Small Group Idea Book

Small Group Idea Book
Author: Cindy Bunch
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2003-12-04
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780830811243

This revised and expanded resource, edited by Cindy Bunch, offers hundreds of field-tested activities to help leaders develop healthy and vibrant small group life that includes community, worship and prayer, study and nurture, outreach, and fun.

Whole Life Worship

Whole Life Worship
Author: Sam Hargreaves
Publisher: Inter-Varsity Press
Total Pages: 153
Release: 2017-03-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1783595124

This book is a continuation of the LICC series begun by Neil Hudson's Imagine Church Whole-Life Worship will demonstrate that the contemporary Western Church has reached a point where our "gathered" worship is separated from our "scattered" lives outside of church. This is detrimental to the congregation's spiritual development and their effectiveness on their "frontlines". Church worship should be inspired and informed by our everyday experiences. It should empower and send the congregation out to continue worshipping. The book will provide patterns and resources to better connect gathered worship with the lives of the congregation beyond church meetings. The book will unpack a biblical grounding for both gathered and scattered worship. It will then identify patterns within our gathered services which help us re-make these connections. It will provide practical resources such as songs, prayers and activities which can help churches connect Sunday to the rest of the week. It will draw examples and stories from other church streams and traditions, to demonstrate how different kinds of Christian spirituality engage worshipfully with everyday life. In the second half of the book is a practical resource looking specifically at different aspects of a gathered service, and how each one can have an "outward" dimension.

Creative Meetings, Bible Lessons, and Worship Ideas

Creative Meetings, Bible Lessons, and Worship Ideas
Author: Youth Specialities
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 204
Release: 1997
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780310220268

Nearly 200 ready-to-use ideas for hard-hitting Bible lessons and relevant worship services for teenagers! - Bible Study Meetings . . . Techniques and approaches for making any Bible lesson -- topical or scriptural -- appealing to unchurched teenagers as well as to preachers' kids. - Creative Bible Lessons . . . 'Martha and Mary Malpractice' (page 67), 'Noah and the Ark I. Q. Test' (page 43), and 70 more very different, very fun, and very solid Bible lessons. - Theme Lessons . . . Build an entire lesson on a specific theme. Try 'Feet Meeting' (page 118) -- foot games followed by a lesson on the symbolic importance of washing each other's feet. You aren't into feet? Okay, what about the hands of Jesus? Or the light versus darkness? They're all here! - Bible Games . . . These won't speed your kids into seminary, but they certainly go a long way toward making the Bible interesting to your students -- and fun, too! - Worship Services . . . Some are informal, others have a liturgical feel -- and all are innovative. Here are the ideas for communion, confession, music, prayer, and Scripture reading. And More . . . Full lessons (all the components are here, from opening mixers to closing prayers), board games (with reproducible game 'boards'), and ideas for using guest speakers and special projects. Whether you're a youth worker or a recreation director at a church, school, club, or camp -- Creative Meetings, Bible Lessons, and Worship Ideas is your storehouse of proven, youth-group tested ideas.

Creative Ideas for Children's Worship

Creative Ideas for Children's Worship
Author: Sarah Lenton
Publisher: Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2010-11-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1848250428

Ask almost any priest what his or her biggest headache is and the answer is likely to be 'coming up with ideas for including children in worship'. Here is the answer to those prayers - a whole year's worth of activities and ideas complete with artwork and visual aids. These sixty outlines have been developed and used in an Anglican parish church over the last eight years by a professional educationalist, artist and experienced children's church leader. The worship outlines include simple children's liturgies and a complete lesson or story plan that harmonizes with what the adults are doing in church on the same day. Through fun ideas, children encounter a real aspect of the Christian faith focused on a theme to be found in the Gospel of the day. Each outline includes a variety of options which make them workable with small and large groups of children or single groups of mixed ages. Illustrated throughout, the text and artwork appears on the accompanying CD Rom in full colour for downloading and printing or copying.

Sacred Pathways

Sacred Pathways
Author: Gary Thomas
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2020-09-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310361184

Sacred Pathways reveals nine distinct spiritual temperaments--and their strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies--to help you improve your spiritual life and deepen your personal walk with God. It's time to strip away the frustration of a one-size-fits-all spirituality and discover a path of worship that frees you to be you. Experienced spiritual directors, pastors, and church leaders recognize that all of us engage with God differently, and it's about time we do too. In this updated and expanded edition of Sacred Pathways, Gary Thomas details nine spiritual temperaments and--like the Enneagram and other tools do with personality--encourages you to investigate the ways you most naturally express yourself in your relationship with God. He encourages you to dig into the traits, strengths, and pitfalls in your devotional approach so you can eliminate the barriers that keep you locked into rigid methods of worship and praise. Plus, as you begin to identify and understand your own temperament, you'll soon learn about the temperaments that aren't necessarily "you" but that may help you understand the spiritual tendencies of friends, family, and others around you. Whatever temperament or blend of temperaments best describes you, rest assured it's not by accident. It's by the design of a Creator who knew what he was doing when he made you according to his own unique intentions. If your spiritual walk is not what you'd like it to be, you can change that, starting here. Sacred Pathways will show you the route you were made to travel, marked by growth and filled with the riches of a close walk with God. A Sacred Pathways video Bible study is also available for group or individual use, sold separately.

