Boundaries with Kids will help parents: Recognize the boundary issues underlying child behavior problems Set boundaries and establish consequences with kids Get out of the nagging trap Stop controlling their kids---and instead help their children develop self-control Apply the ten laws of boundaries to parenting Take six practical steps for implementing boundaries with their kids Want to Paint a Happy Future for Your Children? Start Drawing the Line Today. One of the most loving things parents can do for their children is set firm boundaries with them. Boundaries with Kids will help the parents in your group raise their kids to take responsibility for their own actions, attitudes, and emotions. In eight sessions, Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend offer tools and insights for bringing order to problematic circumstances and cultivating healthier parent-child relationships in the home. This leader s guide gives you the clear, step-by-step instructions you need to maximize interaction, support, and insights within your group. Most of the preparation has been done for you---just follow the easy-to-use lesson plan, complete with helpful tips. Because this book includes the full text of the participant s guide, it s the only guidebook you need to track page-for-page with your group. Boundaries with Kids sessions: 1. Building Character in Kids 2. Kids Need Parents with Boundaries 3. The Law of Sowing and Reaping and the Law of Responsibility 4. The Laws of Power and Respect 5. The Laws of Motivation and Evaluation 6. The Laws of Proactivity and Envy 7. The Laws of Activity and Exposure 8. Six Steps to Implementing Boundaries with Your Kids"

Like no other religious thinker, Thomas Berry has been a prophetic voice regarding Earth's destruction and the urgent need for human response from the Christian community. This book collects Berry's signature views on the interrelatedness of both Earth's future and the Christian future. He ponders why Christians have been late in coming to the issue of the environment. He reflects insightfully on how the environment must be seen as a religious issue, not simply a scientific or economic problem.

In powerful and poetic language Berry presents a compelling vision of the sacredness of the universe and the interrelatedness of the Earth community. Drawing on Thomas Aquinas and Teilhard de Chardin he brings the Christian tradition into a cosmology of care for the whole of creation.

Everyone has gifts and talents, but do you know what

gift is the foundation of your God-given purpose

in life?

In Know Your Ministry: Spiritual Gifts for Every

Believer, renowned Bible teacher Marilyn Hickey presents

an enlightening overview of the seven foundational gifts

of the Holy Spirit from Romans 12 and shows you how to

discover your specific foundational gift.

Through Marilyn's personal and ministry examples,

biblical illustrations, and practical application, you will

discover the one gift that you identify with most closely

and through which you will obtain the most success.

That gift whether it is prophecy, serving, teaching,

exhortation, giving, organization, or mercy is your

foundational gift.

Once you have identified your core gift, you will see how

it relates to your other abilities and how it flows throughout

all your spiritual activity in the body of Christ.

Responsibility is routinely overlooked, manipulated, and oversimplified. In Scandalous Obligation, Eric Severson explores the scope of Christian responsibility. This book delves into the slippery nature of obligation, the dilemma of competing calls for justice, and the perilous temptation to dismiss or avoid responsibility. Using examples from popular culture Severson casts an expansive and often daunting vision of responsibility that challenges the status quo.This book presses readers to consider the many complications that arise when Christians begin to understand the extent of their responsibility for the suffering that abounds in the world. It explores how Christians are to turn this approach to responsibility toward the clouds of injustice and pain that hang over our world today. With a brilliant use of Scripture, illustrations, and insights from classical literature and philosophy, Eric Severson makes us aware in this book that sin is not simply the breaking of rules, but is living with indifference to the needs of others when confronted by those needs.'--Tony CampoloProfessor Emeritus of Sociology, Eastern UniversityAuthor, Adventures in Missing the Point, Red Letter Christians In an era when so many Christians confuse their ethics with their politics, Severson summons the followers of Christ to once again take note of the 'alien at the gate.' Scandalous Obligation is a disturbing wake-up call to a church grown self-absorbed and complacent.'--Karl GibersonVice President, BioLogos FoundationCo-author, The Language of Faith and Science

Today pastors and church leaders have an unparalleled opportunity to shape a biblical vision for Kingdom giving. Based on the foundational premise that stewardship is the management of time, talents, and treasure, authors Stan Toler and Elmer Towns set forth a vision for pastors and church leaders to shape the thinking in the pews. Developing a Giving Church provides guidance for shaping a giving environment, suggestions for developing committed steward leaders, and counsel on biblical strategies. This vital stewardship resource merges insightful principles with proven methods for creating a climate for giving through stewardship education.

Von Allmen's essay on the central sacrament of the Christian faith examining from within the Reformed Tradition the truths enshrined in the Lord's Supper, seeing the act as not only a "sign", "symbol" or "memorial", but as the real presence of Christ. Von Allmen's essay on the central sacrament of the Christian faith examining from within the Reformed Tradition the truths enshrined in the Lord's Supper, seeing the act as not only a 'sign', 'symbol' or 'memorial', but as the real presence of Christ.

