Pastoral Helps
Showing 151–194 of 194 resultsSorted by latest
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Parish As Covenant
$22.95Add to cartDrawing from over thirty years of studying and helping to shape churches, dioceses, religious communities, and pastoral ministries nationwide, Thomas Sweetser, S.J., argues that contemporary parishes are “caught in a Church system that is not working.” In The Parish as Covenant: A Call to Pastoral Partnership, he proposes a dual-focus system of parish leadership which creates a healthier, more collaborative environment for leaders, assistants, and parishioners, and helps ensure a successful transition when pastors and administrators are replaced.
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Preaching The New Lectionary Year A
$39.95Add to cartThe Lectionary is made up of selected passages from the Bible, placed within a literary and liturgical context. This new context calls for a consideration of the liturgical character and setting of the Lectionary readings. Preaching the New Lectionary: Year A offers readers that interpretation.
Preaching the New Lectionary is unique. First, it employs a literary-liturgical way of interpreting all the readings of each Sunday and major feast of the liturgical year, including the often overlooked responsorial psalm. Second, it explicitly situates the interpretation of each day within the theology of its respective liturgical season. This theology is drawn from the specific themes of the readings that comprise that particular year rather than from more general themes associated with the season. The meaning of the entire season becomes the context for understanding the individual parts of it. Third, the lections are also read in sequential order from the first Sunday of that season to the last. This reading interprets the function of the literary forms, thus providing yet another way of interpreting the riches of the readings.This way of reading and understanding the Lectionary has potential for many forms of liturgical ministry. It can quicken the religious imagination of homilists, thus providing fresh new possibilities for liturgical preaching. It offers creative insights for those involved in the liturgical preparation for the celebration of feasts and seasons. It can also act as a valuable resource for liturgical catechesis. The material in Preaching the New Lectionary contributes toward enhancing the liturgical lives of the faithful.
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Restoring The Future Cycle A
$12.95Add to cartDrawing upon thoughtfully mined biblical insights and his alert attention to contemporary culture, Rob Elder has crafted sermons that not only disclose some unexpected angles of vision on Lent and Easter, but also serve as models for preaching on neglected and overlooked texts. These are not the usual texts and these are not the expected words for the seasons of Lent and Easter, but it is sometimes what we do not expect to see and hear that delights us most. Robert J. Elder is currently the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Salem, Oregon.
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Pastoral Liturgy New Handbook
$34.99Add to cartA guide to liturgy and worship in the Church of England within the framework of ‘Common Worship’, which combines theory, theology and history with a strong sense of the realities of parish life and pastoral practice. It explores the way in which liturgy can reflect the life of the church and the wider world, and the new opportunities for churches at a local level to own and shape the liturgy they use. This book is essential reading for anyone involved in worship in the Church of England, and who wants the worship of their church to be the best they can offer, based on clear liturgical principles. It is also practical and detailed – Michael Perham covers clothing and colours, children’s role in worship, the cycle of the Christian year, the timing of services, the use of church space and other elements that go to make up the feel of an individual church. The book has its roots in two of Michael Perham’s earlier works, ‘Liturgy Pastoral and Parochial’ and ‘Lively Sacrifice’, though much of the material is quite new, and fills its role as key texts for anyone interested in the liturgy of the Church of England.
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Parables For Preachers Year C
$41.95Add to cartThe parables of Jesus are puzzling sayings and stories with world-transforming potential. Parables for Preachers offers an understanding of how parables work and a fresh variety of possible meanings not only for Jesus’ original audience and for the early Christians for whom Matthew, Mark, and Luke wrote but also for contemporary Christians as well. The Gospel parables are analyzed in the order in which they appear in the Lectionary, making this book an indispensable resource for preachers, teachers, catechists, liturgy planners, and Bible study groups.
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Preaching The New Lectionary Year C
$41.95Add to cartThe Lectionary is made up of selected passages from the Bible, placed within a literary and liturgical context. This new context calls for a consideration of the liturgical character and setting of the Lectionary readings. Preaching the New Lectionary: Year C, offers readers that interpretation.
