Untapped Church: Discovering the Potential Hidden in Your Congregation

Untapped Church: Discovering the Potential Hidden in Your Congregation

Author: Derek Sanford

Publisher: AuthorLoyalty

Published: 2021-09-04

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 1632695634

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The greatest untapped resource in today's church is high capacity volunteer leaders. Many people in many churches are largely untapped which means available but not used. In 2011, the pastoral staff at Grace Church in Erie, Pennsylvania began inviting additional leaders from within the congregation to become staff members without pay. These voluntary leaders were given job descriptions, business cards, problems to solve, and people to lead. They were given responsibility that matched their capacity, and Grace Church created a culture where volunteer leaders had the potential to rise to every level of leadership within the organization. In Untapped Church, Pastor Derek Sanford explores this exciting new approach to church. The book is structured into two main parts. The first part tells the story of the church's journey toward volunteer leadership. It explores biblical foundations, philosophical shifts, and real-life stories of leaders who have been tapped for kingdom impact. The second part of the book is much more practical in nature. It has the feel of a how-to manual. Beyond that, Derek hopes other pastors will take his idea further and make it better than he ever dreamed it could be! Untapped Church will inspire you to discover the potential hidden in your own congregation.


Religion, Spirituality, and Aging

Religion, Spirituality, and Aging

Author: Harry R Moody

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13: 1136424997

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Learn how to make a more positive impact with your social work with the aged Religion is an important coping mechanism for many aging adults. Religion, Spirituality, and Aging: A Social Work Perspective presents the latest research that shows how religion and spirituality can improve quality of life for elders. Respected social work researchers and scholars provide insight and practical methods for fostering positive aging while also considering how spirituality and religion can affect practitioners themselves. The full range of advantages and ethical implications are discussed in clear detail from a social work viewpoint. Case studies plainly illustrate the positive impact that the inclusion of spirituality and religion in an aging person’s life may have on their physical and mental welfare. Organized social work in the early twentieth century actively tried to distance itself from its roots as a form of religious charity in favor of becoming a scientific and professional endeavor. Religion, Spirituality, and Aging once again bridges the gap between social work and spiritual matters by presenting penetrating articles that discusses the issues of the aging soul while examining ways to improve care. Creative strategies are offered to contribute to the spiritual side of aging while considering every implication and ethical question. The compilation is extensively referenced and includes helpful figures and tables to clearly illustrate data and ideas. Religion, Spirituality, and Aging discusses: the latest social work trends and attitudes toward spirituality prayer, meditation, and acts of altruism as interventions an empirical study of how social workers use religion and spirituality as an intervention ethical considerations and best practices religion and spirituality during long-term care the “Postcards to God” project dreams and their relationship to the search for meaning in later life a spiritual approach to positive aging through autobiography dementia and spirituality creating new rituals for sacred aging spiritual master Henri Nouwen’s principles of aging—and his approaches to caring for older people an interview study on elders’ spirituality and the changes manifested in their views of religion Religion, Spirituality, and Aging is a remarkable reminder that elders are our future selves. This erudite, well-reasoned examination of aging and spirituality from a social work perspective is crucial reading for social workers, human service professionals who work with the aged, and gerontology scholars.


Church Revitalization

Church Revitalization

Author: Russell N. Small

Publisher: Kregel Publications

Published: 2023-04-11

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 0825479118

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There are more churches needing revitalization than there are leaders skilled for the work Church Revitalization guides current and future leaders through the often-complex process of bringing a church to a place of vibrancy. This book demonstrates how the overarching goal of seeing people come to faith in Christ and develop into Christlikeness can and must inform the most foundational to the most fleeting aspects of revitalizing a struggling church. Church Revitalization Strategist Rusty Small systematically walks readers through the many considerations of leading a church out of a decline. He helps identify the best approach for addressing what a particular church's revitalization need may be: • Refresh -- often most fitting after a difficult season in the church's life • Renovate -- needed when a decline has lasted five to ten years • Restore -- appropriate for churches with generational patterns focused on survival • Replant -- best for a church facing imminent closure Few joys compare to seeing God's life and power realized for the local church when believers begin to think and serve as Jesus did. Small will encourage pastors and church leaders engaged in this critical task. If God is calling you to church revitalization, take and read!


The Prayer-Saturated Church

The Prayer-Saturated Church

Author: Cheryl Sacks

Publisher: Tyndale House

Published: 2014-02-27

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 1617479535

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The Prayer-Saturated Church provides step-by-step, practical help for mobilizing, organizing, and motivating believers to make their church a house of prayer. Written by a veteran prayer leader with hands-on experience in local church prayer, The Prayer-Saturated Church will enable any church to take prayer to the next level.


