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Michael Curry leads off with a clarion call for us to join the Jesus Movement. A team of the Episcopal Church's brightest stars follow up with reflections on the practice of ministry in light of the movement: Sara Miles on encountering the "other," Rob Wright on adaptive leadership, Broderick Greer on reconciliation, Anthony Guillen on new ministries, Megan Castellan on evangelism, and Kellan Day on ministry with young people. Diana Butler Bass closes with a word on making the world whole. Christians have been following Jesus together for some 2000 years - these leaders help to illuminate how we follow him in our time.
Do Something Else is meant to encourage faith communities and their leaders to reconsider "church as usual," reengage Spirit-led entrepreneurialism, and reimagine new models of ministry bubbling up in their midst. Many churches and leaders are already setting the pace. They are establishing new gatherings in old buildings and using new building to do old things. They are emphasizing diversity, welcome, and friendship. If these stories are hidden from view, they shouldn't be. These pages will uncover how new expressions get started, how they are led, how they struggle, and how they are sustained. Do Something Else will encourage candidates for ministry who see limited options, ministers who wonder about staying in ministry, clergy call-seekers trying to find hope in a desolate career landscape, and churches attempting to manage staffs with limited resources. It will also offer permission to small churches resigned to be "without a pastor," larger churches looking to do a new thing in an unorthodox way, and middle governing bodies who need promising examples of working models in order to take the risk on new opportunities.
If the Bible isn't a science book or an instruction manual, what is it? What do people mean when they say the Bible is inspired? When New York Times bestselling author Rachel Held Evans found herself asking these questions, she embarked on a journey to better understand what the Bible is and how it's meant to be read. What she discovered changed her--and it can change you, too. Evans knows firsthand how a relationship with the Bible can be as real and as complicated as a relationship with a family member or close friend. In Inspired, Evans explores contradictions and questions from her own experiences with the Bible, including: If the Bible was supposed to explain the mysteries of life, why ...
Good preaching depends on being attentive – to God, to the Bible, to the congregation, to the context, to what influences and shapes the preacher. This practical, confidence-building guide is for all who want to develop their preaching by homing in on that which points to God in the now. Encouraging preachers in the ways that will make authentic connections with others, it demonstrates that preaching in today’s culture requires preachers to ‘show up and be present, in person’ rather than speak 'in role' or act as religious spokespersons who take no responsibility for their message. Based on the authors’ own training of ordinands, it offers: • Insights on how to develop the habit of noticing God in the world; • Strategies for opening up and finding fresh meaning in familiar Bible texts; • Ways of understanding what influences your congregation and your own theology; • Sample sermons that embody these principles.
In 2014, Time magazine announced that America had reached the transgender tipping point, suggesting that transgender issues would become the next civil rights frontier. Years later, many peopleeven many LGBTQ alliesstill lack understanding of gender identity and the transgender experience. Into this void, Austen Hartke offers a biblically based, educational, and affirming resource to shed light and wisdom on this modern gender landscape. Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians provides access into an underrepresented and misunderstood community and will change the way readers think about transgender people, faith, and the future of Christianity. By introducing transgender issues and language and providing stories of both biblical characters and real-life narratives from transgender Christians living today, Hartke helps readers visualize a more inclusive Christianity, equipping them with the confidence and tools to change both the church and the world.
Nathan Albert stood with friends along the Chicago Pride Parade route, bearing signs of apology on behalf of Christians who had failed to represent Christ’s love to the LGBTQ community. Little did he know that millions around the world would soon see him captured in an iconic photograph hugging a man in his underwear. Embracing Love is the story behind that photograph, the story of a musical theatre actor turned pastor who shares personal and pastoral stories of the LGBTQ community. He invites readers past the intimidation of controversy for the sake of embracing people with the love of Jesus.
This book addresses the various ways in which key social identities--for example, race, gender, and disability--intersect with, shape, and are shaped by traditional questions in analytic theology and philosophy of religion. The book both breaks new ground and encourages further analytic-theological work in these important areas of research.
The many and varied challenges facing higher education include a culture of publish or perish, increased course loads without more pay or benefits, increased pressure on institutions to compete for students, budget cuts, a political atmosphere targeting higher education, and continued systemic inequities. Those who work in higher ed are under more stress today than ever before. It has never been more important to understand and address the emotional self at work in higher education. The Emotional Self at Work in Higher Education is an essential research publication that generates conversations around the practical implementation of healthy emotional workspace practices in the sphere of higher education and investigates tools, frameworks, and case studies that can create a sustainable and healthy work environment. It moves beyond addressing emotional intelligence to addressing the awakening of a greater sense of the emotional self. Featuring a wide range of topics such as distance education, mindfulness, and artificial intelligence, this book is ideal for educators, researchers, academicians, administrators, and students.
ALA 2021 Rainbow List Pick Are you LGBTQ+? Not sure? Whether you're queer or questioning, understanding sexuality and gender identity can be confusing. And if you're a Christian, questions of identity can be even scarier. Is there something wrong with you? Will your friends accept you? When should you tell your family? What about church? Queerfully and Wonderfully Made: A Guide for LGBTQ+ Christian Teens has answers to all these questions and more. You'll get insight and support from an amazing group of LGBTQ+ professionals, as well as testimonies from young adult queer Christians who've recently been exactly where you are. You'll walk away with a lot of answers, prepared with tools to help. But most importantly, you'll hear the good news: God loves you exactly as you are. No matter your identity or where in your journey of self-discovery you find yourself, you got this.
Fashioning Lives combines analysis of archival documents, literature, and film with the experiences of contemporary Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) individuals to demonstrate the usefulness of literacy as a historical and sociological lens for examining black queer cultural production and consumption. In addition, Eric Darnell Pritchard provides a theoretical framework for future analysis of the intersections of race and queerness in literacy, composition, and rhetoric.