The Story group Bible study provides groups of all sizes the opportunity to discuss and apply what they experience during the 31-week The Story church campaign. To understand the Bible, says Frazee, you need bifocal lenses, because two perspectives are involved. The Lower Story, our story, is actually many stories of men and women interacting with God in the daily course of life. The Upper Story is God's story, the tale of his great, overarching purpose that puts the individual stories together like panels in one unified mural. In 31 sessions, The Story video-based group study opens your eyes to God's master plan unfolding in the lives of the Bible's characters and in your own life. Discover the heart of God's Upper Story, and the joy that comes as you align your story with God's. The Story Study Guide and DVD (sold separately) are designed for use by groups of all sizes, including small groups and Sunday school and adult education classes. Designed for use with The Story Adult Curriculum Study DVD (9780310329527) sold separately.

Describing the difficulties of balancing a career and family life, The Pastor's Family: The Challenges of Family Life and Pastoral Responsibilities is a personal narrative that discusses the all-too-familiar practice of neglecting your family for your job. Pastors will learn the importance of balancing time and attention between their families and religious careers by exploring the problems caused by one pastor's prolonged absence from home. Containing research and first-hand experiences, The Pastor's Family calls for a change in ministry policies that will enable pastors to devote as much time to their families as they do to their congregations.Containing stories and anecdotes from the author, his wife, and his two children, this book offers suggestions on how to improve the physical, emotional, and spiritual health of a pastor's family. The information and insight provided by The Pastor's Family will also help pastors'wives realize that they are not alone in their demanding roles and will help church policymakers discover the need to improve relations between the congregation and the pastor's family. With the hope that the universal problems of pastors'families will be revealed, the author shares with you methods that have helped bring him and his family closer together, including: understanding the expectations of the stereotypical "superpastor" and learning how to set boundaries between family life and career realizing that a pastor's family is subject to the same problems and challenges other families face and helping your family deal with this pressure learning the various definitions of codependency and how this can attribute to the neglect of your family discussing the history of abuse of pastors'families through the Bible and famous religious figures recognizing the discrimination of a pastor's wife and her sufferings, such as coping with her husband's various psychological challenges and being expected to always help her husband with his career discovering how conflicts can provoke communication, release emotions, identify and clarify problems, and permit individualization understanding why people feel a loss of power or personal rejection when their requests are not grantedEmphasizing the practice of setting boundaries, The Pastor's Family examines ways to promote assertiveness through self-talk and self-differentiation that will help you defeat codependent behavior. This will teach you that it is all right to say "no"-- that it is all right to do things for yourself. From The Pastor's Family, you will learn how to correct the ideology that makes many pastors feel they must honor every parishioner request, despite the effect it will have on his family. Through stories of hardship and personal revelations, this book will help you realize the need for church policy reforms that will allow pastors to be looked upon as humans who have familiesbesides their parishioners.

In Understanding Clergy Misconduct in Religious Systems, you ll take an incisive look at why sexual misconduct occurs in religious systems and how to implement proactive strategies for holistic change. Applicable to both Jewish and Christian communities, this illuminating exploration takes a look at the psychology behind scapegoating, why it is perpetuated, and how you can quell the damaging tradition of silence.Understanding Clergy Misconduct in Religious Systems helps you see leaders of religious institutions in a way that the world has been afraid to see them--in a glass clearly. Enriched with metaphoric myths and fairy tales instead of technical jargon, its unique systemic perspective reveals the psychodynamics behind the obsession with family secrets and lets you understand this dysfunction from the perspectives of victim, abuser, and counselor. These specific areas will both inform and aid you in dealing with this difficult subject: the religious institution as a family system the religious system as an illusion of the perfect family the concept of God-transference and the overidealization of clergy clergy personal relationships and clergy congregational relationships vulnerability and the psychology of the victim strategies for healing dysfunctional religious systems Understanding Clergy Misconduct in Religious Systems comes at just the right time--in an era when little has been written on the subject, especially from a systemic perspective, this work comes at a time when the phenomena of clergy sexual misconduct has rocked the very foundation of religious systems worldwide. Whether you re a lay congregational leader, judicatory administrator, pastoral counselor, psychologist, or seminarian, you ll find that the coping strategies and intervention techniques it outlines will guide you in pinpointing the sickness at its source and restoring felicity and order to your religious leaders and their communities.

