Joining Lives: A Primer on the Ministry of Reconciliation

Publisher Description

We live in precarious times and are seeking to make a lasting impact through immediate solutions. But in our haste we often make decisions to fix problems and persons, forgetting that we are not called to fix but rather to reconcile. In this wide-ranging collection of essays we explore what it might look like if we were to live in the world first with the purpose of reconciling and then allow that vision to guide our actions. Each essay engages with reconciliation in different contexts, providing meaningful and potentially transformative insights that will lead the reader to more faithful lives and activities. The essays are not filled with theoretical reflections but with hard-earned wisdom from proven thinkers, practitioners, and innovators. ""In Joining Lives, a canon of imaginative theological practitioners bring to life time-tested ideas through embodied sacrifice--that's what gives this handy book such credibility, that the words were first written though the daring love of those who then were able to pen them. It's rare to find such a committed group of SHEroes and heroes fighting for the 'new we.' Joining Lives is their testament of reconciliation, and an invitation for the rest of us to join in."" --Christopher L. Heuertz, Founding Partner of Gravity, a Center for Contemplative Activism; Author of Unexpected Gifts: Discovering the Way of Community Andy Odle is the Executive Director of Church on the Street Ministries and The Center for Practical Theology in Atlanta, Georgia. Church on the Street serves a community facilitator function bringing together diverse stakeholders in neighborhoods of systematic distress to act in concert toward vision, strategies, and practices aligned with joining lives and transforming communities. The experiences and lessons of such activities are formally reflected on and shared through The Center for Practical Theology.