Dear Church

Dear Church
Author: Lenny Duncan
Publisher: Fortress Press
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2019-07-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1506452574

Lenny Duncan is the unlikeliest of pastors. Formerly incarcerated, he is now a black preacher in the whitest denomination in the United States: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Shifting demographics and shrinking congregations make all the headlines, but Duncan sees something else at work--drawing a direct line between the church's lack of diversity and the church's lack of vitality. The problems the ELCA faces are theological, not sociological. But so are the answers. Part manifesto, part confession, and all love letter, Dear Church offers a bold new vision for the future of Duncan's denomination and the broader mainline Christian community of faith. Dear Church rejects the narrative of church decline and calls everyone--leaders and laity alike--to the front lines of the church's renewal through racial equality and justice. It is time for the church to rise up, dust itself off, and take on forces of this world that act against God: whiteness, misogyny, nationalism, homophobia, and economic injustice. Duncan gives a blueprint for the way forward and urges us to follow in the revolutionary path of Jesus. Dear Church also features a discussion guide at the back--perfect for church groups, book clubs, and other group discussion.

Dear Church

Dear Church
Author: Sarah Raymond Cunningham
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2006
Genre: Church controversies
ISBN: 031026958X

Through this series of letters from a former emergent church staffer to the global church she's not always sure she wants to be a part of, this volume invites every person to engage their own disappointments and journey through disillusionment and back again.

Dear Timothy

Dear Timothy
Author: Thomas Ascol
Publisher:
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2016
Genre: Pastoral care
ISBN: 9781943539017

This collection of writings from seasoned pastors contains over 700 years of combined ministry experience for old and new pastors alike.

Dear England

Dear England
Author: Stephen Cottrell
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Total Pages: 150
Release: 2021-03-04
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1529360978

'Stephen Cottrell writes about Christ as if he were here now. As if redemption were possible for all of us, as if the void that threatens to engulf us all could be filled by a personal relationship with Christ in the present. He is a compelling writer.' - Russell Brand Inspired by a conversation with a barista who asked him why he became a priest, this is the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell's extended answer to that question - as well as the letter he'd like to write to a divided country that no longer sees the relevance or value of the Christian narrative. Archbishop Stephen is a much-admired voice within the church, but in this book he writes for a more general audience, and those who might call themselves spiritual seekers - as well as anyone who is concerned about the life and unity of the UK. A short, beautiful book, this is at once both contemplative and deeply practical, which will speak to both Christians and those on the edges of faith. 'A deeply thoughtful exposition of faith's transformative power, Dear England gave me hope, not only for the future of Christianity, but for a changed world too.' - David Lammy MP

Let It Go

Let It Go
Author: T.D. Jakes
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2013-01-29
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1416547339

Shares uplifting advice about the virtues of forgiveness, offering strategic and biblically based advice on how to achieve peace and personal fulfillment by letting go of past wrongs.

United States of Grace

United States of Grace
Author: Lenny Duncan
Publisher: Broadleaf Books
Total Pages: 215
Release: 2021-05-18
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1506464076

"This lyrical testament to life as 'a blind date with mercy' will challenge and inspire."--Publishers Weekly [Starred Review] In 1991, when he was 13 years old, Lenny Duncan stepped out of his house in West Philadelphia, walked to the Greyhound station, and bought a ticket--the start of his great American adventure. Today Duncan, who inspired and challenged audiences with his breakout first book, Dear Church, brings us a deeply personal story about growing up Black and queer in the U.S. In his characteristically powerful voice he recounts hitchhiking across the country, spending time in solitary confinement, battling for sobriety, and discovering a deep faith, examining pressing issues like poverty, mass incarceration, white supremacy, and LGBTQ inclusion through an intimate portrayal of his life's struggles and joys. United States of Grace is a love story about America, revealing the joy and resilience of those places in this country many call "the margins" but that Lenny Duncan has called home. This book makes the bold claim that God is present with us in the most difficult of circumstances, bringing life out of death.

Dear Son

Dear Son
Author: Jonathan B. Hall
Publisher: Chalice Press
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2022-03-29
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0827206801

What does it mean to be a faith-filled dad to a son? There are no shortage of media stereotypes, masculine caricatures, and talk-show opinions, but do they offer any helpful or practical advice for father’s today? Dear Son: Raising Faithful, Just, and Compassionate Men is a candid examination of fatherhood’s joys and difficulties. Framed in a series of letters from two dads to their still-young sons, this book offers alternative perspectives on what faithful fatherhood looks like today. Instead of reinforcing sexist social dynamics and machismo attitudes, authors Hall and Underwood articulate and defend an understanding of masculinity that presents a father as a servant of God, a man of emotion, and someone striving to raise sons committed to fixing the injustices of the world rather than perpetuating them. Dear Son is a call to action for other fathers to deeply reflect—especially in light of their Christian faith—on what it means to have someone look at them and say, “Dad...” and to be able to respond with their whole heart.

Dear White Christians

Dear White Christians
Author: Jennifer Harvey
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2020-07-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1467459615

“If reconciliation is the takeaway point for the civil rights story we usually tell, then the takeaway point for the more complex, more truthful civil rights story contained in Dear White Christians is reparations.” — from the preface to the second edition With the troubling and painful events of the last several years—from the killing of numerous unarmed Black men and women at the hands of police to the rallying of white supremacists in Charlottesville—it is clearer than ever that the reconciliation paradigm, long favored by white Christians, has failed to heal the deep racial wounds in the church and American society. In this provocative book, originally published in 2014, Jennifer Harvey argues for a radical shift away from the well-meaning but feeble longing for reconciliation toward a robustly biblical call for reparations. Now in its second edition—with a new preface addressing the explosive changes in American culture and politics since 2014, as well as an appendix that explores what a reparations paradigm can actually look like—Dear White Christians calls justice-committed Christians to do the gospel-inspired work of opposing racist social structures around them. Harvey’s message is historically and scripturally rooted, making it ideal for facilitating the difficult but important discussions about race that are so desperately needed in churches and faith-centered classrooms across the country.

Blue Like Jazz

Blue Like Jazz
Author: Donald Miller
Publisher: Thomas Nelson Inc
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2012-04
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1400204585

This contemporary classic gets a limited edition makeover with movie art and a new preface from Donald Miller. In print for nearly a decade, Blue Like Jazz has earned a coveted spot on readers' shelves and in their hearts. Many have said that Donald Miller expressed exactly what they were feeling but couldn't find the words to say themselves. In this landmark book that changed what people expected from Christian writers, that changed what people needed for their spiritual journeys, Donald Miller takes readers through a real life striving to understand relationship with God. Heartwarming and hilarious, poignant and unexpected, Blue Like Jazz has become a contemporary classic. For anyone wondering if the Christian faith is still relevant in a postmodern culture, thirsting for a genuine encounter with a God who is real, or yearning for a renewed sense of passion in life . . . Blue Like Jazz is a fresh and original perspective on life, love, and redemption.

The Church Mouse

The Church Mouse
Author: Graham Oakley
Publisher: Templar Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2009
Genre: Cats
ISBN: 9781840116106

A lonely mouse living in a church with only a friendly, sleepy cat for company, devises a plan to get all the mice in town to move in with him.