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Embracing God's Future without Forgetting the Past

Embracing God's Future without Forgetting the Past PDF Author: Michael K. Girlinghouse
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1506458890
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 294

Book Description
Many congregations today are dealing with changes that have led to decline and significant loss. In Embracing God's Future without Forgetting the Past, Michael K. Girlinghouse argues that until a congregation comes to terms with its perceived losses through a healthy process of grief, it will be paralyzed in the present and unable to think creatively about the future. Acknowledging and expressing grief will give the congregation the courage to redefine its relationship with the past and draw strength and encouragement from its memories as it steps into the future. Drawing on more than thirty years of ministry experience in varied settings and concurrent study and teaching about loss, grief, and nostalgia, Girlinghouse shows clergy, church staff, and lay leaders how they can work through the experience of loss and grief, both personally and in their congregation. Part 1 discusses loss and grief using a contemporary, task-based model for the grief process. It also introduces recent research on the value of nostalgia. In part 2, Girlinghouse helps leaders tell their congregation's story, including its losses, examine how that story fits in our current social context, and explore ways to accept the reality of its losses and express grief over them. Part 3 considers ways congregations can think more adaptively and creatively about the future without forgetting or devaluing the past. Girlinghouse presents appreciative inquiry as a tool to discover and build on a congregation's strengths while coming to terms with its losses. Part 4 is about embracing God's future for the congregation, "remembering forward," and making the changes necessary to move from the sadness of loss to the joy of taking up life again. Each chapter includes a Bible study and questions for reflection and discussion.

Embracing God's Future without Forgetting the Past

Embracing God's Future without Forgetting the Past PDF Author: Michael K. Girlinghouse
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1506458890
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 294

Book Description
Many congregations today are dealing with changes that have led to decline and significant loss. In Embracing God's Future without Forgetting the Past, Michael K. Girlinghouse argues that until a congregation comes to terms with its perceived losses through a healthy process of grief, it will be paralyzed in the present and unable to think creatively about the future. Acknowledging and expressing grief will give the congregation the courage to redefine its relationship with the past and draw strength and encouragement from its memories as it steps into the future. Drawing on more than thirty years of ministry experience in varied settings and concurrent study and teaching about loss, grief, and nostalgia, Girlinghouse shows clergy, church staff, and lay leaders how they can work through the experience of loss and grief, both personally and in their congregation. Part 1 discusses loss and grief using a contemporary, task-based model for the grief process. It also introduces recent research on the value of nostalgia. In part 2, Girlinghouse helps leaders tell their congregation's story, including its losses, examine how that story fits in our current social context, and explore ways to accept the reality of its losses and express grief over them. Part 3 considers ways congregations can think more adaptively and creatively about the future without forgetting or devaluing the past. Girlinghouse presents appreciative inquiry as a tool to discover and build on a congregation's strengths while coming to terms with its losses. Part 4 is about embracing God's future for the congregation, "remembering forward," and making the changes necessary to move from the sadness of loss to the joy of taking up life again. Each chapter includes a Bible study and questions for reflection and discussion.

Lily Packed a Facemask

Lily Packed a Facemask PDF Author: Larry E. Thomas
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1666713325
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 137

Book Description
At the end of February 2020, Larry and Ann Thomas left their home in Issaquah, Washington, for a three-week vacation visiting family in Colorado and Texas. News of the coronavirus pandemic was slowly spreading. By the middle of March 2020 the world had changed and the global pandemic was in full swing. The Thomases decided to shelter in place in Flower Mound, Texas, for the next six weeks. On March 17, 2020, when Larry returned to his work as the interim pastor at Sammamish Hills Lutheran Church in Sammamish, Washington, it was from a makeshift office in Texas, not his office in Sammamish. Working remotely, Pastor Thomas began organizing weekly virtual prayer gatherings and Bible studies. In order to connect with the congregation, he started writing pastoral letters as a way of reflecting on the intersection of faith, hope, and love while living through the pandemic. Lily Packed a Facemask is a chronicle of one pastor's commitment to engage with a congregation during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. Grounded in biblical texts, Thomas takes the threads of a variety of writers and contemporary resources and weaves a tapestry of living life faithfully in the midst of a year of constant changes and challenges.

Stuck

Stuck PDF Author: Todd W. Ferguson
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
ISBN: 1506480837
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 214

Book Description
This book lets pastors who feel stuck know that they're not alone or crazy, and it's not their fault. It helps congregations better support their clergy. And it joins in the conversation about reshaping seminary training and professional development.

Sing with All the People of God

Sing with All the People of God PDF Author: Chad Fothergill
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress
ISBN: 1506469566
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 128

Book Description
Sing with all the People of God by Chad Fothergill will be especially valuable for church musicians as well as pastors and other rostered leaders. It addresses topics such as skillful preparation, planning, and leadership of assembly song, working with volunteer musicians and staff, navigating questions of musical style, and more.