Preaching the New Lectionary is unique. First, it employs a literary-liturgical way of interpreting all the readings of each Sunday and major feast of the liturgical year, including the often overlooked responsorial psalm. Second, it explicitly situates the interpretation of each day within the theology of its respective liturgical season. This theology is drawn from the specific themes of the readings that comprise that particular year rather than from more general themes associated with the season. The meaning of the entire season becomes the context for understanding the individual parts of it. Third, the lections are also read in sequential order from the first Sunday of that season to the last. This reading interprets the function of the literary forms, thus providing yet another way of interpreting the riches of the readings.This way of reading and understanding the Lectionary has potential for liturgical ministry. It can quicken the religious imagination of homilists, thus providing fresh new possibilities for liturgical preaching. It offers creative insights for those involved in the liturgical preparation for the celebration of feasts and seasons. It can also act as a valuable resource for liturgical catechesis. The insights included in Preaching the New Lectionary contribute toward enhancing the liturgical lives of the faithful.
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I Will With Gods Help Adult Journal (Student/Study Guide)
$11.95Add to cartAn interactive journal for adults that complements the comprehensive 6-12 week confirmation program. Invites confirmands to explore their own faith experiences in the context of the larger faith community. Includes lots of room for recording thoughts and reflections on the confirmation process.
If you are ordering a quantity of 30 or more, please call 1-800-824-1813 to receive your volume discount.
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I Will With Gods Help Youth Journal (Student/Study Guide)
$11.95Add to cartAn interactive journal for youth that complements the comprehensive 6-12 week confirmation program. Invites confirmands to explore their own faith experiences in the context of the larger faith community. Includes lots of room for recording thoughts and reflections on the confirmation process.
If you are ordering a quantity of 30 or more, please call 1-800-824-1813 to receive your volume discount.
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I Will With Gods Help Leaders Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$26.95Add to cartA comprehensive 6-12 week program that invites confirmands to explore their own faith experience in the context of the larger faith community. Materials are flexible enough to be used in a wide variety of parish settings. Interactive journals are available for youth and adult candidates.
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Ministry And Community
$21.95Add to cartMinistry impairment seems to be increasingly problematic for the Church today. While the minister’s personality or character are typically the focus of media attention, impairment is also influenced by organizational dynamics such as the recruitment and promotion policies of the religious organization as well as its culture and structure. Ministry and Community highlights the interplay of personality dynamics and organizational dynamics for eight of the most common forms of ministry impairment and shows how they can be recognized, treated, and prevented.
In Ministry and Community Len Sperry looks at the dynamics underlying and supporting narcissistic behavior, sexual abusing behavior, psychopathic behavior, borderline behavior, depressive behavior, obsessive-compulsive behavior, manic-depressive behavior, and passive-aggressive behavior in ministry personnel. He then describes a number of effective strategies that can modify these individual and organizational dynamics.
Rather than affix blame on ministers or the Church, this book offers a series of observations on concerns faced by the Church and provides suggestions for addressing these concerns.
Ministry and Community also offers a measure of hopefulness about the prospects for professional ministry in the Church. These suggestions include specific criterion for determining fitness for ministry, guidelines for realistically appraising ministry performance, and specific indications and contraindications for psychotherapy and other psychiatric interventions.
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Why Do We Suffer
$19.95Add to cartAddressing difficult questions in a readable, pastoral style, Father Harrington helps you draw meaningful and personal connections between Scripture and your own experience. Why Do We Suffer? helps you understand the concepts and context of suffering in the Bible.
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Parables For Preachers Year B
$24.95Add to cartThe parables of Jesus are puzzling sayings and stories with world-transforming potential. Parables for Preachers offers an understanding of how parables work and a fresh variety of possible meanings not only for Jesus’ original audience and for the early Christians for whom Matthew, Mark, and Luke wrote but also for contemporary Christians as well. The Gospel parables are analyzed in the order in which they appear in the Lectionary, making this book an indispensable resource for preachers, teachers, catechists, liturgy planners, and Bible study groups.
