Creative Ideas for Ministry with the Aged

Creative Ideas for Ministry with the Aged
Author: Sue Pickering
Publisher: Canterbury Press
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2014-09-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1848256485

Creative Ideas for Ministry with the Aged is a wise, timely and practical handbook that meets the urgent need for resources for ministry among the elderly. Written out of the author's own experience as a chaplain to a residential care community, it is suitable for ministers who visit the elderly; chaplains, pastoral visitors and caregivers; and all who help train others in elderly pastoral care. Part 1 explores the key theological elements of ministry with the aged, focusing on themes such as the sacrament of the present moment. It asks what constitutes spiritual care and conversation with those whose minds and bodies are failing? Part 2 provides simple service outlines for 'reconnecting with old treasures'; and includes liturgies for communion services, services of the word and remembering special days. Parts 3 and 4 offer imaginative ideas for pastoral practices and spiritual activities using prayer, song, laughter, memory, touch, anointing and more to address questions of loss, letting go, forgiveness, dying and resurrection.

A Vision for the Aging Church

A Vision for the Aging Church
Author: James M. Houston
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2011-10-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830869522

James M. Houston and Michael Parker believe now is the time for the church to offer ministry to its increasing numbers of seniors and to benefit from ministry they can offer. They issue an urgent call to reconceive the place and part of the elderly in the local congregation, showing that seniors aren't the problem--they are the solution.

Funeral, Memorial and Thanksgiving Services

Funeral, Memorial and Thanksgiving Services
Author: Jan Brind
Publisher: Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2008-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781853118555

Arising out of many year's experience of helping to lead local church worship and counselling work in a children's hospice, this is the first of three new volumes that focuses on the occasions when many non-churchgoers visit a church: for christenings, weddings, funerals, and memorials. These rites of passage present key opportunities for occasional visitors to encounter the Christian faith. If they are imaginatively handled a lifelong interest can be aroused. If they are insensitively done, people can be put of for life. This practical resource offers prayers, forms of words and many tried and tested ideas for creating rituals that give support at a time of great need following a death. It will enable the creation of rites (based on the authorized liturgical texts) that are beautiful, memorable and meaningful. Particular help is given for that most difficult of pastoral challenges, the death of a child and the care of the bereaved family.

Girls Ministry Handbook

Girls Ministry Handbook
Author: Jimmie Davis
Publisher: Lifeway Church Resources
Total Pages: 112
Release: 2007-01-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781415852637

This Girls' Ministry Handbook is the perfect guide for a minister or volunteer who wants to begin and nurture a girls' ministry in their local church. It provides basic information on the need for girls' ministry and the steps to starting one. It also gives lots of practical tips that the leader can use as she plans activities and Bible studies for teen girls. It also guides the leader in developing a well-rounded ministry that focuses not only on teen girls, but also their families.

The Juvenilization of American Christianity

The Juvenilization of American Christianity
Author: Thomas Bergler
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2012-04-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0802866840

Pop worship music. Falling in love with Jesus. Mission trips. Wearing jeans and T-shirts to church. Spiritual searching and church hopping. Faith-based political activism. Seeker-sensitive outreach. These now-commonplace elements of American church life all began as innovative ways to reach young people, yet they have gradually become accepted as important parts of a spiritual ideal for all ages. What on earth has happened? In The Juvenilization of American Christianity Thomas Bergler traces the way in which, over seventy-five years, youth ministries have breathed new vitality into four major American church traditions -- African American, Evangelical, Mainline Protestant, and Roman Catholic. Bergler shows too how this "juvenilization" of churches has led to widespread spiritual immaturity, consumerism, and self-centeredness, popularizing a feel-good faith with neither intergenerational community nor theological literacy. Bergler s critique further offers constructive suggestions for taming juvenilization. Watch the trailer:

The Church after Innovation (Ministry in a Secular Age Book #5)

The Church after Innovation (Ministry in a Secular Age Book #5)
Author: Andrew Root
Publisher: Baker Academic
Total Pages: 339
Release: 2022-09-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1493438352

Churches and their leaders have innovation fever. Innovation seems exciting--a way to enliven tired institutions, embrace creativity, and be proactive--and is a superstar of the business world. But this focus on innovation may be caused by an obsession with contemporary relevance, creativity, and entrepreneurship that inflates the self, lacks theological depth, and promises burnout. In this follow-up to Churches and the Crisis of Decline, leading practical theologian Andrew Root delves into the problems of innovation. He explores where innovation and entrepreneurship came from, shows how they break into church circles, and counters the "new imaginations" like neoliberalism and technology that hold the church captive to modernity. Root reveals the moral visions of the self that innovation and entrepreneurship deliver--they are dependent on workers (and consumers) being obsessed with their selves, which leads to significant faith-formation issues. This focus on innovation also causes us to think we need to be singularly unique instead of made alive in Christ. Root offers a return to mysticism and the poetry of Meister Eckhart as a healthier spiritual alternative.

The Pattern of Our Days

The Pattern of Our Days
Author: Iona Community
Publisher: Wild Goose Publications
Total Pages: 198
Release: 1996
Genre: Ecumenical liturgies
ISBN: 9780947988760

This anthology reflects the life and witness of the Iona Community and is intended to encourage creativity in worship. Liturgies include: pilgrimage and journeys, healing, acts of witness and dissent, a sanctuary and a light, resources: beginnings and endings of worship, short prayers, prayers for forgiveness, words of faith, thanksgiving, concern, litanies and responses, cursings and blessings, reflections, readings and meditations.

Don't Have a Messed-Up Sunday School or Church School

Don't Have a Messed-Up Sunday School or Church School
Author: Dr. Oneal C. Sandidge
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2004-01-09
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1410752283

This book is like no other book because it is the only known book to provide the ABC's for organizing or reorganizing the Sunday school or church school. The book is also loaded with suggestive forms to help any leader to construct his or her own forms for Sunday school or church school administration. This book reminds the prospective teacher, the current teacher, the VBS coordinator, training administrators, and the support leader and workers of their responsibilities. Any church pastor, superintendent, church leader, professor of Christian education, or director of Christian education will find this book as a valuable tool in Christian education.

Zowie!

Zowie!
Author: Jodi Blackwell
Publisher: New Hope Publishers
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2008
Genre: Church work with children
ISBN: 1596692227

Complete with encouraging testimonials, Zowie! includes countless practical resources including reproducible appendixes including Bible verse cards in English and Spanish, patterns, recipes, and contact information.

Toddlerific!

Toddlerific!
Author: Jodi Hoch
Publisher: David C Cook
Total Pages: 116
Release: 2004-06
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 9780781440820

Activities for toddlers based on Bible verses.