrorism
*The difference between a moderate Muslim and a fundamentalist MuslimFor the readers of this book, the motive behind Islamic world activity will no longer be a mystery. Each action is rooted in the philosophy of Islam. Now both the Christian and the political world must decide how to react to Muhammad’s revelation.
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Rebwilding The Way
$15.99Add to cart24 Chapters
Additional Info
When did we become so tame? How has “the good life” come to mean addiction to screens and status, fossil fuels and financial fitness? Can we break free to become the joyful and prophetic people God calls us to be? Trek along with wilderness guide Todd Wynward as he “rewilds” the Jesus Way. Seek the feral foundations of Scripture and the lessons that the prophets and disciples gleaned from wilderness testing.Packed with inspiring stories of how contemporary people and groups are caring for the land and each other, Rewilding the Way issues a call to action. Read about how reskilling and local food covenants are transforming churches, and how place-based activism and creative housing are nurturing communities. Learn from those who are recovering from affluenza, replacing visions of personal wealth with the commonwealth of the earth and restoring their humble place in the community of creation. Do you despair about life on our changing planet? Join the hopeful band of seekers of God and makers of change who are rewilding the Way.
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Ferguson And Faith
$19.99Add to cart1. Just Protest This By Prayer!
2. Praying With Their Feet
3. Not Looking Away
4. Jesus Is In The Streets!
5. Where Have All The Leaders Gone?
6. This Is What Theology Looks Like
7. Why Are Your Doors Open To Us?
8. There Is A Ferguson Near You
9. Standing On The Side Of Love
10. #staywokeAdditional Info
The shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, reignited a long-smoldering movement for justice, with many St. Louis-area clergy stepping up to support the emerging young leaders of today’s Civil Rights Movement. Seminary professor Leah Gunning Francis was among the activists, and her interviews with more than two dozen faith leaders and with the new movement’s organizers take us behind the scenes of the continuing protests. Ferguson and Faith demonstrates that being called to lead a faithful life can take us to places we never expected to go, with people who never expected us to join hands with them. Ferguson and Faith: Sparking Leadership and Awakening Community is the first book from the partnership of the Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE) and Chalice Press.
