Unexpected Guests at God’s Banquet

Unexpected Guests at God’s Banquet
Author: Brett Webb-Mitchell
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2009-03-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1725225409

Flowing from Jesus's parable of the banquest feast, this practical and challenging call to a more inclusive church shows why disabled people--the mentally retarded, the physically impaired, and others--must be part of congregational life, along with how, where, and what to do. Essential for parents, teachers, and the disabled themselves.

World Christianity

World Christianity
Author: Graham Joseph Hill
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 533
Release: 2024-10-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

World Christianity: An Introduction provides an accessible introduction to the discipline, methodology, and field of world Christianity. In this book, Graham Joseph Hill engages with more than one hundred high-profile Majority World and First Nations Christian leaders to learn what they can teach the West about mission, leadership, hospitality, creation care, education, worship, and more. Hill challenges the Western church to move away from a Eurocentric and Americentric view of church and mission, and he calls for the church to engage with crucial paradigm shifts in world Christianity. The future of the global church—including the churches in the West—exists in these global exchanges. World Christianity is an indispensable guide for the church as it navigates the unique global experiences of the twenty-first century.

Vulnerable Communion

Vulnerable Communion
Author: Thomas E. Reynolds
Publisher: Brazos Press
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2008-04-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1441202633

As parents of a son with disabilities, Thomas E. Reynolds and his wife know what it's like to be misunderstood by a church community. In Vulnerable Communion, Reynolds draws upon that personal experience and a diverse body of literature to empower churches and individuals to foster deeper hospitality toward persons with disabilities. Reynolds argues that the Christian story is one of strength coming from weakness, of wholeness emerging from brokenness, and of power in vulnerability. He offers valuable biblical, theological, and pastoral tools to understand and welcome those with disabilities. Vulnerable Communion will be a useful resource for any student, theologian, church leader, or lay person seeking to discover the power of God revealed through weakness.

Salt, Light, and a City, Second Edition

Salt, Light, and a City, Second Edition
Author: Graham Joseph Hill
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2020-07-24
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1532603258

Jesus is calling his church to be a multiethnic and missional people who listen and learn from the many voices of world Christianity. Graham Joseph Hill issues a moving call for churches to be missional by being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Hill does this by exploring the thinking of twenty-five Asian, African, Latin American, Indigenous, African American, diaspora, Caribbean, Oceanian, Eastern European, and Middle Eastern pastors and theologians. These are as diverse as Melba Padilla Maggay, Emmanuel Katongole, Lamin Sanneh, Oscar Muriu, Ruth Padilla DeBorst, Pope Francis, Richard Twiss, Lisa Sharon Harper, Willie James Jennings, Ada María Isasi-Díaz, Soong-Chan Rah, and Mitri Raheb. These voices show us the future of missional churches in world Christianity. When churches are conformed to Christ they make disciples, heal a broken world, and witness to Jesus and his gospel. Jesus forms us in his image and moves us to be a people of shalom, humility, character, justice, peace, wisdom, prayer, beauty, and witness. The church has had a Reformation but now it needs a Conformation. Hill explores biblical themes and the voices of world Christianity to show that a missional church is conformed to the image of the incarnate, crucified, resurrected, and glorified Christ. Conformity to Christ is the heart of missional ecclesiology and discipleship.

Beyond Accessibility

Beyond Accessibility
Author: Brett Webb-Mitchell
Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2010-04-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780898698428

A church has built an accessibility ramp and perhaps refitted its restrooms to accommodate a wheelchair. Now what? This new resource by a noted author of several books on people with disabilities offers a theological and practical approach for congregations, with clear, targeted strategies for full inclusion of all members, recognizing and using the gifts that each member brings to the congregations life together.

Graduate Theological Education and the Human Experience of Disability

Graduate Theological Education and the Human Experience of Disability
Author: Robert C Anderson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 135
Release: 2012-10-12
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1136459677

