My latest book is titled Is Your Church Ready for Ministry in the Coming Decade?. It addresses some of the cultural issues that the church is facing. Many churches have tried to ignore some of these but to continue to do that is to abandon a lot of hurting people. Most of these are not new challenges, but they are ones a lot of churches are not prepared to address. It's tempting to think that only those persons outside the church are dealing with these issues, but that it not the case. The truth is that many within our churches are dealing with the same challenges. I wrote this book to help church leaders and their churches be better informed about how to serve those in our congregations and communities.
How will your church minister to the individual who may be dealing with gender dysphoria? While this is not a new issue, it is one that seems to be increasing as we continue into the 21st century. How much do you know about the difficulties people face when they believe they were born the wrong gender? While many in our society today encourage those persons to live into the gender they prefer, is this the best solution for them physically, emotionally and spiritually? How do you minister to the other family members? The book provides a chapter to help provide an overview of what science, and more importantly, the Scriptures say about this challenge. You will also find some helpful resources there to further your understanding.
How will your church minister to the person considering suicide as a way to end their pain? More people think about suicide than you may realize, and it is a growing problem among young people. Do you know the signs of someone who is thinking about ending his or her life? How do you minister to the family of someone who has taken his or her life or the loved ones who live each day in fear that the person will? Again, I think this book will help you find some answers and point you to more helpful resources.
Despite what our culture says about same-sex marriage and relationships, what does the Bible teach? Just as importantly, how does the church share that information in a way that is helpful. For too long the church has been seen as hostile towards people in same-sex relationships. Many people today believe the Bible teaches that we are to hate those in such relationships, but that is not what it teaches at all. All persons, regardless of the choices they have made in life, are created in the image of God and deserve to be treated with respect. This book tries to remind us that the Bible teaches us to always speak the truth in love.
If your church is like most, you want to help those who come to you with financial needs. But, how much of that money actually helps them? Are we enabling bad behavior and/or bad choices? Are we helping people remain dependent upon others? How can the church provide help in a way that respects the dignity of the person and helps them become financially wise?
Other chapters focus on different challenges the church currently faces and will likely face even more in the future. If we want to be relevant to the needs of this generation, as well as future ones, we must learn how to best respond to these various challenges. My prayer is that this latest book will provide church leaders with some of the tools they will need to do that. It's only available for your Kindle devices from Amazon.
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