In recent decades churches have accommodated people with disabilities in various ways. Through access ramps and elevators and sign language, disabled persons are invited in to worship. But are they actually enfolded into the church's mission? Have the able-bodied come to recognize and appreciate the potential contributions of people with disabilities in the ministry and witness of the church? Benjamin Conner wants to stimulate a new conversation between disability studies and Christian theology and missiology. How can we shape a new vision of the entire body of Christ sharing in the witness of the church? How would it look if we "disabled" Christian theology, discipleship, and theological education? Conner argues that it would in fact enable congregational witness. He has seen it happen and he shows us how. Imagine a church that fully incorporates persons with disabilities into its mission and witness. In this vision, people with disabilities contribute to the church's pluriform witness, and the congregation embodies a robust hermeneutic of the gospel. Picture the entire body of Christ functioning beyond distinctions of dis/ability, promoting mutual flourishing and growing into fullness. Here is an enlargement of the church's witness as a sign, agent, and foretaste of the kingdom of God. Here is a fresh and inspiring look at the mission of the church when it enfolds people with disabilities as full members. Missiological Engagements charts interdisciplinary and innovative trajectories in the history, theology, and practice of Christian mission, featuring contributions by leading thinkers from both the Euro-American West and the majority world whose missiological scholarship bridges church, academy, and society.

The life and ministry of the apostle Paul was a sprawling adventure covering thousands of miles on Roman roads and treacherous seas as he boldly proclaimed the gospel of Jesus to anyone who would listen, be they commoners or kings. His impact on the church and indeed on Western civilization is immeasurable. From his birth in Tarsus to his rabbinic training in Jerusalem to his final imprisonment in Rome, An Illustrated Guide to the Apostle Paul brings his remarkable story to life. Drawing from the book of Acts, Paul's many letters, and historical and archaeological sources, this fully illustrated resource explores the social, cultural, political, and religious background of the first-century Roman world in which Paul lived and ministered. It sheds light on the places he visited and the people he met along the way. Most importantly, it helps us understand how and why Paul was used by God in such extraordinary ways. Pastors, students, and anyone engaged in Bible study will find this an indispensable and inspiring resource.

This is the remarkable story of Benny Hinn―a man known to millions as one of the great healing evangelists of our time.

Many who have attended his crusades, watched his daily television ministry, or have seen him on programs such as "Larry King Live" have asked, "Who is this man? And how did he rise to such a place of prominence?"

You'll travel to Jaffa, Israel, and learn of the events that shaped the life of Benedictus, the oldest son in a family of eight children of Greek and Armenian heritage. And you will read of the deep conflicts in the Hinn household when, after the family immigrated to Canada, Benny had a dramatic, life-changing spiritual experience.

The journey from a small church in Oshawa, Ontario, to the largest stadiums and arenas in the world is filled with love, laughter, and tears. It is also a story of miracles.

"He Touched Me," the autobiography of Benny Hinn, will inspire you. It reveals what can heppen when one person becomes totally yielded to the holy Spirit.

In this holistic study of Paul's ministry, author and missionary Elliot Clark brilliantly explains why Christians today should seek God's approval-not worldly ambition-when sharing the gospel.

Many New Testament Greek grammarians assert that the Greek attributive participle and the Greek relative clause are "equivalent." Michael E. Hayes disproves those assertions in An Analysis of the Attributive Participle and the Relative Clause in the Greek New Testament, thoroughly presenting the linguistic categories of restrictivity and nonrestrictivity and analyzing the restrictive/nonrestrictive nature of every attributive participle and relative clause. By employing the Accessibility Hierarchy, he focuses the central and critical analysis to the subject relative clause and the attributive participle. His analysis leads to the conclusion that with respect to the restrictive/nonrestrictive distinction these two constructions could in no way be described as "equivalent." The attributive participle is primarily utilized to restrict its antecedent except under certain prescribed circumstances, and when both constructions are grammatically and stylistically feasible, the relative clause is predominantly utilized to relate nonrestrictively to its antecedent. As a result, Hayes issues a call to clarity and correction for grammarians, exegetes, modern editors, and translators of the Greek New Testament.

