Efficacious Engagement

The long-standing tradition of baptizing infants suggests that the sacraments plunge our bodies into salvation, so the revelation of God's love in the sacraments addresses the whole person, not the mind alone. In this work, the contemporary Roman Catholic rite of baptism for infants becomes a case study, manifesting the connections between the human body, the ecclesial body, and the Body of Christ. The sacramental life, for children as for adults, is an ongoing journey deeper into the life of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. By examining the church's practice of infant baptism, Kimberly Hope Belcher asks how human beings participate in God's life through the sacraments. Christian sacraments are embodied, cultural rituals performed by and for human beings. At the same time, the sacraments are God's gifts of grace, by which human beings enter into God's own life. In this study, contemporary ritual studies, sacramental theology, and trinitarian theology are used to explore how participation in the sacraments can be an efficacious engagement in God's life of love. Kimberly Hope Belcher is an assistant professor of theology at Saint John's University, where she teaches sacramental theology and ritual studies. She is a member of the North American Academy of Liturgy and writes for the liturgical blog Pray Tell.

Though called to partner in God’s holy work of transformation, the church has often responded with resignation rather than hope in the face of a broken, hurting, and violent world. In Authentic Engagement, Dieumeme and Mirlenda Noëlliste remind us that the church was never meant to content itself with faith in the hereafter. However, to fulfill its God-given role in society, it must know what and whose it is, and situate itself accordingly. The authors explore questions of ecclesiology and establish the theological foundations for social engagement as they examine what it means to be a people defined by relationship with the triune God. Arguing that the church has a mandate to see the world transformed, they suggest a model of engagement that would empower believers to act as agents of transformation in all realms of society, while remaining deeply rooted in their calling as ambassadors of a heavenly kingdom. This book brings hope and conviction in equal measures as it reawakens the church to a consciousness of its identity, its calling, and its powerful potential to bring change in the here and now.

The long-standing tradition of baptizing infants suggests that the sacraments plunge our bodies into salvation, so the revelation of God's love in the sacraments addresses the whole person, not the mind alone. In this work, the contemporary Roman Catholic rite of baptism for infants becomes a case study, manifesting the connections between the human body, the ecclesial body, and the Body of Christ. The sacramental life, for children as for adults, is an ongoing journey deeper into the life of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. By examining the church's practice of infant baptism, Kimberly Hope Belcher asks how human beings participate in God's life through the sacraments. Christian sacraments are embodied, cultural rituals performed by and for human beings. At the same time, the sacraments are God's gifts of grace, by which human beings enter into God's own life. In this study, contemporary ritual studies, sacramental theology, and trinitarian theology are used to explore how participation in the sacraments can be an efficacious engagement in God's life of love. Kimberly Hope Belcher is an assistant professor of theology at Saint John's University, where she teaches sacramental theology and ritual studies. She is a member of the North American Academy of Liturgy and writes for the liturgical blog Pray Tell.

Academic scholars find themselves confronted with a formidable challenge: staying abreast of the ever-evolving landscape of Artificial Intelligence(AI). The intricate interplay between AI and its profound impact on various facets of society, including customer engagement, remains an enigma for many. This knowledge gap not only hampers their ability to contribute meaningfully to their fields but also leaves them trailing behind the dynamic developments taking place in industries worldwide. As AI continues to reshape the business environment, it becomes imperative for academia to bridge this chasm between theory and practice. Leveraging ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence for Effective Customer Engagement is an effective solution to the pressing problem at hand. With meticulous clarity, it unravels the complexities of ChatGPT, an innovative AI technology, and its revolutionary potential in the realm of customer engagement. It offers a lifeline to academic scholars seeking to navigate the uncharted territory of AI, providing them with an in-depth understanding of how ChatGPT can reshape customer interactions.

When citizens are invited to help define and resolve difficult community issues, they often find better and more sustainable solutions. Civic Engagement: 10 Question to Shape an Effective Plan is designed to help you evaluate your community’s “civic health,” plan for effective public engagement, monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of your engagement processes, and also identify, benchmark, and share best practices.

This book represents the single most ambitious effort to date to understand and improve upon patterns of ministry in short term missions (STM). In six sections, the authors explore topics such as the links between STM and older patterns of long-term missions; engagement with people of other cultures; international partnerships; specialized ministries such as medical missions; legal and financial liabilities and, finally, the impact of STM on participants. The goal of Effective Engagement in Short-term Missions is to improve the ways in which STM is carried out and to develop the understandings needed on the part of all who engage in the ministry. In short, this book attempts to provide a knowledge base for those who provide leadership within the STM movement. Among the authors are anthropologists, sociologists, missiologists, and representatives of various other fields, such as education, law, business, and medicine. Six authors are women. Two are Chinese, one Korean, and one Peruvian. The authors in this book consistently adopt an approach which is positive and constructive. While there are criticisms in the book, these criticisms are not directed against STM per se, but against particular ways of doing STM. Youth pastors, mission pastors, lay leaders, college and seminary students, and missiologists will all find information that is helpful and relevant to their concerns.

This book presents some highlights from the deliberations of the 2003 conference of the International Study Association on Teachers and Teaching (ISATT). Part 1 presents the five keynote addresses of the conference, while Parts 2 through 4 present selected papers related to each of three sub-themes: knowledge construction and learning to teach, perspectives on teachers’ personal and professional lives, and teachers’ workplace as context for learning. The chapters in this book provide an array of approaches to understanding the process of teacher learning within the current context of the changing workplace environment. They also provide an important international perspective on the complex issues revolving around the international educational reform movement. Basically, they show how teachers’ workplace (inside and outside schools) are more than ever subject to continuous change and that, subsequently, standards for teaching must be flexible to these changing conditions. This asks for a redefinition of teacher professionalism in which the role of context in teacher learning is emphasized as well as the improvement of the quality of teacher thinking and learning. Related to the ever-changing context of teaching, a dynamic approach to teaching and teacher learning is required, in which identity development is crucial. Researchers have an important role to play in revealing and explaining how teachers can build their professional identity, through self-awareness and reflection, in the ever-changing educational contexts throughout the world.