Bücher von Charles R. Ringma

How are we to sustain activism and compassion amidst the never-ending crises of the twenty-first century? While the concern for social justice is deeply biblical, cynicism, burnout, and despair are all too common side effects when action is divorced from contemplation. To effectively serve as the hands and feet of Jesus, the church must attend to the revitalization of its inner life through the spiritual practices which feed, support, and sustain the work of the kingdom. Rather than the fragmentation and dualism that have led denominations to choose between prayer and service, evangelization and justice, the church must integrate heart, mind, and body in order to fulfil its calling to transform the world from within. Drawing from Scripture and a wide range of Christian traditions - from the monastic to the evangelical - this book inspires its readers to integrate spiritual renewal and prophetic witness for the glory of God and the good of his creation.

There is a hunger in the modern world for spirituality. One vast resource of spiritual wisdom comes from the pre-Reformation church--from the martyrs of the first centuries of Christianity, through the long tradition of monasticism, to the medieval Christian mystics. These are the deep wells of Christian reflection from persons such as John Chrysostom, Augustine, Benedict, Francis of Assisi, Bonaventure, Bernard of Clairvaux, Meister Eckhart, Hildegard of Bingen, and Julian of Norwich, to mention just a few. The spiritual insights of over seventy men and women of pre-Reformation Christianity are found in these pages. From these figures we can learn more about the practices of prayer and contemplation, a life of following Christ, the relevance of community, the challenge of asceticism, the movement of withdrawal and engagement, the love of God for God's own sake, living the gospel, sacrificing for the kingdom of God, the longing for union with God, the practices of justice, and a life of prophetic witness. For us, so embedded and shaped by the modern world, this ancient wisdom will come as refreshing water and as a breath of fresh air, with the wings of the Spirit and whispers of angels.

Most agree the church needs to change, but how can this be brought about? Innovations and openness to new ideas are all around us, but in the church there seems to be a way of thinking and behaving that has written change out of the agenda. As a result, many have left the church, or as Charles Ringma says, go to church "out of habit or guilt, but are frustrated, alienated and don't participate in its life." In Catch the Wind, Charles Ringma answers questions such as: . How can people be empowered for change? . Can they become responsible for their own spiritual growth? . What is the shape of the church of the future? . How can churches be organized as if people mattered? . How can our experience of church be a family one? Catch the Wind doesn't offer a single "model" for the church. But it does make a case for a more dynamic, less structured and risk-taking approach to our life together that builds people up and equips them for mission in the world. Charles R. Ringma is Professor of Missions and Evangelism at Regent College. He has previously done mission work among the Aborigines in Australia, was the founder and director of the Good News Centre which worked with alcoholics in Brisbane, and was Australian founder and executive director of Teen Challenge, also in Brisbane. He has taught at the Asian Theological Seminary in Manila and is the author of Gadamer's Dialogical Hermeneutic, Cry Liberation: With Voices from the Developing World, and Seek the Silences: With Thomas Merton.

Wisdom for those who long to grow in their life of prayer by praying for others.