Biblical and progressive. Mainline and charismatic. Faithful and questioning. This book is not what you think it is. The story of the Exodus is told in parallel with testimonies, sermons, and personal reflections from a congregation in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, challenging the reader to a journey of faith. Along the way, it becomes clear that open and affirming ministry transcends LGBTQIA+ inclusion. It is also about race relations, poverty, generational change, divorce, immigration, and any other human-created barrier to loving God and neighbor. Tools for the journey. Finding a new voice amid profound social change is a difficult and vitally important task. Many congregations and entire denominations are in the process of figuring out how to express a new voice of faith, particularly in our understanding of sexuality and gender. Christians are experiencing nothing less than a holy disruption caused by the Spirit among us. The book concludes with a discussion of challenges to community and ministry. Helpful appendices provide congregational resources and discussion questions for group study. The stories in this book include experiences of and with persons in many denominational settings: Roman Catholic, Unitarian-Universalist, Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, Metropolitan Community Church, United Church of Christ, United Brethren, Church of the Brethren, Society of Friends (Quakers), and United Methodist. This is truly an ecumenical journey.

Out of Exodus: A Journey of Open and Affirming Ministry

Religion & Spirituality

Stephens, Darryl W.

Christian Books & Bibles

Cascade Books

Brown, Andrea

Alleman, Michael I

Daugherty, Ruth A

Merriman, Mary

Wipf and Stock

Methodist Morals offers keen insight into the public church, interpreting the United Methodist Social Principles as a dynamic discourse about morality and human rights in light of faith. Revised every fouryears by the General Conference of the United Methodist Church, the Social Principles exposes the moral deliberations of this distinctly American and increasingly “worldwide” church as it struggles toachieve community across multiple languages and cultures. Perhaps no other document provides as rich a depiction of Protestants participating in the moral argument of public life.This is the first full-length study of Methodist social teachings in over fifty years. Examining official Methodist teachings from institutional, historical, and cross-cultural perspectives, Darryl Stephens provides arich analysis of this case study of Protestant social witness, drawing on his expertise in church polity, Methodist history, and Christian social ethics. A wide range of comparisons— with documents of theUnited Nations, with moral debate in Germany and Zimbabwe, and with historical Methodist statements of social witness—shows the Social Principles to be a unique form of social witness. The issues of war,abortion, human sexuality, and marriage illustrate the messiness of democratic deliberation in an ecclesial context and the evolution of a people ever concerned with the sin of “worldliness” even as theybecome more attuned to transforming social structures. Stephens also contrasts this conception of the public church with the ecclesiologies of prominent Methodist ethicists Stanley Hauerwas and PaulRamsey.Intended for students of Methodism, ecumenical church leaders, and scholars of Christian social ethics and contemporary US mainline religion, this work reveals the challenges to and possibilities forachieving moral community in an increasingly global and diverse world.

Methodist Morals: Social Principles in the Public Church's Witness

Univ Tennessee Press

Reckoning Methodism: Mission and Division in the Public Church

Bivocational ministry presents both challenge and opportunity for the church in North America. What do pastors, lay leaders, judicatory leaders, and theological educators needs to know about this common, though misunderstood and under-researched, form of pastoral leadership? In this volume, diverse researchers, educators, and practitioners provide contemporary analyses, new data, and theological reflections on issues facing bivocational pastors, congregations, and those persons who resource and teach them. With a combination of scholarly and practical writings, this book equips the church and graduate theological education to thrive in multivocational ministry.

Bivocational and Beyond: Educating for Thriving Multivocational Ministry

Atla Open Press

Imagine God's Justice and Lead with CompassionLove. Justice. Solidarity. Living as siblings in the "kin-dom" of God requires bold faith. Women in the United Methodist tradition have courageously led ministries in race relations, creation care, substance abuse, sexual orientation and inclusion, poverty, relationships with indigenous nations, and other concerns. However, The United Methodist Church and its predecessors have a sometimes-uneven history of resisting the evil and violence that damage the world. This book explores this history, empowering us to imagine God's justice and to lead with compassion. Together, we bear witness to God's gracious presence inways that make a material difference to all of creation, all persons, especially victims of injustice and those who are most vulnerable. This is the moral witness of the church.

Bearing Witness in the Kin-dom: Living into the Church’s Moral Witness through Radical Discipleship

United Methodist Women

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Stephens, Darryl W.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Stephens, Darryl W.