Sixty-two percent of food pantries and meal programs in the United States are faith-based. Most of these ministries are transactional; people needing food interact with church volunteers to earn access to direct service. Elizabeth Magill advocates relational ministry as a better model for food ministry. People donating food or money eat with the people who need food and get to know them as they serve alongside them. Those needing food share all aspects of the ministry, including planning, setting up, leading, serving, and cleaning. As volunteers become better acquainted with those they serve, they can form deep, meaningful relationships, creating a new way to be the church. Five Loaves, Two Fish, Twelve Volunteers tells the stories of eight churches that share food ministry with people who need their services. Full of practical advice, this book emphasizes that building relationships and offering radical welcome is more important work for churches than efficiency or order. It helps congregations evaluate their outreach and advises them on how to do it differently.
Finding God in the diversity of races, cultures, and creeds that make up our neighborhoods and cities, our country and our world, is one of the most important tasks for people of faith today. Seeing God in Diversity: Exodus and Acts, takes that task seriously. Here readers will find a parish study resource that promotes tolerance, diversity, and inclusiveness by looking at two biblical stories from multiple points of view: the story of the returning Jews in the Book of Exodus and the story of the new Christian community in the Book of Acts. The lessons of these ancient communities - and the way they dealt with many of the issues we face today - lead readers to put themselves in the place of each group and re-examine their faith and work for greater inclusiveness in their own communities. Lessons are arranged as six two-hour sessions, and include background commentary for study leaders, readings, activities, and discussion questions.
When the purchase of a nineteenth-century portrait of a riverboat captain results in an otherworldly visitor who needs her help, widow Audrey Magill must convince a complete stranger, high-powered businessman Nathaniel Summerfield, that he is in danger of losing his soul. Original.
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