By Dan Williams. When starting a new group, each member needs to be clear about the initial expectations and understandings that they and everyone else have brought into the room. … Read more
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Showing: 1 - 17 of 18 RESULTS
Pastoral Care
Renewal Day, November 4, 1995
By Calvin Brown. Small groups centred on Jesus can be the means God uses to help the Church be the loving, healing, caring community he intended it to be. … Read more
Biblical Foundations for Small Group Ministry: An Integrational Approach, by Gareth Icenogle
Reviewed by J.H. (Hans) Kouwenberg. In the Old and New Testament context for small groups, community is found in the very nature and character of God and in the way God works to bring people into a new humanity that is learning how to care for one another. … Read more
Ministering to Those with Life-Threatening Diseases
By Kenneth Oakes. Do we have the answers to all this suffering? – No! But we know we have One who is forever with us, through our suffering; the Lord. Surely that is “good news” for us to share with those who are suffering with a terminal illness! … Read more
Helping the Lonely
By W. Stanford Reid. We as Christians can reach out to those who know not the Christian faith and through our care, interest those not Christians, in our faith. We can also reach out to our fellow Christians to help them in their loneliness. … Read more
Living with Dying, by George Lea Harper, Jr.
Reviewed by Kit Schindell. Living with Dying is a book for a person who is living with dying. In one sense it is for all of us, as each of us will face death sooner or later. But some of us have a clearer indication of the span of their life. … Read more
Encouragement – The Essence That Gives Us Buoyancy
By Esther Mcllveen. Children and adults alike blossom and grow when the atmosphere is full of encouragement — when we determine to seek to draw forth each other’s gifts and delight in them. … Read more
The Ministry of Singles in the Local Congregation
Howard Mcllveen observes that while our culture recognizes the importance and power of singles, churches subtly discriminate against them, whereas for a thousand years or more in the past, singleness was honoured and considered superior to being married. … Read more
Missing Persons: Ministry with Persons Who Have Special Needs, by Oliver Ohsberg
Reviewed by Herman de Jong. The author describes various disabilities such as: intellectual impairment, communication impairment, visual impairment, physical impairment, chronic medical problems, and social and emotional disorders, suggests a number of practical ways in which we can help these persons feel welcome and comfortable in our faith communities. … Read more
Unfinished Business Is His Business: Helping Adults Resolve Their Painful Pasts
By Bob Moeller. The adult children of dysfunctional homes are known as ACOAs – an acronym for adult children of alcoholics, though the term is applied to a wide variety of dysfunctional home settings. … Read more
Building Relationships
By David Sherbino. The neighborhood bar is possibly the best counterfeit there is to the fellowship Christ wants to give his church because God has put into the human heart the desire to know and be known, and to love and be loved … Read more
A Season of Suffering, by John H. Timmerman
Reviewed by Kit Schindell. The book is sub-titled “One Family’s Journey through Depression”, discussing what a congregation can do to help and what an individual can offer, with sane, gentle and helpful advice about visiting someone in a “psych” ward. … Read more
Closing the Back Door of the Church
By John C. Zimmerman. Every church has a back door. Formerly active members slip through this door, often unnoticed, on their way out of the church. The key to closing this door is found in the care we give to our members. … Read more
How to Help the Hurting, by Everett L. Worthington, Jr.
Reviewed by Greg Dallimore. Although we may not think of ourselves as counsellors, we are called to reflect the love and compassion of Christ, and we may be just what our friends need – a caring friend who is willing to counsel. … Read more
Elders’ Pastoral Care Groups: A System for Pastoral Oversight
James Statham outlines a system whereby elders’ pastoral care could be organized along natural relationships and make use of the variety of gifts elders exhibit, allowing the elders to become key facilitators, encouraging the assimilation of members and adherents into the life of the congregation. … Read more
Why I Need a Small Group (and maybe you do too!)
By J.H. (Hans) Kouwenberg. Why do I need a small group? To study and grow together. To learn to work together with variety of viewpoints. To be held accountable. To be encouraged and supported. To share deeply: to sorrow and to celebrate together. … Read more
A Time for Honesty
By A. Donald MacLeod. The mental health of ministers should be on the top of the agenda for any who are seeking renewal in the church. Too often this concern has been crisis-oriented, dealing with sickness rather than prevention. … Read more