Social Ministry

In the COVID crisis, the beloved shepherd of over one billion Catholics saw the cruelty and inequity of our society exposed more vividly than ever before. He also saw, in the resilience, generosity, and creativity of so many people, the means to rescue our society, our economy, and our planet. In direct, powerful prose, Pope Francis urges us not to let the pain be in vain.

Dan Strange encourages Christians to engage with everything they watch, to read and play in a positive and discerning way. He also teaches Christians how to think and speak about culture in a way that plugs in to a bigger and better reality - the story of King Jesus, and his cosmic plan for the world. It's possible to watch TV and read novels and play video games in a way that actually feeds our faith, rather than withers it. It's even possible for you - yes, you - to be that person who starts off talking to a mate about last night's football and ends up talking about Jesus.

Christian preaching is a God-appointed means of transforming its hearers in both head and heart, not only in intellect but also in affections. With clear examples of specific methods, John Piper shows preachers how and what to communicate from the pulpit in a way that takes seriously the task of handling the word of God week in and week out in the context of, and as, Christian worship.

Wait! Stop! Don't say it! Pegues knows how easily a few careless words can cause problems in our business and personal relationships. Here she offers 30 warm-hearted Scripture-based devotions to help you take control of that hasty, gossiping, belittling, know-it-all, retaliatory tongue . . . before you really put your foot in your mouth!

Divine Love and Wisdom has been called the most profound work of the Enlightenment scientist and seer Emanuel Swedenborg. It demonstrates how God's love, wisdom, and humanity are reflected in creation and in ourselves, and suggests that the act of creation is not a mystery of the past, but a miracle ongoing in every instant of the present. Like a blueprint of things unseen, Divine Love and Wisdom makes visible the hidden design of the universe, as well as the qualities of its architect.

Born and raised in a small Oregon town, all-American girl Rebecca Bender was a varsity athlete and honor-roll student with a promising future. Then a predator pretending to be her boyfriend lured her into a web of lies that sent her down a path she never imagined possible. For nearly six years, Rebecca was sold across the underground world of sex trafficking in Las Vegas. She was branded, beaten, told when to sleep and what to wear, and traded between traffickers. During that time, God began revealing himself to her.

Couples can get beyond their old marriage and its destructive habits and build a brand-new one with the same spouse. And they can do it in just 90 days, even if only one spouse is committed to change. Thousands of couples in marriages that are on the brink of divorce will never enter a therapist's office. For more than 20 years, David Clarke has seen marriages turn around in just three months. In I Don't Want a Divorce, he takes his practical plan and presents it using wit, Scripture, and personal stories to help couples turn difficult marriages into great ones.

When police raided the Short Creek compound of the Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1953, it soon became a political and publicity nightmare and eventually cost the governor of Arizona his job. From that point on, skittish public officials allowed the polygamist sect to practice its tenants unmolested for the next 50 years and turned a blind eye to child abandonment, kidnapping, statutory rape, incest, and massive tax and welfare fraud. But then Warren Jeffs, a new FLDS prophet, escalated the sect’s crimes to near madness.

Steve Saint was five years old when his father, missionary pilot Nate Saint, was speared to death by a primitive Ecuadorian tribe. In adulthood, Steve, having left Ecuador for a successful business career, never imagined making the jungle his home again. But when that same tribe asks him to help them, Steve, his wife, and their teenage children move back to the jungle. There, Steve learns long-buried secrets about his father's murder, confronts difficult choices, and finds himself caught between two worlds.

Chesterton's compilation of essays in Heretics discusses the difference in Orthodoxy and Heretics, rational vs. irrational, and denial vs. affirmation. He questions the reason for the existence of man and the universe and calls out many prominent figures in the artistic and literary fields for their unorthodox ideas; thus labeling them heretics. He will have you thinking of favorite authors like Rudyard Kipling, Oscar Wilde, and H.G. Wells in a new light, challenging their ideals and morals.

Christians who struggle with a conflict between their sexual and religious identities have few therapeutic options available to them. An alternative to these methods is Sexual Identity Therapy (SIT) -an approach that aims to provide individuals with a safe therapeutic space to explore the tension between their sexuality and their faith. Working within the SIT framework, clients are able to resolve their inner conflict to their personal satisfaction and to freely choose a coherent identity that enables them to move forward in life.

Much of the church has forgotten that we worship a disabled God whose wounds survived resurrection, says Amy Kenny. It is time for the church to start treating disabled people as full members of the body of Christ who have much more to offer than a miraculous cure narrative and to learn from their embodied experiences. Written by a disabled Christian, this book shows that the church is missing out on the prophetic witness and blessing of disability.

Caleb Kalenbach is the Lead Pastor at Discovery Church in Simi Valley, CA. Raised in the LGBT community, he was exposed to how some Christians treated the LGBT community, and grew to hate Christians. In high school, he joined a Bible study to disprove the Bible, but ended up following Jesus instead. Later, his parents followed Jesus, too. This is the subject of his first book, Messy Grace - holding on to the truth of God's Word while being filled with grace.

In this new edition, popular author Walter Brueggemann writes that the Sabbath is not simply about keeping rules but rather about becoming a whole person and restoring a whole society. Brueggemann calls out our 24/7 society of consumption, a society in which we live to achieve, accomplish, perform, and possess. We want more, own more, use more, eat more, and drink more. Brueggemann tells listeners how keeping the Sabbath allows us to break this restless cycle and focus on what is truly important: God, other people, all life.

Racism. Immigration. Gun violence. Sexuality. Health care. The number of ethical issues that demand a response from Christians today is almost dizzying. How can Christians navigate such matters? What are faithful responses to these questions? Edited by two theologians with pastoral experience, this volume invites engagement with these issues and more by drawing on real-life experiences and offering a range of responses to some of the most challenging moral questions confronting the church today.

Do you want to make a true difference in the world? Dr. Ron Sider does. He has, since before he first published Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger in 1978. Despite a dramatic reduction in world hunger since then, 34,000 children still die daily of starvation and preventable disease, and 1.3 billion people, worldwide, remain in abject poverty.

A cautionary look at 10 dangerously appealing half-truths. Not long ago, I came across a list of 10 principles set forth by proponents of progressive Christianity. They are, in effect, a new 10 commandments. What’s striking is that they are far less about God revealing his desires and far more about man expressing his own - less Moses, more Oprah. Yet each of these commandments is partially true. Indeed, that is what makes this list, and progressive Christianity as a whole, so challenging.

This book is being hailed as one of the most significant prophetic documents to have been published in recent years. Some chapters contain sensitive content that cannot be shared on social media or television.

Every follower of Jesus Christ should be able to answer two simple questions: Who is investing in me?Whom am I investing in? God desires to pour an abundance of spiritual and emotional capital into your life - directly and through older and wiser believers. And he wants to use you to pour spiritual and emotional capital into the lives of others. Along the way, you’ll be changed. Others will change. God calls this process of spiritual investing "making disciples". It’s the heart of the Great Commission.

If you're like many Christian moms today, you've been reading the headlines and watching the rapid-fire changes in our culture with frustration and fear. Let's face it: Moms today are facing questions that previous generations didn't even see coming, and even our right to determine what is best for our own children is under fire. Popular speaker and blogger Heidi St. John ("The Busy Mom") believes that today's mothers need a special kind of strength. We need to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.