Religion has always played an important, if often contested, role in the public domain. This book focuses on how faith-based organisations (FBOs) interact with the public sphere, showing how faith-based actors are themselves shaped by wider processes and global forces such as globalisation, migration, foreign policy and neoliberal markets. Focusing on a case study of an FBO in Morocco which gives aid to sub-Saharan African irregular migrants, the book reveals some of the challenges the organisation faces as it tries to negotiate at once local, national and international contexts through their particular Christian values. This book contends that the contradictions, tensions and ambiguities that arise are primarily a result of the organisation having to negotiate a normative global secular liberalism which requires a strict demarcation between religion and politics, and religion and the secular. Faith-based actors, particularly within humanitarianism, have to constantly navigate this divide and in examining the question of how religious values translate into humanitarian and development practices, categories such as religion, the secular and politics and the boundaries between them will need to be interrogated. This book explores the diversity and complexity of the work of FBOs and will be of great interest to students and researchers working at the intersections of humanitarianism and development studies, politics and religion.

Jesus gave his followers seven key practices: The Lord's Supper Reconciliation Proclaiming the gospel Being with the "least of these" Being with children Fivefold ministry gifting Kingdom prayer When we practice these disciplines, God becomes faithfully present to us, and we in turn become God's faithful presence to the world. Pastor and professor David Fitch shows how these seven practices can revolutionize the church's presence in our neighborhoods, transform our way of life in the world, and advance the kingdom. Our communities can be changed when they see us practicing our faith. Go and do.

Have you ever wished you could get tickets to major events like the Super Bowl, the Academy Awards, or a presidential inauguration? Getting tickets to important events isn't always easy, and it's usually expensive. But one thing is for sure--if you don't have a ticket, you won't get in. Getting into heaven is a whole lot more important, because heaven is forever. So is hell. The decisions you make in this life determine where your eternal destination will be. And just as with the major events of our culture, you need a ticket to get into heaven, something that proves you should be admitted. Unlike tickets for entertainment events, however, you can't purchase a ticket to heaven. The price for entrance is righteousness--you must be sinless and perfect. That's what you need to enter heaven, since "nothing unclean will ever enter it" (Revelation 21:27). Since that's the entry requirement, it seems impossible to get in. After all, it's true--we are sinners and far from perfect. The Bible says we all sin and fail to meet God's standards for righteousness (Romans 3:23). Because of that, we are under condemnation and destined to die (John 3:36; Romans 6:23). Despite that, we can find entry into heaven because God has provided a ticket for us. How Do I Get This Heavenly Ticket? Our ticket into heaven comes to us by faith. We can't earn it by doing lots of good deeds, like giving away money or serving the poor. It's only through faith that we gain admittance. The faith we need is to believe that when Jesus, God's sinless Son, died on the cross, he made it possible for our sins to be forgiven. We deserve to be on that cross, but Jesus died in our place. The Bible says, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness" (1 Peter 2:24). Our own righteousness won't admit us to heaven, but only "the righteousness from God that depends on faith" (Philippians 3:9). Faith is trusting what God says and in what he has done for us. Jesus willingly died for us and was raised from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. When we genuinely believe this truth, we are admitted into heaven when our earthly life is over. "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). It Gets Even Better When we place our faith in Jesus Christ for salvation from sin's judgment, God credits us with Jesus's perfect righteousness. Christ is our righteous "ticket" to heaven. God forgives all our sins because Jesus bore the penalty for them on our behalf. The Bible tells us, "For our sake, he made [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Our sins were applied to Jesus so that his righteousness could be applied to us! You may wonder why God would ever do such a thing. He did it because he loves us. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Love is the source of the great exchange God made-- our sin for Christ's righteousness. When it comes time to leave this earth, those who have put their faith in Christ will go to heaven. Do you have your ticket? If not, it's not too late to trust in Christ for forgiveness of your sins and the gift of eternal life. If that's your sincere desire, here's a prayer that can help you express your decision to God: God, I acknowledge that I am sinful, and I know that I cannot live with you in heaven unless I have righteousness. Please forgive me for my sinful ways. I believe that Jesus died on the cross and had all of my sins applied to his pure and sinless self. I also believe that he was raised from the dead in order that I might be also. Please apply Jesus's righteousness to me so that I can become a new creation and live with you forever. Amen.

