Hospitality

Launching a New Worship Community

Wed, 18 May 2022 15:15:21 GMT

For many churches, the call to make disciples comes with a realization that the church's current worship opportunities do not reach certain groups in their surrounding community. New worship services offer the most promising strategy for renewing established churches and planting new worship communities. In a post-pandemic world, churches will be challenged to reach new people with the gospel and to help them meet in a way that is meaningful to them.

Accessible to ministry professionals and lay leaders, Launching a New Worship Community is a comprehensive guide to starting a new worship community—whether that means an established church beginning a new worship service or a church startup designing its first worship offering. The authors, writing with a team of church planting experts, provide practical advice rooted in solid academics, theology, and real-world experience. With this guide, readers will have the tools they need to begin and sustain a new worship community.

Launching a New Worship Community

Fri, 20 May 2022 15:29:54 GMT

Five Loaves, Two Fish, Twelve Volunteers

Tue, 24 May 2022 18:19:20 GMT

Five Loaves, Two Fish, Twelve Volunteers

Thu, 05 May 2022 20:07:36 GMT

Sixty-two percent of food pantries and meal programs in the United States are faith-based. Most of these ministries are transactional; people needing food interact with church volunteers to earn access to direct service.

Elizabeth Magill advocates relational ministry as a better model for food ministry. People donating food or money eat with the people who need food and get to know them as they serve alongside them. Those needing food share all aspects of the ministry, including planning, setting up, leading, serving, and cleaning. As volunteers become better acquainted with those they serve, they can form deep, meaningful relationships, creating a new way to be the church.

Five Loaves, Two Fish, Twelve Volunteers tells the stories of eight churches that share food ministry with people who need their services. Full of practical advice, this book emphasizes that building relationships and offering radical welcome is more important work for churches than efficiency or order. It helps congregations evaluate their outreach and advises them on how to do it differently.

Five Loaves, Two Fish, Twelve Volunteers

Sat, 14 May 2022 04:10:35 GMT

A Mile in My Shoes

Sat, 14 May 2022 02:15:04 GMT

We can be quick to pray for people around the world in times of trauma, but has prayer become a way to avoid taking real action? Are we reluctant to be fully aware of the suffering around us?

Trevor Hudson challenges us to see, hear, and respond to the needs of others, recognizing the living Christ in all things.

Hudson designed an 8-day program—a pilgrimage—to help all Christians cultivate the depth of compassion Jesus demonstrated. Through this program, pilgrims learn to be present wherever they are and with whomever they meet.

"We seldom become more compassionate without working at it," writes Hudson. "One practical way to cultivate compassion involves building the pilgrimage experience into our lives. …The risen Christ meets us in the lives of those who suffer."

Join Trevor Hudson in this exploration of how to love your neighbor as yourself and choose compassion as part of your daily life.

The Workbook on the Beatitudes

Sat, 14 May 2022 02:13:12 GMT

Want to become more Christlike in your daily life?

Best-selling, father-daughter authors Dunnam and Reisman will help you do that through this 8-week study.

"When we wrote our previous workbook on the 10 Commandments, we intended to add a workbook on the Beatitudes," said Dunnam and Reisman. "The 10 Commandments from Mount Sinai and the Beatitudes from the mount in Capernaum combine to provide a way to be, to walk, and to relate. They offer critical values and principles to guide our every decision."

While the 10 Commandments bear the notion of terrible judgment and what not to do, the Beatitudes offer promise and blessedness to the humblest, the weakest, the weariest. Jesus' masterpiece sermon is the blueprint for Christlike living.

Journey to the slopes above Capernaum where Jesus delivered history's greatest, most sublime sermon. Be challenged to view the Beatitudes not just as a code of conduct to obey but as ethics of grace leading to kingdom living.

As with other workbooks by Dunnam, this book connects wisdom from the Bible, Christian tradition, and theological insight with how you live your life each day. You'll find these helpful tools:

daily readings tied to biblical text
exercises for reflection and blank space to record responses
practical suggestions for weaving ideas into your life
detailed plans for weekly group meetings

Live the lifestyle of the new creation by adopting the true "Jesus way" of life!