Women are bombarded with ideas of perfection--and tips for how to achieve it--every day. From her work to her looks to her parenting, today's modern woman is expected to strive to be picture perfect in every way. As a result, calls for authenticity and imperfection are on the rise. Yet, deep down, most of us still want to achieve perfection. Why? The desire to be perfect, says Kim Hyland, is actually a God-given urge. After all, we were made for Eden. But there is a difference between perfection and perfectionism, which is our attempt to achieve perfection on our own, by our own strength, and for our own purposes--the original temptation in the Garden. In this freeing book, Hyland offers women a stirring manifesto for acknowledging their limitations and embracing the perfection of God through his grace. This is a book for every woman who gives 110% and yet feels shame when one little thing goes wrong.

Point Them in the Right Direction Before They Walk Down the Aisle Married couples begin their lives together with a vow of lifelong love and devotion . . . but many walk down the aisle unaware of all that promise entails. Now you can help engaged couples make their vows with open eyes and hearts, fully prepared for the hard and rewarding work of building a strong and lasting Christian marriage. Created by FamilyLife, one of America's leading marriage and family ministries, Preparing for Marriage is a dynamic, comprehensive premarital education program designed to lay the foundation for biblical, fulfilling marriage. As a supplement to Preparing for Marriage, the Preparing for Marriage Leader's Guide is an invaluable tool for pastors, premarital counselors, mentor couples, and small group leaders. Inside is everything you need to help engaged couples establish a lasting relationship built on an unshakable foundation: Jesus Christ. The Preparing for Marriage Leader's Guide will help you: * Counsel an engaged couple or lead a small-group study for couples * Share God's unique blueprints for marriage and the home * Help couples discern God's will for their relationship * Provide practical guidance on finances, responsibilities, and intimacy * Evaluate a couple's readiness for marriage after counseling * Create a mentoring couples program and develop mentoring relationships * Build healthy, Christ-centered marriages in the Church

Good advice is hard to find. True accountability is harder.As men, it's hard to admit fault, defeat, or weakness. But the reality is we need each other. People are broken. People have shame. Shame leads many of us to believe that not even God can love us. But shame is a biblical emotion and can remind us in a healthy way that we need God in our lives. In truth, we can change.The 7 Principles of Highly Accountable Men is designed to help you do just that. Change is a process and often takes longer than you may think; for many of us it is a lifetime journey. Written by recovering addict Mark R. Laaser, and based on Scripture and the traditional twelve-step programs for personal change, this journey contains the truths of the seven habits of highly accountable men.

Looking back on a happy lifetime spent as a Catholic priest, Kenneth Payne presents an inspired biographical work that discusses a fundamentally important element of human life; namely hospitality and how it has been, and continues to be, a central component of his life, work and faith. This continues as a central theme in the presentation of his travelogue, which describes, not without humour, his work with many different groups of people. Especially moving are the descriptions of his work amongst the most poverty stricken people in Jamaica, and his visit to the deprived peoples in Brazil where the open door and welcoming arms are the agents through which Christ's teachings are practised in today's world. At a time when criticism is often levelled at the institutionalised churches, this book comes as a breath of fresh air and is of interest to many who may not share the author's faith.

Janet Hodgson traces the life of Xhosa prophet Ntsikana (1780–1821) from his birth through his years as a Christian convert, evangelist, and composer of enduring hymns.

Ntsikana is known as one of the first Christians to adapt Christian ideas to African culture, writing hymns in isiXhosa and translating concepts into terms that resonated with his Xhosa community.

Even today, his hymns are among the most important in the amaXhosa churches, and he is regarded as an important symbol of both African unity and Black Consciousness.

This companion workbook to The Wounded Heart will help you work through the complex issues of sexual abuse in a concrete way by leading you step-by-step through the process of change. It also includes specific sections for men, ideas for discussion-group facilitators, and reflective quotations from fellow strugglers with sexual abuse.

Imagine raising six spirited kids on a grass farm-today. Newspaper columnist Dorcas Smucker and her brood live out their days in full view in this collection of musings-picking blueberries while watching for bears, hoping for angels while driving off the freeway, moving into the "thousand-story house," and enduring lectures from teenage children about the virtue of respect. Three books in one, this collection includes Smucker's Ordinary Days: Family Life in a Farmhouse, Upstairs the Peasants are Revolting: More Family Life in a Farmhouse, and Downstairs the Queen Is Knitting. Often slightly off-stride and with disarming humility, Dorcas finds endless materials for stories and life lessons in everyday happenings. As she says, "I, like my mother, feed my children mashed potatoes and stories. I repeat the ones I heard from Mom and turn our family escapades into tales to be repeated while washing dishes or snapping buckets of green beans on the front porch. A story is much more than just a story, of course. It is entertainment, identity, interpretation, and lessons. This is who we are, this is why we do what we do, this is important, that is not, and don't ever whack your brother's finger with a hatchet like your dad did to Uncle Philip." This delightful trilogy includes some of Smucker's best writing. She covers topics and dilemmas everyone can relate to while also inviting readers to explore her Mennonite family's more personal experiences. Her voice is humorous, encouraging, and at times, doubting, but she never takes herself too seriously. As you read, her stories will entertain you and ultimately soothe your soul.