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The Scriptures ask us to think about God differently than primarily a miracle worker. They invite us to imagine God's presence and activity in our ordinary, day-to-day lives. To ask, seek, and find God in the most common areas of life is the hallmark of being a believer in God and a disciple of Jesus Christ. The Book of Ruth perfectly demonstrates this reality. It is a beautiful story of regular people finding their way through life on a day-by-day basis. As they live out their days, they discover the presence of God guiding, correcting, and providing for them along the way. God is everywhere in The Book of Ruth, but He never appears. He is a constant redeeming force, but He never speaks. God is the director of this fantastic and crucial story in the Bible, but He never forces anything to happen. He does not command, rebuke, or push. In ways both wonderful and ordinary, God simply allows people to make decisions while guiding them with a gentle hand.
Radical. Crazy. Transformative and restless. Every word we read these days seems to suggest there’s a “next-best-thing,” if only we would change our comfortable, compromising lives. In fact, the greatest fear most Christians have is boredom—the sense that they are missing out on the radical life Jesus promised. One thing is certain. No one wants to be “ordinary.” Yet pastor and author Michael Horton believes that our attempts to measure our spiritual growth by our experiences, constantly seeking after the next big breakthrough, have left many Christians disillusioned and disappointed. There’s nothing wrong with an energetic faith; the danger is that we can burn ourselves out on restless anxieties and unrealistic expectations. What’s needed is not another program or a fresh approach to spiritual growth; it’s a renewed appreciation for the commonplace. Far from a call to low expectations and passivity, Horton invites readers to recover their sense of joy in the ordinary. He provides a guide to a sustainable discipleship that happens over the long haul—not a quick fix that leaves readers empty with unfulfilled promises. Convicting and ultimately empowering, Ordinary is not a call to do less; it’s an invitation to experience the elusive joy of the ordinary Christian life.
Folding laundry. Weeding the garden. Cooking dinner. Changing diapers. Work in the home can seem so ordinary. Does any of it matter? Is there meaning in our most mundane moments at home? When the work of the home fills our days, it is easy to get disillusioned and miss God's grand purpose for our work. As image bearers of the Creator who made us to work, we contribute to society, bringing order out of chaos and loving God through loving others—meaning there's glory in every moment. In this encouraging book, Courtney Reissig combats the common misconceptions about the value of at-home work—helping us see how Christ infuses purpose into every facet of the ordinary.
The ordinary things of life receive less than their fair share of attention. Pastor Mark Goodman draws attention, through humor, story, and scriptural texts, to the benefits of appreciating more than just extraordinary achievements. When a person ceases to recognize the value of “good,” “OK,” and “ordinary,” he or she tends to devalue their own and others’ significance. The Ordinary Way introduces the importance of the quest that seems countercultural. Goodman connects the theme to the teachings of Jesus, specifically those found in which He provides His view of how His followers were to read and follow the Ten Commandments, and provide specific examples of how to “live the ordinary life” day-to-day. Recognizing the variety of life events, Goodman also addresses the subject of appreciating the extraordinary times of life as well as the less-than-ordinary times of life. The Ordinary Way shows you how to appreciate all of life. Welcome to the ordinary way of living.
2021 Illumination Book Awards, Silver Medal: Theology God’s presence is not “out there” but right here. We tend to look for God in dramatic or miraculous moments, but such expectations can blind us to God’s ongoing presence. What if God is already with us, in the life we have this moment? When we experience ordinary but meaningful events, such as our first love or a favorite novel, we are in fact encountering God’s presence. As we learn to notice spiritual movement within and around us, we can recognize the many facets of God’s love that touch us daily. “As a priest and spiritual director of many decades, my driving desire is for people to experience God’s limitless love for them and to recognize it when it emerges in what they consider just ordinary life happenings and conversations.” —William A. Barry, SJ Whether we are in pain or crisis, questioning if we are really worthy of God’s attention, or are simply wondering why God would be in the mundane details of our lives, Experiencing God in the Ordinary can nurture our hope—that God is always present and can be found in an ordinary day. Complete with personal stories and various suggestions for prayer and meditation, this book is perfect for devotional reading, retreat, or small-group discussion.
The mission church literature seems to be dominated by idealized conceptions of the benefits of equipping congregations to participate in local mission work. This investigation challenges this idealism, by paying critical attention to congregants’ ordinary theologies that develop in reaction to the communication of Missio Dei theology to them. Their voices are absent from the formal literature. The study employs rescripting methodology to modify key assumptions made in the formal ecclesiological literature by drawing on insights that come from Christians’ ordinary theological voices. The study traces how the introduction of a Missio Dei theology to a British Reformed congregation had a significant impact on them. A small team of Christian leaders communicated Missio Dei theology to this church over a period of six years. It found that mission changes came at substantial personal cost to the church’s members: 1) a schism occurred when congregants attempted to remove the leader responsible for these changes from his office as church pastor, and a third of congregants left the church because they did not want to embrace the church’s new mission identity; 2) three divergent groups then emerged—two of them wanted different kinds of churches that seemed incompatible; 3) two thirds of members supported and participated in the church’s mission activities, which put strains on some of their families; 4) unresolved tensions continued to impact the congregation throughout the whole change process; 5) unexpectedly, for a Reformed church, a third group made up of women developed prophetic practices that arose due to the mediation of Missio Dei theology. Vitally, this thesis challenges the notion that helping churches to become mission-focused will make them thrive.
Over the Past few decades mainline Protestant congregations have not easily embraced the notion of spirituality. As much as any aspect of church life, spirituality has been misunderstood, misused, and resisted by both clergy and laity. Yet times are changing. Today many people feel a deep spiritual hunger and are out looking for fulfillment in a wide variety of settings. In this new context, mainline congregations need to awaken to the presence of the Spirit in their midst and equip leaders to nurture both the personal and corporate spirituality of their congregations. Beyond the Ordinary is explicitly written to help church leaders who have had no formal training in spiritual formation. Drawing from years of experience teaching Christian spirituality, Ben Campbell Johnson and Andrew Dreitcer explore the spiritual dimensions of leadership, looking in depth at the meaning of spirituality as it relates to the tasks of ministry. This friendly, inspiring book will enable readers to erase the negative stereotypes of spirituality and develop vital models and practices for the church today. The book introduces a faithful understanding and practice of the spiritual life to those who have not yet dipped into the well that is Christian spirituality. For those who have already tasted this water and still thirst, it offers a way to dip even more deeply. Chapters discuss the issues surrounding a meaningful spirituality for our changing times, the importance of holding prayer and mission in tension, and the crucial role of Scripture in the formation of our lives. The authors also underscore the importance of vision, myth, and discernment in the spiritual life of the church. And they discuss the power of spiritual practices like discernment and visioning for enhancing the spirituality of congregations and helping them become agents of social transformation. Intended for personal and group use by pastors, elders, other church leaders, and those preparing for service in the church, the book includes questions for reflection and discussion as well as journaling exercises to encourage learning and growth.
Growing in our ability to have a conscious awareness of God’s presence with us in the midst of our busy and over-stimulated world is a key to our spiritual health and emotional well-being. Practicing the Ordinary Supernatural Presence of God helps us to do exactly that—by enriching our devotional lives with a richer and deeper biblical theology based on key biblical texts such as Acts 2, John 17, and Matthew 28, and crucial biblical doctrines such as the Trinity, Union with Christ, and the Holy Spirit.