An overview of South American cookery, including information about the continent's holidays and festivals. Features simple recipes, menu planning, and information about low-fat cooking and vegetarian options.

The social work profession has grown in many directions since its beginnings in the settlement houses and the missions of churches, denominational agencies, and the voluntary services of individual Christians. However social workers continue to serve as the hands and heart of the church in outreach to oppressed and hurting persons. The church was the first and has continued to be a prominent context for social work practice. Joined more recently by government programs, schools, hospitals and clinics, mental health agencies, industry, and most recently the pro-profit, private service sector. This book provides an introduction to church social work, describing and illustrating practice principles that are particularly applicable in the varying contexts of church social work.

Christianity and Social Work is written for social workers whose motivations to enter the profession are informed by their Christian faith, and who desire to develop faithfully Christian approaches to helping.

Holt examines the role of social work in church settings, and how the two fields can work together to serve vulnerable populations. Packed with case studies and practical guidance, this book is an essential resource for social workers, church leaders, and anyone interested in addressing social issues. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Synergistic Collaborations is a valuable resource for Christian ministers and social workers seeking to extend outreach ministries and new ways to collaborate with community organizations as they serve hurting people. This unique book combines case studies, theological reflections, reality dialogue questions, personal experiences, and research that broaden readers' understanding of the synergistic relationship that naturally exists between pastoral care ministry and social work practices. The authors challenge contemporary perceptions concerning how churches might help people affected by issues related to mental illness, poverty, HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, homelessness, and domestic violence. With the aim of ameliorating existing church ministries, this book offers opportunities to build the knowledge base and skills of readers as they explore Christian ministries in relation to the many personal and social problems people face in our rapidly changing culture and society.

This all-in-one guide is designed to better equip clergy and the church leaders to meet their congregations' needs in a spiritually grounded and scientifically sound manner. Succinct, easy-to-read chapters summarize all a pastor needs to know about a given problem area, including its signs or symptoms, questions to ask, effective helping skills, and, most importantly, when to refer to a mental health professional. Synthesizing what research says about treatment approaches for mental health issues, this user-friendly reference is filled with guidelines, case scenarios, key points to remember, resources for further help, advice on integrating scripture and theology with the best available research, and tips on partnering with others to provide the best possible care for each church member. Each chapter is designed for quick lookup by problem area, empowering church leaders to understand and help meet the challenges facing the children, adults, families, and communities that they serve.

"'Why I am a social worker' describes the rich diversity and nature of the profession of social work through the 25 stories of daily lives and professional journeys chosen to represent the different people, groups and human situations where social workers serve. Many social workers of faith express that they feel 'called' to help people--sometimes a specific population of people such as abused children or people who live in poverty. Often they describe this calling as a way of living out their faith. 'Why I am a social worker' serves as a resource for Christians in social work as they reflect on their sense of calling, and provides direction to guide them in this process. 'Why I am a social worker' employs a narrative, descriptive approach, allowing the relationship between faith and practice to emerge through the professional life stories of social workers who are Christians. As such, it provides a way to explore integration on personal, emotional and practical levels."--Back cover.

The world today is a much more dangerous place in many aspects than it used to be years back. Much has changed in many arenas of life and the general situation seems to be getting worse by the day. This is a world that still seems to be in a pretty dismal condition and offers little to no prospect for progress of improvement. Today, people appear to be inclined toward greed, oppression, violence, threat, conquest, exploitation and even self-exploitation. For example, poverty is pushing more people into despondency and this in some cases has resulted in people fleeing their homelands in search of supposedly better lives in the developed nations. Some people are fleeing their homelands as refugees, seeking refuge in other developed countries. Many who take this path risk their lives through running away or escaping across unfriendly and wild oceans where many drown and die before reaching their destiny.Environmental degradation is another challenge that is affecting lives of many people. The ones suffering the most are people in developing countries where the effects of environmental degradation have contributed to drought that is adversely impacting their livelihoods and disturbing their daily lives through such induced practices as load shedding. Load shedding is periodic loss of electric power in homes brought about by reduced water levels and this has affected the production of hydroelectric power. Even in the United States the impact of environmental degradation or commonly known as global warming has taken its toll in some states where drought has negatively impacted many communities. Although much of the environmental injustice is being perpetuated by the rich and some developing countries including the United States and China. These countries have refused to take responsibility for the misery their actions have caused to many peoples especially those in the developing countries. One particular example is in the area of bio-medics in which we have see a proliferation in the number of viruses. These viruses have caused untold misery and mayhem in some parts of the world. The latest viral incident has been the novel COVID-19 that broke out in Wuhan, China in 2020 and immediately became a pandemic causing hundred of thousands of preventable deaths across the globe. The first cases were reported in Wuhan since early April of 2020. In the area of politics the story is no better as we now have a new crop of politicians who are narcissistic self-declared gods and who are driven by their egocentric and insatiable desire for gain and wealth at the expense of the masses. This political scenario, unfortunately, is what we are witnessing now. We have a political system that is driven and dictated by the wealthy and powerful. Most of these individuals are doing everything in their power to feed on and exploit people''s fears all for their own aggrandizement.This book utilizes different angles to discuss these critical issues using a Christian lens. It also simultaneously highlights brokenness as the resulting consequence of the issues highlighted above. When people are victims of poverty, of viral pandemics, of environmental inequity and have no immediate hope or resolve to redress their situation, they are broken. When they flee their homelands and often risk their lives across unforgiving and turbulent oceans, they are broken. When they are timid and exploited by a political machinery that feeds on their vulnerability, they are broken. When environmental injustice affects the welfare and wellbeing of many people who do not have any power or privilege, they become broken by the consequence of this injustice. From a Christian perspective, the only answer to these challenges is God. God offers an unflinching, ceaseless and powerful revelation of love and compassion for the broken. The Bible, which testifies to this, contains scriptures that are a harbinger of Jesus''s love for humanity and of how He is interested in mediating, mending and restoring broken humanity to His image. This book espouses faith and spirituality as central elements for victory against the current economic and social malaise.These two are tried and tested weapons that can effectively confront the current ills. The book discusses how spirituality and belief in God and how taking Him by His word is the only credible answer and hope for broken individuals, families, groups and communities. It provides a poignant discussion of how brokenness affects individuals, families and communities and offers practical suggestions of how brokenness can be addressed through the use of different platforms nested within a Christian perspective. Each of the following twenty chapters: A Broken World; War and Brokenness; Physical and Social Environment; International Refugee Crisis; Being Broken; Brokenness and Transformation; Reflecting and Brokenness; Staying Strong; Navigating Brokenness through Life; Social Work and Life; Brokenness, Social Work and Church; Storms and Brokenness; Standing Firm when Broken; Finding Meaning In a Broken World; Life is short but Eternity is Long, Long, Long; Rejoicing in a Broken World; The Holy Spirit in Brokenness; The Blessed Hope; Spirituality in Brokenness and; Inspirational Insights is unique and offers a persuasive and compelling argument for restoration and hope even in the midst of brokenness. The chapters offer solid discourse on ways in which the church and other stakeholders might use spiritual practices that could remedy brokenness and restore hope in those who are impacted by this malady. Although the book seems to provide practical suggestions for social workers, it is a very useful resource to other helping professions who are working and coming into contact with broken individuals daily.

As public funding for social services has been slashed, there has arisen an unprecedented interest in the potential (and dangers) of faith-based institutions as agents of social change. This text seeks to answer pressing questions surrounding this important and controversial issue.