Reframing Spiritual Formation

Reframing Spiritual Formation takes seriously the realities of an increasingly secular, pluralistic and spiritually thirsty population base most churches face with fear, yet are called to reach and disciple. Hammett provides succinct overviews of the challenges and opportunities these realities bring to the doors of churches and their leaders. His primary focus is on facilitative questions and practical ideas for discipling the churched and the unchurched who are seeking grounding and meaning in this rapidly changing world.

Warriors, lone rangers, conquerors-these are the common images that come to mind when talking about men. But are those the only metaphors for Christian men? Using the story of Joseph from the Bible, Gareth Brandt shows how male spirituality reaches its height when it shows compassion to all people, beginning with those close to us, and finds meaning through participation in building God's commonwealth of love and justice. 228 Pages

Church growth models have often been long on promises and short on disciple-making. We continue to watch consistent church attendance shrink, and our desire to reach the lost is infected with a need for self-validation by growing our numbers at any cost. If we believe that God wants his church to grow, where do we go from here? What is the future of the church? Drawing from his 20 years and 15,000 hours of consulting, author Will Mancini shares with pastors and ministry leaders the single most important insight he has learned about church growth. With plenty of salient stories and based solidly on the disciple-making methods found in Scripture, Future Church exposes the church's greatest challenge today, and offers 7 transforming laws of real church growth so that we can faithfully and joyfully fulfill Jesus's Great Commission.

In Desperately Seeking Spirituality, sacred spelunker and sociologist Meredith Gould, combines practical wisdom with lived experience to explain why and when traditional practices don’t work for today’s seeker and then how to choose ones that will. In short, easy-to-read chapters and with characteristic wit, Gould provides counsel for reframing perception to discover the sacred in everyday life. This guide is for self-identified seekers who have tried some, many, or even all the classic spiritual practices and then, given up on them when they stop working. In Desperately Seeking Spirituality, Gould invites readers to embrace a broader definition of practice that shifts focus from doing to being.

Spiritual Growth and Care in the Fourth Age of Life explores the spiritual dimension of ageing and investigates the role of pastoral and spiritual care in helping the frail elderly cope with end-of-life issues. Focusing on the experience of nursing home residents and anecdotes gathered in interviews, MacKinlay sensitively presents the struggles facing older people in need of care, such as loss of independence and privacy. Her findings show that despite ill health, loneliness and depression, older people near the end of their lives find meaning and support in (re)discovering their spirituality, and that this is not just the experience of those in care facilities, but of older people more generally. The book includes a useful chapter on spiritual assessment, providing carers with information on how to recognise the need for care. This book will be of interest to nurses, care workers, pastoral support professionals and anyone else working with older people.

Building Blocks for Sunday School Growth are at your fingertips. These six building blocks: Vision, Balance, Leadership, Relevant Teaching, Receptivity and Inclusion, and Outreach and Inreach, will help you develop an intentional vision and plan for spiritual and numerical growth. The authors contend that failure to pay attention to the infrastructure in these six areas can lead to a decline in the quality of your Sunday school. However, by focusing on these six building blocks, you will re-energize your leaders and allow your Sunday school to grow and develop. As you gain a renewed perspective on the potential of Sunday school, you will notice an increase in energy, both spiritual and numerical. The critics are wrong--Sunday school is not dead! Strengthening these six areas of your organization can lead to a renewed Bible Teaching Ministry. Your Sunday school can grow, and as the Sunday school grows, so, too, will the church.

Continuing the discussion initiated in volume one, volume two of Evangelical Calvinism further articulates the central motifs of this mood within Reformed theology by examining themes having to do with dogmatics and devotion. After further clarifying the methodological and dogmatic aspects common to an Evangelical Calvinism, the heart of the present volume is an explication of the vicarious ministry of Christ as it is worked out in its diverse theological dimensions. The volume offers constructive accounts of various aspects of liturgy, sacraments, and doxology, showing the vitality and lived spirituality of this Christian vision of faith and practice. Both advocates and critics of Evangelical Calvinism now have an extended and thorough body of work with which to interact. As with volume 1, this volume promises to set the agenda for contemporary and constructive Reformed studies in a way that provides an alternative to neo-Calvinism and Westminster Calvinism alike.