Social Ministry

Life is short, and it can be as easily wasted as lived to the full. In the midst of our harried modern world, how do we make the most of life and the time we have? In these fast and superficial times, Os Guinness calls us to consequential living. In strong contrast to both Eastern and secularist views of time, he reorients our very notion of history, not as cyclical nor as meaningless, but as linear and purposeful. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, time and history are meaningful, and human beings have agency to live with freedom and consequence in partnership with God.

Brandon O’Brien writes about his life growing up in rural America, young adulthood in the suburbs, and midlife in Manhattan. Through personal stories, humor, and reflection he looks at how the place we grow up shapes our lives, beliefs, and faith.

Today's children and teens are growing up more anxious, depressed, and fearful than previous generations. But if we help this generation, often called "Gen Z", to discover true God-confidence, instead of chasing the illusive self-confidence, we can empower them to embrace their uniqueness and find their purpose, passion, and peace as they grow into humble, compassionate, and resilient young people. Cyndie Claypool de Neve, an associate marriage and family therapist, shares her personal journey from feeling anxious and suicidal to learning God-confidence.

In By the Way, pastor and author Derek Vreeland reframes everything we've been told about Christianity and what it means to follow Jesus. Discipleship isn't an add-on. Discipleship means joining God's joyful mission of reconciliation on earth, not just saving souls for the afterlife. Following Jesus is more like taking a long walk in the woods than sitting in a classroom. Living by the way takes practice-and that's the point.

On a dusty hilltop, Jesus once kick-started his church with a ragtag group of fishermen who called themselves "The Way". Within a remarkably short time, The Way became the world's most influential religious faith. Against impossible odds, that group of nobodies astonished the world. Two thousand years later - by any measure - Christianity is retreating on all fronts. The Way has lost its way. In The Way Back, media and marketing experts Phil Cooke and Jonathan Bock take a hard look at Christians today and reveal that we, as a salesforce, have lost our faith in our product.

What’s happening in our world today is moving Christians to return to the foundations of our spiritual existence. Believers everywhere must get back to what matters most. We must always remember that our battle, at its most basic level, is spiritual. Discover 10 spiritual tools the Bible relates directly to our preparation for the Lord’s coming - 10 biblical survival strategies to live out in these last days, so you and your family can prosper in an increasingly decaying, darkening world.

The notion that some might have it better than others, for no good reason, offends our sensibilities. Yet, until we talk about privilege, we’ll never fully understand it or find our way forward. Amy Julia Becker welcomes us into her life, from the charm of her privileged southern childhood to her adult experience in the Northeast, and the denials she has faced as the mother of a child with special needs. She tells us how a life behind a white picket fence can restrict even as it protects and how it can prevent us from loving our neighbors well.

If you’ve ever been discouraged by Christianity - whether you’ve been a lifelong churchgoer or someone who left religion a long time ago - this book will change your life. God only spoke twice while Jesus was on earth. (We should probably sit up and pay attention.) Both times he said: Jesus is “marked by my love.” No tattoo. No handshake. No team colors or logos or code words. The only thing that marked Jesus Christ and the only thing that would mark his followers - love.

In Blood-Bought World, Toby J. Sumpter pinpoints the raw spots where modern-day Christians have allowed respectability, comfort, fear, love, fitness, authenticity, or other idols to become "fig leaves" to shield us from the persons of the trinity.

In Letters to an American Christian, Bruce Riley Ashford, author of One Nation Under God, addresses overarching issues of the relationship of Christianity and politics, speaks to the way historic Christian belief informs specific hot-button political issues, and challenges listeners to take seriously both our heavenly and earthly citizenships. Written as a series of letters to "Christian" - a young college student who is a new believer - Letters to an American Christian will help every listener think about how Christianity informs what it means to be an American.

As parents face the difficult reality of a broken home, a sense of being completely overwhelmed can shut down the perspective they need to find restoration. Parents need to know that they can choose to define this season of their lives, instead of becoming defined by circumstances. They can deliberately look toward God and come to a deeper understanding of His true nature, power, and intimate care.

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.

If asked, most of us want to make a difference, to live and love generously. But we get caught in the crazy rush of household routines, work demands, cranky attitudes, difficult people, exhaustion, worry, and pride, and once again we fail to love the people around us at all - let alone well.

Divergent politics, immigration issues, bullying, redefining family, racism, terrorism, new ways of categorizing people, and multiple other issues are splitting today's society. Many people feel like the country they live in today isn't the same one they lived in 20 years ago. They wonder what and how to think about these divisive issues and how to face the future without fear. They aren't sure how to love difficult people or those with differing beliefs. God of Tomorrow unpacks how to move forward in confidence, knowing that the God you trust today has already prepared tomorrow.

Too often we think of the Beatitudes as an instruction manual for living a good life, or some kind of spiritual ladder to climb. But in these announcements, our teacher is saying so much more. He is speaking personally and profoundly to the deep ache we all face when life gets broken and doesn't work out as we think it should. Join Stu Garrard on an adventure to discover the surprising meaning of these words.

There's lots of bad religion out there. But the answer isn't no religion, it's true religion: living out - publicly and communally - what we say we believe privately and individually. At a time when most people practice their faith in the extremes - either extremely publicly, with a legalistic, combative tone that creates division, or extremely privately, to the point that our faith becomes functionally irrelevant - award-winning author Greg Paul offers a vision for religion that is good for us and good for the world.

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.

We’ve been upside down for so long that wrong has become right and right is considered foolish. Cultural disorientation has become pandemic. Children act like adults and adults act like children. Mother Earth is worshiped but motherhood is despised. Free speech may get you free room and board in jail. Life is denied and death is affirmed. These contradictions are neither without precedent nor cure. We can reorient ourselves and once again discover that standing upright on our own two feet is normal and natural.

Bob Cornuke is a real-life Indiana Jones, searching for evidence of biblical events and artifacts. In this book, he tells the story of his search for the remains of Noah's ark. Using investigative skills learned during his years as a police officer, Bob investigates all the clues, from ancient Scriptures to modern day eyewitness accounts. His quest to learn the truth about Noah's ark leads him from his safe home in the foothills of Colorado to the dangerous mountain ranges in Turkey and Iran.

Levi Benkert was playing with his children in the park when he received an urgent phone call from a friend asking him to drop everything and fly to Ethiopia to help organize a rescue orphanage for children destined to be murdered as part of a tribal superstition known as "mingi". In tribal culture, children and infants with even the slightest defect are considered "cursed" and are killed by their own parents, who fear allowing the children to live will cause bad luck to descend on the village. Moved by his friend's story, Levi packed his bags and left.