Create pathways in theological education and congregational practice for people with disabilities! Graduate Theological Education and the Human Experience of Disability examines graduate schools of theology and their limited familiarity with the study of disability—and the presence of people with disabilities in particular—on their campuses. Dubbed a “missing note” by one theologian, this text offers critical research and illuminates new pathways for theologia and practice in the community of faith. Reviews of previous literature, theology, and practices illuminate how people with disabilities have historically been marginalized by the religious community. Theologians, people with disabilities, and researchers offer suggestions for incorporating disability studies into theological education and religious life. This text contains firsthand testimony from people with disabilities who are the necessary sources of wisdom for overcoming barriers. By infusing education into existing theological curriculum, seminaries may better prepare their students for leadership and ministry in their congregations. People with disabilities number 18% of the population, yet represent only 5-7% of congregational membership. This book explores aspects of theology and disability such as: the challenges faced by theological schools that desire to improve both theological curriculum and facilities a review of literature that connects theology and disability—from sources such as scripture, history, faith traditions, and social theory the various ideologies that shape the way the human body is understood—redefining “normal” in theological education an overview of critical boundaries that mark the limits and possibilities for theological inquiry about the human experience of disability creative concepts that religious communities may use to better include people with disabilities and their families how the religious community may benefit from the gifts, talents, and leadership of people with disabilities Graduate Theological Education and the Human Experience of Disability contains a reprint of Dr. Harold Wilke’s landmark 1978 article from Theological Education (published by the Association of Theological Schools). Dr. Wilke, born without arms, was the theologian, minister and scholar who first articulated the need to address the human experience of disability in both theological education and congregational life. With extensive biographies and inclusive liturgies, this innovative text is a valuable resource for seminary professors and leaders, clergy, and disability advocates.

The Social Contexts of Disability Ministry

The Social Contexts of Disability Ministry
Author: Albert A. Herzog
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2017-09-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1532607709

This book provides pastors, seminarians, and interested laity with the background necessary to understand the need for disability ministry and the contexts out of which the church’s ministry among people with disabilities must emerge. This is true not only for descriptions of ministries over the past sixty years, but also the challenges disability poses for biblical studies, church history, Christian theology, and ethics. Insights are gained not only from mainstream secular and religious sources but from evangelical and other conservative materials. The blending of items from different religious resources reveals just how ubiquitous disability is and the need for disability ministry—now and for many years into the future. The book’s format is such that either it can serve as a text for courses on disability ministry, or individual chapters can be employed in various courses on selected topics in biblical studies, history, theology, and ethics. Pastors and lay leaders will enjoy the depth of coverage for each topic. This is a book about a serious subject, for serious readers. Its materials are designed to inform, stimulate, and promote disability ministry as a topic worthy of serious study.

Come Eat With Me

Come Eat With Me
Author: Rob Douglas
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 149
Release: 2018-12-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1532671369

If a meal is a metaphor for a relationship, then there’s no better way to describe God’s purpose for his people than as an invitation to a meal with the Maker. In Come Eat With Me, Rob Douglas explores hospitality as a biblical theme and a description of a rich relationship between God and humanity, highlighting the benefits and challenges along the way.

"The Poor, the Crippled, the Blind, and the Lame"

Author: Louise A. Gosbell
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
Total Pages: 427
Release: 2018-08-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 316155132X

The New Testament gospels feature numerous social exchanges between Jesus and people with various physical and sensory disabilities. Despite this, traditional biblical scholarship has not seen these people as agents in their own right but existing only to highlight the actions of Jesus as a miracle worker. In this study, Louise A. Gosbell uses disability as a lens through which to explore a number of these passages anew. Using the cultural model of disability as the theoretical basis, she explores the way that the gospel writers, as with other writers of the ancient world, used the language of disability as a means of understanding, organising, and interpreting the experiences of humanity. Her investigation highlights the ways in which the gospel writers reinforce and reflect, as well as subvert, culturally-driven constructions of disability in the ancient world.

Engraved Upon the Heart

Engraved Upon the Heart
Author: Hwarang Moon
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2015-07-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1498220126

How does liturgy impact the formation of faith? The Protestant Church has traditionally emphasized human reason and doctrinal knowledge. But there is another method with great formative power--participation in liturgy. Human beings gain important knowledge not only through traditional, cognitively focused learning, but also through practice and participation. And because knowledge is wholistic, an inability to express an idea in language does not necessarily signify an absence of knowledge. This book shows how liturgy transmits knowledge that transcends human reason. We repeat the liturgy in weekly public worship, and its contents are inscribed on our minds and bodies. Contrary to common belief, this is also true for children and cognitively challenged individuals. They may be unable to verbally express the contents of their faith in a way that satisfies "normal" adult expectations, but these two groups of people are capable of rich religious experiences. This book explores how welcoming them into experience and practice of worship and sacrament can benefit children, cognitively challenged church members, their families, and the church community as a whole, and makes us all a more inclusive community in Christ.