What was once taboo - faith at work - is increasingly accepted in corporate America. From secretaries to CEOs, growing numbers of businesspeople today want to bring their faith to work. Yet they wrestle with how to do this effectively and appropriately in a pluralistic corporate setting. For help they turn not to their clergy, but to their peers and to a burgeoning cottage industry on spirituality at work. They attend conferences and seminars, participate in Bible study and prayer groups, and read books, blogs, and eNewsletters. They see their faith as a resource for ethical guidance and to help find meaning and purpose in their work.
In God at Work, David W. Miller looks at how this Faith at Work movement developed and considers its potential value for business and society. Done well, the integration of faith and work has positive implications at the personal level, as well as for corporate ethics and the broader economic sphere. At the same time, increasing expressions of religion and spiritual practices at work also present the threat of divisiveness and discrimination.
Drawing on the insights of theological ethics as well as the sociology of religion, Miller analyzes the history of the modern day Faith at Work movement from its roots in the late 19th century to its modern formulation and trajectory. He examines the diversity of its members and modes of expression, and constructs a new framework for understanding, interpreting, and critiquing the movement and its future. Miller concludes that workers and professionals have a deep and lasting desire to live a holistic life, to integrate the claims of their faith with the demands of their work. He documents the surprisingabdication of this field by church and theological academy and its embrace, ironically, by the management academy.
Offering compelling new evidence of the depth and breadth of spirituality at work, Miller concludes that faith at work is a bona fide social movement and here to stay. He establishes the importance of this movement, identifies the possibilities and problems, and points toward future research questions. God at Work is essential reading for business scholars and leaders, theologians and clergy, and anyone interested in the integration of faith and work.

'Meet Me at the Palaver' makes the case for a particular approach to pastoral counseling as a response to the destructive impact of colonial Christianity on indigenous African communities. The book opens with stories of destructive change brought to indigenous contexts (such as Zimbabwe), wherein the culture, values, religion, and humanity of African peoples were often marginalised. Mucherera demonstrates that therapy or counseling as taught in the West will not always su ce in such contexts, since these approaches tend to promote and focus on individuality, autonomy, and independence. Counselors in indigenous contexts need to "get o their couch or chair" and into the neighborhoods - into those places made vulnerable to disease and poverty by the collapse of "the palaver" and other traditional institutions of social stability. Since storytelling was at the heart of the practices of the palaver and continues to be a way of life in African cultures, Mucherera argues for a holistic narrative pastoral counseling approach to assess and service the three basic areas of human needs in indigenous African communities: body, mind, and spirit. Tapiwa N. Mucherera is Professor of Pastoral Counseling at Asbury Theological Seminary and Assistant Provost, Florida campus. He is the author of Pastoral Care from a Third World Perspective. An ordained United Methodist pastor, he has served churches in Zimbabwe, Iowa, and Denver. "The impact of Western colonialism's attempt to extinguish indigenous peoples' stories, communities, value systems, and culture has crippled, for example, African people's ability to face many contemporary problems such as poverty and the HIV/AIDS pandemic. This book presents a hopeful strategy of recovering stories, cultural traditions, and values that have been subjugated in the past as e ective means for dealing with contemporary life in indigenous contexts such as Zimbabwe. This narrative pastoral counseling approach is based on traditional African wisdom as well as the knowledge growing out of the author's pastoral counseling experience in Africa and the United States. The author challenges dangerous traditional practices in the age of HIV/AIDS, and the need for justice for the poor. A must read for those interested in working with indigenous peoples." - Dr Edward P. Wimberly, Academic Dean and the Jarena Lee Professor of Pastoral Care at I.T.C. in Atlanta "Mucherera tactfully captures the lost art of storytelling as a mode of communication for therapy and moral values. Though commonly used by indigenous Africans to transmit oral traditions, the narrative approach is a unique tool that creates safe distance for the care receiver and offers ample opportunity to the caregiver to non-judgmentally form an uplifting and therapeutic relationship. This book is a must read for all pastoral caregivers, pastors, counselors, and ministry students, since the narrative approach is an effective communication tool in today's cross-cultural world." - Dr Anne Kiome Gatobu Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care, Asbury Theological Seminary

