With 101 creative ways to make a house feel bigger without adding on or tearing down walls, this volume contains 40 examples that illustrate how small renovations can yield big results. Full color.

For most of church history, hospitality was central to Christian identity. Yet our generation knows little about this rich, life-giving practice.

Mentally ill people turned out of institutions, crack-cocaine use on the rise, more poverty, public housing a shambles: as attempts to explain homelessness multiply so do the homeless--and we still don't know why. The first full-scale economic analysis of homelessness, Making Room provides answers quite unlike those offered so far by sociologists and pundits. It is a story about markets, not about the bad habits or pathology of individuals. One perplexing fact is that, though homelessness in the past occurred during economic depressions, the current wave started in the 1980s, a time of relative prosperity. As Brendan O'Flaherty points out, this trend has been accompanied by others just as unexpected: rising rents for poor people and continued housing abandonment. These are among the many disconcerting facts that O'Flaherty collected and analyzed in order to account for the new homelessness. Focused on six cities (New York, Newark, Chicago, Toronto, London, and Hamburg), his studies also document the differing rates of homelessness in North America and Europe, and from one city to the next, as well as interesting changes in the composition of homeless populations. For the first time, too, a scholarly observer makes a useful distinction between the homeless people we encounter on the streets every day and those "officially" counted as homeless. O'Flaherty shows that the conflicting observations begin to make sense when we see the new homelessness as a response to changes in the housing market, linked to a widening gap in the incomes of rich and poor. The resulting shrinkage in the size of the middle class has meant fewer hand-me-downs for the poor and higher rents for the low-quality housing that is available. O'Flaherty's tightly argued theory, along with the wealth of new data he introduces, will put the study of homelessness on an entirely new plane. No future student or policymaker will be able to ignore the economic f

“What is God doing in and through you?” It’s a question we should all ask ourselves. In Making Room, join a spiritual journey toward the discovery of the reasons behind stagnant faith. Be encouraged to dig deeper, and learn how to put the distractions of life into perspective as you allow God to do more in them and through you. It’s time to embrace all the meaningful life moments God has for you to glorify Him.

From a pioneering advocate for LGBTQ youth, a gripping, impassioned account of how an unhoused queer youth's murder compelled him to create the nation's largest housing program for homeless LGBTQ teens. “A gut-wrenchingly poignant real-life saga . . . an unputdownable account of what it looks like when compassion is harnessed to funding and policy.”—Tim Murphy, author of Christodora and Speech Team What power does a long-disenfranchised community hold to transform the treatment of its most abused members? How can we locate that power? Carl Siciliano met Ali Forney—a Black nonbinary teenager known for fierce loyalty to friends and an unshakeable faith that “my God will love me for who I am”—in 1994 while working at a daytime center for homeless youth in New York City. Nineteen years old, Forney was one of thousands Siciliano encountered who had been driven from their homes by rejecting families, forced to struggle in the streets due to homophobic and transphobic violence in the shelters. Then Forney was murdered, a moment of horror and devastation that exposed the brutality that teenagers like Forney faced in a city marked by gentrification, racist policing, and the onslaught of the AIDS epidemic. Anguished by Forney’s loss, Siciliano fought to create homes where unhoused queer teens could live safely, with their human dignity at last affirmed, while he helped lead a movement that compelled New York City to invest millions of dollars in kids who’d been ignored for decades. Siciliano writes with loving affection for Forney and many other queer teens, showing deep respect for their wisdom, courage, and spiritual integrity. Their stories illuminate the harsh realities faced by hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ youths suffering from homelessness across our nation. And, exposing the political and religious forces that continue to endanger LGBTQ youths, he makes a clarion call for their protection. Written with heart and profound insight, Making Room is a landmark personal narrative, bringing to life an untold chapter of LGBTQ history and testifying to the power of community, solidarity, and the human spirit.

Is your life an accurate reflection of what you believe to be most important—or do you struggle to bridge your ideals with your reality? Most of us fall short of fully living out our values, especially if they are countercultural ones like simplicity and soulfulness. As both a family man and the Executive Director of the Passionist Earth & Spirit Center in Kentucky, Kyle Kramer knows that struggle. In Making Room he writes not only as an eco-spiritual expert but also as a fellow pilgrim on the journey toward simplicity, which he defines as the choices that create the freedom to honor our own deepest needs, the concentric circles of human relationships, and God’s gifts of the natural world. Kramer explains why living simply can give you true satisfaction; how simplicity benefits you, the poor, and the earth; and tangible ways to begin living more simply in specific areas of: Work Finances Play Relationships Food and more Let this book be your guide as you move toward a way of life that is spiritually nurturing, socially just, and environmentally sustainable.

Often our Advent preparations have an inward focus as we prepare for the significance of God breaking into our world through the birth of the Christ child. But in a closer examination of the Advent story, we quickly learn that the focus of the coming of the newborn king is outward. In this book and Advent study, Dr. Ed Robb explores the warmth of welcome at Christmas following interactions with Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, and the magi. Just as Jesus made room in God’s kingdom for a host of people that society wanted to leave on the margins, beginning with the appearance of the shepherds, we too should be asking ourselves who we can make room for this Christmas. Perhaps it is to the people in your community, or the newly immigrated family in town that doesn’t speak your language. Or maybe it’s the next-door neighbor who just settled in from yet another corporate move? The story of Christ’s birth encourages us to widen our borders and increase our sense of community—and make room for others. Additional components for a four-week study include a comprehensive Leader Guide.