Christianity Today's Book of the Year Award of Merit What happens when a diverse church glorifies the global God? We live in a time of unprecedented intercultural exchange, where our communities welcome people from around the world. Music and media from every culture are easily accessible, and our worship is infused with a rich variety of musical and liturgical influences. But leading worship in multicultural contexts can be a crosscultural experience for everybody. How do we help our congregations navigate the journey? Innovative worship leader Sandra Maria Van Opstal is known for crafting worship that embodies the global, multiethnic body of Christ. Likening diverse worship to a sumptuous banquet, she shows how worship leaders can set the table and welcome worshipers from every tribe and tongue. Van Opstal provides biblical foundations for multiethnic worship, with practical tools and resources for planning services that reflect God's invitation for all peoples to praise him. When multiethnic worship is done well, the church models reconciliation and prophetic justice, heralding God's good news for the world. Enter into the praise of our king, and let the nations rejoice!

A Nazareth Manifesto is an eloquent and impassioned ecumenical proposal for re-envisioning Christianity s approach to social engagement away from working for the people to being with them. * Questions the effectiveness of the current trend of intervention as a means of fixing the problems of people in distressed and disadvantaged circumstances * Argues that Jesus spent 90% of his life simply being among the people of Nazareth, sharing their hopes and struggles, therefore Christians should place a similar emphasis on being alongside people in need rather than hastening to impose solutions * Written by a respected priest and broadcaster and renowned Christian ethicist and preacher * Supported by historical, contemporary, exegetical and anecdotal illustrations

The theme of this volume is the transformation of European Christianity into a world-wide religion. The spirit of crusade against Islam was one impulse driving the early expansion; these essays show how new ideologies of mission were developed and how perceptions have continued to evolve, notably in the light of Vatican II. They reveal the differing attitudes and roles of missionaries in such radically different environments as America and China, and the equally varied ways in which this activity was received, with the many problems of accomodation and sycretism. Topics covered include the development of new institutions to control missionary activity, notably the Roman Propaganda Fidei, tensions around race and the role of women, and the stimulus given, for instance to linguistic studies, by the need to communicate. Finally, they examine the belated awakening of the Protestant churches to the need to compete with Rome in the evangelization of the world.

Twenty years have passed since the last revision of this best-selling resource for pastors. This third revised edition features everything ministers love about the classic, with some valuable updates for twenty-first century ministry.

Key features:

- Restores the beloved Episcopal funeral service back by popular demand

- Honors the familiar and indispensable wedding and funeral service materials.

- Offers a rich selection of Scriptures from the beautiful King James Version for diverse occasions of pastoral care.

- New additions feature a cremation service and a service for the interment of ashes.

- Includes a new preface from Rev. Dr. Aidsand Wright-Riggins III, Executive Director of the American Baptist Home Mission Societies and CEO of Judson Press

What is depression, and what are its many and varied types? Who becomes depressed, and how can it be recognized? How can depression be measured, and what are its suicidal potentialities? What are the therapeutic interventions the pastor can use in helping people who are undergoing the pain of depression? The Pastoral Care of Depression: A Guidebook answers these questions and many more. With a focus on the pastor as an instrument of healing in cooperation with families, physicians, and other mental health professionals, this book will help you understand some of the current research and procedures used in helping people suffering from depression. As the frontline mental health workers in many communities, pastors need confidence, competence, and skill in handling people with emotional problems. As Author Binford W. Gilbert explains, "Depression is among the most treatable of major illnesses. It enters the realm of the spiritual and demands the best of the pastoral leader to guide, assist, and enhance the struggle for peace and soundness of mind and body." The Pastoral Care of Depression helps caregivers by overcoming the simplistic myths about depressive disorders and probing the real issues. This book covers: a thorough description of clinical depression predisposing factors that may lead to depression the need for a multidisciplinary approach, and the role of the pastor on the treatment team the importance of church and family involvement diagnosis--the ability to distinguish between normal grief, ordinary blues, situational depression, and clinical depression ministers'own emotional, physical, mental, and relational health the pastor's privileged role that gives him/her unique abilities and opportunitiesA valuable resource for pastors, chaplains, counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians, family members, and teachers of pastoral care, The Pastoral Care of Depression is meant to inspire action-oriented counseling; to establish cooperative relationships between ministers, families, and the medical community; to carry out responsible and innovative creative therapeutic interventions; and to treat the whole human being.

