Plunging into the Kingdom Way
Plunging into the Kingdom Way

Author: Tim Dickau

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2011-01-01

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 1608992586

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What practices might a community of faith take up that will bear witness to the alternative world Jesus envisions and calls us towards? That is the question that Grandview Calvary Baptist Church, an initially small and fragile group of Christ followers, has kept asking over the last twenty years. Along the way, this small group has spawned a vibrant community of faith that has traveled along four trajectories towards a shared life in community, radical hospitality, justice for the least, and confession leading to transformation. In a culture where individualism, consumerism, injustice, and autonomy shape us all, these practices have re-shaped not only the people of this church but also the neighborhood they inhabit in the East side of Vancouver, British Columbia. For anyone wanting to recover ancient but newly shaped practices of the first disciples, Plunging into the Kingdom Way offers renewed hope. By relating their story in conversation with a host of theologians, sociologists, and philosophers, Tim Dickau sparks the imagination for how you and your friends, your community, or your church can live out the radical vision of Jesus in your neighborhood today. Plunge in and you will discover renewed hope that you can actually follow the way of Jesus today.

Hijacked! Idols in Disguise
Hijacked! Idols in Disguise

Author: Rosemary Monreau

Publisher: WestBow Press

Published: 2014-11-05

Total Pages: 155

ISBN-13: 1490855009

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Anything or anyone is a potential idol the moment our affection is diverted from God. Deep down, none of us desire to suffer bondage or intentionally act against the will of God. To avert the danger of something or someone becoming an idol, and to fight any idol that besets us, we must resist that object of our obsession and put it in its rightful place. As idolatry has engulfed us, are we, Western Christians ready to stand in Christ in the face of increasing hostility towards Christianity? Can the secular world see a difference in our daily lives; in the living out of our faith? Hijacked! Idols in Disguise explores the snares that have mesmerized and captivated Western Christians. Consider what redemption would look like if our choices were imbued by a concern for Kingdom values; contrition, confession, repentance, and reconciliation leads to spiritual healing and renews our faith commitment to Christ. Meet the Idol Slayer and join in the journey to breaking the strongholds, to falling in love with God again; standing firm in faith, and proclaiming the Kingdom of God by example and love.

Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come

Author: Jason Byassee

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2022-09-19

Total Pages: 383

ISBN-13: 1666731420

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For four decades, the Rev. Dr. Jonathan R. Wilson has cultivated an imagination for “kingdom realism” as a pastor, teacher, theologian, and friend. To celebrate his seventieth birthday, Kingdom Come has gathered reflections from fellow theologians, popular authors, poets, and practitioners to mark both the range of Wilson’s influence on the Christian church and the consistency of his prayer and work for God’s kingdom to come here on earth as it is in heaven.

Christian Witness in Cascadian Soil
Christian Witness in Cascadian Soil

Author: Ross A. Lockhart

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2021-02-17

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 1725260255

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The Centre for Missional Leadership at St. Andrew’s Hall, Vancouver, has curated a dynamic collection of essays from missional thinkers in church and academy. Together, they explore both the pitfalls and possibilities of Christian witness in the post-Christendom soil of the Pacific Northwest. What does it mean to till, plant, and nurture Christian community while awaiting growth in the rocky soil of secularity, in this West Coast land better known for its hipsters, baristas, and outdoor lifestyle? Each chapter is an attempt to dust for divine fingerprints at work within the church and wider culture, giving evidence of God’s activity in our midst. Within this book you will encounter women and men who are finding hopeful ways to proclaim and live the gospel that are bearing fruit and growing hope within Christian communities and the neighborhoods they call home.

A Glimpse of the Kingdom in Academia
A Glimpse of the Kingdom in Academia

Author: Irene Alexander

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2013-02-11

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1621895394

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University is a major way that our society prepares professionals and leaders in education, health, government, business, arts, church--all components of our communal lives. Although the beginnings of the first universities were Christian, academia has become more and more adrift from these foundations. We have lost not only the union, the interwovenness of theological and academic understandings, but also the relational and communal process of learning which teaches students to be other-centered in their practice. A Glimpse of the Kingdom in Academia tells the story of the social sciences department of a small Christian university that took seriously the mandate to prepare their students to be salt and light in a secular society. Here are stories of the transformation in students' lives, as well as description of classroom practices, and the epistemological theory behind those practices. The book explores academic knowing, Christian worldview, relational epistemology, inner knowing, and wisdom--all ways of knowing that a Christian university should teach. The process of transformation, the context of community, and the bigger picture of life's journey and changing images of God are identified as important aspects of kingdom life in academia. The institutional setting is also critiqued with the recognition that power practices need to align with the kingdom of the Christ who emptied himself.

