Our book is part of an emerging "gift culture" worldview. It is a manual for designing personal community based on the gifts that each person brings. Focusing on non-residential, place based and committed community, we present tools to support and fortify the longing of the human heart for intimate, conscious connection.

Your Words Echo in Hearts and Minds Long After They Are Spoken Have you listened to yourself lately? Did you know that your words are shaping other people’s lives? That they are the mirrors in which others see themselves? Every day you can speak life into their souls or suck the life right out of them. The choice is yours. In The Power of a Woman’s Words, bestselling author Sharon Jaynes will show you how to exchange careless words that hurt for intentional words that help others succeed recognize words that tear down confidence and replace them with words that build others up overcome the negativity that pushes people away and become a well of positivity that draws others in tame your tongue by practicing practical principles that help you think before you speak stop being disappointed in your lack of control by taking hold of the power of the Holy Spirit Words are one of the most powerful forces in the universe, and God has entrusted them to you! How will you use this gift? Your words can change the course of someone’s day…even someone’s life.

Science and faith are often seen as being in opposition. In this book, award-winning sociologist Elaine Howard Ecklund questions this assumption based on research she has conducted over the past fifteen years. She highlights the ways these two spheres point to universal human values, showing readers they don't have to choose between science and Christianity. Breathing fresh air into debates that have consisted of more opinions than data, Ecklund offers insights uncovered by her research and shares her own story of personal challenges and lessons. In the areas most rife with conflict--the origins of the universe, evolution, climate change, and genetic technology--readers will find fascinating points of convergence in eight virtues of human existence: curiosity, doubt, humility, creativity, healing, awe, shalom, and gratitude. The book includes discussion questions for group use and to help pastors, small group leaders, and congregants broach controversial topics and bridge the science-faith divide.

From one of the leading policy experts of our time, an urgent rethinking of how we can better support each other to thrive Whether we realize it or not, all of us participate in the social contract every day through mutual obligations among our family, community, place of work, and fellow citizens. Caring for others, paying taxes, and benefiting from public services define the social contract that supports and binds us together as a society. Today, however, our social contract has been broken by changing gender roles, technology, new models of work, aging, and the perils of climate change. Minouche Shafik takes us through stages of life we all experience—raising children, getting educated, falling ill, working, growing old—and shows how a reordering of our societies is possible. Drawing on evidence and examples from around the world, she shows how every country can provide citizens with the basics to have a decent life and be able to contribute to society. But we owe each other more than this. A more generous and inclusive society would also share more risks collectively and ask everyone to contribute for as long as they can so that everyone can fulfill their potential. What We Owe Each Other identifies the key elements of a better social contract that recognizes our interdependencies, supports and invests more in each other, and expects more of individuals in return. Powerful, hopeful, and thought-provoking, What We Owe Each Other provides practical solutions to current challenges and demonstrates how we can build a better society—together.

“Jean Vanier is a living saint.” —James Martin, SJ In April 2008, Jean Vanier led a simple retreat in Nyahururu, Kenya, a place recently shattered by violence between people, and bloodshed. People there were shaken. With frequent reference to the Gospel of John, this book comprises the talks that Vanier gave: What Are You Looking For? The Cry of the Poor The Feast Is Ready To Live in Unity Be Open Encountering the Other The Washing of the Feet “We all want to be noticed and loved by those who are famous, beautiful, and admired. To be loved by them gives us a good feeling. But to be loved by the poor, by those with disabilities, by those who have no place with the famous, the beautiful, and the admired, is the real place where unconditional love and healing will find us. How do we come to that practically in our lives? In this book, Jean Vanier gives us both a vision and a map. This is vintage Vanier.” —Ronald Rolheiser, author of The Holy Longing and Bruised and Wounded "His powerful message and practice of love has the potential to change the world." —Jennifer Simpson, granddaughter of Sir John Templeton, announcing award of the 2015 Templeton Prize to Vanier "Jean Vanier brings you in touch with a place inside yourself that few people have reached." —Henri J. M. Nouwen "He opens our eyes and touches our hearts in speaking to us about the Savior." —Rev. Rawley Myers, author, Daily Reflections with Jesus "The witness and teachings of Jean Vanier have never been so necessary." —Michael W. Higgins, author, Jean Vanier: Logician of the Heart