In this six-session small group Bible study (DVD/digital video sold separately), Andrew Marin leads you in peaceful and productive ways to engage the theological, political and social disconnects between the Christian community and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. Today’s culture often defines ‘bridge building’ and reconciliation as a one-way street that leads to full theological, political and social agreement. Yet Christ demonstrated a different path of religious and cultural engagement to establish his kingdom here on earth. In light of such countercultural principles, the Christian community needs a new view on the issues that divide conservative believers and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities. Andrew Marin uses practical applications he’s learned over the last decade of living and working in the LGBT neighborhood of Chicago (Boystown), as well as his international speaking and consulting ministry, to offer a variety of practical teaching, insights, and life-lessons on reaching the LGBT community. Rather than avoiding the topic of homosexuality, Love Is an Orientation aims to equip the Christian community to bridge the gap between LGBT and religious communities. Instead of discussing how to “fix” gay people, this small group Bible study is all about getting to know them, engage them, and love them like Jesus does. After this study, you, your small group and your church will know what it means to peacefully and productively build bridges with the LGBT community. This Participant Guide is filled with insights, questions for discussion, and applications that will equip you with tools to reach out to the LGBT community in love and understanding. Sessions include: Love Is Our Orientation Building Bridges Theology of Bridge Builders Answering Tough Questions Adolescents and Sexuality Living in the Tension Designed for use with the Love Is an Orientation Video Study (sold separately).

The Miracle Moment Participant's Guideis a six-session workbook designed for use with the companion DVD experience (sold separately). Based on the new book The Miracle Momentby popular speaker Nicole Unice, this is a great resource for anyone wanting to transform their relationships at home, in love, or at work! Designed for group or individual use, The Miracle Moment Participant's Guideis a six-week journey in discovering the practical tools to Learn to respect and respond to your emotions without letting them control you Speak words that help--rather than hurt--the likelihood of your getting what you need Identify and keep yourself safe from toxic people Become comfortable setting and holding boundaries Be your best self even when you're tempted to shut up, blow up, or give up (Don't miss the companion Miracle Moment DVD Experience!)

Readers of the Hebrew Bible are interested readers, bringing their own perspectives to the text. The essays in this volume, written by friends and colleagues who have drawn inspiration from and shown interest in the scholarship of David Clines, engage with his work through examining interpretations of the Hebrew Bible in areas of common exploration: literary/exegetical readings, ideological-critical readings, language and lexicography, and reception history. The contributors are James K. Aitken, Jacques Berlinerblau, Daniel Bodi, Roland Boer, Athalya Brenner, Mark G. Brett, Marc Zvi Brettler, Craig C. Broyles, Philip P. Chia, Jeremy M. S. Clines, Adrian H. W. Curtis, Katharine J. Dell, Susan E. Gillingham, Susanne Gillmayr-Bucher, Edward L. Greenstein, Mayer I. Gruber, Norman C. Habel, Alan J. Hauser, Jan Joosten, Paul J. Kissling, Barbara M. Leung Lai, Diana Lipton, Christl M. Maier, Heather A. McKay, Frank H. Polak, Jeremy Punt, Hugh S. Pyper, Deborah W. Rooke, Eep Talstra, Laurence A. Turner, Stuart Weeks, Gerald O. West, and Ian Young.

This book is excellent for individual reading or can be used as the small group study book for the Christianity's Family Tree DVD based study. Adam Hamilton is, in my opinion, a national treasure. He embodies the kind of generous orthodoxy so many of us have been dreaming of and praying for. This book provides something truly unique—a kind of orientation to Christianity in its wide array of forms that not only educates but inspires. It’s one of the few books I wish every single Christian would read and share with their friends. - Brian McLaren, author of A New Kind of Christian In this wise and practical book, Adam Hamilton serves as a trusted guide to some of the rich diversity of Christian belief and practice. It is a rare feat to acknowledge differences and distinctiveness appreciatively, and Hamilton does it with exceptional grace and insight. - L. Gregory Jones, Dean and Professor of Theology, Duke Divinity School I love this book. Adam Hamilton teaches us that we are far richer than we know, because the beauty and the fullness of the whole church is ours. Read, learn, and be happy. - John Ortberg, author of God Is Closer Than You Think In this book, Adam Hamilton presents a welcoming, inspiring vision of eight Christian denominations and faith traditions. Comparing the Christian family to our own extended families, he contends that each denomination has a unique, valuable perspective to offer on the Christian faith. The traditions he examines are Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Lutheranism, Presbyterianism, Anglicanism, Baptists, Pentecostalism, and Methodism. For each group, Hamilton gives a brief history, outlines major beliefs, and describes some things we can learn from that tradition to strengthen our own Christian faith. Also available is the planning kit for this video-based small-group study Christianity’s Family Tree: What Other Christians Believe and Why. Adam Hamilton is pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, one of the fastest growing, most highly visible churches in the country. Named by PBS’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly as one of the top “Ten People to Watch,” Hamilton is the author of numerous video based small group studies and books from Abingdon Press.