A Faithful Public-Prophetic Witness
A Faithful Public-Prophetic Witness

Author: Barry K. Morris

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2020-03-20

Total Pages: 179

ISBN-13: 1532684363

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This book hails from decades of challenging trial-and-error work, abundant reading, and an enduring obligation to ministers, activists, and unsung lay heroes whose legacies matter. As there is little that actually addresses the elusive meanings, if not the dangers inherent in pursuing alleged spoils of "success," it is kairos time. Seemingly scarce resources and competition to make and maintain ministries in the city challenge those of us in the field, or on the sidelines, to speak, write, and communicate clearly, and convincingly--not only for ourselves and our "people," past and present, but for those who come along soon to receive the baton or wear the mantle. Concretely narrated, with unique case studies, a cast of dozens contribute their earthy, earnest testimonies and are, at long last, energetically affirmed. Specifically, this work proffers constructive attention to the critical cautions concerning subtle temptations to "succeed," including: commodification, cooptation, communalism, clientelism, and cowardice--and, not bailing on fierce charity-justice tensions (with benevolence protectively dominant). Narrative analysis and biography-as-theology, social ethics, biblical theology, and recent church history give apt attention to how a compelling case is possible for success, if justice is practiced, given a hopeful realism and perspective of prophetic eschatology.

Against the Tide, Towards the Kingdom
Against the Tide, Towards the Kingdom

Author: Jenny Duckworth

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2011-07-01

Total Pages: 131

ISBN-13: 1608998673

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Against the Tide, Towards the Kingdom is the story of the Urban Vision community in New Zealand. This book recounts the story of a group of young Christian adults who over the last fifteen years have relocated to the colorful ends of their city to share life with those who are struggling, homeless, sick, poor, neglected, or otherwise marginalized. The community has grown over time to seven neighborhoods where on any given day you may find "Urban Visionites" growing vegetables amidst the concrete, teaching English to refugees, offering alternative education programs to out of school teenagers, fostering children, doing church with the homeless, offering friendship to the mentally ill, roasting fair trade coffee, running kids clubs, moms groups, tenant meetings or just sharing yet another cup of tea with their neighbors. In fact sharing is a good summary of the whole shape of this exciting movement. They share homes, food, money, vehicles, jobs, prayers, dreams, conversations, fun, tears, pain, hope, healing, transformation . . . they share the whole of life with each other and with their neighbors. They live the gospel, this good news of Jesus.

Thomas Merton: God’s Messenger on the Road towards a New World
Thomas Merton: God’s Messenger on the Road towards a New World

Author: Paul R. Dekar

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2021-06-02

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1532670850

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Thomas Merton: God's Messenger on the Road towards a New World highlights the contribution of the best-selling North American writer between the Second World War and 1968. The Cistercian monk called people to act justly, love kindness, and walk humbly. By his critique of technology, a major impediment for people to follow Jesus; by his writing on contemplative prayer; by his interfaith outreach; and through his witness against racism, war, and degradation of nature, Merton still matters. This book uses Micah 6:8 to organize Merton's focus on justice, lovingkindness, and humility, as well as his dialogue with Rachel Carson, Ernesto Cardinal, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thich Nhat Hahn, and others.

Is the Gospel Good News?
Is the Gospel Good News?

Author: Stanley E. Porter

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2019-05-02

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 1532611323

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Is the Gospel Good News? was the theme of the 2015 H. H. Bingham Colloquium at McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, held on June 4–5. The fourteen participants in this colloquium presented their own individual perspectives on the theme from three broad vantage points—Bible, theology, and crucial topics. The “good news” that Jesus proclaimed concerning the kingdom of God became the “gospel” proclaimed by his followers throughout church history. This gospel is about the coming of Jesus Christ in fulfillment of God’s will for humanity. This volume presents some accounts of how this good news has been understood through the ages and continues to be understood in relation to some of the major topics and issues of our contemporary world. The papers in the Bible section discuss this good news from both Old and New Testament passages and themes. The papers in the Theology section address theological topics in light of the question of what constitutes the good news. Finally, the papers in the Crucial Topics section explore new and different perspectives on ways in which the gospel is good news. This volume highlights diverse perspectives and proposals by scholars from various locations in different stages of their academic careers, resulting in a stimulating discussion of the topic of the gospel as good news.

Dismissing Jesus
Dismissing Jesus

Author: Douglas M. Jones

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2013-05-07

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 1621896692

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What is the way of the cross? Why does it create resistance? How do we answer objections to it? The revival of interest in Christ's kingdom and radical discipleship has produced a wave of discussions, but sometimes those discussions are scattered. This book aims to pull together in one place the core claims of the way of the cross. It aims to examine the deeply cherished assumptions that hinder us from hearing Jesus's call. When we do that, we'll see that the gospel of Christ is not primarily about getting into heaven or about living a comfortable, individually pious, middle-class life. It is about being free from the ancient, pervasive, and delightful oppression of Mammon in order to create a very different community, the church, an alternative city-kingdom here and now on earth by means of living and celebrating the way of the cross--the reign of joyful weakness, renunciation, self-denial, sharing, foolishness, community, and love overcoming evil.