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Culture Of Disbelief Cycle B
$12.95Add to cartThrough fascinating anecdotes and narrative stories, Donna Schaper relates these ancient texts to contemporary situations. She skillfully applies the Gospel of life and hope to circumstances of suffering and death.
Chapters include:
Letting Death Go — Mark 8:31-38
Paying Attention To The Modern Light — John 3:14-21
Junk Food And Holy Tables — John 18:1-19
Being Spiritually Odd — John 20:19-31
… and more! -
Preaching The New Lectionary Year B
$41.95Add to cartThe Lectionary is made up of selected passages from the Bible, placed within a literary and liturgical context. This new context calls for a consideration of the liturgical character and setting of the Lectionary readings. Preaching the New Lectionary: Year A offers readers that interpretation.
Preaching the New Lectionary is unique. First, it employs a literary-liturgical way of interpreting all the readings of each Sunday and major feast of the liturgical year, including the often overlooked responsorial psalm. Second, it explicitly situates the interpretation of each day within the theology of its respective liturgical season. This theology is drawn from the specific themes of the readings that comprise that particular year rather than from more general themes associated with the season. The meaning of the entire season becomes the context for understanding the individual parts of it. Third, the lections are also read in sequential order from the first Sunday of that season to the last. This reading interprets the function of the literary forms, thus providing yet another way of interpreting the riches of the readings.This way of reading and understanding the Lectionary has potential for many forms of liturgical ministry. It can quicken the religious imagination of homilists, thus providing fresh new possibilities for liturgical preaching. It offers creative insights for those involved in the liturgical preparation for the celebration of feasts and seasons. It can also act as a valuable resource for liturgical catechesis. The material in Preaching the New Lectionary contributes toward enhancing the liturgical lives of the faithful.
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Ashes To Ascension Cycle B
$12.95Add to cartThese sermons lift up the themes of suffering, reconciliation, and the unmerited goodness of God extended to all through Jesus Christ. Stroman never loses sight of the kerygma in his tightly packed messages. He addresses a world where hatred and violence prevail with the message of divine love, which has enriched souls and kindled faith throughout the centuries.
Titles include:
Beginning The Journey To Calvary — 2 Corinthians 5:20b
Once And For All — 1 Peter 3:18a
Promises — Promises — Romans 4:21
The Right Person For The Job — Hebrews 5:5-10
Life – And Then Some — 1 John 5:9-13
… and more! -
Man From Galilee
$12.95Add to cartThis worship resource for Lent contains:
A morning pastoral prayer
A children’s sermon
An order of worship with scriptural readings and responses
Discussion questions (for printing in the Sunday bulletin or for study sessions)
A series of sermons for Lent and EasterThis volume contains a complete pastoral resource for an integrated Lenten program of worship and study. Typical of Pilgrim’s style, the sermons are lively and well illustrated.
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Cross Resurrection And Ascension Cycle A
$12.95Add to cartThis book of sermons moves from the desert of Ash Wednesday to the cross of Calvary on Good Friday, to the empty tomb on Easter, and finally to Jesus’ return to the Father. Richard Gribble’s preaching style is vibrant and relevant to the person in the pew. The deeply spiritual content is punctuated by poignant story illustrations that illustrate the scriptural text and enlighten the listener.
Preachers will find this book inspiring for their own sermons, while lay readers will discover rich insights to the Bible for their personal study and devotions.
Contents include:
Ash Wednesday: The Journey To Freedom Begins
First Sunday In Lent: Greed Leads To Destruction
Fourth Sunday In Lent: Looking To The Heart
Maundy Thursday: Carrying On The Tradition
Easter Sunday: Our Need To Talk With The Son
Seventh Sunday Of Easter: The Community Of Life
Ascension Sunday: Completing The Master’s Work
… and others. -
Spirituality Of The Diocesan Priest
$24.95Add to cartBeyond the dramatic drop in seminarians and the declining numbers of priests, beyond the sexual misconduct scandals shaking the confidence and trust once readily given to priests, a spiritual deepening and maturing is renewing the spirit and confidence of the diocesan priest. In this collection of essays, twelve priests (including four bishops) reflect on the spirituality of the diocesan priest from their personal and pastoral experience.
