Social Ministry

On a daily basis, author and LGBTQ advocate Amber Cantorna receives emails asking the same question: How does one reconcile their sexuality with their faith? Depression, despair, and thoughts of suicide often haunt LGBTQ Christians as they feel unable to imagine the possibility of living a happy, fulfilling life as an LGBTQ person of faith.

A cautionary look at 10 dangerously appealing half-truths. Not long ago, I came across a list of 10 principles set forth by proponents of progressive Christianity. They are, in effect, a new 10 commandments. What’s striking is that they are far less about God revealing his desires and far more about man expressing his own - less Moses, more Oprah. Yet each of these commandments is partially true. Indeed, that is what makes this list, and progressive Christianity as a whole, so challenging.

From one of Iran’s most acclaimed and controversial contemporary writers, his first novel to appear in English - a dazzlingly inventive work of fiction that opens a revelatory window onto what it’s like to live, to love, and to be an artist in today’s Iran. The novel entwines two equally powerful narratives. A writer named Shahriar - the author’s fictional alter ego - has struggled for years against the all-powerful censor at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.

Published to coincide with Pope Francis' Year of Mercy and the Vatican's canonization of Mother Teresa, this new book of unpublished material by a humble yet remarkable woman of faith whose influence is felt as deeply today as it was when she was alive offers Mother Teresa's profound yet accessible wisdom on how we can show mercy and compassion in our day-to-day lives.

In 1993, Andrew Brunson was asked to travel to Turkey, the largest unevangelized country in the world, to serve as a missionary. Though hesitant because of the daunting and dangerous task that lay ahead, Andrew and his wife, Norine, believed this was God's plan for them. What followed was a string of threats and attacks, but also successes in starting new churches in a place where many people had never met a Christian. As their work with refugees from Syria, gained attention and suspicion, Andrew and Norine acknowledged the threat but accepted the risk.

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.

In Thou Shalt Not Be a Jerk: A Christian’s Guide to Engaging Politics, Cho encourages listeners to remember that hope arrived—not in a politician, system, or great nation—but in the person of Jesus Christ.

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.

We are living in historic times. Not since the Civil Rights Movement of the '60s has our country been as vigorously engaged in the reconciliation conversation. There is a great opportunity right now for culture to change, to be a more perfect union. However, it cannot be done without the church, because the faith of the people is more powerful than any law government can enact.

Despite Jesus' prayer that all Christians "be one", divisions have been epidemic in the body of Christ from the beginning to the present. We cluster in theological groups, gender groups, age groups, ethnic groups, educational, and economic groups. We criticize freely those who disagree with us, don't look like us, don't act like us, and don't even like what we like. With a personal touch and the trained eye of a social psychologist, Cleveland brings to bear the latest studies and research on the unseen dynamics at work that tend to separate us from others.

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!

The Japanese army's brutal occupation of the city of Nanking during the 1937 Sino-Japanese War is known, for good reason, as the rape of Nanking. As they slaughtered an estimated 300,000 people, the invading soldiers raped more than 20,000 women - some estimates run as high as 80,000. Hua-ling Hu presents here the amazing untold story of the American missionary Minnie Vautrin, whose unswerving defiance of the Japanese protected 10,000 Chinese women and children.

Can an evangelical theologian and his gay son overcome the differences in belief that threaten to destroy their relationship? For Brad and Drew Harper, that question wasn't theoretical - and neither was the resounding "yes" they found after years of struggle. Writing to each other with compassion, grit, and humor, Brad and Drew take us on their journey as parent and child - from the churches of Middle America to the penthouses of New York's party scenes, from a pastor's-kid childhood and painful conversion therapy to the hard-won victories of their adult relationship.

Turn on a cable news show or pick up any news magazine, and you get the impression that Christian America is on its last leg. The once dominant faith is now facing rapidly declining church attendance, waning political influence, and an abysmal public perception. More than 76% of Americans self-identify as Christians, but many today are ashamed to carry the label. While many Christians are bemoaning their faith’s decline, Gabe Lyons is optimistic that Christianity’s best days are yet to come.

Nos anos 1970, os evangélicos representavam apenas 5% dos brasileiros; hoje, são um terço da população adulta do país e, segundo estatísticos, superarão os católicos na próxima década. Mais importante do que a magnitude dos números é o que isto representa: pretos e pardos pobres convertidos ao protestantismo ascendem socialmente, e hoje estão presentes no próprio Estado.

Ruth Tucker recounts a harrowing story of abuse at the hands of her husband, a well-educated, charming preacher no less, in hope that her story will help other women caught in a cycle of domestic violence and offer a balanced biblical approach to counter such abuse for pastors and counselors.

One in eight Americans struggles with hunger, and more than 13 million children live in food-insecure homes. As Christians we are called to address the suffering of the hungry and poor: "For I was hungry, and you gave me food..." (Matthew 25:35). However, the problems of hunger and poverty are too large and too complex for any one of us to resolve individually. I Was Hungry offers not only an assessment of the current crisis but also a strategy for addressing it. Jeremy Everett, a noted advocate for the hungry and poor, calls Christians to work across ideological divides....

Becoming Brave offers a distinctly Christian framework for addressing systemic injustice. It challenges Christians to be everyday activists who become brave enough to break the silence and work with others to dismantle systems of injustice and inequality.

On January 18th, 1989, Don Piper died in a car accident. Ninety minutes later, after a preacher prayed over him, Piper came back to life with an extraordinary story. He'd been to heaven. So began the phenomenon of 90 Minutes in Heaven.

Mark Karris offers a first-of-a-kind audiobook that explores petitionary prayer alongside theodicy, social justice, and personal moral responsibility. Divine Echoes journeys through the investigation, deconstruction, and reconstruction of petitionary prayer. Karris also reveals a revolutionary model of petitionary prayer that he refers to as "conspiring prayer". Filled with real-life examples, this audiobook will inform and equip both individuals and churches to pray transformative and subversive prayers that will increase God's love, healing, and beauty in the world.