This complete leader's guide makes it easy to use Dr. Haugk's practical book to build community and train church members in distinctively Christian caring and relating skills.

Joy, pain, celebration, and grief are constant companions on the journey of caregiving. While remaining detached might seem the preferable option, it is not possible to disentangle the threads of our interwoven stories. Our lives are shaped by each other. We are transformed by our encounters. In Formed Together, Keith Dow explores the questions of why we should, and why we do, care for one another. He considers what it means for human beings to be interdependent, created in the image of a loving God. Dow recounts personal experiences of supporting people with intellectual disabilities while drawing upon theological and philosophical sources to discover the ethical underpinnings of Christian care. Formed Together reveals that human beings care for one another not merely by choice, but because every person relies upon others. People are called together in mutually formative practices of care, and human flourishing means learning to care well. Dow suggests five virtues that mark ethical caregiving, such as humble courage and quiet attentiveness. These practices can help guide caregivers in responding to the divine call to care. Dow demonstrates that ethical practices of care do not depend upon intelligence or rational ability. Many are called to the vocation of tending to and being present in the needs of others. To be formed together in the divine image means that caregivers never entirely comprehend themselves, others, or God. Rather, caring well means that humans are to accompany one another in and through experiences of profound mystery and revelation. --Thomas Reynolds, Associate Professor of Theology at Emmanuel College, Toronto School of Theology, University of Toronto

Caring for elderly parents is challenging. It’s a season of life that requires grace and strength that can only come from God. In The Caregiving Season, Jane Daly shares personal caregiving stories, offering practical advice to help you honor your aging parents well and deepen your personal relationship with Christ along the journey.

Grief and pain is the root source of all that hurts us in life - the ill that is our fraility as mortal beings. This is disease and sickness in our lives: spiritual, social, physical, emotional. Christ in us is the root of all that is good in us; all that is God-given, and that enables us to live and grow through life in a healthy way to a healthy end. The good that is our soul, that we can nurture to maintain God’s energizing power within ourselves to create the balance to be healthy. God gave us his Son so we could learn this - through His life and death. In Christ we have the means for health and wellness throughout the seasons of our lives - that transcends all understanding. The Bible gives it all to us: the Creation, our corruption, the rules and regulations for a healthy, balanced life; what happens to us when we are good; what happens when we are bad. The Old Testament tells us of God’s character and expectations of us; His requirements, His disappointments, His punishments; His presence; His Being in our lives; His hopes. He also gives us the ‘how to do it’. Still, in our human fraility we fail to find, or fall short all the time, of arriving at, His Promised Land. In large part because our earthly self denies ourselves the power God has given us - to operate, live and ultimately die according to His dictum - because we cannot place faith in the intangible. So, God, in His love and compassion for us, and to remain our strict but kind, Father in Heaven, sent us His Son to show us how to be human in the sight of God. In Christ He gave us the gift of how to achieve the health and wellness that God intends us to enjoy...

Presents a week's worth of fixed-hour prayers that one can use while traveling or out of the home.

"Every caregiver's story is unique, but one thing you all have in common is that you need to be nourished to have the resilience and compassion to tend to the needs of those you love. The Caregiver's Companion approaches caregiving not as a burden, but as an opportunity to grow and receive graces and blessings. Written by the founders of Nourish for Caregivers--an organization that seeks to improve the health and spiritual wellbeing of caregivers--this beautifully designed, full-color journal is a practical resource with encouraging readings, prayers, and guided journaling to help you draw strength from your faith in a few sacred moments each day. It is a unique resource to remind you to care for yourself as you care for others. The physical, financial, and emotional demands of caregiving can take an enormous toll, and their high stress levels make caregivers a population at-risk. The Caregiver's Companion provides the encouragement and spiritual nourishment you need to persevere each day--whether your role involves hands-on caregiving, helping from a distance, or lending emotional support to a loved one in an assisted living facility. Each entry in this beautiful full-color guided journal combines prayers, meditations, reflection questions, quotations, and plenty of space for personal journaling, allowing you to capture the highs and lows of your daily experiences"--