Have diocesan priests finally transcended the monastic and religious order spiritualities that have shaped their prayer and interior lives for centuries? Is a spirituality particular to the diocesan priest emerging precisely at a time when the priesthood is under such close scrutiny? The contributors-pastors, theologians, poets, and bishops-grapple with the maturing of the diocesan priest’s soul, touch the mystery of the priesthood, and unveil personal, often moving, dramas of grace.
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Let Ministry Teach
$24.95Add to cartRelating theology to the practice of ministry is one of the most elusive goals in pastoral training. Drawing upon seventeen years of experience in theology, Doctor Kinast describes a step-by-step approach to help students and experienced ministers learn what their ministry teaches. Through examples, practical suggestions, and principles grounded in process theology, readers of Let Ministry Teach explore the full range of resources needed for meaningful theological reflection.
Let Ministry Teach strikes a clear balance between a very broad and detailed presentation of a theological reflection method so that it is neither too simplistic nor too hard to handle. Each chapter describes a fundamental step in the method with the help of an illustration and commentary. Chapters conclude with a list of practical suggestions and a short description of the theoretical background and its main points.
The challenge of theological reflection is to keep theology in the authentic experience of God’s presence in our midst. Let Ministry Teach places this reflection in context: in a small group-where it works best; as a meaningful experience-one that has an impact, and initiates discussion; as a faith-theological perspective reflecting on experience from many points of view; as a practical outcome where a person is in a better position to guide events according to one’s beliefs; and as a continuous process-a skill which must be practiced.
In Let Ministry Teach, Doctor Kinast develops a successful way of doing theological reflection, which includes: selecting an experience-focusing on the meaningful moments; describing an experience-making it available for reflection; entering an experience-learning what it has to teach; learning from an experience-grasping what it teaches by relating it to what a person already knows and what the experience suggests is yet to be learned, and enacting the learning-incorporating the learning into a pattern of living and theological reflection.
The true basis of theological reflection-a full, deep, meaningful embrace of life-is learned from one’s own experience. Respectful of the full range of theological resources available for reflection, and mindful of the primary goal of recognizing God’s presence and responding to it, theological reflection weaves experience and theology together into a way of life that continues the journey begun when Jesus first appeared. Let Ministry Teach is offered as a companion for those on that jou
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Cultural World Of Jesus Cycle B
$19.95Add to cartEach of the fifty-six essays highlight differant aspects of the first-century,Eastern Mediterranean,cultural world in which Jesus lived and suggests a cross-cultural comparison with contemporary western culture. With this information, readers can make fitting applications of Scripture to modern life.
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Which Way To Jesus Cycle B
$13.95Add to cartThese 15 sermons are written for the season of Lent, beginning with Ash Wednesday and ending with the Ascension of the Lord. Most of them are based on scriptural texts from the Gospel of John.
Harry Huxhold preaches sermons that are punctuated with fascinating illustrations. He holds a congregation’s attention to the end.
Within this collection of sermons for Cycle B are such titles as:
Beware Of Your Piety
Clean House
Easter Jogging
You Are My Witnesses -
Cultural World Of Jesus Cycle A
$19.95Add to cartThe 56 essays in this book present cultural reflections on the gosple assigned for each Sunday in Cycle A of the Roman Lectionary. Each essay highlights aspects of the first-century, Eastern Mediterranean, cultural world in which Jesus lived and suggests a cross-cultural comparison with contemorary western culture. With this background information, readers can make more fitting applications of the Scripture to modern life.
