Inclusion, says the author, is a discipline of consciously extending the boundaries of our communities to embrace and affirm people of diverse backgrounds and experiences. In this resource for ministers and church leaders, Law provides models, theories, and strategies that are both practical and theologically sound for moving faith communities toward greater inclusion.
With this much-needed handbook, the authors brilliantly combine their experience guiding dozens of churches through the change process with both the study of Christian disciplines and the sophisticated understanding of such important business thinkers as John Kotter on leading change and Peter Senge on learning organizations. In this eminently readable book the authors have distilled…
The book is organized into three divisions, and as the title implies, there is a brief letter in the form of a New Testament epistle to the contemporary church, a portion of which begins each chapter. The first division reexamines the gifts and redemptive possibilities of anger and conflict. The barriers to healthy anger-conflict are…
Learn How to Contribute More Effectively and Compassionately to the Conversations that Shape Your Life “Anything could happen when we start to talk. Nothing will happen if we don’t. That alone makes the way of dialogue a journey worth taking.” —from the Epilogue Think of an issue that makes your blood boil. Now imagine lunch…
Ideas of the Christian church are changing, and Letty Russell envisions its future as partnership and sharing for all memebers around a common table of hospitality. Dr. Russell draws on her interracial urban pastorate, her classes in theology, and many ecumenical conversations to help the newly emereging church face the challenges of liberation for all…
Justin Tanis, a transgendered ordained minister in the Metropolitan Community Churches, seeks to explore the spiritual nature of transgendered persons, to listen to the stories of others like himself, and to provide theological reflection on the ministries of, by and for this particular community. The book includes an introduction to trans issues, an overview of…
Over Coffee is a narrative piece couched in the coffee-house conversation between Dave and a small-town pastor concerning a gay church member who desires to be partnered in the church. Over Coffee warmly introduces the reader to a biblical, faith-based dialogue for providing room on the pew in today’s most conservative churches for gay partnered…
“The book chronicles Cheri DiNovo’s own attempts as a minister to expand the membership of a rapidly shrinking congregation in a poor, inner city Toronto neighborhood. As a result, DiNovo discovers that, in her congregation’s decision to evangelize among the marginalized and “queer” in their neighborhood, church members are radically changed by realizing how “queer”…
Different groups interpret the Bible according to their core beliefs, emphasizing some ideas while allowing others to lie dormant. In this reflection on the meaning of Scripture, Peter Fitch argues that the Bible itself gives many clues as to the appropriate lens with which to read it: love. It is not meant as a rulebook,…
“Every generation has its hot-button issue,” writes David P. Gushee, “For us, it’s the LGBT issue.” In Changing Our Mind, Gushee takes the reader along his personal and theological journey as he changes his mind about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender inclusion in the Church. “For decades now, David Gushee has earned the reputation as…