Social Ministry

It's easy to get discouraged by the headlines. It can often feel as if God has left the building, like we are on our own. We want to believe God's promises to us, and we search for signs of his continuing restoration of the world in which we live. Now, with passion and heart, two leading experts on Christianity and culture cut through the chaos and uncertainty to show listeners how God is powerfully active and intensely engaged in fulfilling his promise to restore all things unto himself.

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove grew up in the Bible Belt in the American South as a faithful church-going Christian. But he gradually came to realize that the gospel his Christianity proclaimed was not good news for everybody. The same Christianity that sang, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound" also perpetuated racial injustice and white supremacy in the name of Jesus. His Christianity, he discovered, was the religion of the slaveholder. Just as Reconstruction after the Civil War worked to repair a desperately broken society, compromised Christianity requires a spiritual reconstruction.

In today's Western world, plenty of shiny false gods still hold power - idols of prosperity, nationalism, and self-interest. Old Testament scholar Christopher J. H. Wright combines a biblical study of idolatry with practical discipleship. He calls listeners to consider connections between Old Testament patterns and today's culture, especially recurring temptations to trust in political power.

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.

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.

En ¿Quién soy yo para juzgar?, el papa Francisco nos invita a poner en práctica una de las grandes enseñanzas de Jesús: "No juzguen para que no sean juzgados. Por la manera con que juzgáis, seréis juzgados, y con la misma medida con que mides a otros, serás medido". En estas páginas, el Santo Padre reflexiona sobre temas de actualidad social como la sexualidad, la unión libre, el homosexualismo, las familias en crisis, la eutanasia, el aborto y los anticonceptivos.

Does the near-mythical Ark of the Covenant still exist today? Countless people have thought so, dedicating their lives to finding this holy relic, all to no avail. Now Robert Cornuke, a modern-day adventurer, using the Bible as his guide, thinks he may know the exact location of the Ark. Join Cornuke as he embarks on this exciting and breathtaking adventure.

Throughout scripture and church history, women have been central to the mission of God. But all too often women have lacked opportunities to minister fully. Many churches lack visible examples of women in ministry and leadership. Tara Beth Leach, senior pastor of her denomination's flagship church, issues a stirring call for a new generation of women in ministry: to teach, to preach, to shepherd, and to lead.

In this powerful and personal book, author Rachel Gilson describes her own unexpected journey of coming out and coming to faith... and what came next. As she does so, she addresses many of the questions that Christians living with same-sex attraction are wrestling with: Am I consigned to a life of loneliness? How do I navigate my friendships? Will my desires ever change? Is there some greater purpose to all this?

We live in a world full of shiny distractions, faced with an onslaught of viral media constantly competing for our attention and demanding our affections. These ever-present visual "spectacles" can quickly erode our hearts, making it more difficult than ever to walk through life actively treasuring that which is most important and yet invisible: Jesus Christ. In a journalistic style, Tony Reinke shows us just how distracting these spectacles in our lives have become, and calls us to ask critical questions about what we're focusing on.

Beatrice Bruteau was a philosopher whose vision of life was an inspiration to some of the most influential thinkers of our time. In Radical Optimism she shines new light on the deepest truth we can know about ourselves: each of us is one with God, here and now. She helps us to understand what this really means, to know the happiness it brings, and to cultivate a contemplative consciousness. This book is both enlightening and immensely practical.

Your household is not just a shelter from a war zone; it is the command center from where you launch your attacks. It's this vision of the world with the Christian family at the heart that modern parents desperately need to recover.

Strengthen your connection with God while living the 12 steps—even if you’ve never blended faith with recovery before. Already working the steps but feel like something’s missing spiritually? Want to integrate your Christian faith without compromising your program? This faith-based workbook is your companion—not a replacement—for meetings, fellowship, or your sponsor. Written by J. D. Graham, The Christian 12 Step Addiction Recovery Workbook helps you reflect, journal, and seek Christ within the 12 steps.

Divine Providence is one of the major works of the Enlightenment scientist and religious seer Emanuel Swedenborg. It provides a coherent and satisfying solution to what has been called "the problem of evil": How are God's goodness and power reconcilable with evil's presences in the larger world and in the human mind and heart?

Celebrity—defined as social power without proximity—has led to abuses of power, the cultivation of persona, and a fixation on profits. In light of the fall of famous Christian leaders in recent years, the time has come for the church to reexamine its relationship to celebrity. Award-winning journalist Katelyn Beaty explores the ways fame has reshaped the American church, explains how and why celebrity is woven into the fabric of the evangelical movement, and identifies many ways fame has gone awry in recent years.

The CIA is looking for walking contradictions. Recruiters seek people who can keep a secret, yet pull classified information out of others; who love their country, but are willing to leave it behind to head into dangerous places; who live double lives, but can be trusted with some of the nation's most sensitive tasks. Michele Rigby Assad was one of those people. As a CIA agent, Michele soon found that working undercover was an all-encompassing job. The threats were real. The mission was a perilous one. Trained as a counterterrorism expert, Michele spent over a decade in the agency.

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!

All of us have found ourselves in situations where we don't know if we should bite our tongues or speak our minds. When is silence golden? When should you speak up? In this popular book, communication expert and former pastor Michael Sedler offers listeners practical guidelines for all types of conversations. He also explores the cost and purpose of silence, why to check motives when talking to friends, family, and authorities, how to ask good questions, ways to deal with anger and resentment, and more.

After the release of their groundbreaking book, A Church Called Tov, which recorded the stories of abuse and toxic church cultures at some of the most prominent churches in the United States, New Testament scholar and blogger for Christianity Today Scot McKnight and Laura Barringer heard from a flood of people who had experienced similar instances of abuse. In Pivot, Scot and Laura help churches to implement practices, establish priorities, and cultivate the Kingdom Gospel-centered qualities that form goodness cultures.

Does Jesus’ call to love our enemies mean that we should remain silent in the face of injustice? Jesus called us to love our enemies. But to befriend an enemy, we first have to acknowledge their existence, understand who they are, and recognize the ways they are acting in opposition to God’s good news. In How to Have an Enemy: Righteous Anger and the Work of Peace, Melissa Florer-Bixler looks closely at what the Bible says about enemies - who they are, what they do, and how Jesus and his followers responded to them.