The Christian Orientation Bible Study Guide has an emphasis on old wives' tales, which makes it imperative for us to have a good understanding. If you have recently accepted Jesus (became a new Christian), this Bible study guide will place you on the right path of Christ thoughts and not the world's thinking. Have you ever asked yourself where God came from, pastors and their lifestyles, tithes and offerings, your adversaries, blessings, and Christians in general? Well, this Bible study guide provides some helpful biblical information. If you have loved ones such: as family or friends that you have been trying to witness to well, this Bible study guide is great to witness to anyone about Jesus. In addition, this Bible study guide is powerful and engaging, with an ease of simplicity for all to understand. In addition, this Bible study guide can be used as a church new member's orientation, Sunday school Bible study, prison ministry Bible study, seminary studies, weekly Bible study, personal Bible study, and home Bible study worldwide.

Biblical and progressive. Mainline and charismatic. Faithful and questioning. This book is not what you think it is. The story of the Exodus is told in parallel with testimonies, sermons, and personal reflections from a congregation in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, challenging the reader to a journey of faith. Along the way, it becomes clear that open and affirming ministry transcends LGBTQIA+ inclusion. It is also about race relations, poverty, generational change, divorce, immigration, and any other human-created barrier to loving God and neighbor. Tools for the journey. Finding a new voice amid profound social change is a difficult and vitally important task. Many congregations and entire denominations are in the process of figuring out how to express a new voice of faith, particularly in our understanding of sexuality and gender. Christians are experiencing nothing less than a holy disruption caused by the Spirit among us. The book concludes with a discussion of challenges to community and ministry. Helpful appendices provide congregational resources and discussion questions for group study. The stories in this book include experiences of and with persons in many denominational settings: Roman Catholic, Unitarian-Universalist, Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, Metropolitan Community Church, United Church of Christ, United Brethren, Church of the Brethren, Society of Friends (Quakers), and United Methodist. This is truly an ecumenical journey.

Learn the essentials of fresh expressions for your church. An Ecumenical Field Guide for Fresh Expressions is a practical manual for understanding and implementing Fresh Expressions for a church in any denominational setting. The Fresh Expressions movement is a new way of thinking about the local church and a new way of doing church as a congregation. It refers to new (fresh) iterations or types (expressions) of ministry, usually outside the confines of the church building. These iterations or types of ministries are formed intentionally but organically out in the community, where people are. They are based on shared activities or interests, where people are gathering already, and where the people are open to or interested in learning about Jesus. Christian people share their own stories of how Jesus is part of their lives. Often, these gatherings become regular and increasingly begin to adopt the practices of a church community, like worship, service, study, and giving. Thus, they become fresh expressions of the church from which they sprang.

What happens to faith if you get dementia? Does the real "you" disappear? Does your relationship with God evaporate as neurons begin to disconnect? Will you forget God? Here, the voices of Christians from the evangelical tradition bring insight to the profound questions faith encounters amidst the disorientation of dementia: ". . . even when my brain falls apart . . . nothing can separate me from the love of God . . . faith is stronger." 'Tricia Williams seeks deeper understanding of their faith experience and practice through careful listening and theological reflection within the boundaries of a biblical agenda: who I am, knowing God, experience and practice of faith, the shadows of suffering, embodied memory, spiritual growth, and hope for now. Fresh theological insights and challenges for the church call for creative practices to nurture the faith of disciples of Jesus who live with this disease: "They must remind me." In this book, these voices reveal a growing, positive experience of faith in the light of dementia--and of hope in Christ. Faith does not end with diagnosis: "God . . . has not forgotten me."