At the heart of Jesus' call to us is the call to love others. But this can be so difficult. For one thing, others are not always very lovable; for another, loving others sometimes gets in the way of our own self-interests. But if we want to follow Jesus, love needs to be our lifestyle, and the way we treat others really does matter. It's not all sacrifice and pain, though. To be in loving relationship with others is to be truly alive--and it's the source of our greatest joy. This study will help you love others the way Jesus desires. You'll learn how to study the Bible as you examine and...

God is alive and personal, but he is also spirit. So having a relationship with God is different than having a relationship with any other person. This study will help you discover how you can grow and nurture your relationship with the living God. You'll learn how to study the Bible as you examine and discuss topics such as Encountering God, Knowing God, Being Sure We Know God, Learning about God, Conversing with God, Worshiping God, Following God. Each chapter has three main sections: Group Study (materials for a sixty- to ninety-minute small-group Bible study); Study Resources (notes and...

Our prayers should go as deep as our souls. Spiritual disciplines are simply ways to open ourselves to God. They help us become aware of the many ways God speaks to us and provide us with ways to respond to God. This book explores and explains how the historical disciplines and perspectives of the Christian faith can deepen both our walk with God and our community with others In today's society we ore often handicapped in our spiritual growth by too narrow a horizon when it comes to spiritual practices. Each generation suffers a kind of collective amnesia, forgetting the practices and...

A new way to read the Bible.
Spiritual disciplines are simply ways to open ourselves to God. They help us become aware of the many ways God speaks to us and provide us with ways to respond to God. This book explores and explains how the historical disciplines and perspectives of the Christian faith can deepen both our walk with God and our community with others.
Reading the Bible is something that most of us are familiar with. Some even do it regularly. But do we really think about how we read and respond to Scripture? How deeply do we allow ourselves to be impacted by it?
Contemplative Bible...

Transformation is what Christianity is all about. To follow Jesus is to enter into a journey from an old way of living to a new way of being. As Christians our goal is to become ever more conformed to the image of Christ. Of course we cannot attain this high goal in our lifetime. But we can make progress. We can become more of who we long to be. We can leave behind old ways that have not served us well. We can become more loving to others, more open to God, more in tune with who we are called to be. Such transformation does not happen automatically, even though it is the Holy Spirit working...