Dear Church

Dear Church PDF Author: Lenny Duncan
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1506452574
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
Lenny Duncan is the unlikeliest of pastors. Formerly incarcerated, he is now a black preacher in the whitest denomination in the United States: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Shifting demographics and shrinking congregations make all the headlines, but Duncan sees something else at work--drawing a direct line between the church's lack of diversity and the church's lack of vitality. The problems the ELCA faces are theological, not sociological. But so are the answers. Part manifesto, part confession, and all love letter, Dear Church offers a bold new vision for the future of Duncan's denomination and the broader mainline Christian community of faith. Dear Church rejects the narrative of church decline and calls everyone--leaders and laity alike--to the front lines of the church's renewal through racial equality and justice. It is time for the church to rise up, dust itself off, and take on forces of this world that act against God: whiteness, misogyny, nationalism, homophobia, and economic injustice. Duncan gives a blueprint for the way forward and urges us to follow in the revolutionary path of Jesus. Dear Church also features a discussion guide at the back--perfect for church groups, book clubs, and other group discussion.

Dear Church

Dear Church PDF Author: Lenny Duncan
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1506452574
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 166

Get Book Here

Book Description
Lenny Duncan is the unlikeliest of pastors. Formerly incarcerated, he is now a black preacher in the whitest denomination in the United States: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Shifting demographics and shrinking congregations make all the headlines, but Duncan sees something else at work--drawing a direct line between the church's lack of diversity and the church's lack of vitality. The problems the ELCA faces are theological, not sociological. But so are the answers. Part manifesto, part confession, and all love letter, Dear Church offers a bold new vision for the future of Duncan's denomination and the broader mainline Christian community of faith. Dear Church rejects the narrative of church decline and calls everyone--leaders and laity alike--to the front lines of the church's renewal through racial equality and justice. It is time for the church to rise up, dust itself off, and take on forces of this world that act against God: whiteness, misogyny, nationalism, homophobia, and economic injustice. Duncan gives a blueprint for the way forward and urges us to follow in the revolutionary path of Jesus. Dear Church also features a discussion guide at the back--perfect for church groups, book clubs, and other group discussion.

Dear Timothy

Dear Timothy PDF Author: Thomas Ascol
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781943539017
Category : Pastoral care
Languages : en
Pages : 365

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Book Description
This collection of writings from seasoned pastors contains over 700 years of combined ministry experience for old and new pastors alike.

Dear Son

Dear Son PDF Author: Jonathan B. Hall
Publisher: Chalice Press
ISBN: 0827206801
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
What does it mean to be a faith-filled dad to a son? There are no shortage of media stereotypes, masculine caricatures, and talk-show opinions, but do they offer any helpful or practical advice for father’s today? Dear Son: Raising Faithful, Just, and Compassionate Men is a candid examination of fatherhood’s joys and difficulties. Framed in a series of letters from two dads to their still-young sons, this book offers alternative perspectives on what faithful fatherhood looks like today. Instead of reinforcing sexist social dynamics and machismo attitudes, authors Hall and Underwood articulate and defend an understanding of masculinity that presents a father as a servant of God, a man of emotion, and someone striving to raise sons committed to fixing the injustices of the world rather than perpetuating them. Dear Son is a call to action for other fathers to deeply reflect—especially in light of their Christian faith—on what it means to have someone look at them and say, “Dad...” and to be able to respond with their whole heart.

United States of Grace

United States of Grace PDF Author: Lenny Duncan
Publisher: Broadleaf Books
ISBN: 1506464076
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
"This lyrical testament to life as 'a blind date with mercy' will challenge and inspire."--Publishers Weekly [Starred Review] In 1991, when he was 13 years old, Lenny Duncan stepped out of his house in West Philadelphia, walked to the Greyhound station, and bought a ticket--the start of his great American adventure. Today Duncan, who inspired and challenged audiences with his breakout first book, Dear Church, brings us a deeply personal story about growing up Black and queer in the U.S. In his characteristically powerful voice he recounts hitchhiking across the country, spending time in solitary confinement, battling for sobriety, and discovering a deep faith, examining pressing issues like poverty, mass incarceration, white supremacy, and LGBTQ inclusion through an intimate portrayal of his life's struggles and joys. United States of Grace is a love story about America, revealing the joy and resilience of those places in this country many call "the margins" but that Lenny Duncan has called home. This book makes the bold claim that God is present with us in the most difficult of circumstances, bringing life out of death.

