"I have seen and I testify . . ." (John 1:34) The idea of giving one's testimony often evokes summer church camps, evangelistic revivals, mission trips and baptisms. Like an eyewitness called to testify in a courtroom, sharing a testimony of faith is for specific people at special moments. But what if our view of testimony is all wrong? According to Amanda Drury, testimony is not merely about describing something that happened in the past. It is a practice that forms our present and future identity. Testimony changes us, and without it we risk having a stunted and stale faith. Drawing on work in sociology, psychology and theology, Drury develops an understanding of testimony as an essential practice for Christian spiritual formation, especially for adolescents who are in the process of developing their identity. Recent studies reveal a staggering inability for adolescents to articulate their religious beliefs. Now more than ever, churches need to recover the practice of testimony as an integral part of communal worship.

It takes tender strength to raise children of character and faith. What does it take to raise great kids? If you've read any books on parenting, conflicting opinions have probably left you feeling confused. Get tough! Show acceptance. Lay down the rules. Lighten up, already! There's got to be a balance between control and permissiveness. And there is. Drawing on the expert insights of counselors and award winning authors Henry Cloud and John Townsend and on the parenting wisdom of MOPS International (Mothers of Preschoolers), Raising Great Kids shows you how truth and grace go together. They are allies in your most challenging and rewarding task: raising children with character that can withstand life's rigors and make the most of its potential. Using principles described in Raising Great Kids, the Raising Great Kids Workbook for Parents of Preschoolers will guide you through those first, formative years in your child's life from infancy to age five. It's filled with sound Biblical information and expert advise. But most important, it supplies tools you can begin using today, from thought - provoking questions and self-assessments to an abundance of practical applications. Each chapter begins by introducing three or four key parenting principles, and ends with hands on exercise and a prayer that crystallize the concepts dealt with in that chapter. The Raising Kids Workbook for Parents of Preschoolers will help you start sowing the seeds of character early in your child's life for good fruit that lasts a lifetime.

Hollywood has become our culture s dominant storyteller. So turn Hollywood to your own purposes. With Videos That Teach you can use clips from 75 of the best recent movies on video--already collected an organized by topic and Bible reference, complete with start and stop times--to illustrate your lessons and launch provocative discussion among your students. Discussions that get kids talking about themselves and life, about God and the Bible. Browse the book to find the movie clip you like, or use one of the Quick Clip Locators (by topic or Bible reference) to quickly find the perfect reinforcement for your lesson. Or build your entire lesson from a clip--with each clip are summaries of the movie and the clip, start and stop times, Bible references, and discussion-starting questions. And given the breadth of movies in Videos That Teach, you re almost guaranteed to find what you want for a topic to teach or a discussion to lead--Forrest Gump, The Spitfire Grill, Michael, City Slickers, Romeo and Juliet (1996), Grand Canyon, Mrs. Doubtfire, Naked Gun, Fried Green Tomatoes, Mr. Holland s Opus. And lots more. Whether you re a youth worker, Bible study or small-group leader, or Sunday school teacher, with Videos That Teach you ll get your students thinking biblically instead of merely absorbing passively."

Operating in the Gift of the Teacher: A Practical Biblical Guide is about re-introducing the body of Christ to the teaching gift because great emphasis has been placed on the other five-fold ministry gifts but that of the Teacher seems to have been overlooked and not developed in those who have the gift. It outlines how to develop the gift of the teacher and it contains teaching techniques that will help the reader to attain to a higher level of excellence and challenge those who have been complacent with the gift. It is a must read for all those who have been called to teach.

With dramatic artwork and colorful detail, "The Story of Jesus" tells the story of Jesus in a fresh, biblical way--from the angelic appearance to Zechariah through Joseph and Mary's escape to Egypt. Available in packs of 25, "The Story of Jesus" is ideal for church programs, community outreach, family devotions, and as an outreach tool for children or adults.

What is a good education? What is it for? To answer these questions, Stratford Caldecott shines a fresh light on the three arts of language, in a marvelous recasting of the Trivium whereby Grammar, Dialectic, and Rhetoric are explored as Remembering, Thinking, and Communicating. These are the foundational steps every student must take towards conversion of heart and mind, so that a Catholic Faith can be lived out in unabashed pursuit of the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. Beauty in the Word is a unique contribution to bringing these bountiful aspects of the Real back to the center of learning, where they rightfully belong. If your concern is for the true meaning of education for your children, here is the place to begin.