What is depression, and what are its many and varied types? Who becomes depressed, and how can it be recognized? How can depression be measured, and what are its suicidal potentialities? What are the therapeutic interventions the pastor can use in helping people who are undergoing the pain of depression? The Pastoral Care of Depression: A Guidebook answers these questions and many more. With a focus on the pastor as an instrument of healing in cooperation with families, physicians, and other mental health professionals, this book will help you understand some of the current research and procedures used in helping people suffering from depression. As the frontline mental health workers in many communities, pastors need confidence, competence, and skill in handling people with emotional problems. As Author Binford W. Gilbert explains, "Depression is among the most treatable of major illnesses. It enters the realm of the spiritual and demands the best of the pastoral leader to guide, assist, and enhance the struggle for peace and soundness of mind and body." The Pastoral Care of Depression helps caregivers by overcoming the simplistic myths about depressive disorders and probing the real issues. This book covers: a thorough description of clinical depression predisposing factors that may lead to depression the need for a multidisciplinary approach, and the role of the pastor on the treatment team the importance of church and family involvement diagnosis--the ability to distinguish between normal grief, ordinary blues, situational depression, and clinical depression ministers'own emotional, physical, mental, and relational health the pastor's privileged role that gives him/her unique abilities and opportunitiesA valuable resource for pastors, chaplains, counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians, family members, and teachers of pastoral care, The Pastoral Care of Depression is meant to inspire action-oriented counseling; to establish cooperative relationships between ministers, families, and the medical community; to carry out responsible and innovative creative therapeutic interventions; and to treat the whole human being.

`Deserves a resounding welcome from medievalists.' EHR This volume contains over 250 charters and other documents relating to four of the six hospitals established in medieval Bury. The core of the collection is the cartulary of St John's hospital, the domus Dei, but documentsrelating to the hospitals of St Nicholas, St Peter and St Saviour are also included. The charters relate mainly to the endowment of the hospitals by the abbot and convent, but there are also ordinances for the administration of the hospitals and for the establishment of chantries therein. The great majority of texts are presented in the form of a full English calendar, and there are English summaries of those printed in Latin. This is the first volume of the Suffolk Charter series to concentrate on Bury St Edmunds; it will be followed eventually by an edition of charters relating to the abbey's property in the borough. CHRISTOPHER HARPER-BILLis Principal Lecturer in History, St Mary's College, Strawberry Hill, London.

The relationship between pastor and parishioner is the essence of pastoral counseling--a simple truth with profound implications. Dr. Richard Dayringer explores these implications in The Heart of Pastoral Counseling: Healing Through Relationship, Revised Edition to help pastoral counselors understand how to use the relationship to bring about the desired ends in the therapeutic process. Drawing on research from the disciplines of psychiatry, psychology, marriage counseling, family therapy, and pastoral counseling, this book lays the foundation for utilizing the pastoral counseling relationship to bring about positive change as it explores topics such as observation, listening, communication, handling transference, and termination of therapy. Because the interpersonal relationship is the vehicle of therapy, it is critical that pastoral counselors understand the psychological assumptions that play a large part in the characteristics of relationships as well as the factors requiring attention in order to establish a secure counseling relationship.The Heart of Pastoral Counseling will help you attain this understanding as you also improve your knowledge on: how pastoral relationships may be applied outside the therapeutic hour in general pastoral work eclectic methods for clarifying feelings, developing intellectual insight, interpreting, questioning, and assigning certain behavior employing the problem-oriented record in pastoral counseling distinguishing relationship from transference and countertransference the unique problem that counseling acquaintances presents personality traits that attract people to the minister/pastoral counselor counselor attitudes that foster relationship how a client's view of the counselor has an impact on the effectiveness of therapy The Heart of Pastoral Counseling brings a solid base of research to pastoral counselors, seminary students, graduate students in counseling, professors of counseling, and specialists in pastoral psychotherapy so that you might better understand the nature of pastoral counseling relationships and how they are helpful and constructive in people's lives.You will be challenged to rethink your role in initiating and carrying out therapeutic change and realize why you should build your ministry on relationships, rather than on friendships.