The globalization of Christianity, its spread and appeal to peoples of non- European origin, is by now a well-known phenomenon. Scholars increasingly realize the importance of natives rather than foreign missionaries in the process of evangelization. This volume contributes to the understanding of this process through case studies of encounters with Christianity from the perspectives of the indigenous peoples who converted. More importantly, by exploring overarching, general terms such as conversion and syncretism and by showing the variety of strategies and processes that actually take place, these studies lead to a more nuanced understanding of cross-cultural religious interactions in general-from acceptance to resistance-thus enriching the vocabulary of religious interaction. The contributors tackle these issues from a variety of disciplinary perspectives-history, anthropology, religious studies-and present a broad geographical spread of cases from China, Vietnam, Australia, India, South and West Africa, North and Central America, and the Caribbean.

You have a passionate desire to take the church outside its four walls and make the love of Jesus practical, visible, and lived out in daily life. But how? How do you put into action what is stirring in your heart? Indispensable Church provides you and your church real-world, hands-on steps to create a revolution of service to your local community in the name of Christ. By exploring the life of Jesus and the strategic ways he modeled serving the people around him, pastor Chris Sonksen shows you how to put love into action in your neighborhood and your city. The step-by-step instructions, biblical challenges, and teaching resources will help you take love to the streets and make an impact right where you live.

Dr. Oral Roberts is still active in a ministry that has lasted for fifty years and has spanned the globe. No stranger to controversy, he still follows the call from God that he received as a young man. Taking readers through his childhood, his marriage, the birth and growth of his children, and his various ministries up to the present day. Oral Roberts shows what can be accomplished when a man commits himself to obeying God - no matter what the cost. This is an inspiring autobiography for those who have followed Dr. Robert's ministry through the years.

How can an ordinary church become a community of people who help one another live out their whole life at home, work, church, in the neighbourhood as followers of Jesus in his mission to the world? This book is for those who want life together in church to equip disciples who live out their faith in the realities of their day-to-day world. - Draws on three years of work with pilot churches across the UK - Practical examples of how a church can change - Real-life stories of churches and individuals

This book is a study of the ambitions, activities and achievements of Methodist missionaries in northern Burma from 1887-1966 and the expulsion of the last missionaries by Ne Win. The story is told through painstaking original research in archives which contain thousands of hitherto unpublished documents and eyewitness accounts meticulously recorded by the Methodist missionaries. This accessible study constitutes a significant contribution to a very little-known area of missionary history. Leigh pulls together the themes of conflict, politics and proselytisation in to a fascinating study of great breadth. The historical nuances of the relationship between religion and governance in Burma are traced in an accessible style. This book will appeal to those teaching or studying colonial and postcolonial history, Burmese politics, and the history of missionary work. -- .

The most important journey you’ll ever take starts with one decision.

The plain, undiluted Gospel of Jesus needs to be told, and it is the most important decision that one can ever make.

In Starting the Journey readers will discover that God loves them and has a perfect plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. In a simple and conversational style Angus Buchan explains the problem of sin and God’s plan of restoring our relationship with Him.

Angus discusses how to go about living the Christian life once a person has taken the first step toward salvation. Starting the Journey is the perfect tool for evangelism and focuses on:

· Salvation – What it means to know Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior

· Growing in God – How to grow in your walk with God

· The Great Commission – How to share the Good News with others.

