What does God want to say and do in your worship service?As a pastor or worship leader, planning a meaningful, relevant, and theologically rich worship experience for your church is of the upmost importance. How do you meet the demands of the modern congregation without getting in the way of what God is doing through worship?Created to Worship: God's Invitation to Become Fully Human is a resource that provides a theology of worship in the Wesleyan tradition. This book will help you plan for a worship service in a discerning manner, while answering the question, 'What does God want to say and do today?'

What does it mean to make Christlike disciples? Discipleship is a common word in churches today. Pastors and leaders are continually looking for resources to help their members develop a deeper understanding of the Christian faith and a closer relationship with Christ. But there's more to discipleship than studying and following Christ's teachings. True discipleship is an invitation to become like Christ; to absorb His passions, behaviors, and wisdom by spending significant time with Him; to engage in a relationship with Him that shapes you into His likeness and in turn, inspires others to do the same. Walk with Me calls pastors, church leaders, teachers, and parents to go beyond basic discipleship and begin to intentionally teach others to be disciplemakers. It explores the importance of teaching mature disciples how their Christ-influenced responses to everyday situations can be used to show others who Jesus is and what it means to be His disciple. With biblical insight, author Hal Perkins explores the call to 'go and make disciples of all nations' and demonstrates how changing the way we act, think, and serve will not only help us fulfill the Great Commission, but also answer the call to love God with all our hearts and minds, and our neighbor as ourselves.

In our world, stories matter. Methods and systems are beneficial because they provide structure and help keep us on the right road; but the motivation and courage to keep walking the road, come from the stories we hear and see and experience-stories that inspire hope and bring us face-to-face with God. For ministers, the call to preach is a call into a story that forms and shapes us. It's about stumbling into revelation as life unwinds and scripture unfolds. It's about listening to God's voice and then sharing it with others. It's about recognizing that when people gather to hear a sermon, God speaks. And it's about understanding that when He speaks, He speaks through you. Preaching the Story That Shapes Us is more than a textbook on preaching. It's an empowering call for preachers to present a picture of the kingdom of God already at work among us, recognizing that the work of preaching is not just about arranging words--it's about people. With elegant prose and crafted reason, Dan Boone weaves together scripture, personal narrative, structure, and theological reflection to provide a satisfying, efficient guide to narrative preaching. From exploring the importance of biography to walking readers through creative processes that shape the sermon, Boone shows preachers how to awaken lives and share the stories of God that reveal who we are and lead us to who we will be.

More than twenty-five years have passed since the publication in 1979 of "Brothers and Sisters to Us," the U.S. Bishops' statement against racism, and during this time white Catholic theologians have remained relatively silent on this topic. In this hard-hitting study, prominent Roman Catholic theologians address white priviletge and the way it contributes to racism. They maintain that systems of white privilege are a significant factor in maintaining evil systems of racism in our country and that most white theologians and ethicists remain ignorant of their negative impact.

One of the most powerful forces in the twenty-first century is the increasing phenomenon of globalization. In nearly every realm of human activity, traditional boundaries are disappearing and people worldwide are more interconnected than ever. Christianity has also become more aware of global realities and the important role of the church in non-Western countries. Church leaders must grapple with the implications for theology and ministry in an ever-shrinking world.
"Globalizing Theology" is a groundbreaking book that addresses these issues of vital importance to the church. It contains articles from leading scholars, including Tite Tienou, Kevin Vanhoozer, Charles Van Engen, M. Daniel Carroll R., Andrew Walls, Vinoth Ramachandra, and Paul Hiebert. Topics covered include the challenges that globalization brings to theology, how we can incorporate global perspectives into our thinking, and the effect a more global theology has on a variety of important issues.

A cry that touches our hearts and awakens our desire to help - in some way - the hundreds of thousands of children around the world who are at risk. Overwhelmed by poverty, war, hunger and separation from family, they are not allowed to be children. They carry guns, they sell themselves to buy food, they live on the streets. Donald Dunson tells the stories of our children from New Orleans to the Sudan. Each chapter profiles three or four individuals as it probes an issue affecting children children including hunger and poverty, was and sexual exploitation, homelessness and the need for love. No Room at the table concludes with a list of resources for involvement and action. It is an eye - and heart - opening work.

Billy Graham, Eugene Peterson, William Willimon and other well-known church leaders teach you how to connect with the congregation through your preaching. Beyond the 'how-to's' of preaching, The Pastor's Guide provides a foundation for embodying God's grace and holiness as a means of communicating His message. Great preachers of our time will teach you how to: Plan an extended preaching schedule Keep your congregation engaged in what you're saying Improve your delivery Develop ideas for content And much more!

What meaning does my life have? What hope is there for the Church? How can I see beyond the media hype and false images I am bombarded with every day? Where can I find God in all this noise and turmoil? Combining moving stories from the inner city with a fresh approach to the Gospel, Faith in Dark Places explores the revolutionary idea that the good news of God's love is being spoken to a tired and damaged world by those rejected as worthless: the homeless and the poor. This radically revised edition, incorporating powerful new insights and reflections, draws on recent theological research and the author's own experience of urban poverty. It examines key biblical texts, such as the Lord's Prayer as a prayer for the poor (in particular the implications of kingdom, bread and trespasses); the Magnificat; and the causes of the crucifixion.

Some people have called epilepsy the disability towards which Christianity has been most antagonistic, partly because of the Church's tendency to attribute demon possession to the condition. Drawing on the very latest thinking in this area, Roy McCloughry, who is committed to supporting the increasing participation of people with disabilities in Christian communities and in society at large, reveals how people's lives are still being blighted by such attitudes, though there is much to celebrate too. This engaging book aims to encourage people to become involved with people with disabilities, as friendship is one of keys to breaking down the barriers which lead to stereotypes and fear.

What does God think about children? What does this tell us about how we should view and treat children today? In re-examining what the Bible says about children, mission theologian Anne Richards argues that God finds children worthy of call, commission, blessing, healing and salvation. She argues that children are not only deeply woven into God's purposes but are also makers of God's story, 'providers to us of a language through which God's will for the creation is revealed.' Interweaving analysis of the Biblical material with stories about contemporary children and childhood, Anne Richards also touches on issues of infertility, consumerism and neglect.

Amidst the many voices clamoring to interpret the environmental crisis, some of the most important are the voices of religious traditions. Long before modernity's industrialism began the rape of Earth, premodern religious and philosophical traditions mediated to untold generations the wisdom of living as a part of nature. These traditions can illuminate and empower wiser ways of postmodern living. The original writings of Worldviews and Ecology creatively present and interpret worldviews of major religious and philosophical traditions on how humans can live more sustainably on a fragile planet. Contributors include Charlene Spretnak, Larry Rasmussen, Noel Brown, Jay McDaniel, Tu Wei-Ming, Thomas Berry, David Ray Griffin, J. Baird Callicott, Eric Katz, Roger E. Timm, Robert A. White, Christopher Key Chapple, Brian Swimme, Brian Brown, Michael Tobias, Ralph Metzner, George Sessions, and Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim. Insights from traditions as diverse as Jain, Jewish, ecofeminist, deep ecology, Christian, Hindu, Bahai, and Whiteheadian will interest all who seek an honest analysis of what religious and philosophical traditions have to say to a modernity whose consciousness and conscience seems tragically narrow, the source of attitudes that imperil the biosphere.