"Those responsible for new initiatives in Catholic schooling have a chance to recreate the inner spirit of education and not just its outer frame. They will not easily find a programme more inspirational than the one presented here." - Aidan Nichols

"Stratford Caldecott offers a rare combination of intelligence and profound vision, yet combines this with accessibility and luminous transparency." - Catherine Pickstock

Explore a new way of pastoral care that enables caregivers to develop relationships and provide meaningful pastoral care to the children and youth they encounter! The Pastoral Care of Children focuses on the need for pastoral caregivers, clergy and chaplains to develop relationships with youths and gives you suggestions to overcome the anxiety associated with caring for an acutely ill child through unique, playful, and child-centered approaches. Many pastoral caregivers have high anxiety when children are ill or hurt, are unsure how to have a substantive conversation with a nine-year old, or their fears of what could be said keep them from hearing what children have to say. The effective approaches in The Pastoral Care of Children are illustrated to assist you with serving the spiritual needs of children. You will explore actual pastoral care experiences that will help you gain confidence in handling situations such as a teenager's desire to be baptized out of fear of death when neither he nor his parents believe in Christ. Intelligent and heartfelt, this valuable book gives you a complete theological exploration of ministering to children who may ask you "Why me?", "Why do people have to die?" and "What happens to children if they die before they are baptized?" The Pastoral Care of Children helps you answer these questions with meaningful responses that are genuine and grounded with yourself, and reflect the parents'beliefs. Some of the help you will discover in The Pastoral Care of Children includes: understanding the similarities and differences of caring for children in comparison to adults, such as different vocabularies but similar emotions, and realizing that children are very perceptive using play as a tool, for example referring to a puppet's experience in reference to the child to eliminate the child's self-consciousness and help him or her open up confronting pastoral issues in acute care settings, such as fear, guilty feelings, and anger, from parents, family and the child helping children recover from mental health issues such as depression, eating disorders, and identity and self-esteem issues by using cognitive therapy conducting prayer and rituals with children such as baptism, naming ceremonies, anointings, and funerals to assist the child and family through this spiritual rite of passage Complete with child and family focused approaches for dealing with the questions surrounding death, The Pastoral Care of Children also provides you with several cited scriptures, and a list of questions you may be asked by a child who is facing death. You will learn from actual circumstances pastoral caregivers have encountered and discover how to approach topics, and answer questions on God and death. The Pastoral Care of Children, an extremely resourceful book that will assist you in overcoming anxiety and help you deliver thoughtful and uplifting pastoral care to children and youth.

How teachers teach is not necessarily how learners learn. Educators focus on content delivery, but much of the learning process involves affective and behavioral factors. Veteran educators Muriel and Duane Elmer provide a holistic model for how learning takes place. Their learning cycle moves beyond mere recall of information to helping learners value and apply learning in ways that are integrated into behavior and practice. With insights from neuroscience, educational psychology, and learning theory, they address how the brain can become more receptive, how emotional environments affect learning, and how learning tasks and experiential exercises can help foster the development of skills and habit formation. They do so in the context of a thoroughly Christian framework that emphasizes not just knowledge, but character, integrity, and wisdom. Learning can be accomplished in and beyond the classroom to move from content mastery to life experience. Here are sound avenues for helping your students become the lifelong learners God intends.

Have you tried all the new youth programs? Have you planned one too many wacky activities? Are you frustrated about the size of the youth group? Here's an approach to ministry that takes youth work seriously. Family-based youth ministry is about adults discipling teens one-on-one and in groups. It is about involving not just the nuclear family but the whole church family--from singles to older adults. More important, it's about incorporating youth into the life of your church. So stop worrying about the size of your youth group or your budget. Mark DeVries's refreshing approach to youth ministry will show you how your church can reach today's teens and how you can keep them involved in the life of the church. Whether you are a parent, a youth pastor or a church member who cares about teens, you will find in this book an entirely different approach to youth ministry that will build mature Christian believers.

This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from GeneralBooksClub.com. You can also preview excerpts from the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Published by: The Luther press in 1908 in 169 pages; Subjects: Lutheran Church; Law / General; Law / Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice; Law / International; Literary Collections / Essays; Religion / Christianity / Lutheran; Travel / Essays & Travelogues;

Mother Loyola's work on the subject of Confession is not merely groundbreaking, but seems to form one of the most crucial of her strengths, given that the Sacrament of Penance has always been the most avoidable and avoided of all; most Catholics express a distaste for it akin to torment. For her readers, however, such angst is inconceivable, as she does not merely help to remove all fear and discomfort associated with the Confessional; she also enkindles a deep sense of appreciation for the gift of the sacrament. This, in turn, fosters an eager anticipation of the grace it confers. Those who make use of Forgive us our Trespasses -whether children or adults-will find themselves seeking this healing Sacrament with regularity.
Please note: this is considered a revised edition due to the correction of errors in the original text, the addition of selected footnotes, and minor clarifications in punctuation or phrasing. No material has been removed or rewritten.

