Inspiring Faith Communities

Inspiring Faith Communities PDF Author: Michael Hurley
Publisher: Messenger Publications
ISBN: 1788122747
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
The great value of this book is that it helps people to explore together how they can live life more fully and with authentic freedom. It has all the more relevance today in an impact of Covid 19 is to push us to a new depth of interiority and to seek new answers that give meaning and vitality. This book has three distinct parts: Part one outlines three convictions that guide its direction and the program it describes. Firstly, God desires what is best for all people and invites each one personally to know him and to live with responsible freedom, self-determination and confidence in his wisdom and mercy. Secondly, every baptized Christian is called to evangelize, namely, to reach out beyond themselves in a way that proclaims and expresses the goodness of God, through action and words and thus enriches those whom they meet Thirdly, the parish is an important entity in the renewal of God’s people as a dwelling place of God among them. Here people meet in communion with one another to worship God, to encounter him, and to be send forth. The author admits that these three convictions are deeply held by him, and have provided compass points for his ministry. Part two is the central core of the book. It outlines a program that gives flesh and reality to its three underpinning convictions. It provides a practical step- by step outline for people to plan, launch and direct the program in a way that helps participants come to know God’s providence and love amid the contradictions and joys of daily living, and live as his beloved children. It then forms and inspires them to live their relationships in a spirit of joyful service and with love towards all whom they meet, and in a way that enhances renewal and community connections within their parish. Each week presents an important facet of Christian living in a style that is easy to follow, while at the same time inspirational. It all means that hosting this program is within the capacity of anyone who knows a genuine encounter with God, and a desire to share his love with others. Part three consists of a scripture passage and a brief reflection for each day for the duration of the program. It supports the theme of each week. It seeks to help people to pray with the help of the scriptures; to inspire a new or more personal relationship with Christ; and to yield to the mystery of God’s loving. Then what may have proved to be elusive in the past becomes part of one’s own personal story. Part three can equally be looked upon as a booklet, which stands on its own, and which can be used with profound effect as a personal support in recognizing God who is continually searching for them. In an easy to read style, this book will provide possibilities and sightlines for individuals, communities and parishes, in their search for authentic freedom, renewal, and community.

Inspiring Faith Communities

Inspiring Faith Communities PDF Author: Michael Hurley
Publisher: Messenger Publications
ISBN: 1788122747
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 144

Get Book Here

Book Description
The great value of this book is that it helps people to explore together how they can live life more fully and with authentic freedom. It has all the more relevance today in an impact of Covid 19 is to push us to a new depth of interiority and to seek new answers that give meaning and vitality. This book has three distinct parts: Part one outlines three convictions that guide its direction and the program it describes. Firstly, God desires what is best for all people and invites each one personally to know him and to live with responsible freedom, self-determination and confidence in his wisdom and mercy. Secondly, every baptized Christian is called to evangelize, namely, to reach out beyond themselves in a way that proclaims and expresses the goodness of God, through action and words and thus enriches those whom they meet Thirdly, the parish is an important entity in the renewal of God’s people as a dwelling place of God among them. Here people meet in communion with one another to worship God, to encounter him, and to be send forth. The author admits that these three convictions are deeply held by him, and have provided compass points for his ministry. Part two is the central core of the book. It outlines a program that gives flesh and reality to its three underpinning convictions. It provides a practical step- by step outline for people to plan, launch and direct the program in a way that helps participants come to know God’s providence and love amid the contradictions and joys of daily living, and live as his beloved children. It then forms and inspires them to live their relationships in a spirit of joyful service and with love towards all whom they meet, and in a way that enhances renewal and community connections within their parish. Each week presents an important facet of Christian living in a style that is easy to follow, while at the same time inspirational. It all means that hosting this program is within the capacity of anyone who knows a genuine encounter with God, and a desire to share his love with others. Part three consists of a scripture passage and a brief reflection for each day for the duration of the program. It supports the theme of each week. It seeks to help people to pray with the help of the scriptures; to inspire a new or more personal relationship with Christ; and to yield to the mystery of God’s loving. Then what may have proved to be elusive in the past becomes part of one’s own personal story. Part three can equally be looked upon as a booklet, which stands on its own, and which can be used with profound effect as a personal support in recognizing God who is continually searching for them. In an easy to read style, this book will provide possibilities and sightlines for individuals, communities and parishes, in their search for authentic freedom, renewal, and community.

Living Words

Living Words PDF Author: Michael Hurley
Publisher: Messenger Publications
ISBN: 1788123042
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 54

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Book Description
A collection of readings and reflections for participants in the Inspiring Faith Communities program.

Living Words

Living Words PDF Author: Michael Hurley
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781788122962
Category : Devotional literature, English
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description
A collection of readings and reflections for participants in the Inspiring Faith Communities programme.

Slow Church

Slow Church PDF Author: C. Christopher Smith
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830841148
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
In today's fast-food world, Christianity can seem outdated or archaic. The temptation becomes to pick up the pace and play the game. But Chris Smith and John Pattison invites us to leave franchise faith behind and enter the kingdom of God, where people know each other well and love one another as Christ loves the church.