The Life You've Always Wanted

The Life You've Always Wanted
Author: John Ortberg
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2009-05-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310565898

Ignite a deeper, more vibrant relationship with God that impacts not just your spiritual life but every aspect of your daily life. John Ortberg calls readers back to the dynamic heartbeat of Christianity--God's power to bring change and growth--and reveals how and why transformation takes place. The Life You've Always Wanted offers modern perspectives on the ancient path of the spiritual disciplines. But it is more than just a book about things to do to be a good Christian. It's a road map toward true transformation that starts not with the individual but with the person at the journey's end--Jesus Christ. As with a marathon runner, the secret to finishing a race lies not in trying harder, but in training consistently--training with the spiritual disciplines. The disciplines are neither taskmasters nor ends in themselves. Rather they are exercises that build strength and endurance for the road of growth. The fruit of the Spirit--joy, peace, kindness, etc.--are the signposts along the way. Paved with humor and sparkling anecdotes, The Life You've Always Wanted is an encouraging and challenging approach to a Christian life that's worth living--a life on the edge that fills an ordinary world with new meaning, hope, change, and joy.

The Worship Workshop

The Worship Workshop
Author: Dr. Marcia McFee
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2010-10-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1426730535

The Worship Workshop, rather than providing simply another manual for doing worship, offers instead an interactive workshop that helps worship teams develop more meaningful and memorable worship for the congregation. By combining liturgical history and the creative process, The Worship Workshop encourages worship teams and staff to break out of the traditional worship box in order to create diverse ways to present the Good News in worship. Through a variety of activities, ideas, and informational handouts, The Worship Workshop helps worship committees, planners, and designers evaluate the state of their current worship, get more people involved in the planning and designing process, explore the diverse designs of congregational worship, learn the history of worship, and utilize the arts and artists in worship.

Creative ideas for worship with all abilities

Creative ideas for worship with all abilities
Author: Hazel Bradley
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2019
Genre:
ISBN: 9781848251199

This vital resource draws on the vast experience of the L'Arche community to offer practical guidance and ideas for imaginative worship that engages people with learning and other disabilities.It explores the essential considerations of pastoral work with those with learning disabilities, as well as patterns of prayer and worship that are most appropriate. It offers practical ideas for enabling participation and building familiarity while keeping worship fresh and varied, with ready-to-use themed service outlines for use throughout the Christian year. It offers a compendium of resources for creating your own acts of worship, including prayers, blessings, stories, quotes, a directory of online resources, ideas for what to keep in a 'liturgy box', ideas for seasonal decoration of the worship space and many more resources from L'Arche. Creative Ideas for Worship with All Abilities is a gift to the church from L'Arche, renowned for its pioneering work in creating communities where people with and without learning disabilities share their lives, and its wisdom in attending not just to people's physical needs, but also to their emotional and spiritual wellbeing.Based on a variety of celebrations, acts of worship and small group gatherings that have been led by L'Arche in churches, at festivals and in their communities worldwide, this book offers a comprehensive guide for enabling people with learning disabilities to become more fully a part of their local church, and for churches to grow more like the body of Christ.PART 1 outlines practical ways of including people with learning disabilities in the life and ministry of your church.PART 2 gives guidance and ideas for creating fully inclusive church services.PART 3 provides twelve complete service outlines based on popular scripture stories for multi-sensory, participative worship.PART 4 offers comprehensive resources for creative small group celebrations for people with learning disabilities, their families and friends.Useful appendices and a glossary provide further help.

Creative Ideas for Worship with All Abilities

Creative Ideas for Worship with All Abilities
Author: Hazel Bradley
Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2021-04-16
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1640654003

This vital resource explores the essential considerations of pastoral work with those with intellectual disabilities. Drawing on the vast experience of the L’Arche community that fully includes and centers those with intellectual disabilities, this practical guide offers ideas for imaginative worship to engage people with all abilities. It gives suggestions for enabling participation and building familiarity while keeping worship fresh and varied, with ready-to-use themed service outlines that are appropriate throughout the Christian year. It includes a compendium of resources for creating your own acts of worship, including prayers, blessings, stories, quotes, a directory of online resources, ideas for what to keep in a “liturgy box,” ideas or seasonal decoration of the worship space, and many more resources from L’Arche. This book is rooted in the belief that each human being is on a spiritual quest to find meaning in their life, and while each person’s path is uniquely their own, we share the journey together. The important thing is to encourage each other’s personal development, and celebrate the gifts and talents that emerge within and for the whole community.