Amplifying Our Witness : Practice-Centered Ministry with Adolescents and Adolescents with Developmental Disabilities

by Conner, Benjamin T.

• ISBN13: 9780802867216
• ISBN10: 0802867219
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-06-30
• Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co

Author Biography

Benjamin T. Conner has worked with adolescents for twenty years and currently runs a ministry to adolescents with developmental disabilities in Williamsburg, Virginia. He has taught courses at Union Presbyterian Seminary and at Memphis Theological Seminary through the Center for Youth Ministry Training and is the author of Practicing Witness: A Missional Vision of Christian Practices (Eerdmans).

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
"Life Is Liturgy"
Disconnected	p. 1
Key Concepts of the Book	p. 4
Amplifying Our Witness	p. 5
Practice-Centered Ministry	p. 6
Adolescence	p. 10
My Biased Perspective (as Opposed to Your Biased Perspective)	p. 14
Practical Theology	p. 15
Missional Theology	p. 17
Structure of the Book	p. 18
Awakened to the Issues	p. 20
Visio Dei
Awakened to the Issues	p. 20
Emmanuel's Gift	p. 21
Dissed	p. 21
Labels	p. 24
"Aching Emptiness"	p. 27
Spiritual Nomads	p. 31
The Need for a New Approach to Ministry	p. 33
Affirming Presence	p. 34
Imago Dei
"I Did It!"
"Off-Duty Image of God"	p. 35
Friendship	p. 38
"Deodorant and Discipleship"	p. 38
Friendship in Historical Perspective	p. 40
Unlikely Alliances	p. 41
Relationships as Sacramental, Not Instrumental	p. 42
Fireworks	p. 44
Place-Sharing	p. 44
Elected to Friendship	p. 46
"My Place"	p. 48
Connected	p. 49
Peers	p. 51
Rejection: Coping with a Lack of Markers	p. 56
The Inconvenience of Friendship	p. 57
Amplifying Our Witness	p. 61
Missio Dei
From Jesters to Gesturers	p. 61
Missio Dei	p. 62
Witness	p. 64
Professor Nathan	p. 64
Iconic Witness	p. 66
Evocative Witness	p. 68
The Witness of All Creation	p. 69
Friendship as a Missional Christian Practice	p. 70
Advocating an Approach	p. 74
Opus Dei
Opus Dei	p. 74
Step One: You Have to Be a Professional	p. 75
Step Two: Develop Peer Buddies	p. 76
Step Three: Make Hospitality the Context of All of Your Programs	p. 78
Step Four: Partake in Gestured Practices	p. 80
Step Five: Develop a Proclamatory Program	p. 83
Feeling Faith	p. 84
Smelling Sanctification	p. 86
Heavenly Host(ing)	p. 87
Baptism and the Lord's Supper	p. 88
Step Six: Challenge Church Structures	p. 90
Epilogue: Taste and See That the Lord Is Good	p. 93
Toward a Theology of Evangelism Informed by a Life Shared with Adolescents with Developmental Disabilities
"Thank You for Bringing Me into Your Life"	p. 93
A Parable	p. 96
Bibliography	p. 97
Index	p. 103
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