The Exuberant Church

The Exuberant Church PDF Author: Barbara Glasson
Publisher: Darton, Longman & Todd
ISBN: 9780232528619
Category : Listening
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This visionary book from one of the most intriguing and unsettling new voices to have emerged from the churches in recent years finds life and growth in surprising places.Barbara Glasson’s widely discussed first book, I Am Somewhere Else, described ‘the bread church’, the inclusive faith community in Liverpool where people gathered to bake bread and worship God together. She has since worked with lesbian, gay and transgendered Christians, with survivors of childhood sexual abuse, with a group of disabled ministers and with other individuals and groups dealing with trauma and displacement. It is in these ‘prophetic communities’ that she has discovered new ways of understanding the transforming power of the love of God.The ‘Exuberant Church is not a church on a ‘journey’, not an ‘emerging church’, but something more explosive and unpredictable and messy, a church undergoing the strange, frightening but liberating process of ‘coming out’. In The Exuberant Church we are invited to a new way of understanding mission and the church. At a time of meltdown, reorientation and confusion, Barbara Glasson sees hope for the churches in communities sometimes seen as threatening and troubling, and in the process of ‘coming out’ something both profoundly human and deeply of God.

Creating the Future Together

Creating the Future Together PDF Author: Loren B. Mead
Publisher: Alban Books
ISBN: 9781566993647
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Congregations today face a multitude of challenges in trying to adapt to a quickly changing world. Balancing new concerns with core values is a complicated process that can leave too many members feeling that their voices and needs are not being met. Loren B. Mead and Billie T. Alban have developed Creating the Future Together to share their knowledge of how congregations can use large group methods to navigate these new waters. Large group methods involve getting all the stakeholders together to work on major issues of common concern. Mead and Alban outline four such methods--two for identifying a preferred future and two designed to create community and discover common interest. This book is not meant to be a how-to volume; its primary purpose is to familiarize leaders with these whole-system approaches and to provide a conceptual framework for evaluating their potential usefulness against any given challenge. The authors also share stories from a variety of Christian and Jewish faith communities where ordinary religious leaders, lay and clergy together, have faced issues related to change using large group methods. Combining their wealth of experience in leading religious and secular bodies through times of change, Mead and Alban bring hope to faith communities as they work to embrace, and even thrive through, the need for change.

Inspiring Faith in Schools

Inspiring Faith in Schools PDF Author: Marius Felderhof
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317115937
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Inspiring Faith in Schools addresses the privileging of secularism that appears to affect RE in countries influenced by modern western thought. The authors argue that a more engaging form of RE would emerge if religious life were to inhabit centre stage. Currently religious faith is made to hover in the wings awaiting the call to face the inquisitorial challenge of the modern day enquirer. The consequent relationship between pupil and the Divine as the purpose of study is then already intrinsically irreligious, as indicated in the Book of Job by putting God in the dock, whereas it is the pupil who should be (cross-)examining his or her life. What are the ways of exciting and engaging the young so that they begin to entertain the possibility of religious life as a genuine option for themselves? Leading scholars in philosophy and theology from the UK, Australia, Canada and the USA come together to address these questions together with RE experts. Marius Felderhof writes an Afterword summing up the challenges faced by such a re-visioning of RE.

Making Sense of God

Making Sense of God PDF Author: Timothy Keller
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0525954155
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
We live in an age of skepticism. Our society places such faith in empirical reason, historical progress, and heartfelt emotion that it’s easy to wonder: Why should anyone believe in Christianity? What role can faith and religion play in our modern lives? In this thoughtful and inspiring new book, pastor and New York Times bestselling author Timothy Keller invites skeptics to consider that Christianity is more relevant now than ever. As human beings, we cannot live without meaning, satisfaction, freedom, identity, justice, and hope. Christianity provides us with unsurpassed resources to meet these needs. Written for both the ardent believer and the skeptic, Making Sense of God shines a light on the profound value and importance of Christianity in our lives.

Refugia Faith

Refugia Faith PDF Author: Debra Rienstra
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1506473806
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
Refugia Faith: Seeking Hidden Shelters, Ordinary Wonders, and the Healing of the Earth explores how Christian spirituality and practice must adapt to prepare for life on a climate-altered planet. Refugia (reh-FU-jee-ah) is a biological term describing places of shelter where life endures in times of crisis, such as a volcanic eruption, fire, or stressed climate. Ideally, these refugia endure, expand, and connect so that new life emerges. Debra Rienstra applies this concept to human culture and faith, asking, In this era of ecological devastation, how can Christians become people of refugia? How can we find and nurture these refugia, not only in the biomes of the earth, but in our human cultural systems and in our spiritual lives? How can we apply all our love and creativity to this task as never before? Rienstra recounts her own process of reeducation--beginning not as a scientist or an outdoors enthusiast but by examining the wisdom of theologians and philosophers, farmers and nature writers, scientists and activists, and especially people on the margins. By weaving nature writing, personal narrative, and theological reflection, Rienstra grapples honestly with her own fears and longings and points toward a way forward--a way to transform Christian spirituality and practice, become a healer on a damaged earth, and inspire others to do the same. Refugia Faith speaks to people securely within the faith as well as to those on the edge, providing a suitable entry for those who sense that this era of upheaval requires a transformed faith but who don't quite know where to begin.

Faith Community Nursing

Faith Community Nursing PDF Author: P. Ann Solari-Twadell
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030161269
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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Book Description
A multi-authored book, with editors and authors who are leaders in Faith Community Nursing (FCN) that aims to address contemporary issues in faith-based, whole person, community based health offering cost effective, accessible, patient centered care along the patient continuum while challenging contemporary health policy to include more health promotion services. Twenty-five chapters take the reader from a foundational understanding of this historic grass-roots movement to the present day international specialty nursing practice. The book is structured into five sections that describe both the historical advancement of the Faith Community Nursing, its current implications and future challenges, taking into account the perspectives of the pastor, congregation, nurse, health care system and public health national and international organizations. The benefits of this book are that it is intended for a mixed audience including lay, academic, medical professionals or health care executives. By changing the mindset of the reader to see the nurse as more than providing illness care, the faith community as more than a place one goes to on Sunday and health as more than physical, creative alternatives for promoting health emerge through Faith Community Nursing.