The first privately published edition of We Believe appeared anonymously in 1983 and subsequently, to the author's great surprise, took a wider readership by storm, selling more than 15,000 copies before his death at the age of 97 in 1998. Alfred Gilbey was already a well-known priest, having been from 1932 to 1965 Chaplain to the Catholic Undergraduates of Cambridge University. The course of instructions he gave to enquirers into the Catholic Faith had, in A. N. Wilson's words, already "acquired a legendary status," and had been responsible for more than forty vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Devoted to the life of prayer, his Commentary on the Catechism of Christian Doctrine, as this work is sub-titled, is based on a lifetime's reflection on the truths of the Faith and, his many friends would wish to add, on the daily example he gave of the precepts of Faith, Hope and Charity. The late Basil Cardinal Hume OSB, OM, revealed at Mgr Gilbey's 90th birthday celebration that he had been the model of the Cardinal's own priesthood. Anyone who has read this book without having known the author will have been aware of the spirit of humility and integrity breathing through its pages. Mgr Gilbey was endowed with remarkable gifts which were both pastoral and expository, and We Believe is an enduring legacy of his life and thought. Above all, Alfred Gilbey was guided by a conviction that, contrary to the collectivist spirit of the age, our Creator made us to be not equal to one another but, in virtue of our relationship to Him, unique; as awe-inspiring a thought, whenever we allow it to come into focus, as the author fully intended it to be in the pages of his book.

The Classic Guide for Educators of Any Denomination

What mission calls us to teach? How do societal issues-social oppression, poverty, politics-affect what we teach, how we teach it, and how people learn? Who are our students? What and when are they ready to learn? Once we understand these foundations, how can we facilitate an educational experience that has the power to shape and transform people and communities in life-giving ways of faith?

In this classic text, Thomas Groome asks and answers these central questions, providing a comprehensive integration of the history, theory, and practice of modern religious education for a new generation of educators. His self-reflective approach-shared praxis-will inspire school teachers, students of religious education, pastors, parents, and religious educators in local churches who want to understand themselves, their mission, and their surroundings-to inform, form, and transform their students' lives.

"Anyone tugged by the calling at the heart of education or religious life can only cheer for the republication of this classic book."-Robert Kegan, Harvard Graduate School of Education

"Whether returning Christian Religious Education or reading it for the first time, readers will discover freshness leaping from the page; you will soon know why this formative book of the past is a beacon for the future-informative, inspiring, and wise!"-Mary Elizabeth Moore, professor of theology and Christian education, Claremont School of Theology

." . . In Diagramming the Scriptures. . . the curriculum starts with the simple sentence, adds precept upon precept until the learner is able to master complex sentences. . . As each concept is introduced, the student has plenty of practice, followed by quizzes, and later a cumulative test over the entire text. As an educator, a homeschool parent, and a tutor I see this curriculum as an excellent choice for a homeschool, a Christian school classroom, or for an individual of any age who is interested in studying grammar or God's Word, word by word." Deana Haines, Families for Home Education Executive Director ." . .I am quite pleased to recommend your book to college professors as an excellent addition to their basic texts in teaching English grammar. . . Since your examples and exercises utilize Bible sentences, your book is also a valuable asset to the study of hermeneutics." Jim Anderson, Chancellor, Midwestern Baptist College, SBC "Diagramming the Scriptures is a unique way to help focus the Bible student on the words and meanings of Scripture. I commend Shirley Forsen for providing this excellent book and recommend it to all who desire to "go deeper" in their study of God's Word." Dr John A Hash, Bible Pathway Ministries ." . .I recommend Diagramming the Scriptures to all scholars to clarify interpretations of all books and to all teachers of grammar." Glada Kelley, retired teacher and librarian ." . .The best and unique part of Miss Forsen's book is that Bible verses are used for the examples and exercises. This teaches the student an important aspect of "rightly dividing the word of truth": understanding how the structure of the verse influences its meaning. Diagramming the Scriptures teaches necessary skills, both educational and spiritual." Laura Blunk, college freshman