This book will help you examine your beliefs--where they came from, whether they are still applicable today, how they have changed over the years--and decide what new directions you might want to pursue.

Bishop John Shelby Spong said, “If God is the source of life, I worship God by living. If God is the source of love, I worship God by loving.

This study guide can be used for small group study, intentional communities, conferences, or any group who would like to delve more deeply into the history and the process of living out the core teachings of Jesus. There are discussion questions and space after each point for groups to come up with their own thoughts and ideas.

Women make up over one-half of the world's population, yet throughout history women have been kept out of power; they have been oppressed and disregarded, and have often had their stories ignored. This is a tragedy not only for women but for all humankind, because we all have much to gain by hearing one another's stories, and by experiencing one another in all of our rich fullness – not from a preconceived notion that one group or sex is superior to another.

“In these pages, regardless of how the story has been heard before, there is room for seven year olds and 70 year olds to grow and learn. I’m going to use this book with my congregation.”

Behind all the creation stories there is a basic assumption that God was involved; the “how” of it was a secondary concern to the original writers. If you’ve used Donald Schmidt’s “for Progressive Christians” study guides with the adults in your congregation and have wanted to include all ages within your church, now you can! "Creation: Study and Worship for Progressive Churches" makes the vision of whole congregation sharing not only possible, but easy.

Many people have left the church, or never entered it at all, because they think it is irrelevant. Some people have stayed in the church, not knowing why, because they think it is irrelevant. Those two groups are the people for whom I wrote this manual.

Work out your faith and renew hope through our film library of spiritual leaders and contemplative pieces.

The Advent season is rich in sensory exploration. Our ADVENT issues follows the Revised Common Lectionary (YEARS A, B, C) and provides youth the opportunity to explore this season through thoughtful selections of art, music and video.

Written by RBTL Founding Editor Bill Dols, this primer explains the Maueitic (midwife) Method of The Educational Center and provides a learning experience that explores “the student is the curriculum.”

Allison Rossiter is making her "Gratitude Design" available to churches and other non-profit organizations for free.

An ethical will, or legacy letter, is a way to share your values, blessings, life’s lessons, hopes and dreams for the future, love, and forgiveness with your family, friends, and community.

Uppity Women of the Bible is a four volume DVD-based series featuring Hebrew Bible professor Dr. Lisa Wolfe. Combining careful scholarship with humor and fresh insights, Dr. Wolfe presents just what your group needs for lively, thoughtful discussion of Ruth, The Song of Songs, Esther and Judith.

Find out how you can participate in creating a new economic system that helps humanity to live in harmony with each other and the planet: Sustainable Human.com

Marianne of First Congregational Church, UCC, Ocala, Florida created the Study Guide for her church discussion group and has made it available to our readers as a free download.

As in any art form, as we release judgment, silence our mind, breathe deep into the process, and find bliss in each step; we realize that we are boundlessly assisted in our authentic and heart-centered expression. We step out of the way. We realize that the Art is not born of us, but through us, and in this understanding we are humbled, yet profoundly empowered. Each creation is an offering: a positive reflection of ourselves and humanity, a celebration of evolving consciousness, an opportunity for healing and deepening, a vision of a bright future and Now.

Spiritually literate gifts have meanings attached to them. They might be symbolic of God's presence in daily life; they might reflect how we are connected through time and across the miles with others; or they might encourage us in a spiritual practice such as play, wonder, and hope. Here are some examples of spiritually literate gifts to give this holiday season, based on the Alphabet of Spiritual Literacy.

n this book you will find a profile of what Jesus may have been like within the context of Second Temple Judaism. This is set alongside selected aspects of the Jesus tradition as preserved in the earliest Christian writings. Neither is ascribed primacy over the other, but each casts light on the other and both inform the final part of the book that traces some of the ways in which Jesus communities now might shape their collective and individual lives.

This  Study Guide, Shedding Light on the Gospels is based on Bishop Spong's "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism." The Study Guide is organized by Discussion Sessions and includes extensive quotations extracted from Bishop Spong’s book. In addition to Bishop Spong’s book, we will be reading the three gospels: Mark, Matthew and Luke (in that order).

Jesus was very clear in a variety of passages that if we want to experience this Realm of the Infinite Mystery or have a direct experience of the Divine Presence, we will need to reach out and take risks on behalf of those who suffer. “Pick up your cross if you want to follow me,” he was supposed to have said. So he talks about the Good Samaritan who risked his life to help the wounded Jew lying on the side of the road. He models with his own life a willingness to turn the tables in the Temple because of the unjust exchange rate the money changers were charging the poor Jews who had no perfect animal to sacrifice. He eventually showed us we should not even fear death when we are seeking justice for those who have no hope. And he went into Jerusalem to protest the injustices of the Roman and Priestly treatment of his people.

How do you account for / explain the different versions of the same event? To what extent does it matter in your understanding and experience of Jesus that the details that describe such a fundamental event in his life are not an agreed Gospel record across Mark, Matthew and Luke? Why did John ignore all the details of the baptism of Jesus?

Originally brain-stormed by and created for the Generation NOW Meeting in 2009. This video can be used as a tool for deep inquiry and discussion.

A growing number of progressive Christians, for a decade or more, have seen themselves less and less of being a theist, that is as one who believes in a 'God out there' who intervenes with and over rules the laws of nature. Yet many of these are still very happy to use the words Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This Trinitarian descriptor expresses the way in which Christians may encounter or interpret our 'God', but 'God' is much more. For many progressive Christians, the Trinity is an expression of different people and communities living in perfect harmony. Now that really is heaven on earth!

This is the web version of a Jewish history project I prepared a few years ago, "Timelines in Jewish History, 1000 BCE - 1925 CE, with Parallel Timelines in Relevant General History."

The 3 books books covered in this progressive christian book study guide are by Spong, Pagels, and Kidd

The 5 books covered in this progressive christian book study guide are by Armstrong, Wallis, Holloway, Friedman, Taussig

Authors covered in this study guide are Sanford, Kidd, Cobb, Mesle, Holloway, Spong.

5 Books are covered in this progressive christian books study guide

Click Here to Download this Study Guide.   Books / Material Covered in this Study Guide: The Once and Future Faith by the

Click Here to Download this Study Guide.   Books / Material Covered in this Study Guide: Rediscovering the Teaching of Jesus by Norman