Resourcing Rural Ministry offers an in-depth exploration of the key aspects, challenges and opportunities of mission in a rural church. Relevant for ordained and lay leaders alike, the book covers subjects ranging from encouraging evangelism in a multi-church group to making best use of church buildings. Containing a wealth of real-life case studies and suggestions for follow-up, this ecumenical publication draws on the expertise and resources of the Arthur Rank Centre (ARC), which has served the spiritual and practical needs of the rural Christian community for over 40 years. This book contributes to ARC's Germinate programme of training, development and support for rural multi-church groups of all denominations. Resourcing Rural Ministry was first developed by Simon Martin as Training and Resources Officer at the ARC. Additional chapters have been contributed by the Revd Caroline Hewlett, Rona Orme and Becky Payne and the final text has been prepared and edited by Jill Hopkinson. 'This book is packed with helpful resources and background theology that will aid the rural church to be a vibrant and relevant presence in today's society.' Revd Peter Ball, Mission and Training Officer, Eastern Synod of the URC 'Read these contributions and you'll be excited by a wealth of experience, insight and resource.' Rt Revd James Bell, Bishop of Ripon

First Published in 1998. In this highly fragmented culture of ours books are needed to integrate fields of interest ordinarily considered separately, to state their common problems and to deal with their differences in the light of other criteria than the separate functions and local loyalties of the special interests in themselves. This book was originated with that purpose in mind. Specifically this book deals with the practical dualism of our modern morals. With the traditional Christian ethic at one pole and the variegated, often contradictory assemblage of practices and precepts of our secular life at the other, it has never been co-ordinated or made intelligible from within.

An eye-opening account of the New Testament and the pagan beliefs and practices that surrounded the earliest Christians

Dying, Grieving, Faith, and Family: A Pastoral Care Approach enables grief counselors, pastors, hospice specialists, hospital chaplains, mental health practitioners, educators, and seminary students to bring an understanding of faith development, family systems, and gender and ethnic differences into their professional practice as they work with dying and grieving persons. No other book covers all these themes. Not only a great resource for practical guidance, this book is also meant to be provocative, suggestive, and stimulating to professionals and educators charged with working with and teaching about dying and grieving persons.With 50 years of providing pastoral care to dying and grieving persons and 30 years as a pastoral educator, George Bowman understands the nature and concerns of dying and grieving persons. In Dying, Grieving, Faith, and Family he answers the questions you should be asking yourself--including: How does faith development affect relationships of the dying person and family and friends? How does faith development affect grief management by the survivors? How does the family systems approach help the pastor or counselor work with dying persons and their survivors? What gender and ethnic issues are important to remember in helping to minister and serve persons in crises of dying and grieving?The value of Dying, Grieving, Faith, and Family lies in its approach to dying and grieving from the perspectives of faith development, family systems theory, gender, and ethnicity. Bowman 's unique work proposes that personal development and faith development influence the way one deals with the crises of dying and grief work.

Until now, the church has been unaware of the need for ministry to those suffering from pregnancy loss. At a time when approximately one in four pregnancies ends in loss, the need to understand and provide caring ministry is painfully obvious. Pastoral Care in Pregnancy Loss introduces the religious community to the issue of pregnancy loss and describes the ministries that can be helpful to those who experience these tragedies. Effective ministry in pregnancy loss requires that one develop basic life theories in order to prepare for such in-depth care. Thus, the book is more than a "how to" as it explores why there is suffering and why some suffer more than others, how to find grace when God seems far away, how to minister when we don't have answers, and how religious ministry can consistently work with other helping professionals in support of the individual. With the foundation of ministry theory provided by Pastoral Care in Pregnancy Loss, you can help your faith community develop strategies for ministry to those suffering from pregnancy loss. Numerous case studies illustrate what is usually done wrong in providing pastoral care in these difficult and delicate situations and explain why those who experience loss may blame themselves, why they may blame God, and why they may not feel able to return to church. Providing helpful insight to hospital pastoral care departments, church libraries, funeral directors, counselors and psychologists, nursing and obstetrics professionals, and seminaries with a marriage and family ministry specialty, this book provides readers with information about: three types of pregnancy loss--miscarriage, still birth, and neonatal loss church outreach the grieving process victims as "consenters" or "experiencers" the spiritual needs of those suffering loss practical ministries crisis support and long-term support.Pastoral Care in Pregnancy Loss furthers your understanding of pregnancy loss by enumerating theories on how suffering and loss are viewed by those suffering--either as a time of testing, a time of training, a mystery of God, a sign of punishment and warning, or as having no meaning. The book also shows how pregnancy loss affects five different types of personal relationships and discusses both immediate and long-term concerns of providing pastoral care. From helping the victim find meaning or reason for the loss to providing support in preparing for future pregnancies, this book provides much-needed guidance to an often-neglected ministry.