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Whispering The Lyrics Cycle A
$14.95Add to cartBased on texts from the Revised Common and Catholic lectionaries, Thomas Long provides inspirational messages to motivate and help preachers through their most difficult preaching time of the year, the seasons of Lent and Easter.
The road to Easter takes us through the most sacred stretch of the Gospel story, and the narratives simply overwhelm us … Congregations who blithely assume that their pastor eagerly relishes the chance to preach the passion and resurrection of Jesus are, for the most part, mistaken. To be sure the pews are more crowded as Easter approaches, the choirs are well-rehearsed and in full voice, and an electric charge courses through the sanctuary, but the preacher stands there with the obligation to proclaim the truths of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and it seems, at one and the same time, to be a set of claims too little to go on in a secular and cynical age and a range of mysteries too profound to speak. (from author’s foreword)
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Jesus The Servant King
$7.95Add to cartGood morning boys and girls. How would you like to use your imaginations and visit some of the places that Jesus visited during the last week of his life? If you look closely, you will see, with my help, the streets, the palaces, the gardens, the dining room, the church and even the place where Jesus died and was buried. (from the lesson “The Temple”)
Jesus, The Servant King offers six object lessons for Lent. Each lesson focuses on a place where Jesus visited during the critical final week of his life. Each lesson includes a drawing, which you may use to show children while telling your story.
The lesson themes are:
The temple
The upper room
The garden
Calvary
The streets of Jerusalem
The empty tomb -
Symbols Of Sacrifice Year 3
$7.95Add to cartThe sacrificial life of Christ is a major focus of Lent. Symbols Of Sacrifice provides the congregations with opportunities to create visual worship aids representing Christ’s life during worship.
Each weekly presentation builds a growing reminder of Christ’s sacrifice for the congregation.
This series offers a list of symbols and explanation of the symbols. These are provided for the Sundays of Lent and Easter Sunday.
Symbols are:
Sandals
A globe of the world
Money
A lantern
A grain of wheat
A cloak
A white robeThis is one book in a three-part series of Symbols Of Sacrifices. Other books in this series are Year 1 and Year 2.
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Called To Jerusalem Sent To The World Cycle A
$21.95Add to cartIn the broken places of our lives, when hope is lost and courage falters … in that moment God comes to those who will listen. Always he meets us in our desolation, offering us an alternative to our defeat. (from the sermon “A Chance To Live Again”
The 17 sermons in this book are based on First Lesson texts, from six Old Testament books and the book of Acts. They follow the Revised Common Lectionary.
“In a culture increasingly driven to receive more than it gives, self-sacrifice is less and less popular,” writes Theodore F. Schneider. “We want much, but we are willing to risk little…. We are called to join with God for good, taking the risks, carrying the cross.”
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Preparation And Manifestation Cycle A
$16.95Add to cartThere really is good new! God is still eager to save. Prepare yourself for his coming into your life. He is already present. It is all here; the secret to the good and happy life is already manifest and present. (from the sermon “We Must Be Blind!”)
The 21 sermons in this book are based on Gospel texts, primarily from Matthew and John. Sermons follow the Revised Common, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic lectionaries.
In his messages, Mark Ellingsen connects preparation through penitence and the new life given in baptism. “The gospel lessons assigned for the season provide excellent occasions to practice such liturgical proclamation,” writes Ellingsen. “Penitence and preparation happen in the presence of Christ and the new life he gives. Thus they are Gods work.”
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Come And See Cycle C
$12.95Add to cartAs a Cycle C Lenten-based resource, Come And See provides many opportunities for congregations.
It offers a pre-Lenten Mission Fair, which may be held during the second Sunday of Epiphany. The Fair is an invitation to deeper discipleship during Lent.
It offers mid-week Lenten programs. These are playlets and inductive Bible studies. Each playlet has parts for three adults. Each Bible study follows Scriptures from Mark with helpful study questions. Playlets and Bible studies focus on evangelism worship, education, social concerns and stewardship.
It offers six sermons to be used for Ash Wednesday and the five Sundays of Lent.
