Have you ever felt passionate about helping the poor but didn’t know where to start? Are you interested in participating in short-term mission trips? Have you wondered about how to serve others better with the material blessings God has given you and your family? Have you ever felt burnt out from helping others? Then join us as we dive into “When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor and Yourself,” an amazing book that explores a biblically-based framework on poverty and outlines what we, as a church, can do to partake in God’s mission at home and abroad. We will discuss two chapters every two weeks, engaging in interactive discussions on how to apply what we are reading. Childcare is not provided, but you are welcome to bring your children with you!

Learning how to live in today’s new social and cultural environment will require examination, trial and error, and adaptation over time. But there are ways to live with integrity and follow Christ today, even in a negative world.

From a peak in church attendance in the mid-20th century, Christianity has been on a trajectory of decline in the United States. Once positive toward Christianity and Christian moral teachings, cultural shifts toward the mid-90s led many to adopt a more neutral tone toward the Christian faith, seeing it as one option among many in a pluralistic public square. Today, however, Christianity is viewed negatively, and being known as a Christian often means a lower social status in elite society. Christian morality is openly repudiated and viewed as a threat to the new moral order.

In Life in the Negative World, author Aaron M. Renn looks at the lessons from Christian cultural engagement over the past 70 years and suggests specific strategies for churches, institutions, and individuals to live faithfully in the “negative” world—a culture opposed to Christian values and teachings. And since there is no one-size-fits-all solution, living as a follower of Christ in the new, negative world and being missionally engaged will require a diversity of strategies. NOTE: please be prepared to discuss chapters 1-3 on our first meeting.

Being Honest with God about heartache, doubts and questions is not only allowed, its welcomed and seen as a genuine expression of worship and dependence. We don’t need to pretend or be polite wiht God. We dont need to avoid him until we’re feeling okay. In this book you’ll discover a way to relate to God in life’s hardest moments that is modeled by Jesus, shaped by Scripture, fueled by grace, and filled with hope.

Having a “Fear of Man” is something we all struggle with to some degree. This book is a biblically based book that offers fresh insight and practical applicaiton into growing awe of God and how to live your life for his Glory. Leaving behind fear of man (and other things) while living in increased freedom and joy in living out y0ur faith.

Learn how the gospel connects with your everyday moments of motherhood. Tackling real life topics like postpartum body image, food choices, marriage, traditions, and school choices, this book will help you discover that the gospel really does change everything.

“A perspective regarding the relationship amongst the biblical covenants and how they form the backbone of the grand narrative of scripture. We will discuss various themes in scripture and how to apply them as we move from genesis to revelation such as Abraham’s seed, Israel-church relationship, Mosaic law, Circumcision of flesh to heart, Sabbath command, and land promise.”

In Proverbs 31:30, the author states that “a woman who fears Yahweh, she shall be praised.” In our current times that is a challenging goal for young Christian women to achieve. The good news is that, in the book of Titus, God provides us with direct instruction on how to achieve that goal. There, the apostle Paul reveals God’s clear design for how young women are to walk worthy of Jesus Christ. In every generation, Christian men and women desperately need a biblical foundation on the roles which God designed, yet few churches give it. This book and its partner, Let the Men Be Men, are therefore all the more valuable to meet that need.

Eve in Exile discusses what is true biblical femininity, what does it mean to be a woman in our modern culture, how do we glorify God by living out his beautiful design. From the book’s website, “Eve in Exile dismisses the pencil-skirted and stiletto-heeled executives of TV, the outspoken feminists freed from all that hinders them, the brave career women in charge of their own destinies. Once those fictionalized stereotypes are out of the way—whether they’re things that make you gag or things you think look pretty fun—Christians can focus on real women. What did God make real women for?”

This book seeks to restore the lost art of lament in order to help readers discover the power of honest wrestling with the questions that come with grief and suffering.

Page 1 of this book opens with, “Most people can immediately tell you how they feel about something, but they are not very aware of their thoughts. If we are going to quiet the noise in our soul, we will have to track our thinking not our feelings, and then we must evaluate those thoughts against the Word of God.” To the extent that our beliefs correspond with reality, we will experience peace & stability. But how often do we rigorously evaluate our thinking? Stabilizing truths from God’s Word are presented in a winsome, imminently practical and applicable way that directly addresses the root causes of anxiety, stress, discontent, fear, shame, guilt, and anger…and demostrate how God is indeed more than enough no matter what circumstances we face.

How often have you heard, “Don’t let your emotions get the best of you”? But what if instead of ignoring our feelings, we noticed them, named them, and let God use them to draw us closer to Himself and others?

Many of us need to unlearn damaging messages about our emotions. We’ve been taught, for example, that emotions are untrustworthy, when, in fact, God can use them to help us see where we need His healing.

In Untangle Your Emotions, Jennie Allen uses scientific research, biblical insight, and her own story to help you
● exchange stuffing, dismissing, or minimizing your emotions for a five-step process to know what you feel and what to do about it
● debunk the myth that feelings are sinful by learning how emotional maturity leads to deeper connection with God and others
● live emotionally healthy by applying biblical wisdom and therapeutic research that works whether you self-identify as “emotional” or not
● sit with feelings that are confusing and painful by discovering the depth of God’s love and compassion for you.

Feelings aren’t something to fix; they are something to feel. As we discover how to name and navigate our emotions, we’ll learn how they can draw us closer to the God who built us—soul, mind, and heart.

What did God use to draw a radical, committed unbeliever to himself? Did God take her to an evangelistic rally? Or, since she had her doctorate in literature, did he use something in print? No, God used an invitation to dinner in a modest home, from a humble couple who lived out the gospel daily, simply, and authentically. With this story of her conversion as a backdrop, Rosaria Butterfield invites us into her home to show us how God can use this same “radical, ordinary hospitality” to bring the gospel to our lost friends and neighbors. Such hospitality sees our homes as not our own, but as God’s tools for the furtherance of his kingdom as we welcome those who look, think, believe, and act differently from us into our everyday, sometimes messy lives―helping them see what true Christian faith really looks like.