Welcoming the undocumented resident refugee into the life of the polis is a challenge for some communities and a moral imperative for others. This books provides a Christian ethic for church leaders, congregants, and their churches to discern a way of welcoming their neighbors who are refugees residing in the US without authorization. Grounded in political theology and the Presbyterian-Reformed faith tradition, the ethical debates presented here and the legal overview of US immigration and alienage laws applicable to the undocumented resident lead to practices of worship, witness, and welcome for churches that can be tailored to different contexts. When Jesus challenged the sharp lawyer to love his neighbor as himself, the lawyer asked Jesus: "who is my neighbor?" Jesus responded by telling him the parable of the Good Samaritan. Then Jesus asked the lawyer: "who was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" And the crestfallen lawyer answered: "the one who showed him mercy." Jesus told him "to go and do likewise." This book assists faith communities to find mercy for those undocumented refugee neighbors who many would condemn. It points a path towards doing the "likewise" of mercy in ethically defensible ways.

"God’s Welcome" is a different kind of how-to book on hospitality, one that studies the stories of God’s welcome and takes seriously the culture of hostility that sometimes masquerades as Christianity. Gather your small group or leadership group (discussion guide included in the book) and dig into the important work of gospel hospitality.

Everybody Welcome is the complete course to transform your church by improving your approach to newcomers. Believing that welcoming is a task for every member of the church, it offers guidance for your entire congregation and will help every individual play their part. This Members' Manual is designed for every individual taking part in the course.

Getting a new pastor off to a good start is critical to the over one hundred thousand churches facing changes in leadership each year. This forty-day congregation-wide study provides the foundation for a successful ministry partnership. Welcome, Pastor! is the first book to offer a clear, simple process for building a successful partnership between a new pastor and a congregation. Its combination of devotional readings and dialogue is easy and pleasurable to read without being simplistic or trite.

Jessicah Krey Duckworth presents the stark differences between the established congregation, which cares for current members and congregational identity, and the disestablished one, which gains purpose and identity in the task of relating to the newcomer. By allowing the questions, insights, and experiences of newcomers to reverberate through the entire congregation, both they and the church are changed. Wide Welcome does far more than point out the faults and weaknesses in current practice. Duckworth intentionally lays out possible designs for newcomer welcome that are local and particular. Book jacket.

Fables for the modern age

Briefly introduces life in modernday Brazil.