The Soulmaking Room

Sat, 14 May 2022 01:13:19 GMT

In this personal story, Dee Dee Risher weaves experiences from her life with the biblical story of the prophet Elisha and the Shunammite woman. Risher is captivated by this spiritually attuned, generous, hospitable, honest, and bold woman. The woman from Shunem extends radical hospitality to the prophet, expecting no reward. But when disaster strikes, she does not hesitate to hold Elisha accountable or talk back.

Hidden in the story, Risher believes, are the questions that lead to a more authentic life:

What does it mean to build a holy room in our lives?
How honestly do we confront our inevitable losses and griefs? As we work to transform our world, how do we grapple with failure?
Do we have the kind of faith that can ask bold questions in the face of death?
What openings does radical hospitality create in our lives?

"Every human being goes through so much," Risher reflects, "and there is some heartbreakingly beautiful fruit we are to shape from that. That is our own unique, authentic gift to the world." Her book encourages each of us to find a holy room in which we are in community with others and where we can shape our souls into their unique dimensions. We each need a space for this work-a soulmaking room.

"If we cannot deal with failure, if we do not know how to put our deepest losses in our holy room, and if we do not know who our people are, we can never fully join the joy and power of God's story," Dee Dee Risher asserts. Embark with her on the adventure of creating and discovering the joys of The Soulmaking Room.

The Soulmaking Room

Sat, 14 May 2022 01:13:31 GMT

Hidden in the story, Risher believes, are the questions that lead to a more authentic life:

What does it mean to build a holy room in our lives?
How honestly do we confront our inevitable losses and griefs? As we work to transform our world, how do we grapple with failure?
Do we have the kind of faith that can ask bold questions in the face of death?
What openings does radical hospitality create in our lives?

The Soulmaking Room

Thu, 05 May 2022 20:37:16 GMT

Hidden in the story, Risher believes, are the questions that lead to a more authentic life:

What does it mean to build a holy room in our lives?
How honestly do we confront our inevitable losses and griefs? As we work to transform our world, how do we grapple with failure?
Do we have the kind of faith that can ask bold questions in the face of death?
What openings does radical hospitality create in our lives?

Room at My Table

Thu, 05 May 2022 20:06:06 GMT

In this delightful collection of 52 devotions, Evelyn Bence reflects on gatherings at her table that have brought together friends, family, and neighbors. The anecdotal meditations ease the door ajar, gently inviting you to welcome others to your table. You see her planning a gathering, choosing recipes, thinking about how to make guests feel at ease.

For seasoned hosts, Bence provides encouragement and camaraderie. For novices, she offers gentle instruction laced with humor, realistic expectations, and recipes to try.

Many readers will remember Evelyn Bence as a frequent contributor to Daily Guideposts. Known for her warm, personal writing, she offers devotional gems and recipes in Room at My Table that will appeal to a wide range of Christian women. The book makes a thoughtful hostess gift.

Come along, Bence gracefully urges — you, too, can make room at your table for others to share a meal or even just a cup of coffee and dessert. Whether your table is humble or grand, you can reach out to others and enjoy offering hospitality.

Room at My Table

Sat, 14 May 2022 01:00:02 GMT

For seasoned hosts, Bence provides encouragement and camaraderie. For novices, she offers gentle instruction laced with humor, realistic expectations, and recipes to try.

Room at My Table

Sat, 14 May 2022 01:00:14 GMT

For seasoned hosts, Bence provides encouragement and camaraderie. For novices, she offers gentle instruction laced with humor, realistic expectations, and recipes to try.

Come along, Bence gracefully urges—you, too, can make room at your table for others to share a meal or even just a cup of coffee and dessert. Whether your table is humble or grand, you can reach out to others and enjoy offering hospitality.

Interruptions

Thu, 05 May 2022 20:45:08 GMT

Life is full of interruptions. You have a flat tire on the way to work. Your phone buzzes, signaling yet another text or e-mail. Or a major interruption blindsides you—the death of a loved one, a job loss, a family member in crisis, or a shattering diagnosis. Where is God in all these situations?

