John Stott would never have called it 'mentoring', but, throughout his life, he instinctively drew alongside younger men and women from across the world, gently pastoring them within the context of a warm, genuine and healthy "Paul-Timothy" friendship. Why aren't these intergenerational friendships more common in the Church today? In Transforming Friendship, John Wyatt acknowledges that recent serious scandals and suspicion prevalent in our culture have made people more cautious about these kinds of relationships. The church, therefore, needs to lead the way in seeing friendship transformed into something safe, life-giving and Christlike. Wyatt shares the transformative experience of being Stott's close friend. Using examples from the Bible, Christian history and the church today, he makes the case for a model of "Gospel-crafted" friendship, with a particular emphasis on the need for more Paul-Timothy type relationships like the one he enjoyed with Stott.

The love of friendship has, at the least, established its place as a necessary model of love in Christian tradition. This study shows the deep roots it has in Christian thought, among both ancient and modern writers, and is intended to facilitate further reflection on and exploration of its creative potential now and for the future.

No one can deny that friendships are powerful relationships of influence. Why not strategically incorporate friendship within a philosophy of leadership? People long for relational models of leadership, yet few specific methodologies have been developed. This book examines the friendship of God with humanity, and the leadership of Jesus with his disciples, to whom he declared, "I no longer call you servants . . . Instead, I have called you friends" (John 15:15). In response to this enduring example of the Divine bringing together both friendship and leadership, this book presents an unexplored model of leadership for the Christian practitioner: Friendship Leadership. The authors of Friendship Leadership share research, historical examples, and their personal experiences with this leadership model, as they describe both the trials and triumphs. Through this process, the book addresses the primary barriers a leader might experience when utilizing the Friendship Leadership model. Finally, the authors offer a guide for how to incorporate friendship into their leadership, strengthening others as they follow the example of our great Leader. The result is a transformational way of leading that nurtures relationships.

Are you open to re-imagining your relationship with God as a friendship? Do you want to be transformed into the person God wants you to be? Friendship with God transforms us. As we learn to trust God as our Divine Friend, it has a transforming effect on our whole lives. It affects how we pray, our relationships with each other and the way we understand our everyday lives. It changes the way we think and feel, what we desire and long for, the way we see each other and how we seek to live our lives in the world. We could say our friendship with God creates the climate in which you and I become the people God wants us to be. In his latest book, Friendship with God, Trevor Hudson digs into these two interwoven themes of friendship and personal transformation. He explains that friendship is a helpful analogy for the intimate kind of relationship God wants with us. Put very simply, the gospel invites you and me into friendship with God. When we become friends with Jesus, we are drawn into God’s greater dream for the world. This indeed is the purpose of our lives on earth. We are created to become friends of God and to partner with God in making his dream a greater reality in the world around us. Topics that are addressed include: Living Beyond Loneliness God’s Passionate Longing for Friendship Getting to Know Our Friend Understanding Prayer as Deepening Friendship Looking Outward Together Exploring Our Friend’s Address Book Discerning What Our Friend Wants Us to Do Blessing Others as Our Friend Has Blessed Us Facing Our Fears with Our Friend Asking Our Friend the Hardest Question The creator God who loves us and set the whole universe into existence, and who sustains our lives in the immediacy of each moment, wants our intimate friendship. As you explore this good news you will be encouraged to see your faith and your life in a totally new way.

Conversation is the central spiritual exercise in philosophical and theological reflection on language and love. Groundbreaking in its interdisciplinary approach, Conversation, Friendship and Transformation invites readers to an exploration of theological reflection on conversation and friendship as transformative ways of knowing self, others and God. Contemporary contributions in the areas of rhetorical theory, friendship studies, and gender collaboration provide a fruitful lens through which conversation as discourse may be understood as a pathway for theological inquiry. Augustine’s De doctrina christiana and Confessions manifest a foundational example of reflection on the nature of language and love in the context of basic questions of Christianity and culture. Two texts from the medieval tradition are brought forth to confirm and develop Augustine’s contributions. The Letters of Heloise and Abelard have received substantial scholarly attention from the work of medievalists, historians and literary critics, but require more intentional theological reflection about the relation between the truths of the Christian faith and the collaborative participation of men and women. Thomas Aquinas’ discussion of oratio in the Summa Theologiae is presented for the first time as a pivotal treatise in this profoundly influential text in the history of Western thought.