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Greatest Wonder Of All Cycle C
$14.95Add to cartohn Braaten takes biblical passages from the Lent and Easter season and weaves them into messages for today’s Christians. This book of sermons follows Common, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic Lectionaries. The 17 messages include texts from Matthew, Luke, and John.
Sermon titles include:
The Pitfalls Of Practicing Piety — Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Our Christian I.D. — Luke 4:1-13
The King Who Came To Die — John 19:16b-22
A Strange Kind Of Glory — John 13:31-35 -
Palms And Thorns Cycle B
$12.95Add to cart“Liturgy,” which literally means “the work of the people,” sums up all the ways people have responded to God, including hymns, prayers, laments, invocations and confessions of faith.
14 Worship Services The Liturgical Witness Of The New Testament contemporizes and brings to life these various forms of worship as the author draws unique canticles, prayers, hymns and responsive petitions from the books of the New Testament. Each New Testament book is allowed to speak with its own voice. For example, the service based on Luke gives voice to the Gospel by the use of four canticles (psalms), and Luke’s own version of the Words of Institution and his truncated version of the Lord’s Prayer are included.
Also included are a helpful index listing the worship services according to their use in the lectionary and ten sermons for use with these liturgies.
Contents include:
Through The Desert Clear A Highway! — The Liturgical Witness Of Luke
One Lord, One Body — The Liturgical Witness Of The Corinthian Letters
Lordship And Unity — The Liturgical Witness Of Colossians
God Is Love — The Liturgical Witness Of First John
Worthy The Lamb — The Liturgical Witness Of Revelatio -
Channeling Grace : Sermons For Lent And Easter Sundays In Ordinary Time Cyc
$12.95Add to cartWILL THE REAL JESUS CHRIST ARISE? WHO WAS JESUS CHRIST? AND WHAT IS THE REAL SIGNIFICANCE OF HIS RESURRECTION? IF YOU FIND YOURSELF WISHING YOU HAD MORE TIME…IDEAS…ENERGY FOR SHARING THIS CRUCIAL MESSAGE WITH YOUR CONGREGATION, YOU WILL APPRECIATE THESE NINETEEN FRESHLY INSIGHTFUL SERMONS BY CARL L. JECH. WITHIN ARE SERMONS FOR EVERY CYCLE C GOSPEL TEXT DURING LENT AND EASTER FROM THE COMMON, LUTHERAN, AND ROMAN CATHOLIC LECTIONARIES, INCLUDING: THE PIETY THAT ISN’T LOVE IS DOWN TO EARTH SOME WOMEN’S STORIES WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO? COLORIZING JESUS BECOMING WHAT YOU ARE AND THIRTEEN MORE USE THESE COMPLETE SERMONS AS PRESENTED — OR AS INSPIRATION FOR YOUR OWN ORIGINAL MESSAGES.
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Sevenfold Path To Peace
$12.95Add to cartJesus made peace by the blood of his cross. What more appropriate theme for a Lenten preaching series could there be than “The Sevenfold Path to Peace”? Here is a sample of this skillful proclaimer’s insight (from the first sermon):
“I saw a sixth grader, on his way up the alley to school, throw a firecracker over the fence of our yard and into the chicken coop. I was as angry as I ever have been in my whole life. The chase was on! Down the alley, a hesitating wonder as to how he had vanished into thin air, spotting him darting from under a bush like a rabbit, over a five-and-a-half foot wall, then over a six-and-a-half foot back wall, I took the gate, across the church parking lot, and finally trapped him under the camper parked in a neighbor’s yard. Winded and outaged, I yelled that I wanted to “kill” him, but instead took him to the school principal to do the disciplining. I didn’t like the feeling that raged in me. I was even frightened by it. I certainly experienced the truth of the words of Eleanor of Aquitaine: “We are the origin of war.””
Messages include:
– Is Peace Attainable?
– Desire Peace
– Peacemaking: Active, not Passive
– Peace as Shalom
– The Gift of Peace
– Peace Through Sacrifice
– Proclaim Peace
