Social Ministry

Sixty-eight stories that will inspire you to bless a child's life. Do you remember that one moment (or maybe there were several) that changed your life when you were a child - and shaped part of who you are today? Does it bring a smile to your face? Tears to your eyes? A wistful gaze back through time? We all have those stories and we can all, now, make those stories happen!

Depression and suicide aren't just a worldwide epidemic, they also hit home. With over 350 million people suffering from depression and an estimated one million Americans attempting suicide each year, most of us have been affected by this terrible plague - or perhaps struggle with it ourselves. How can we help those who feel they have no hope? In this moving fictional account, a caring bystander tries to convince a suicidal young man that his life has value and he has much to live for. Through their conversation, you will discover why we all have great worth, everyone has a reason.

In this second volume of the Called Out of Darkness trilogy, Father Robert Spitzer, S.J., draws together some of the best advice given by Catholic spiritual masters across the ages and brings it into harmony with modern scientific research, offering practical ways to live out the gospel in our busy days. It is a road map to a deeper relationship with the Lord and to authentic transformation through the imitation of Christ. Giving evidence that Jesus established just one Church, with Peter as its head, Spitzer shows that the Catholic Church continues to be fertile ground for conversion.

What is transgender and gender fluidity? What does God's word actually say about these issues? How can the gospel be good news for someone experiencing gender dysphoria? How should churches respond? This warm, faithful, and careful book helps Christians understand what the Bible says about gender identity. It will help us to engage lovingly, thoughtfully, and faithfully with one of the most explosive cultural discussions of our day. If you want to learn more and love better, and are open to considering what God has to say about sex and gender, this hope-filled book is for you.

In this provocative tell-all, David Gushee gives an insider's look at the frictions and schisms of evangelical Christianity, based on his experiences that began with becoming a born-again Southern Baptist in 1978 to being kicked out of evangelicalism in 2014 for his stance on LGBT inclusion in the church. But Gushee's religious pilgrimage proves even broader than that, as he leads his listener through his childhood experiences in Roman Catholicism, his difficult days at the liberal Union Seminary in New York, his encounters with the Christian Right, and more. In telling his story, Gushee speaks to the cultural divisions of a generation.

In this fully revised and updated edition of her breakthrough book, Women of Destiny, best-selling author and speaker Cindy Jacobs reveals the biblical foundation for women in ministry and leadership. Through sharing her own story, successes, and failures, she speaks to the doubts, fears, and insecurities women have about stepping up and speaking out.

With pundits asking, "How did he win?" this book explores whether there was a supernatural element involved. Christian leaders prophesied before the election that God had raised up Donald Trump to lead the nation through a time of crisis. But could this billionaire reality-TV star actually convince the voters he was for real? If so, what is God doing now, not only in Donald's Trump's life, but also in the life of the nation?

Radical Islam has been waging war against our global civilization throughout history. Dr. Michael Youssef, a Coptic Christian who was born in Egypt and now leads a megachurch in America, knows from firsthand experience that radical Islamists have goals that many American Christians believe are “unthinkable”. He warns Western Christians that a third jihad underway, and its goal is to take over the West. The Third Jihad is a call for Christians to defend their families, protect their nation, and boldly share the good news of Jesus with their communities.

Drawing Lines Building Bridges seeks to bring clarity to the confusion Christians have today concerning what to do about homosexuality in the church and how to respond to homosexuals in their lives. While drawing lines between the values held by society and the traditional morality preserved by the church, Drawing Lines Building Bridges advocates strategies of bridge-building engagement between Christians and the LGBT community - strategies which model the example of Jesus and Paul in the Bible and reflect the concerns of the LGBT community.

No relationship is perfect - but it can be better. The secret to stronger relationships isn't to become more charming or funny or to solve the world's problems or to just try harder. All you have to do is listen. It's that simple. Yet our noisy culture hasn't equipped us to do this. With warmth and a touch of humor, personal coach and expert communicator Becky Harling shares simple, practical listening tools that will help you become a person others are drawn to and want to spend time with.

"The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind." So begins this award-winning intellectual history and critique of the evangelical movement by one of evangelicalism's most respected historians.

As the Church has become increasingly entangled in the pursuit of politics, the Gospel has become tarnished and often abandoned as the primary focus of the Body of Christ. Jesus Untangled is a prophetic call for the Church to awaken from the "American Dream" and to return to her first love. Because, as the author powerfully demonstrates, you can't convert a culture that has already converted you.

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.

People Skills for Youth Pastors is filled with practical tips and techniques that will help you take your ministry and relationships to the next level.

In The Wolf in Their Pockets, Internet expert Chris Martin examines the many ways we are being changed by social media. With a biblically informed voice, Martin both exposes the ways the Internet is distorting our life in Christ, and shows us how to faithfully respond.

Should Christians Support Israel? is more than a title; it’s a serious question that can only be answered through the lens of history, the Bible, and a worldview framework. Through firsthand accounts and rigorous analysis, this book offers a unique perspective on the current Israel-Palestine conflict. Whether you’re seeking answers for yourself or looking to discuss the issue with others, this book provides essential insights.

The evolution of the Sacred Worship of Sophia, Mary Magdalene, and Mother Mary are traced through the Gnostic Scriptures. Sophia would come to be considered a force or conduit of the Holy Spirit, in part due to the fact that the Holy Spirit was also considered a feminine and creative force from the Supreme God. As the emerging orthodox church became more and more oppressive to women, later even labeling them "occasions of sin", the Gnostics countered by raising women to equal status.

Higgs revisits the well of biblical women for this continuation of her hugely successful Bad Girls of the Bible series. Whereas Bad Girls of the Bible and Really Bad Girls of the Bible tackled the Jezebels and Salomes, often demonstrating that these women were not as nefarious as later traditions would suggest, this one takes a different tack, looking at five good girls of the Bible and finding them seriously flawed.

The American church faces a discipleship crisis. Instead of following the values of Jesus, many Christians are chasing after what our culture prizes: power, money, and political influence. In Your Jesus Is Too American, Baptist pastor Steve Bezner invites Christians to rediscover what Jesus treasured and incorporate those kingdom values into the church's witness. Bezner shows that Jesus's vision of discipleship points the way toward a different way of being in the world.

Based on a national survey of hundreds of teenage girls, Jeff Feldhahn and Eric Rice give young men insight into the hearts and minds of teen girls while opening the way to healthier relationships between guys and girls, both now and in their future.