Loving Your Community


Book Description

Are you and your church making a difference in your community? Are you meeting needs in a positive, proactive, and loving way? Too often when churches are presented with a need outside their walls, they operate on the principle of "Say no unless you have to say yes." Don't want that to be your church's legacy in your community? Drawing on more than 30 years of service to the community surrounding Faith Church in Indiana, pastor Stephen Viars shows you how to develop a dynamic, giving relationship with your community, one in which your natural response to needs is "Yes! How can we help?" No matter the size, location, demographics, or issues in your community, the approach found in this practical book will help you improve people's lives, draw them into productive conversation about the hope you have in Christ, and glorify God.




We Love Our City


Book Description

The subtitle of the book is an actual quote from one of our City Council members. I was asked to make a presentation to the City Council one evening on all the projects we as a church, had partnered with the city on to provide social services to our community. One of the reasons for the report was to introduce the newest partnership, in which we as a church would become the citys official graffiti abatement team. After everyone on the City Council took an opportunity to thank our church for the services we were providing to the community, one of them said, Because of all that The Fathers House is doing in our community, the city is a better place to live in. This is how a church in the community became the communitys church.




The Economics of Neighborly Love


Book Description

What does the good news of Jesus mean for economics? Marrying biblical study, economic theory, and practical advice, pastor Tom Nelson presents a vision for church ministry that works toward the flourishing of the local community, beginning with its poorest and most marginalized members and pushing us toward more nuanced understandings of wealth and poverty.




The Good and Beautiful Community


Book Description

In this Good and Beautiful Series book, James Bryan Smith helps you to live in relationship with others as apprentices of Jesus. He shows how to bring spiritual formation and community engagement together, and he offers spiritual practices that root new, true narratives about God and the world in your soul.




For the Love of Community Engagement


Book Description

Becky Hirst is a skilled community engagement practitioner who is willing to tell it how it is. And she has grave concerns for the future of public participation. To have a thriving society, we need people and communities who are actively involved in civic life. For politicians, public servants, corporations, or planners to engage with communities in any positive way, they need to learn a new way of doing things. A wealth of sophisticated public consultation slogans, methods and frameworks are frequently seen. But we are close to breaking point. Some fundamental things are missing. And, right now, we need to focus our energies on them. As a matter of urgency. Whilst this book shines a clear light of day on hard truths we can't escape, the stories within it are about love, passion, enthusiasm and a heartfelt commitment to community empowerment and community building. Becky's expedition through her career to date is authentically presented as 20 easy-to-follow key insights, combined with 100 conversation starters to provide the reader with calls to both reflect and act. For the Love of Community Engagement seeks to inspire better public participation - and that it will!




Neighborliness


Book Description

Do you want to love your neighbor as yourself but don’t know where to start? This practical, accessible guide to bridging the dividing lines of politics, race, and economics, both individually and as the church, will help you amplify Jesus in your community and build God’s kingdom. When asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus gave a two-part answer: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and also “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love God. Love others. Jesus’ simple command to love your neighbor can feel overwhelming when your neighbor looks, lives, and votes differently than you do. Racial and economic tensions across the country have resulted in deep dividing lines that seem really intimidating to cross. Docusen breaks down these lines in approachable chapters, including topics like these: how to actively seek out people you can benefit and encourage, what it means to find a diverse and supportive community that fulfills needs, examples of real-life experiences, including highlights and missteps of Docusen’s ongoing journey, and how churches can teach on difficult topics with grace and truth. Neighborliness is a practical guide to bridging those dividing lines and learning to recognize and amplify the beauty of God in our communities. Backed by David’s speaking and training through the Neighborliness Center, this book will help individuals and churches reach out to their neighbors, love them through Christ, and build God’s kingdom.




