Your congregation is teeming with people already doing community ministry. They just don't know it yet. This book knocks down the church walls that keep parishioner ministry hidden from congregational view. Do parishioners know that their already-mission counts as ministry in your congregation? Parishioners are already on mission raising their children, caring for elderly parents, volunteering in the community, supporting neighbors in crisis, serving on charity boards, donating to food banks, and fundraising for important causes. This book counts this already-mission as Christian service. When parishioners sacrifice their time, talents, and treasures to be the good news for others, they are on mission for God. Even if they don't know it. Already missional congregations help people connect their personal mission with their faith. Already missional congregations see parishioners as community partners in ministry. This book provides the steps needed to connect your congregation's mission strategy with the rich and varied already-mission lived daily by parishioners. Already Missional is your congregation's guide to being a community partner.

A collection of seven essays exploring how the Spirit moves in an amazing variety of ways through the church's life and witness. Based on a four-year study by the Faith and Order Working Group of the National Council of Churches, this volume offers an ecumenical view of the Spirit at work in the church and of the wider movement of the Spirit in creation and in human history.

Diakonia - as a church's social action and healing ministry - has received increased attention over the last few decades. The ecumenical reflection on diakonia generally focuses on: a) an ecclesial identity, emphasizing the mutual relation between what the church is and what the church does; b) a holistic nature and interdisciplinary approach; and c) a prophetic mandate, publicly defending the cause of the poor and suffering in the struggle for justice. How is it possible to establish a scientific discourse on diakonia as disciplined reflection on praxis? Liberating Diakonia reflects critically on this under the three main headings of The Theology of Diakonia, The Diaconal Ministry, and Diakonia as Integral Part of Mission. Throughout the book, special attention is given to questions of hermeneutics and the methodological approach.

In today's secular world, the Christian faith is viewed as only one aspect of what could be called "religious life." Acknowledging this, Hendrikus Berkhof begins this thought-provoking study with a sketch of religion and faith in general before narrowing it down to a discussion of the specific place of Christian faith in all of reality.

James Leo Garrett Jr. has been called "the last of the gentlemen theologians" and "the dean of Southern Baptist theologians." In The Collected Writings of James Leo Garrett Jr., 1950-2015, the reader will find a truly dazzling collection of works that clearly evince the meticulous scholarship, the even-handed treatment, the biblical fidelity, the wide historical breadth, and the honest sincerity that have made the work and person of James Leo Garrett Jr. so esteemed and revered among so many for so long. Volume 7 contains Dr. Garrett's writings on church, state, and religious liberty, writings that arise from his editorship of The Journal of Church and State, from his time as director of the J. M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at Baylor University, and from his many years of academic study of and engagement with these important topics. Spanning sixty-five years and touching on topics from Baptist history, theology, ecclesiology, church history and biography, religious liberty, Roman Catholicism, and the Christian life, The Collected Writings of James Leo Garrett, Jr., 1950-2015 will inform and inspire readers regardless of their religious or denominational affiliations.

"A beautiful, insightful, and creative work that could be fashioned only by a true artist in the art of religious education".---Thomas H. Groome, Associate Professor of Theology nad Religious Education, Boston College

Throughout his life, the apartheid activist, Nelson Mandela (Madiba), maintained, 'In the darkest moment there is always hope. We must never give up'. Hope as a mode of the courage to be (Paul Tillich), points to what the Sociologist Peter Berger calls: signals of transcendence. Wholeness in Hope Care explores the rich tradition of hope in wisdom, philosophy and Christian theology. It connects non-hope/un-hope (Gabriel Marcel: inespoir) to a theology of compassion in soul care (cura animarum). Resurrection hope (theologia resurrectionis) points to the healing of life (cura vitae) and the preservation of land (cura terrae). In order to describe the helping and healing dimension in pastoral caregiving, the term 'promissiotherapy' has been coined. Daniel Johannes Louw was Dean of the faculty of theology at the University of Stellenbosch (2001-2005), President of the International Academy of Practical Theology (IAPT) (2003-2005) and President of the International Council for Pastoral Care and Counselling (ICPPC) (2011-2015). (Series: Pastoral Care and Spiritual Healing) (Series: Pastoral Care and Spiritual Healing - Vol. 3) [Subject: Pastoral Studies, Religious Studies, Christianity]

Noted Christian education professor and theorist Robert W. Pazmino shares the theological essentials to guide faithful educational thought and practices in the third millennium. He explores a prepositional theology that deepens the relationships between God and us through our teaching and learning together with spiritual wisdom.