The Church As The Surrogate Family

This practical theology model provides seven theme sermons on the attributes of God and his family to provide a spiritual foundation for church youth, to facilitate the healing, sustaining, guiding, and reconciling with Jesus the Christ. This was needed to counteract some of the effects of poverty, racism, and nihilism that is prevalent in the community. The implementation of this holistic model resulted in enhanced confidence, spiritual growth, and maturity among the youth and increased growth in the church family.

A study of the early Christian church in the Mediterranean region and its emphasis on collective good over individual desire clarifies much about what is wrong with the American church today.

The author explores the literature of the first three centuries of the church in terms of group identity and formation as surrogate kinship. Why did this become the organizing model in the earliest churches? How did historical developments intervene to shift the paradigm? How do ancient Mediterranean kinship structures correlate with church formation? Hellerman traces the fascinating story of these developments over three centuries and what brought them about. His focus is the New Testament documents (especially Paul's letters), second-century authors, and concluding with Cyprian in the third century. Kinship terminology in these writings, behaviors of group solidarity, and the symbolic power of kinship language in these groups are examined.

Ethnocentrism is one of the greatest obstacles to peace on the African continent. Taking the Church as Family of God as a model of evangelization, this work explores means of inculturating the Gospel message in African cultures in order to transform them, make them blossom and enable Africans to live as authentic Christians in their cultures. It examines the values of African extended families and the prospects of interreligious dialogue as means through which the various religious bodies can effectively work together to overcome ethnocentrism and its evil effects and thus establish a wholesome African society where every human person is at home irrespective of family orientation or tribal background.

With numerous selections designed to reinforce the goal of empowering clients to take charge of their lives, this revised and updated second edition of The Black Family serves a two-fold purpose. It extends the small but growing body of strength-oriented literature to include African-American families and it serves as a natural extension of current texts on African-American families to provide social workers and the education community with a broader framework for understanding the needs of Black families. Offering both a research orientation and a practice perspective, this book should appeal to social work educators and practitioners involved in family services, health and mental health settings, and child and public welfare.

Explores how the church can better minister to children inside and outside of the Christian education classroom. Draws on the Bible, psychology, and the authors' experience in various Protestant traditions.

This book has been replaced by Adolescents at Risk: Home-Based Family Therapy and School-Based Intervention, ISBN 978-1-4625-3653-5.

This research-to-practice volume grounds clinicians in a robust, culturally-informed framework for conducting effective therapy with Asian-American couples, families, and individuals. Family, cultural, social, and spiritual dynamics are explored across ethnicities, generations, relationships, and immigrant/citizen experience to reflect a diverse, growing population. Discussion and case examples focus on contrasts, conflicts, and balances involved in acculturation and change, notably the shift from collectivist cultural tradition to a more independent view of the self, gender, choices, and relationships. The contributors’ finely shaded guidance and accessible approach will help therapists provide appropriate services for Asian-American clients without minimizing or pathologizing their experiences. Included in the coverage: How Asian American couples negotiate relational harmony: collectivism and gender equality. Through religion: working-class Korean immigrant women negotiate patriarchy. The role of Chinese grandparents in their adult children’s parenting practices in the United States. Balancing the old and the new: the case of second generation Filipino American women. Bicultural identity as a protective factor among Southeast Asian American youth who have witnessed domestic violence. Transition and Change in Collectivist Family Life is a cogent clinical resource for practitioners and mental health professionals with interests in Asian-American family therapy, psychotherapy, collectivism, and faith-based community and counseling.