Carlos—a third-generation U.S. citizen from New Jersey whose family emigrated from Colombia many years before Carlos was born—is often complimented on how articulate he is and asked how long he has been in the United States.
Deborah, a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) who is up for election as church treasurer, has her qualifications questioned, debated, and scrutinized by the congregation far more than any of her male predecessors who were elected with a simple vote.
Lisa, a male-to-female transgender person, attends a Sunday school where her classmates continue to refer to her with masculine pronouns (he, him, his).
The three examples above portray microaggressions: subtle slights, insults, and indignities expressed to persons of varied minority statuses. Although microaggressions are usually unintentional, they occur on a regular basis in education, the workplace, and daily life.
This is the first book that addresses the concept of microaggressions in ministry and church life. Drawing from their background as ordained clergy, Sanders and Yarber introduce ministry leaders to the concept of microaggressions and look specifically at microaggressions directed at race, gender, and sexuality in the church. Sanders and Yarber help readers become more aware of these subtle and often unconscious communications, offering realistic examples and guidance for grappling with this issue in preaching, religious education, worship, spirituality, and pastoral care and counseling. Microaggressions in Ministry equips congregations with methods for assessment and tools for action that will ultimately help create stronger, more welcoming faith communities.

Microaggressions in Ministry: Confronting the Hidden Violence of Everyday Church

Religion & Spirituality

Sanders, Cody J.

Yarber, Angela

Christian Books & Bibles

Westminster/John Knox Press

Despite our best efforts to create welcoming and affirming congregations, the reality is that church can still be a harmful place to LGBTQIA youth. Inside A Brief Guide to Ministry with LGBTQIA Youth, author Cody J. Sanders challenges pastors and church leaders to reflect on the various trials that adolescence brings for LGBTQIA youth. Designed for congregations that currently have a theologically and biblically affirming stance toward the LGBTQIA community, this unique resource provides insight and practical advice for tough questions like: 
<ul>
<li>How does an affirming stance toward LGBTQIA people affect the day-to-day experience of teenagers in a church setting? 
</li>
<li>In what ways can a church's youth ministry have a positive impact on the lives of LGBTQIA youth who want to fully live out their Christian faith and their gender identity? 
</li>
<li>How can a pastor, youth minister, or youth ministry volunteer embrace, nurture, and provide skillful care for LGBTQIA youth in a congregation or community?</li>
</ul>
 A glossary of terms to use when talking about LGBTQIA issues and a list of national and location resources that can be used to support LGBTQIA youth are included.

A Brief Guide to Ministry with LGBTQIA Youth

Winner of the National Bronze Medal for Gay/Lesbian/Bi/Trans Non-Fiction in the 2014 Independent Publisher Book Awards, Queer Lessons for Churches on the Straight and Narrow is about changing the questions we ask about sexuality, gender identity, and faith. Sanders helps us imagine new pathways into old conversations by shifting our attitude from one of suspicious scrutiny toward LGBTQ people to one of compassionate curiosity. Less concerned with answering questions, it aims to cultivate our imagination for asking new questions. Sanders asks, "What can all Christians learn from LGBTQ people that will enhance our lives and strengthen our communities of faith?" Lessons are offered on the themes of relationship, community, faithfulness, love, violence, and forgiveness.

Queer Lessons for Churches on the Straight and Narrow

Faithlab

Corpse Carerelates the history of death care in the U.S. to craft robust, constructive, practical ethics for tending the dead. It specifically relates corpse care to economic, environmental, and pastoral concerns. Death and the treatment of the dead body loom large in our collective, cultural consciousness. The authors explore the materiality and meaning of the dead body and the living's relationship to it. All the biggest questions facing the planetary human community relate in one way or another to the corpse. Surprisingly, Christian communities are largely missing in the discussion of the dead, having abdicated the historic role in care for the dead to the funeral industry. Christianity has stopped its reflection about the body once that body no longer bears life. Corpse Carestakes a claim that the fact of embodiment, this incarnational truth, this process of our bodily becoming, is a practical, ethical, and theological necessity.

Corpse Care: Ethics for Tending the Dead

Self-Help

Parsons, Mikeal C.

Death & Grief

Fortress Press

Christianity, LGBTQ Suicide, and the Souls of Queer Folk (Emerging Perspectives in Pastoral Theology and Care)

While garnering the attention of professionals across disciplines, from medicine to public health to psychology, and frequently covered as a topic of public concern in the news media, the elevated occurrence of suicide attempts among LGBTQ persons has received little attention within the literature of theology and religious studies. This book fills that lacuna by addressing the role that religious, spiritual, and theological narratives play in shaping the souls of queer folk. Taking a narrative approach to qualitative interview material from LGBTQ individuals who survived their suicide attempts, Cody J. Sanders argues that theological narratives can operate violently upon the souls of LGBTQ people in ways that make life precarious and, at time, seem unlivable. The book critically addresses the violence of theological narratives upon queer souls, filling a crucial void in scholarship concerning the role of religion--specifically Christianity--in LGBTQ suicide. Ultimately, the author draws upon the interview material to move readers toward constructive methods of contributing to the resistance and resilience of queer souls in relation to soul violence, asking how we can intervene with practices of care in order to cultivate livability of life for queer people.

Lexington Books

Spiritual Care First Aid: An All-Hands Approach for Church and Community

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Psychology & Counseling

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Books by Sanders, Cody J.