Includes a list of Scripture verses to memorize and a handy “where to find it in the Bible” reference.

As a believer it is important to share this life-changing news with others and Starting the Journey will help every believer to answer the call.

Also available in Afrikaans "Begin die reis" & English "Starting The Journey"

Christianity has changed. Formerly known as the religion of Europe and North America, it is now a religion of the Global South: Asia, Africa, and Latin America. However, Christianity has never been merely a Western phenomenon - it has always been a borderless religion. Indeed, in six of the world's eight cultural blocks, Christianity is the largest faith. With convenient maps, helpful statistics, and concise histories of each of the world's major cultural blocks, The Changing World of Christianity is a dynamic guide for understanding Christianity's new ethos. From Ireland to Papua New Guinea, Argentina to China, South Africa to Russia, this book provides a clear and encyclopedic look at Christianity, the world's largest and most global religion.

Many people feel unfulfilled. Some cannot put their finger on what is holding them back, but they know that something is. Presented with clarity, understanding, and great biblical and psychological insight, this book reveals the relationship between the personal spirit and the Holy Spirit. It shows the areas of a person's life that can be hindered by a slumbering personal spirit, such as the conscience, building and sustaining personal relationships, intimate communication, and devotional life. It gives life-transforming principles for awakening our personal spirit and learning to walk confidently in the nature and image of Christ.

Exciting: documents a recent journey through difficult and at times hostile territory

'Civilizing Missions in Colonial and Postcolonial South Asia' offers a series of analyses that highlights the complexities of British and Indian civilizing missions in original ways and through various historiographical approaches. The book applies the concept of the civilizing mission to a number of issues in the colonial and postcolonial eras in South Asia: economic development, state-building, pacification, nationalism, cultural improvement, gender and generational relations, caste and untouchability, religion and missionaries, class relations, urbanization, NGOs, and civil society.

Despite the popularity of sport in contemporary China, the practice of physical education is not indigenous to its culture. Strenuous physical activity was traditionally linked to low class and status in the pre-modern Chinese society. The concept of modern PE was introduced to China by Western Christian missionaries and directors of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). It then grew from a tool for Christian evangelism to a strategic instrument in Chinese nation-building. This book examines the transformation of Chinese attitudes toward PE and sport, drawing on the concepts of cultural imperialism and nationalism to understand how an imported Western activity became a key aspect of modernization for the Chinese state. More specifically, it looks at the relationship between Christianity and the rise of Chinese nationalism between 1840 and 1937. Combining historical insight with original research, this book sheds new light on the evolution of PE and sport in modern China. It is fascinating reading for all those with an interest in sports history, Chinese culture and society, Christianity, physical education or the sociology of sport.

Until 1492, Christianity was totally unknown to the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Although the Native Americans already had long-established religious cultures of their own, the arrival of the Christian Europeans made an extremely significant impact on their lives: over the following five centuries, millions of American Indians would come to identify themselves as Christians. Roman Catholicism, and, in terms of numbers of self-identified American Indian Catholics, Catholicism has remained the dominant Christian religion among Indian peoples -- for better or worse.

On the Padres' Trail begins with the arrival of Europeans in the New World and the invasion of the Caribbean, from which author Christopher Vecsey traces the expansion of Catholicism into New Spain. He devotes special attention to the history of the Catholic faith and institutions among the Pueblo peoples of New Mexico. particularly in the years since the establishment of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. Then he turns his attention to the history and effects, both good and bad, of the Catholic missions among the Indians of California. In the final section of the book, he details the history of the judgments made about Catholic missionizing in California (and, by extension, all of New Spain) and closes with the sometimes critical perspectives of contemporary Native American Catholics regarding the padres who first brought Catholicism to their ancestors.

On the Padres' Trail, the first volume in Professor Vecsey's three-volume American Indian Catholics series, is an invaluable additon to current scholarship on the history of the Catholic Church and to the field of Native American studies.