Interruptions: A 40-Day Journey with Jesus provides a chance for you to set aside your stress for a bit and refocus on God. Jacob Armstrong looks at the life of Jesus and gives insights on how you might respond to all the interruptions in your life. The scripture-based meditations guide you to think about interruptions from various angles:

Interruption as an opportunity
Living in a culture of interruptions
Jesus' response to interruptions
Jesus as an interrupter

Armstrong weaves together biblical and contemporary stories in these short, effective devotions. His book will encourage you and remind you that God wants to meet you in all the interruptions of your life.

Interruptions

Sat, 14 May 2022 00:58:03 GMT

Interruption as an opportunity
Living in a culture of interruptions
Jesus' response to interruptions
Jesus as an interrupter

Interruptions

Sat, 14 May 2022 00:58:18 GMT

Interruption as an opportunity
Living in a culture of interruptions
Jesus' response to interruptions
Jesus as an interrupter

Not Just a One-Night Stand

Thu, 05 May 2022 20:40:52 GMT

The story of how a church dying for more than two decades found its soul—and a new identity.

In the foreword to this book, Tex Sample says: "The Christ who is Lord of the Church stands at the margins of the world. To forget either Christ as Lord or the Christ at the margins is to lose our ways as the church…In this faith-inspiring book, John Flowers and Karen Vannoy call the church again to the Christ who is Lord who appears at the margins of established, respectable life."

Not Just a One-Night Stand is based on the ministry experience at Travis Park United Methodist Church in San Antonio, Texas. When you read the chapter titled "You're Under Arrest," you'll gain insight into the personality of Flowers and the ways in which he and Vannoy engage in ministry. Far more than a memoir, Not Just a One-Night Stand offers creative approaches to ministry with those who are marginalized.

You Gave Me a Wide Place

Thu, 05 May 2022 20:41:24 GMT

"You gave me a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip."

—Psalm 18:36

Places are part of our personal story and can be important keys to understanding God's presence in our life.

Whether the sacred place lies at the water's edge, in a quiet, small town or in pristine, high-country mountains, all have felt pulled and connected to a spot. Perhaps at the least likely moment you felt touched by God's presence just when you needed it most, even if it was in a mundane, public place.

No matter how remote or ordinary your special place is, God was (and is) already there—waiting to touch your life.

"God not only gives us grace and divine presence but actively creates 'space' in our places and circumstances," writes Stroble. "The heightened sense we experience may be a gift from God or a way by which we're moved to seek God. We'll explore ways God meets us in the places of our lives—guiding, alerting, inspiring, convicting, and providing insight, comfort and understanding."

In You Gave Me a Wide Place, Stroble intersperses personal stories with those about the sacred places of Hagar, Jacob, Paul, Christ, and other biblical figures. The readings and exercises are designed to help us identify where God's presence has "widened" (or made sacred) a place in our own lives.

Included within this book is a 6-week guide with prayers and questions for an enriching small-group study.

Recognize your own places of parables and memories of happiness, strength, grace, and peace—places where God moved you in ways you could not have moved on your own.

A Mile in My Shoes

Thu, 05 May 2022 20:31:46 GMT

We can be quick to pray for people around the world in times of trauma, but has prayer become a way to avoid taking real action? Are we reluctant to be fully aware of the suffering around us?

Trevor Hudson challenges us to see, hear, and respond to the needs of others, recognizing the living Christ in all things.

Join Trevor Hudson in this exploration of how to love your neighbor as yourself and choose compassion as part of your daily life.

A Mile in My Shoes

Sat, 14 May 2022 02:14:52 GMT

We can be quick to pray for people around the world in times of trauma, but has prayer become a way to avoid taking real action? Are we reluctant to be fully aware of the suffering around us?

Trevor Hudson challenges us to see, hear, and respond to the needs of others, recognizing the living Christ in all things.

Join Trevor Hudson in this exploration of how to love your neighbor as yourself and choose compassion as part of your daily life.