Love and Serve

Love and Serve PDF Author: Pastor Ross L. Worch
Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
ISBN: 1098092422
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 785

Book Description
Love and Serve is composed of 377 devotions to give daily guidance in our servant ministry to reflect God's love to all around us. There are 366 devotions for every day of the year, plus eleven additional devotions for the Church year celebrations that move around the calendar because they are controlled by the changing date of Easter each year. That makes this devotional book useable year after year. By ecclesiastical rules, Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the first day of spring. There are thirty-five possible dates for Easter, from March 22 to April 25. The devotions for Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost can be plugged in each year on the specific date that applies for that year. Love and Serve is really a group of 377 mini-sermons to help us turn God's Word into daily action. Each devotion is headed by words from the Bible, and the devotion answers the question, "What does this mean for us in the twenty-first century?" And each devotion ends with a short prayer that is intended to help us put our words into action. This love (agape) is the kind of unconditional love that God has for each of us and the way God wants us to love each other. Agape, when done as God intended, is a verb, an action word. God calls on us to be his ambassadors here on earth. We are to represent God to our neighbors. Love and Serve, used daily, can greatly assist in this endeavor. We are called upon to love God and neighbor and to do God's work with our hands. We are called to love and serve.

2020s Foresight

2020s Foresight PDF Author: Tom Sine
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1506464874
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 262

Book Description
In 2020s Foresight, authors Tom Sine and Dwight Friesen seek to "wake up" Christian leaders and those whom they serve to the realities that leaders in other fields must deal with all the time. We are no longer simply living in changing times. We live in the reality that we are racing into a new world of accelerating change. The authors want to enable leaders in churches and Christian organizations to learn how to lead in this time of acceleration. They focus on three vital practices: foresight (analyzing the accelerating changes and anticipating new opportunities and strategies for addressing change); reflection (discerning biblical purposes for times like these); and creating innovative ways to engage new challenges so as to advance God's purposes in our lives, congregations, and organizations in the 2020s. The book is intended to equip Christian leaders to anticipate some of the new challenges in the 2020s; discover God's shalom purposes for our lives, the church, and God's world; and create innovative new possibilities for our lives, communities, and congregations that both engage new opportunities and advance God's purposes.

Called to Bless

Called to Bless PDF Author: Robert D. Cornwall
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 172526868X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 122

Book Description
What does your spiritual DNA look like? In terms of your spiritual identity, where do you come from and where are you going? We live in an age when many Christians have experienced several denominational and religious communities. Many wonder what to do with these experiences. At the same time many congregations are made up of people who come from different traditions, and the question is how to bring these diverse experiences into the life of the congregation in an enriching way. If we take as our starting point, the call of Abraham and Sarah to take a journey to an unknown land with the promise that their descendants would be a blessing to the nations, what might this look like in terms of our spiritual lives? Join with the author as he draws on his spiritual journey that has taken him into several denominational traditions, as well as his experiences as a pastor and historical theologian, to discern values and concepts that can help congregations and individuals make sense of their diverse spiritual experiences, so that together we might fulfill the Abrahamic calling, reaffirmed in Christ, to be a blessing to the nations.

Christ in Our Home: October, November, December 2020

Christ in Our Home: October, November, December 2020 PDF Author:
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress
ISBN: 150647439X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 100

Book Description
Christ in Our Home is a quarterly Christian devotional that brings you a daily message of God's amazing grace. Reflections and prayers are based on scripture readings from Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings. Each day offers a Bible verse, a personal commentary or meditation, a suggested prayer concern, and a unique prayer. Enjoyed by readers for more than 60 years, Christ in Our Home is now available electronically.

Christ in Our Home: Jul-Sep 2022

Christ in Our Home: Jul-Sep 2022 PDF Author:
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress
ISBN: 1506491235
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 100

Book Description
Christ in Our Home is a quarterly Christian devotional that brings you a daily message of God's amazing grace. Reflections and prayers are based on scripture readings from Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings. Each day offers a Bible verse, a personal commentary or meditation, a suggested prayer concern, and a unique prayer. Enjoyed by readers for more than 60 years, Christ in Our Home is now available electronically.

A Woman with a Past, A God with a Future

A Woman with a Past, A God with a Future PDF Author: Elsa Kok
Publisher: New Hope Publishers
ISBN: 1596697067
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 141

Book Description
To some women with painful pasts, becoming a Christian means forgetting about their harmful habits, poor choices, or damaging relationships—placing an imaginary line between their old life and their new life. But often their pasts keep coming back to haunt them, causing unforgiveness, brokenness, and discouragement. This 12-week interactive Bible study, written at an easy-to-read level, will walk women through the process of uncovering their story, understanding it, and allowing God to incorporate it into a future full of hope and adventure. A great evangelistic tool, this book is a partner to the author’s first study, A Woman Who Hurts, A God Who Heals.