Reclaiming The Gospel Of Peace

How churches can work to stem gun violence

How churches can work to stem gun violence Over 300 Episcopalians came together in Oklahoma City in April 2014 to renew their commitment to the Gospel call to make peace in a world of violence. Through deep conversation, prayer, and skill building the event empowered the Episcopal Church to address violence and reclaim its role in society as workers for nonviolence and peace. This book is one of the outcomes of that event - resources to help dioceses, congregations, and individuals reclaim the Gospel message of peace for our society. Divided into four sections - Proclaim: The Gospel, Sustain: The Witness, Reclaim: The Response and Our Prayers - topics are offered in the areas of advocacy, education, liturgy, and pastoral care that our Church can use to address the culture of violence within and outside of the Church, the reader will hear the Gospel proclaimed through personal stories of witness from key leaders in the Church today, including Justin Welby, Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop Ed Konieczny, Eugene Sutton, Mark Beckwith, Kay Collier McLaughlin, James Michael Dowd, Matthew Ellis, and others. Topics include: systemic/root cause of violence, suicide/mental health, hate crimes, gang violence, race and violence, advocacy, gun violence, bullying, gender-based violence, and non-violence. Reflection questions follow each chapter with a comprehensive study guide for group use included.

Why does the allegiance that radical terrorists give to their false cause exceed the allegiance that most Christians today give to Jesus Christ? In Insurgence, bestselling author Frank Viola presents a radical proposal for Christians. Namely, that we have lost the explosive, earthshaking gospel of the kingdom that Jesus, Paul, and the other apostles preached. Viola argues that we've lost this dynamic, titanic, living gospel and exchanged it for a gospel of religious duty or permissiveness and "easy believism." In today's politically charged era, Christians on the progressive left as well as the conservative right both equate their particular viewpoints with the kingdom of God. Viola challenges and dismantles these perspectives, offering a fresh and revolutionary look at the gospel of the kingdom. Viola writes with gripping power, challenging Christians to embrace an unparalleled allegiance to Jesus Christ and his kingdom. This high-octane message is being reclaimed today, launching a spiritual insurgence.

These past two decades, modern technology has brought into being scores of powerful challenges to our interior peace and well-being. We’re experiencing a worldwide crisis of attention in which information overwhelms us, corrodes true communion with others, and leaves us anxious, unsettled, bored, isolated, and lonely. These pages provide the time-tested antidote that enables you to regain an ordered and peaceful mind in a technologically advanced world. Drawing on the wisdom of the world’s greatest thinkers, including Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, and St. Thomas Aquinas, these pages help you identify – and show you how to cultivate – the qualities of character you need to survive in our media-saturated environment. This book offers a calm, measured, yet forthright and effective approach to regaining interior peace. Here you’ll find no argument for retreat from the modern world; instead these pages provide you with a practical guide to recovering self-mastery and interior peace through wise choices and ordered activity in the midst of the world’s communication chaos. Are you increasingly frustrated and perplexed in this digital age? Do you yearn for a mind that is more focused and a soul able to put down that IPhone and simply rejoice in the good and the true? It’s not hard to do. The saints and the wise can show you how; this book makes their counsel available to you.

While some seek so-called lost gospels, Darrell L. Bock suggests the real lost gospel is the one already found in the Bible and reminds everyone of what it means: good news. Praise for Recovering the Real Lost Gospel "Darrell Bock is one of the church's finest New Testament scholars. He has the unique ability to write on both the technical and popular level and presents a biblical theology of the gospel that is clear, robust, and holistic. This is a valuable contribution to helping us rightly understand the greatness of the gospel." Daniel L. Akin, president, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary "You are holding in your hands a really rare book--one that goes all the way back to the New Testament in connecting the gospel and the cross with the life of discipleship and the mission of the church in a broken world that needs the message of grace. Darrell Bock is one of our best biblical theologians and is at his best in this new study." Timothy George, dean, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University "Recovering the Real Lost Gospel is a welcomed corrective and timely guide for so many individuals and churches who seemingly have lost their way amidst the confusing spirituality and mixed religious messages of our day." David S. Dockery, president, Union University "Bock teaches us the essence of the best news ever told. The gospel is so much more than good advice . . . it is the message of life, hope, grace, and Jesus himself! Get ready to be reminded why it is the best news ever!" Pete Briscoe, senior pastor, Bent Tree Bible Fellowship (Dallas, Texas) "Too many Christians think of 'the Gospel' as merely the last page of an evangelistic tract. Bock demonstrates with clarity and vision that the gospel is better news than some have dared to hope. Read this book, and let its wisdom drive you to worship and to mission." Russell D. Moore, dean, School of Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Do you desire lasting and abiding friendships?Do you want to move beyond the past hurts of relationships gone wrong?Reclaiming Friendship was written for any woman who wants a true and deep connection that lasts. We'll explore what it takes to stay close for the long haul, what to look for in a friend, and how to navigate toxic relationships. There is a way to protect your heart without closing yourself off from future intimacy. The key is found in discovering God's plan for friendship.Through this six-lesson Bible study, we will see how God created each of us in His image. He created us for an authentic community, the kind in which we experience His joy and goodness. Friendship was meant to be a foretaste of Heaven. In a world plagued by loneliness, you are invited to encounter God personally through Scripture. Let God reshape how you see and experience intentional relationship, deal with your past friendship wounds, and become a woman who is capable of the lifelong bond of true friendship.

If Christians follow the Prince of Peace, why do they often behave so violently? What can be done to transform the church so that it looks more like Jesus? Eric Seibert explores these questions in this important and timely study. He builds a biblical and practical case for living nonviolently in all areas of life and urges Christians to reexamine their most fundamental attitudes toward violence, warfare, and killing. Through true stories and careful analysis, Seibert demonstrates that it is possible to resolve conflict, correct injustice, and stop oppression without resorting to violence. Many nonviolent alternatives are discussed throughout the book, alternatives that can be used in a wide range of situations, from dealing with an unwanted intruder at home to removing a dictator from power. In a world filled with so much violence, hate, and fear, alternatives like these are desperately needed. This book offers hope that a better way is possible, one that has the potential to transform the church and change the world. So read on and join in!

The sexual revolution brought a terribly distorted vision of the body and sex into the mainstream. How should Christians respond? With his illuminating Theology of the Body, Pope John Paul II challenged the modern world not to stop at the surface, but to enter the depth of the “great mystery” that the body and sex reveal: a mystery that lies at the heart of the Gospel itself. Since he first discovered John Paul II’s teaching in 1993, Christopher West has devoted himself to sharing its life-transforming message with the world. In this highly anticipated work, West leads us into the depth of Christ’s “nuptial union” with the Church, demonstrating how authentic Catholic teaching on the body and sex saves us from both the libertine perspective of popular culture and the cold puritanism that has sometimes infected Christianity. In the process, West provides a blueprint for reaching our sexually broken world in the “new evangelization.”