This book seeks to both encourage those who are serious about following Christ but who are struggling with same-sex attraction, and to challenge the church to lend a listening ear and a helping and welcoming hand. The stories in this book are told with pathos, honesty, and courage.We must all recognise that whatever our story or struggle with sin (and we all have struggles), God has chosen us to be His children so that we can be conformed to the likeness of His Son. The church shou...

Mental illness is often misunderstood; Christians with mental illness even more so. Various myths and erroneous mindsets often hinder the Gospel Community from being effective in supporting those with mental illness.This book speaks to and sheds light on mental illness in three ways. Following a theological overview from Leow Wen Pin, it first presents stories from Christians who have mental illness. Their honest accounts provide a glimpse into the realities of their suffering, the...

Pastor Mark Driscoll and his wife, Grace, talk about sex and marriage in down-to-earth terms, hitting issues other Christian books won’t.While a wonderful wedding day is important, it’s the last day of marriage that really counts. Will the last day of your marriage come prematurely through divorce? Will it be filled with regrets as you sit at the funeral of your spouse? Or, by God’s grace, will the last day be a time to rejoice in the life you lived together?

During our chaotic times, discover five forgotten values that can spark internal growth and help us reconcile our Christian faith with the complexities of race, sexuality, and social justice.WINNER OF THE CHRISTIANITY TODAY BOOK AWARDMost believers live in the state of “being a Christian” without ever being deeply formed by Christ. Our pace is too frenetic to be in union with God, and we don’t know how to quiet our...

Wesley Hill's personal experiences and biblical reflections offer insight into how a nonpracticing gay Christian can "prove, live out, and celebrate" the grace of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.For many who are on this path, it's a lonely one. The reality of loneliness and isolation of the celibate homosexual Christian is something that Hill lives and takes seriously in his pursuit of the gospel-centered life. To those on a similar journey, it's often a li...

Much ministry to children looks more like mere entertainment than authentic spiritual formation. But what if children's ministries were rooted in a mind set whereby we taught children, with our words and actions, how the story of God, the story of church history, the story of the local community, and the story of the child intersect and speak to one another? What if children's ministry was less about downloading information into kids' heads and more about leading them into these powerful, ...

Duane Elmer asked people around the world how they felt about Western missionaries. The response? "Missionaries could be more effective if they did not think they were better than us."The last thing we want to do in cross-cultural ministry is to offend people in other cultures. Unfortunately, all too often and even though we don't mean it, our actions communicate superiority, paternalism, imperialism and arrogance. Our best intentions become unintentional insults. How can we minister in wa...

Homosexuality is one of most controversial moral issues of our day. Headlines teem with stories of athletes’“coming out,” politicians changing positions and courts handing down same-sex marriage rulings. Sadly the church has often been afraid to talk about homosexuality. Many Christians feel confused and divided between the call to love and the call for truth. And many who struggle with unwanted same-sex attraction feel alone and alienated by the church. The time is ripe for God’s people ...

Daniel Hill will never forget the day he heard these words:*"Daniel, you may be white, but don't let that lull you into thinking you have no culture. White culture is very real. In fact, when white culture comes in contact with other cultures, it almost always wins. So it would be a really good idea for you to learn about your culture."*Confused and unsettled by this encounter, Hill began a journey of understanding his own white identity. Today he is an active participant in addressingand ...

What's at stake in our worship? Everything.Worship is the dangerous act of waking up to God and God's purposes in the world. But something has gone wrong with our worship. Too often worship has become a place of safety and complacency, a narrowlyprivate experience in which solitary individuals only express their personal adoration. Even when we gather corporately, we often close our eyes to those around us, focusing on God but ignoring our neighbor. But true biblical worship does not merel...

Renowned pastor and New York Times bestselling author Timothy Keller continues his Encounters with Jesus eBook series with The Obedient Master, an exploration of Jesus’ active willingness to face death and how this obedience affects our lives.Jesus’ experience in the garden at Gethsemane is well known, yet it is both more horrifying and more beautiful than we realize at first glance. Timothy Keller, pastor of New York’s Redeemer Presbyterian Churc...

Starting Right: Thinking Theologically About Youth Ministry is the first academic textbook that introduces youth ministry students (whether undergraduate or graduate level) to a marriage of solid research, real life, and accessible design. Whereas most college-level texts may reflect a thorough (though impenetrable) mastery of the field, they tend to expect readers to plow through unnecessarily thick prose and bland design because “it’s good for them.” Youth Specialties doesn’t agree. In t...