Social Work Practice with African American Families

Social Work Practice with African American Families

Author: Cheryl Waites

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2009-06-02

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 1135252017

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Be more effective by understanding African American families from an intergenerational perspective Social workers looking to provide competent practice with African American families may be more effective by using a new strengths-based approach from an intergenerational perspective. Social Work Practice with African American Families presents a comprehensive look at this new approach to view, assess, and provide services to multigenerational families and communities. It closely examines this useful innovative framework which encourages opportunities for action to create solutions for survival and change. The approach dynamically considers the changing demographics in American society, key issues, and the various challenges pertinent to the African American community. This text offers a strong, culturally competent approach to social work practice for African American families that takes into consideration the latest policies, programs, and demographic changes. It also incorporates the voices of African American families, along with teaching that focuses on strengths derived from the transfer of information and support between multiple generations. The book is extensively referenced and provides tables to clearly present data. Topics discussed include: the importance of strong kinship bonds demographic changes mutually supportive intergenerational relationships intergenerational policy intergenerational programs cultural genograms assessment issues long term care giving issues intergenerational influences on education the role of intergenerational knowledge transfer in church community programming and much more! Social Work Practice with African American Families is a valuable resource for social workers, counselors, educators, and students in African American studies and family studies.


Deep Church Rising

Deep Church Rising

Author: Andrew G. Walker

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2014-07-01

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 1630871532

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The major cultural changes in Western societies since the Reformation have created a serious challenge for the church. Modernity in particular has been inhospitable to Christian orthodoxy and many have been tempted to reject classical versions of the faith. This has led to a division within churches that Walker and Parry name "the third schism," a divide between those who believe and practice the central tenets of Christian tradition and those who do not. The authors have adopted and adapted C. S. Lewis' phrase "deep church" to highlight the necessity of remembering our past in order to recover historic Christian orthodoxy. This book is a call to deep church, to remember our future, to make a half-turn back to premodernity; not in order to repeat or relive the past, but in order to draw on its rich yet often-forgotten resources for the here and now.


Contemporary Religious Satanism

Contemporary Religious Satanism

Author: Jesper Aagaard Petersen

Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 9780754652861

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Despite the fascinating nature of religious Satanism, it has attracted little scholarship until relatively recently. This book brings together a group of international scholars to produce the first serious book-length study of religious Satanism, presenting a collection that will have wide appeal to specialists and non-specialists alike. The first part contains broader studies of influential groups and important aspects of the Satanic milieu, especially regarding historical developments, the construction of tradition and issues of legitimacy. The second part narrows the view to regional variations, especially with studies on Northern and Eastern Europe. The third part consists of primary documents selected for their representational and informational value.


African-American Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations, 2nd Ed.

African-American Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations, 2nd Ed.

Author: James Chambers

Publisher: Infobase Holdings, Inc

Published: 2019-09-01

Total Pages: 789

ISBN-13: 0780816064

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Presents more than 100 diverse holidays and festivals observed by Americans of African descent, exploring their history, customs, and symbols. Also includes a chronology, bibliography, and index.


Gathered Together

Gathered Together

Author: Tilda Norberg

Publisher: Upper Room Books

Published: 2015-08-01

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 0835815579

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How can the church honor a person's profound experience of struggle, change or celebration? How can corporate worship link to the unique and real-life needs of the people in the pews? God wants us to be whole. One of the purposes of the church is to encourage that. However, in seeking to provide something for everyone, corporate worship traditions may have lost a personal touch that members need. Perhaps your most dedicated parishioner, for whatever reason, looks outside the congregation for support or growth. Positive change comes from these efforts, but often the much needed spiritual element is left unaddressed. In Gathered Together: Creating Personal Liturgies for Healing and Transformation, Norberg offers ideas for creating tailor-made liturgies that connect daily life with the rituals of worship. "Individualized healing liturgies are not psychotherapy but a wonderful adjunct to an inner journey that may include therapy," Norberg writes. "…Personal liturgies can bring a vital component to the life of the church. [They] offer an exciting, effective, even necessary, contribution to personal growth—a natural addition to healing ministries." Norberg details more than two dozen custom liturgies she has designed and led among the “ad hoc church,” honoring such specific events as finding a vocation, recovering from illness, giving up false hopes and receiving first car keys. These liturgies are truly faith in action—intimate, honest and deeply transformative—as a congregation of close friends participate with the celebrant in a service uniquely designed around a personal need. Her wise, creative guidance will inspire pastors to widen the scope of the liturgy and encourage laypeople to seek an authentic bridge between the personal journey and church life.