Dear England

Dear England PDF Author: Stephen Cottrell
Publisher: Hodder Faith
ISBN: 9781529360967
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description


Dear Son

Dear Son PDF Author: David Bruskas
Publisher: Tyndale House
ISBN: 1414395825
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Today’s culture doesn’t encourage men to grow up. Everyone from pastors to op-ed columnists have described a crisis of masculinity, fostered by a media culture that uniformly make men the butts of jokes. Men are much more likely to give up on life than women. One indicator of this is the large gender difference in suicide rates—men are four times more likely than women to drop out of life. This points to a profound lack of effective mentoring of men, especially in the church. Dave Bruskas seeks to fill in this gap with this book. Two decades ago, Dave lost his only infant son to a congenital heart defect. That devastating loss fueled his desire to provide effective mentoring to young men. Dear Son contains the guidance and insights Dave would have given his son if he had lived through the milestones of growing up: from first dates to first jobs, from weddings to births, from friendships to funerals. Dear Son contains heartfelt wisdom for life’s journey, especially for guys—and for those who want to strengthen them.

Stuff That Needs To Be Said

Stuff That Needs To Be Said PDF Author: John Pavlovitz
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780578682501
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
Over the past few years, John Pavlovitz's blog, Stuff That Needs To Be Said, has become a virtual hub for millions of people from all over the world, drawn there by his clear, compelling words on compassion, equity, love, and justice. This expansive, like-hearted community transcends race, orientation, gender, religious tradition, political affiliation, and nation of origin--and finds its affinity in the deeper place of our shared humanity, which is the True North of his writing. This collection lovingly pulls together some of John's most widely-read and most beloved essays on faith, politics, grief, and the elemental parts of being human. It is an encouraging, inspiring, challenging storehouse of "stuff that needs to be said."

Dear White Christians

Dear White Christians PDF Author: Jennifer Harvey
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 1467459615
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
“If reconciliation is the takeaway point for the civil rights story we usually tell, then the takeaway point for the more complex, more truthful civil rights story contained in Dear White Christians is reparations.” — from the preface to the second edition With the troubling and painful events of the last several years—from the killing of numerous unarmed Black men and women at the hands of police to the rallying of white supremacists in Charlottesville—it is clearer than ever that the reconciliation paradigm, long favored by white Christians, has failed to heal the deep racial wounds in the church and American society. In this provocative book, originally published in 2014, Jennifer Harvey argues for a radical shift away from the well-meaning but feeble longing for reconciliation toward a robustly biblical call for reparations. Now in its second edition—with a new preface addressing the explosive changes in American culture and politics since 2014, as well as an appendix that explores what a reparations paradigm can actually look like—Dear White Christians calls justice-committed Christians to do the gospel-inspired work of opposing racist social structures around them. Harvey’s message is historically and scripturally rooted, making it ideal for facilitating the difficult but important discussions about race that are so desperately needed in churches and faith-centered classrooms across the country.

Courage, Dear Heart

Courage, Dear Heart PDF Author: Rebecca K. Reynolds
Publisher: NavPress
ISBN: 1631467700
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
“The world is broken. I am broken. And my need is dire.” This stark revelation is the path to divine surrender. Our courage has a chance to flourish when we reach a point where we have no control and nothing to lose. In a series of letters, Rebecca Reynolds uses imagery to breathe truth to the lonely, the weary, the restless, and afraid. If you feel the ache of brokenness, you will be refreshed by the source of all courage illuminated in these pages. God is available and wants to join you, in the midst of any mess. You can take heart. As Aslan of Narnia whispered (and only Lucy heard), Courage, dear heart.

Dear God... Really?

Dear God... Really? PDF Author: Bryan Duncan
Publisher: Engage Faith
ISBN: 9781936672578
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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Book Description
How do you talk with God? Do your prayers reflect what you're really thinking, what's really going through your heart? Or do you edit yourself and hope that God didn't just hear that? Fortunately for us, Bryan Duncan doesn't have that edit button. Here he has put down in writing the prayers most of us hide: poignant, sarcastic, and grit-and-grime real... the observations of a flawed believer. After 40 years of developing his personal relationship with God, he has decided to lay all his cards on the table and share them with you. You'll laugh and cringe, and most likely recognize a little bit of yourself, as well.