Berkeley Street Theatre chronicles Christian World Liberation Front's 1969-1975 ministry to the counterculture. Founded by Jack Sparks, CWLF was featured in the June 1971 Time Magazine's epic «Jesus Revolution» edition. Reverend Billy Graham sponsored the CWLF outreach and referred to CWLF as a highly effective outreach to the counterculture. The book included a foreword by David W. Gill, former CWLF leader, scholar, and author, contributing chapters from BST's members: Gene Burkett, Charlie Lehman, Susan Dockery Andrews, Father James Bernstein, and Jeanne DeFazio, editor of the book. Part Two of this work outlines Christian Guerilla theater following the timeline of BST with contributing chapters from: JMD Myers, Joanne Petronella, Jozy Pollock, Olga Soler, and Sheri Pedigo. William David Spencer's afterword details the cultural contributions of the Jesus movement. This book will appeal to the baby boom generation as well as millennials. It is a resource work for anyone interested in religious history, Christian theater and the arts, and in how baby boomers embraced the Jesus Movement. The photos of BST's Sproul Plaza performances will charm all readers.
Interpreting Life depicts one Christian woman's struggle to determine her place in the home and church as the traditional roles of the 1950s gave way to the chaos created by the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Burke's lengthy journey brought her from a state of confusion to a conscious awareness of the effects of her cohort, conservative religious beliefs, and close relationships on her personal and spiritual development. From childhood, she worshipped with a church where submission scriptures in the New Testament were taken literally and women were not allowed to participate in any public leadership roles such as leading prayers and songs, teaching adults, or preaching. As society changed and women gradually acquired leadership roles in other organizations, these church practices became more stifling, preventing many conservative women from using their God-given talents.
Because of her marriage to a minister, where she felt her family was living in a glass house, it became exceedingly frustrating to adhere to traditional religious values. Throughout this process, their marriage relationship was repeatedly challenged, but their commitment to each other and the church helped them resolve their differences and work together to reinterpret women's roles in the church.
Journal writing was the technique used to make sense of the contradictions and internal conflict experienced as this Christian woman attempted to remain faithful to her religious beliefs and yet develop to her full potential. Excerpts from over thirty years of writing reveals the strategies Burke employed to remain positive and productive as family and church priorities took precedent over her own dreams.
God has accomplished many great things through the church, but can the church be even more effective? Is there something the church can do to be both more pleasing to the Lord and more productive? Answer the Prayer of Jesus speaks to these questions. The church can be more effective if it seeks to answer the prayer of Jesus in John 17. Unity is important to the mission of the church of Jesus Christ. In this book both the challenges and possibilities of unity are examined. Drawing from Scripture and his experiences of contemporary church life, the John Lathrop gives specific examples of unity. He also offers practical advice about how one can become part of the answer to the prayer of Jesus. This book will enable you to see a small portion of what God is doing in the world today and will encourage you to become part of it.
Small churches need the work of all of their people to survive, and this means that there's a productive place in the church family for every person, no matter how gifted or challenged. Small churches are uniquely personal, and they provide an unparalleled opportunity for Christians to learn, grow, and live out their faith consciously, every day.
Small churches become a family, children of God, and brothers and sisters of Jesus together. There's no place to hide in a small church. The normal human dramas of good and evil, sin and repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation all happen in our relationships in the family.
A small church is a place where people can serve an apprenticeship in faith, learning from those before them and passing on their experience to those around them. In a small church the pastor provides context by preaching and teaching, serves as a role model in encouraging the ministry of others, and, by loving the people, helps them see themselves through God's eyes. The rest is up to the people themselves and to God.
Do the little things we do and say really make a difference in the lives of others? Some Men Are Our Heroes answers this question with a resounding «yes» as eight accomplished Christian women tell the stories of the men in their lives who helped them achieve remarkable things for God's kingdom. These touching stories of women from around the world and the fathers, husbands, brothers, pastors, colleagues, and friends who encouraged, strengthened, and challenged them along their life journeys will warm the hearts of women and men alike.
Where did the old social barriers break down at the coming of Christianity? In homes. Where did practice join theology to break down the division between rich and poor or Jew and Greek, so that they ate together? In the hospitality of house church hosts and hostesses. What happened to the barrier between slave and free? Gone when they prayed together. The intense reserve between men and women? Dissolved as hosts and hostesses served the friends who entered their door. Paul saw this, admired and praised the house church leaders, and planned on homes to grow the gospel.
Creative Ways to Build Christian Community is exactly what its title says it is: a very personal, practical response to the present and future prospect of isolation, a treasure trove of examples and suggestions about how to accomplish the Great Commission from community builders telling how, over the years and the ministries, they have implemented creative ways to build up churches and organizations to develop more intensive Christian fellowship and, thereby, create community. –Dr. William David Spencer
Empowering English Language Learners showcases strategies of those who teach English as a second language in pre-schools, graduate schools, secular public schools, and private Christian schools. What makes this book unique is the way each teacher evaluates teaching strategy through personal experience. This book explains what works and what doesn't.
With additional contributions from:
Dean Borgman Julia Davis Jean Dimock Cherry Gorton Seong Park Olga Soler Virginia D. Ward Gemma Wenger
The call for gender equity in leadership has become a global concern. From a Christian perspective, all forms of gender prejudice are sinful because they violate God's intention for creating both men and women in God's image. Although many Christian authors have published books and journal articles to address gender-based injustice, very few publications have approached the subject from an African perspective. This book is meant to fill the existing gap. With a specific reference to the African context, this book explores the phenomenon of equity in leadership from various dimensions, such as African culture and traditional religion, church tradition, biblical interpretation, as well as from the perspective of contemporary socio-economic and political realities in Africa. By giving vivid examples of success stories of men and women working together, the authors have demythologized the view that women cannot be leaders. In addition, this book is intended for general readership by Christian men and women throughout the globe. For universities and colleges that teach gender studies as a subject, the book can serve as a class text or reference resource. Seminaries and theological institutions will also find it handy for training and mentoring Christians to promote equity in the church, ministry, business, and family.
The New Covenant as a Paradigm for Optimal Relations regards the New Covenant primarily as a gracious and merciful redemptive deal, springing from God's unilateral, unconditional, and proactive initiative. The New Covenant is adopted as representing both a salvific and an exemplary paradigm that displays God's gracious and merciful ways toward his children. Ten discrete, yet interwoven principles are extracted from, interpreted, and abstracted from Scriptures pertaining to the promised New Covenant. These principles apply to those who, as dearly beloved children, are invited to imitate God's loving ways. God's manner of love defines the foundational basis from which the author derives and elaborates the propositions that guide the considerations pertaining to thoughts, feelings, motivations, and behaviors that enter into play in relational transactions. In terms of style, an architectural design permeates the content of this book, offering and encompassing a metacognitive view of God's covenantal ways: a top-down perspective that applies to bottom-up endeavors of relational nature. The challenges posed by our cultural, postmodern trends–devoid of absolute principles and lacking a moral compass–are countered and addressed by the author in insightful fashion, offering theologically-based guidelines integrated to sound psychological principles, applicable to psychotherapeutic and counseling endeavors as well as to pastoral care.