Here practical theologian andy root dissects relational ministry as we have come to understand it and searches for the seed of a more wholesome, more pastoral understanding of the relationships for which God has prepared the church: the place where, when two or more are gathered in his name, Christ is present.

. One of the academy of parish clergy's "top 10 books of 2013 for parish ministry" when is the last time you asked yourself hard questions about why you were pursuing certain relationships in your ministry? Could it be that the end game for many of us is not relationship per se but loyalty, adherence, if we are willing to recognize it, even submission? The sheep in our flock become the means to our end: pastoring becomes less about the people of God and more about maintenance of the status quo―and, the elevation of our pastoral status.

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Recalling Our Own Stories: Spiritual Renewal for Religious Caregivers

Finally, he provides a model for spiritual and emotional review grounded in narrative psychology and spiritual approaches. As wimberly explains, this book offers a way to renew our motivation for ministry by reconnecting to our original call, visualizing again how God has acted and remains intricately involved in our lives.

Wimberly demonstrates how religious caregivers, often facing burnout, can tap the sources of renewal that reside in the faith community. Wimberly describes as "a spiritual retreat in book form, " is designed to help clergy and religious caregivers face the challenges of ministry. He also helps readers explore and edit the mythologies that make up their self-image, attitudes toward others, expectations about their performance and role, and convictions about ministry.

How religious caregivers can find spiritual renewal in their own storyRecalling Our Own Stories, which author Edward P. It is also a valuable resource for practitioners who assist these clergy and caregivers in meeting the challenges of their work. Wimberly enables caregivers to map out and come to grips with cultural expectations of their profession.

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Pastoral Theology in an Intercultural World:

How can we be respectful of the individual and the community in ways that affirm both? how are we to live respectfully with difference and ambiguity? where shall we find our models of life and care from--the dominant western or else some kind of global perspective that includes indigenous knowledge? In our theologies do we continue to privilege the study of abstract, aesthetic, deep passion, terrorism, is it possible to make a sensible choice between radical relativism and absolute essentialism? Are we to be drawn towards the various expressions of religion or to the opportunities and ambiguities of spirituality as it is called upon in many societies today? With the scarce resources available or allocated to health care in many national budgets across the world, and violence, conceptual theory or do we give place to pragmatic, and nonverbal forms? In the face of increasing extremism, shall we give greater attention to the eradication of disease through increasingly advanced technologies and therapeutic strategies or to the promotion of health through primary health care and public health education? Pastoral Theology in an Intercultural World presents practical theological resources for the broad vision, and thoughtful action needed for pastoral care in the twenty-first century.

. In today's world the challenge of care is how to respond to people's emotional as well as their economic circumstances.

Practicing Care in Rural Congregations and Communities

Used book in Good Condition. Pastoral care in rural communities is different from care in other locales. Despite these differences, rural churches and communities also hold a particular wisdom from which the rest of the church might benefit. Small towns and rural areas have particular challenges, and in seeking to live out the Christian life in the midst of those, local churches have unique and useful insights into what it means to care for one another.

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Relational Refugees: Alienation and Reincorporation in African American Churches and Communities

Most models of liberation have ignored or trivialized the significance of caring and supportive relationships to the liberation process. Such mimesis entails trying on different dimensions of ministry until one finds one’s unique approach to it. Such nurturing relationships where mentoring occurs and where values are handed on are often marred when the debilitating messages of racism are internalized without being countered.

Those in ministerial leadership positions likewise need someone to imitate or learn from, a type of mentor. In the absence of relationships or healthy, clearly transmitted values, children flounder. Practical methods of ministry, wimberly suggests, must attend to the ways these messages are learned, and work to counter them by ensuring that there are no relational refugees.

Yet ministry occurs in contexts where, cross-generational, increasingly, extended family, and church relationships are lacking. Wimberly’s case studies deal with a family whose son is dying of AIDS, adolescent identity in society, black male and female relationships, violence, aging and parenthood, drug addiction, and consumerism and the American dream.

This mimesis or copying of behavior, ideas, attitudes, examples, lives, and ministries of significant others has a long legacy in the African-American community. Used book in Good Condition. In the african-American context the core of mimesis is liberation. Children imitate behaviors and learn values from the adults who care for them.

History of the World Christian Movement: Earliest Christianity to 1453

Orbis Books. Used book in Good Condition. This first comprehensive account of Christianity as a world religion is a landmark, offering the work of five years of a team of 43 international scholars and consultants. For the first time, the peoples of asia, africa, and the Near East take their rightful place in the account of the unfolding of the Christian story from its beginnings to the 15th century.

