Unexpected Gifts by Christopher L Heuertz
In this heartfelt and thoughtful book, Christopher Heuertz writes of the dangers of isolation, the challenges we face when we join together and the struggles and joys that emerge from genuine community bonding."Ironically, as much as we yearn for deep friendships and meaningful communities, many of us seem to be unable to find our way into them. Even if we know we're made for community, finding one and staying there seems almost impossible. Though we hate to admit it, if we stay long enough in any relationship or set of friendships, we will experience failure, doubt, burnout, loneliness, transitions, a loss of self, betrayal, frustration, a sense of entitlement, grief, and weariness. Yet it's these painful community experiences, these tensions we struggle to navigate, that hold surprising gifts." --FROM THE PREFACE
IN A STRIKINGLY confessional tone and vividly illustrated through story, Unexpected Gifts names eleven inevitable challenges that all friendships, relationships, and communities experience if they stay together long enough. Rather than allowing these challenges to become excuses to leave, Chris Heuertz suggests that things like betrayal, transitions, failure, loss of identity, entitlement, and doubt may actually be invitations to stay. And if we stay, these challenges can become unexpected gifts.
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Betrayal, failure, loss of identity, doubt. If your relationships have suffered from any of these pitfalls, this book will show you that staying together can create something more--even something beautiful.
IN THIS HEARTFELT and thoughtful book, Christopher Heuertz writes of the dangers of isolation, the challenges we face when we join together, and the struggles and joys that emerge from genuine community bonding.
Whether readers are forming a new community, searching for deeper community, or participating in a longtime community, they will find inspiration, caution, guidance, and encouragement as they discover the beauty of pressing in to the ambiguities of growing relationships in this tender and honest testimony about how we are woven together by grace.
Christopher L. (Christopher L.) is a Gravity, a Center for Contemplative Action, was founded by Heuertz to foster the fundamental relationship between Christian spirituality and activism. With Word Made Flesh, an organization that serves Jesus among the lowest of the world's poor and for whom Chris worked as International Director, he and his wife Phileena Heuertz spent over two decades traveling to over seventy countries working for women and children abused by human traffickers in the commercial sex business. Heuertz got his start in social justice ministry in 1993, when he helped with Mother Theresa and the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, India, for many months. Heuertz married Phileena in 1996, and the couple relocated from India to Omaha, Nebraska, the WMF's headquarters, where they currently reside.
Gravity was formed in 2012 to encourage the growth of Christian consciousness by making contemplative practice accessible to people, communities, and organizations dealing with today's difficult social justice challenges. Heuertz's works Simple Spirituality and Friendship at the Margins, coauthored with Christine Pohl, have shared his expertise and experience with Christian society at large. He's also spoken at a number of conferences, including Catalyst, the Urban Youth Workers Institute, Passion, and Faith, Film, and Justice. Lausanne, Urbana, and To Write Love on Her Arms are among the bands he's worked with.
Heuertz has contributed to Christianity Today, The Other Magazine, and Lausanne Global Pulse, among other publications. Heuertz is an ordained preacher through the Alliance of Evangelical Churches and Ministries and an adjunct lecturer at Lakeview Seminary in Chennai, in addition to his public speaking and writing.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781451652260 |
| ISBN 10 | 1451652267 |
| Title | Unexpected Gifts |
| Author | Christopher L Heuertz |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Howard Books |
| Year published | 2013-01-08 |
| Number of pages | 240 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |