Religiøst socialt arbejde, pastoralteologi og kirkelige aktiviteter

You're not alone in your ministry. And you don't have to suffer in silence.Ministry is a stressful vocation, with unspoken expectations, projected anxieties, and conflicting demands. After the pandemic caused a sudden shift to online worship and factions fighting over when and how to return to in-person worship, pastors have been leaving congregational ministry at even higher rates than usual. The emotional fallout of burnout and abuse at the hands of parishioners is something pastors carry for years, whether they stay or leave the congregation.Seasoned pastor Carol Howard Merritt and psychotherapist and former pastor James Fenimore join their expertise to offer validation, support, and guidance for pastors who have been hurt by the church. With wisdom that can come only from experience, they describe and define aspects of struggle and pain readers may have difficulty articulating or claiming for themselves, and they offer compassionate, informed guidance on how to find healing. A systems approach to conflict sheds light on the dynamics of church conflict and how clergy can tend their own well-being amid leadership challenges. The final chapter helps readers consider their overall vocational path based on what they've experienced and decide whether they can remain in congregational ministry or need to pursue a different line of work.Free downloadable resources available for pastors and church members! Visit www.wjkbooks.com/WoundedPastors to download a personal inventory for pastors that can be printed out or used as an interactive, digital journal; a list of seven ways that church members can support pastors; and social media images that can be shared.

This Ordinary, Extraordinary Life is all about Jesus - and it's all about you, me, and the world around us.Jesus lived an ordinary life. He had parents, brothers and sisters, and an extended family. He worked with his hands and read the scriptures. He got hungry, thirsty, and tired, just like anyone else. He loved to spend time with people - telling stories, going to parties, blessing children and their parents, and talking about things that mattered. He loved creation - spending time outdoors, walking for miles, observing and commenting on flowers and fields of grain, on trees and birds. Jesus lived - and continues to live! - an extraordinary life. As the divine Word, he was present before creation, and through him all things were created. As the second person of the Trinity, he was God Incarnate. He gave his earthly life to preaching and teaching, to healing and doing wonders. He welcomed people from all walks of life and called them to follow him. As the bread of life, the bread of heaven, he gave his life for the world. He died in humiliation and pain on a cross - then rose again to life! He returned to heaven, and one day will come again in glory.

Embark on a powerful journey of spiritual transformation with From Ash to Fire by Heather Sudgen. This compelling sermon book delivers a collection of Cycle B sermons for Lent and Easter that will challenge your faith, reshape your perspective, and spark a blazing inferno of passion and purpose. Join Sugden on a fearless quest to revive your spiritual vitality, confront the realities of faith, and embrace a profound metamorphosis. Let From Ash to Fire fuel the flames of revival within you as you unlock redemption's power, embrace resurrection's hope, and embark on an extraordinary journey of renewal.Whether you are a pastor seeking thought-provoking and engaging material to supplement your own message for your congregation or a seeker of personal growth and renewal, this book is an invaluable resource. Sermons titles include:¿ The Machinery of Faith¿ Stories told by Scars¿ Falling into Trust¿ New Life through FireHeather Sugden lives and serves in southern New Jersey, currently as the pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Vineland. She previously served in hospice and hospital chaplaincy, and as part of the ELCA's Division for Global Mission, teaching High School English in Oshigambo, Namibia. Sugden has an incurable fascination with how people's stories intersect with God's story. She has never met a person who was not interesting and inspiring in some way, and her family believes that she has a knack for starting conversations with complete strangers, especially while on vacation. Along with her husband and two children, Heather is involved in baseball, swimming, Girl Scouts and basketball.

From the introduction:Although the gospels of the New Testament are among the most widely recognized and read documents in the world, it remains difficult to explain their exact genre. The gospels have no clear parallel in any other religious or literary tradition.A Unique Form Of WritingCertainly, the gospels are not mere biographies. They do not offer enough data about the life of Jesus to construct a full story of his existence, or to offer a well-developed social portrait of his presence among his contemporaries. While Matthew (1:18-2:23) and Luke (1:5-2:40) each related a few events surrounding Jesus' birth, their selections differ significantly from one another. Luke briefly told of a single incident in Jesus' early adolescence (2:41-52), and then jumped quickly to Jesus' baptism by John, indicating that this took place when Jesus "was about thirty years old" (2:23). The bulk of all four gospels proceed from this inaugurating event, bypassing almost entirely Jesus' first three decades of life. Since John included notes about Jesus participating in three Passover celebrations (2:13-25; 6:4; 13:1), the last of which became the occasion for his crucifixion, it is commonly assumed that Jesus was thirty-three years old when he died. But the gospels are certainly not clear, concise, or comprehensive biographies of Jesus' life.

This booklet aims to encourage Christians to speak to their heavenly Father through prayer as it helps them understand the basics of why, what, and how to pray, especially as they worship and serve alongside other Christians.

Take the next step in your Christian faith.When you became a Christian, you recognized your need to be forgiven of sin and freed from sin's reign over your life. As a result, your life has been changed forever-you are now a follower of Jesus. But what does the Bible say it means to follow Jesus? Sam Emadi offers eight simple steps you should take once you become a Christian, as you set out in newness of life to thrive as a disciple of Jesus.

Every kingdom has its unique characteristics and heritage; rights, laws, obligations, and natural resources. God's kingdom is no less sophisticated.The Glorious Kingdom is William Thomas' expert description of the magnificent dominion we've been thrust into as children of God. We are shown from the events of the Advent season through the season after Epiphany, in so precise a manner, what we have both become and received as adopted sons of a loving God, what responsibilities are expected of us as citizens of God's kingdom and what hope we have in the coming of God's glorious kingdom in its fullness.Every one of us needs a reminder of who we truly are once in a while. The fifteen sermons in this volume, based on the Second Lessons in Cycle B, will help you, the pastor, bring new perspectives and insights to the members of your congregation as citizens of God's kingdom.Sermons titles include:¿ Invited Into His Kingdom¿ We Are Family¿ Sacrifice For The Kingdom's Sake¿ The Glory Of ChristBill Thomasis a member of the faculty at Central Christian College of the Bible in Moberly, Missouri, and has been in local church ministry for over thirty years. He's written multiple books for CSS Publishing Company and contributes sermon illustrations to SermonSuite.com.

Finding Ourselves In The Great Stories Of The Bible is just that; your journey through the stories set in the ancient Bible times. But it's not all you think it will be as this journey takes unexpected twists and turns that may be pretty familiar in our everyday lives.Facing the crises of life and the world's many hiccups? Ellingsen portrays to us the scriptures as not an outdated book but one that is real, living and even relevant in our modern trends and times. He does a superb job of crafting these major stories, placing the reader in the seat of both the ancient Jews and the 21st century Christians while drawing the same life lessons centred around Christ.Sermons in this collection include:Do You Need A Miracle To Follow Jesus?A Fresh Start Jesus' WayNobody Gets In A Rut With God: He's Always Got Us Moving On!Mark Ellingsen, a minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), has been a professor of Church History at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia, since 1993. He graduated magna cum laude from Gettysburg College (Pennsylvania) and Yale University, from which he received three master's degrees in divinity, arts, and philosophy, as well as his Ph.D. He has authored many books including Sin Bravely: A Joyful Alternative to a Purpose-Driven Life (Continuum) and The Integrity of Biblical Narrative (Wipf and Stock). He and his wife have three grown children. When he is not writing or teaching, Ellingsen enjoys discussing politics, sports, and playing guitar.

Walking together in Christ, we experience the power of God's eternal love, freely given to all His children. We are encouraged to share this love with others, but in our divided society, it is sometimes difficult to follow God's commandment to "love one another." To help us better spread the grace of God, Rev. Karna Moskalik uses Extravagant Love as a tool to look closer at readings from the Bible which detail how Jesus and His disciples loved their neighbors as themselves, and how we can strive to do the same. This book serves as a collection of sermons which examine the second readings throughout Lent and Easter, which can help worship leaders of all ages and experiences to take a closer look at the passages that explain God's unconditional love for all His children. Rev. Moskalik encourages readers to follow God's commandment to love "because Christ first loved us", to share the goodness of God's word wherever it is needed.

It is an unforgettable day, Monday the 6th of January 2014. - I woke up and Almighty God spoke to me clearly- "I have a message for you for the Prime Minister." Did I hear correctly? I asked myself. "Lord is it you?" I asked. "Yes, it's Me, write the message down."The message started literally downloading.Almighty God started revealing that:The Same Sex Marriage Act of 2013 was a mistake, it crossed the line from heaven, and opens the nation to judgement from Almighty God.God loves gay people as He does everybody else and we all have a duty of love to them, to be kind and to allow equal opportunity and crucially to tell them the truth. The truth of Almighty God is eternal, it does not change with time or fashion. He says: "I am God and I change not."There is deception of the enemy satan behind gay feeling, they do not originate from God. There is a way out which Almighty God has made for gay and all mankind through the sacrifice made by His Son Jesus Christ when He suffered, died on the cross and rose again from the dead on the third day. As you turn to Him, you will find that God is not angry with you, He is not even in a bad mood. To access forgiveness of Jesus Christ, you need to repent, that is change your mind, call on the name of Jesus Christ and align your thinking with God, knowing that Jesus Christ defeated and disarmed satan and gives every believer authority and victory over the wicked one satan. This book explains, with extraordinary clarity, issues that have daunted many government leaders, many Christian leaders, many gay people and many ordinary people.While this book contains the message for the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, this message is also meant for Government leaders across the nations of Planet Earth, Christian leaders, gay people everywhere as well as ordinary people across the nations of Planet Earth.

The Bible stands at the heart of the Christian faith. But this leads to an inescapable question: why should we trust the Bible? Written to help non-Christians, longtime Christians, and everyone in between better understand why God's Word is reliable, this short book explores the historical and theological arguments that have helped lead millions of believers through the centuries to trust the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. Written by pastor Greg Gilbert, author of the popular books What Is the Gospel? and Who Is Jesus?, this volume will help Christians articulate why they trust the Bible when it comes to who God is, who we are, and how we're supposed to live.