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Leadership on the Line, With a New Preface: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Change

But it doesn't have to be that way say renowned leadership experts Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky. It's romantic and exciting to think of leadership as all inspiration, decisive action, and rich rewards, but leading requires taking risks that can jeopardize your career and your personal life. They present everyday tools that give equal weight to the dangerous work of leading change and the critical importance of personal survival.

. Used book in Good Condition. Harvard business review. To lead is to live dangerously. Whether you're a parent or a politician, a CEO or a community activist, this practical book shows how you can exercise leadership and survive and thrive to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Orbis Books. Those who choose to lead plunge in, take the risks, and sometimes get burned.

And when people resist and push back, there's a strong temptation to play it safe. It requires putting yourself on the line, disrupting the status quo, and surfacing hidden conflict. In leadership on the line, they show how it's possible to make a difference without getting "taken out" or pushed aside. Through vivid stories from all walks of life, the authors present straightforward strategies for navigating the perilous straits of leadership.

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Fearless Dialogues: A New Movement for Justice

Harvard business review. Ellison, implementable, and his team create conversations among community members who have never spoken to one another, the goal of which are real, and lasting changes to the life of the community. These community transformations are based on both face-to-face encounters and substantive analysis of the problems the community faces.

In fearless dialogues: a new movement for justice, ellison makes this same kind of analysis available to readers, walking them through the steps that must be taken to find common ground in our divided communities and then to implement genuine and lasting change. Used book in Good Condition. In cities around the united States and now the world, the program's founder, Gregory C.

Orbis Books. Drawing on all the community's collective voices--from "doctors to drug dealers"--Fearless Dialogues is a groundbreaking program that seeks real solutions to problems of chronic unemployment, violence, and hopelessness.

Reconciling All Things: A Christian Vision for Justice, Peace and Healing Resources for Reconciliation

In reconciling all things emmanuel katongole and Chris Rice, cast a comprehensive vision for reconciliation that is biblical, codirectors of the Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School, transformative, holistic and global.2009 christianity today Book Award winner Our world is broken and cries out for reconciliation.

Harvard business review. Used book in Good Condition. They draw on the resources of the christian story, to bring solid, including their own individual experiences in Uganda and Mississippi, theological reflection to bear on the work of reconciling individuals, groups and societies. But mere conflict resolution and peacemaking are not enough.

Orbis Books. They recover distinctively christian practices that will help the church be both a sign and an agent of God's reconciling love in the fragmented world of the twenty-first century. This powerful, concise book lays the philosophical foundations for reconciliation and explores what it means to pursue hope in areas of brokenness in theory and practice.

. What makes real reconciliation possible? how is it that some people are able to forgive the most horrendous of evils? And what role does God play in these stories? Does reconciliation make any sense apart from the biblical story of redemption? Secular models of peacemaking are insufficient. And the church has not always fulfilled its call to be agents of reconciliation in the world.

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Churches, Cultures and Leadership: A Practical Theology of Congregations and Ethnicities

The result is a rich blend of astute analysis with guidance for practical implementation of a deeper intercultural life for the church. Martinez and branson offer not static model but a praxis of "paying attention, interpersonal, " reflection and study that can lead to a genuine reconciliation and shared life empowered by the gospel that is personal, cultural and structural.

Case studies, bible studies and exercises for personal reflection and classroom use connect the real life and everyday challenges that inevitably arise in multi-ethnic contexts. Used book in Good Condition. Orbis Books. Harvard business review. Generated by courses they teach at fuller Theological Seminary, Branson and Martinez take an interdisciplinary approach that integrates biblical and theological study with the disciplines of sociology, cultural anthropology and communications.

The multicultural team of juan martinez and Mark Branson has written this book to equip such leaders to create environments that make God's reconciling initiatives apparent in church life and in our missional engagement with neighborhoods and cities. As the church continues to hear and heed Christ's call to reflect the multiethnic character of his people, pastors and lay leaders need to gain skills and competencies to serve in those contexts.

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Pastor in a Secular Age Ministry in a Secular Age

Root turns to old testament texts and to the theology of Robert Jenson to explain how pastors can regain the important role of attending to people's experiences of divine action, offering a new vision for pastoral ministry today. In faith formation in a secular age, the first book in his Ministry in a Secular Age trilogy, Andrew Root offered an alternative take on the issue of youth drifting away from the church and articulated how faith can be formed in our secular age.

Used book in Good Condition. And nadia bolz-weber--Root shows how pastors have both perpetuated and responded to our secular age. Orbis Books. In the pastor in a secular age, root explores how this secular age has impacted the identity and practice of the pastor, obscuring his or her core vocation: to call and assist others into the experience of ministry.

Using examples of pastors throughout history--from Augustine and Jonathan Edwards to Martin Luther King Jr. Harvard business review.