This book is an introduction to three questions on love according to St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologiae I?II, qq. 26?28). These three questions reflect on the nature of love (q. 26), the causes of love (q. 27), and the effects of love (q. 28). It is thus an introduction to the entire phenomenon of love, both as a bodily passion and an act of the will. The purpose is to present the Thomistic and broadly scholastic account of human and divine love from a philosophical and theological perspective. It aims to be a theological and philosophical study of the topic, useful both for a graduate/professional audience, as part of an undergraduate or graduate course, and perhaps for the educated reader. The thesis of the book is that, contrary to contemporary conceptions, not all loves are created equal. Some loves perfect us and some loves corrupt us. The worth of a love depends on its object and end. St. Thomas thus presents an objective and teleological account of human and divine love that is of philosophical and theological interest. The method is broadly exegetical, presenting a careful reading of the text and supplying the philosophical and theological background which the text of Aquinas assumes. The scope of the work is limited to three questions (ST I?II, qq. 26?28). References to interpretative disputes of Aquinas and references to further resources in the secondary literature will be mostly limited to the footnotes, making the body of the text accessible to more readers.

Some reputable sociological research indicates that a surprising number of evangelical churchgoers are living out a version of the Christian life that's more informed by the values of the surrounding culture than by the discipleship teachings of Jesus and his apostles. Viewing the cause of this disturbing trend in the church to be a "discipleship deficit" that's exacerbated by a "pneumatological deficit," Gary Tyra has written a book that addresses both. In this work, Tyra encourages evangelical Christians of all stripes to become more fully aware of the tremendous difference it makes when the Holy Spirit is experienced in ways that are real and existentially impactful, rather than merely theoretical, conceptual, and/or ritualistic. Intended to be read by church leaders as well as by students in Christian colleges and seminaries, the message here is that the cure for the ministry malady currently confronting us is the recovery of a robust, fully Trinitarian doctrine of the Spirit. A pneumatological realism, says Tyra, combined with an understanding of just how important a spiritual, moral, and missional faithfulness is to a genuine Christian discipleship, can revitalize the lives of individual Christians and churches, making it possible for them to reach their post-Christian peers for Christ!

In recent years, many Christian clergy, laity and mental health professionals have rediscovered the ancient practices of spiritual direction. Seen as a refreshing alternative to the techniques and limitations of modern psychology, such practices offer new insights for pastoral care. But many remain unclear on what spiritual direction is and whether its methods are applicable to their own clients and parishioners. Spiritual direction is a practice of Christian soul care that is found most notably in the Catholic, Orthodox and Episcopal traditions but is also present in Wesleyan/Holiness, Pentecostal/charismatic, social justice and Reformed communities. Predating modern counseling and psychotherapy movements but sharing key principles and insights for spiritual formation, spiritual direction offers significant resources for today s pastors, counselors, therapists, chaplains and other caregivers attuned to the work of God in people s lives. In this landmark volume, editors Gary W. Moon and David G. Benner, along with a team of expert contributors, provide a comprehensive survey of spiritual direction in its myriad Christian forms. Specific chapters offer careful historical perspective and contemporary analysis of how Christians from various backgrounds have practiced spiritual direction, with particular attention to each tradition s definition of spiritual direction, the process of authentic transformation, the role of the spiritual director, indicators of mature spirituality and other aspects of the spiritual direction process. Chapters also provide psychological and clinical insight into how spiritual direction is similar to, different from and can be integrated with psychotherapy and pastoral counseling to help others experience spiritual transformation and union with God.

Collection of addresses by one of the Church of England's most loved and respected pastors.