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We are in a real sense, our stories. Who we are, what we think, and how we act are all shaped by the many large and small stories that make up the discourse embedded in our multi-sensory social experience. It is this postmodern understanding of identity and reality that has prompted the authors to fashion a new way of thinking about doing research in faith communities today, particularly through a Doctor of Ministry program. It is our belief that, in order for faith communities to define themselves and to know what to do in ministry, they must first understand the multiple stories which intersect with a given ministry situation in their specific context.
In this book, through a distinctive evangelical and critical approach, Michael Bird explores the historical development of the four canonical Gospels. He shows how the memories and faith of the earliest believers formed the Gospel accounts of Jesus that got written and, in turn, how these accounts further shaped the early church. Bird's study clarifies the often confusing debates over the origins of the canonical Gospels. Bird navigates recent concerns and research as he builds an informed case for how the early Christ followers wrote and spread the story of Jesus -- the story by which they believed they were called to live. The Gospel of the Lord is ideal for students or anyone who wants to know the story behind the four Gospels. Watch an interview with Michael Bird from our Eerdmans Author Interview Series:
Time to challenge your current thinking about ministry! Probe your assumptions about congregational well-being. Address your assumptions. Open the possibility of unleashing a significant new wave of Christian mission. Find new, fulfilling opportunities. In our time of specialization, it is of little wonder that we have left the trained and skilled professionals in charge of our churches and ministries. But did you know that full-time ministry is a relatively recent phenomenon? It’s Real Ministry: How Part-Time and Bi-Vocational Clergy Are Challenging and Empowering the Church reveals the richness that has existed and can exist again in part-time and bi-vocational ministry. It breathes hope and richness into what are often seen as depressed or impoverished communities of faith. And it offers insight into where congregations and clergy need to make choices and adaptations. Anchored in the findings of the largest survey of part-time, bi-vocational clergy that has been undertaken in a mainline Canadian denomination, It’s Real Ministry begins to address the current issue of declining congregational attendance, delves into the meaning that part-time and bi-vocational ministries might have for local communities of faith, and discusses new ways of imagining leadership. While the data is specific to the United Church of Canada, this study offers points of reflection for many denominations in Canada and beyond, offering positive insight and a starting point for clergy and laity to rethink of what they consider as age-old traditions.
As rural America continues to undergo massive economic and demographic shifts, rural churches are uniquely positioned to provide community leadership. Leading a rural congregation requires a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing these communities, as well as a strong theological and community-focused identity. Allen T. Stanton describes how in establishing this identity, rural leaders build a meaningful and vital ministry. Reclaiming Rural explores the myths and realities of rural places, and how those common narratives impact the leadership of rural churches. Ultimately, rural congregations must practice a contextual understanding of vitality, which understands both the strengths and challenges of leading in a rural setting. Arguing for a practice of evangelism imbued with this mission of vitality, Reclaiming Rural promotes the church as a leader in economic and community development, modeled upon a Wesleyan theology of grace. Acknowledging the many challenges facing rural churches, this book is an energetic and encouraging guide to overcoming social and economic obstacles to build a thriving congregation.
Biblical narrative learning is a non-critical educational approach for Christian communities with diverse learning backgrounds, involving three sets of movement: inquire and invent, interpret and imagine-inspire, and imitate and impart. It is grounded in humankind's universal capacity to teach and learn through stories and built on practices in narrative learning, along with biblical narratives. The Gospel of John provides a model for this interpretive process that continues the teaching of living in a loving relationship with God and one another. John uses many literary devices to enhance an affective and reflective learning. The literary devices create the familiar-strange effect. John's narrative fosters remembrance of the Story and guides the learner to adequate faith in God. It inculcates adequate faith to wait in suspense, while the Jesus Story and our stories, when they are remembered, create new understanding and transform the life experiences of the person.
This book provides insights for both native language teachers and local language teachers alike who conduct team-taught lessons by revisiting the topic of foreign assistant language teachers (ALTs), the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) program, and team teaching. This book is innovative in that (a) it is the first to elucidate ALTs’ experiences comprehensively, across both historical time (i.e., prior to, during, and after the JET program) and social space (i.e., inside and outside the school), thereby revealing their multiple identities that they come to construct and reconstruct over time, and (b) it explores the meanings and perspectives of particular phenomena that ALTs experience within their specific social settings from their own individual points of view. This inquiry does this by using personal narrative accounts gathered from multiple participants. Through these narrative accounts, Hiratsuka formulates a conceptualization of ALT identity, an effort that has hitherto been neglected. As a consequence, this book offers several practical and empirical applications of the conceptualization to future endeavors involving native language teachers and those who engage with them, including the key stakeholders of local language teachers, their local boards of education, the governments, and language learners across the globe.
It is time to take heart and rework the scorecard. --
In Youth Ministry and Theology Shorthand, David Bailey explores the dialogue between practice and theological education through the lens of youth ministry. This qualitative study illuminates how youth ministers talk about their work amongst young people. Through the slowing down of the youth ministry process it is discovered that youth ministers speak in theological shorthand. Theological shorthand is a paradox: it is both meaningful--it fuels long-term sacrificial service amongst young people--and it is problematic, as it risks untethering youth ministry from the wider narrative of the Christian story. The book will appeal to youth ministers, clergy, academics, graduate and post-graduate students, but also informed volunteers involved in youth ministry. Through the discipline of practical theology, it correlates the voices of the youth ministers, a set of materials used to deepen faith, and contemporary expressions of sung worship. These are then brought into conversation and explored via different aspects of Trinitarian theology to deepen the theological grammar within contemporary youth ministry and to help develop theological literacy.