Dying, Grieving, Faith, and Family: A Pastoral Care Approach enables grief counselors, pastors, hospice specialists, hospital chaplains, mental health practitioners, educators, and seminary students to bring an understanding of faith development, family systems, and gender and ethnic differences into their professional practice as they work with dying and grieving persons. No other book covers all these themes. Not only a great resource for practical guidance, this book is also meant to be provocative, suggestive, and stimulating to professionals and educators charged with working with and teaching about dying and grieving persons.With 50 years of providing pastoral care to dying and grieving persons and 30 years as a pastoral educator, George Bowman understands the nature and concerns of dying and grieving persons. In Dying, Grieving, Faith, and Family he answers the questions you should be asking yourself--including: How does faith development affect relationships of the dying person and family and friends? How does faith development affect grief management by the survivors? How does the family systems approach help the pastor or counselor work with dying persons and their survivors? What gender and ethnic issues are important to remember in helping to minister and serve persons in crises of dying and grieving?The value of Dying, Grieving, Faith, and Family lies in its approach to dying and grieving from the perspectives of faith development, family systems theory, gender, and ethnicity. Bowman's unique work proposes that personal development and faith development influence the way one deals with the crises of dying and grief work.

The Basil Society's China mission, one of the ore successful Protestant missions in the nineteenth century, was distinguished by the fact that most of the initial proselytizing was conducted by Chinese converts in the interior rather than by Western missionaries in the treaty ports. Thus the first viable protestant communities were not only established by Chinese evangelists, they were established among an ethnic minority in south China, the Hakka people.

The autobiographies of eight pioneer Chinese missionaries featured in this book offer an unusual opportunity to view village life and customs in Guangdong during the mid-nineteenth century by providing details on Hakka death and burial rituals, ancestor veneration, lineages and lineage feuds, geomancy, the status of Hakka women, widespread economic hardship, and civil disorder.

The authors' commentary addresses the issue of conversion, which was fueled by individual desire for solace and salvation, the building of a support community amid social chaos and the possibility of social mobility through education. Despite an expanding role by Western missionaries, the Chinese origins, the rural interior locale, and the status of the Hakka as a disadvantaged minority contributed to successive generations of Christian families and to early progress toward an autonomous Hakka church.

Is there a yearning in your heart to trust God more? Those who trust in the Lord shall not be disappointed! This is the theme for this remarkable book on God's provision and answer to prayer. Deep down, we direct our disappointments toward God - thinking that somehow He let us down.

We trust God for eternal life; why then do we not trust Him amid the adversities of daily life? Peggy Joyce Ruth has a unique way of showing that victorious living depends on our unwavering trust in God. She demonstrates with scores of personal experiences just how faithful God really is and details how you can develop that kind of trust which will not disappoint! Learn how you can trust the Lord for your daily life and needs.

Part storybook, part textbook, part historical overview, Parade of Faith presents the history of Christianity in riveting fashion. Ruth Tucker adopts the metaphor of a parade, journey, or pilgrimage to explore the history of Christianity, which began as the Messiah marched out of the pages of the Old Testament and will end one day when "the saints go marching in" to the New Jerusalem. The book is divided into two chronological groupings: first, the advent of Christianity until the German and Swiss Reformations; second, the Anabaptist movement and Catholic Reformation until the present-day worldwide expansion of the church. Yet, ultimately the topic matter is not movements, dates, or a stream of facts, but instead people-people who still have stories to tell other Christians. And with a little help from clues to their own contexts, they can still speak clearly today. This book is laid out systematically to showcase the biographies of such prominent figures within their historical settings. The pages are peppered with sidebars, historical "what if" questions, explorations of relevant topics for today, personal reflections, illustrations, and lists for further reading. Parade of Faith is an excellent introduction for undergraduate students and interested lay readers.