A Riff of Love


Book Description

Surprising teachers. Tragic losses. Unexpected gifts. Every neighborhood has stories, and ways of singing the stories of their place. Start digging in, and you find all sorts of music. In a neighborhood skilled in improvisation, like Enderly Park, you also discover new ways to sing those songs, and a choir of new kinfolk to sing them with. Since 2005, author and saxophonist Greg Jarrell has been learning the songs of Enderly Park, his Charlotte neighborhood. A Riff of Love explores the riffs and melodies that comprise the life of the neighborhood and of QC Family Tree, the hospitality house where he lives. Though neighbors there face significant economic and political barriers, they still thrive. Funny, heartbreaking, and challenging in equal measure, these stories and essays about life in Enderly Park will surely inspire new improvisations towards community and neighbor-love for everyone who reads them.




Community of Love


Book Description

This book brings together Father Main's insights into a range of issues: the hunger for prayer, the community of love, the monastic adventure, the spiritual relevance of Mary, and the inner journey of death.




Where Did Our Love Go


Book Description

Where Did Our Love Go?, an anthology of essays written by many major public figures and celebrities, will explore the substantive issues related to marital problem in the African-American community. From the "my baby's mama" syndrome to the more serious implications of what a generation of single-parent households will mean to future generations, this comprehensive collection will provide an in-depth discourse on the trends and issues that have caused the problematic behaviors within African-American relationships to persist with little sign of relief. The book will consist of a total of 40 essays divided equally into 4 lifestyle categories (single, married, divorced, and widowed), to present a wide cross section of perspectives on this subject. Marriage plays an essential role in maintaining the vitality and character of a community, so it is deeply unsettling for many African Americans to find that the value of this institution has lost its allure. While marriage among African Americans has always fallen below the average of other population segments, the gap today has grown so pronounced that the subject has sparked an intense national dialogue. A 2006 Washington Post article, “Is Marriage for White People,” created waves of controversy on the issue. In 2010, Nightline dedicated an entire broadcast to this growing crisis. The marriage gap in Black America has become such an open secret that it’s now the source of endless bad jokes and prime time reality shows. The statistics even back this up, as according to the U.S. Census, 43.3% of black men and 41.9% of black women in America have never been married, and the rate of decline is nearly twice the national average. Marriage is a rite of passage that is fundamental to every culture, which underscores the tremendous need for an active dialogue to take place that will lay a foundation for discovery. With essays from 50 Cent, Viola Davis, Jabari Asim, Darnell Williams, Faith Evans, Mara Brock Akil, and more, Where Did Our Love Go? will ignite the fight for that conversation to begin.




Street Level Prayer


Book Description

Jesus calls us to take His love and power outside the walls of the Church. We know we should, but how?Street Level Prayer will not only inspire you do that, but will teach you how to do it in a loving, caring way. This book will help you:* Use prayer as a way to connect people with God* Overcome the fear of doing outreach* Help people experience the love of God* Bring healing to the sick, broken and lost* Lead people in receiving Christ* Discover your spiritual gifts, and much more!I want to say right from the outset that I have an agenda: to transfer an ethos of loving people the way Jesus loves them into doing outreach. Our goal should be that people experience the love of God when we encounter them on the street. That happens when we treat them with care and respect. If we really love people, and they in turn experience the love of God in that relational exchange, then we have won! Not everyone we pray for is healed, and not all with a request get their prayer answered in the way they were hoping. But it is my conviction that every time we pray with people, something good does happen, and that good begins with the love of God exhibited. That is the whole key!This book in organized into three sections:Part 1: TRAINING. This is a "how to" of sorts recounting what I have learned, much of it in the "school of hard knocks." Part 2: TESTIMONIES. These are a few of the stories of what God did in the Prayer Booth ministry. The purpose of sharing these "highlights" is to inspire you, the reader, to actually go out and do something like this. It is also to give God glory in recalling what He has done, and to build up a trust and confidence in you that He desires to do even more through you. Part 3: TOOLS. This section will give you the "nuts and bolts" details and some "do's and don'ts." It is a summary of some of what is discussed in Part 1, with some practical advice on how to get going in this specific ministry.