CREATING MISSIONAL COMMUNITY Down We Go is a practitioner’s guide for creating and cultivating missional community. It’s based on the idea of living into the Beatitudes, and explores what it means to follow Jesus into the hard places of suffering, inequality, and injustice in order to cultivate, hope, beauty, justice, equality, generosity and healing. The dream of living out the upside-down ways of Jesus is in our hearts, but many don’t know how to make “what could be” really be. We need practical, tangible ideas to make dreams reality. We need to hear how it can work, from people on the margins and practitioners living in the trenches. We need real stories of practice that will fan our hopes and dreams for justice, mercy, equality, and healing in the kingdom of God into flame. Down We Go fleshes out practicing the ways of Jesus in action, personally and through life in community. Endorsements "Page after page in Down We Go, I feel the crazy sanity of the kingdom of God seeping back into me. I'm so thankful for Kathy Escobar, the Refuge, the TransForm Network, and everyone who dares to switch directions and become more profane - in the holiest sense of the word." - Brian D. McLaren, author of Naked Spirituality and A New Kind of Christianity. "Kathy Escobar explores how to move from 'doing' ministry for others into creating sacred spaces where all can be a part of the Kingdom of God. Those desiring something beyond “comfy church” will find inspiration in Kathy’s downwardly mobile journey" - Becky Garrison, author of Jesus Died For This? “Kathy Escobar leads us on a guided tour of the wild ways of Jesus. She is one of my favorite leaders. I hope to continue to learn from her example for years to come" - Jim Henderson, D. Min, Author of Jim and Casper Go To Church and The Resignation of Eve. "Kathy takes us down into the trenches where ordinary hurting people live and where we too need to live out our faith. Her personal faith journey from mega-church pastor to ministry with the destitute and marginalized is a compelling and convicting read." - Christine Sine, Author and Executive Director of Mustard Seed Associates.

Down We Go: Living Into the Wild Ways of Jesus

Religion & Spirituality

Escobar, Kathy

Christian Books & Bibles

Civitas Press

From the masses of young people spurning organized religion to faithful followers of Jesus, there is a deep hunger across gender, age, socioeconomics, and denominational backgrounds for practical, tangible ways to live a life of love, mercy, and justice in our divided, fragmented world. But where do we start? It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the world’s problems, with solutions to violence and poverty and oppression seeming so far out of reach. But you have more power to change the world than you realize—and it starts with changing yourself. In Practicing, Pastor Kathy Escobar inspires and challenges readers with practical encouragement to live their faith through real action using ten transformational practices, including listening more, including the marginalized, advocating for justice, and mourning with those who grieve. By putting our hearts, hands, and feet behind our good intentions, we can transform our groups, our communities, and our world. Extremely interactive, relational, and practical, Practicing can be read alone or processed together with a group, church, or class.

Practicing: Changing Yourself to Change the World

Westminster/John Knox Press

During the holidays, so many of us can suffer for all kinds of reasons. The magnitude of our weary world weighs on our hearts and minds. We wrestle with chronic pain, broken relationships, shattered dreams, fragile faith, and unexpected losses. Our grief and sorrow feel particularly acute when compared to the festivity and joy everyone else seems to be feeling. More and more churches are acknowledging this fact with "Blue Christmas" services (also called "Longest Night" services) and offering resources to give particular support and comfort to those struggling during the "most wonderful time of the year." Kathy Escobar has been leading Blue Christmas experiences at her church for nearly a decade and just experienced her bluest season of all following the sudden death of her son. In A Weary World, Escobar provides twenty-eight daily reflections paired with prayers and practices to honor our struggles during the holidays. Weekly resources make this Advent devotional suitable for group study as well.

A Weary World: Reflections for a Blue Christmas

Elaine Hamilton and Kathy Escobar invite you to join them on a journey toward a deeper relationship with God. Their interactive format, including stories of women who have longed for and found that deeper connection, helpful Scriptures, insightful personal questions, journaling pages, and group discussion questions, gives you the opportunity to nurture your own response to God's gentle whisper, "Come with Me." This book is for all who yearn to draw closer to God--who long for a way to connect with Him that penetrates the heart with everything the head knows about Him.

Come with Me: An Invitation to Break Through the Wall Between You and God

Hamilton, Elaine Martens

Discovery House Publishers

Refresh blends the beauty of a women’s magazine with the depth of individual and group Bible study. Women of all walks of life will enjoy how God’s Word is applied in new ways to daily challenges, struggles, and questions. Readers will be inspired and will grow in their understanding of God. With an encouraging, warm, and conversational tone, this bookzine gives readers ten “Refreshments”―a revealing mix of women’s stories―that range from moving to humorous.

Refresh: Sharing Stories. Building Faith.

Politics & Social Sciences

Greiner, Laura

Women's Studies

New Hope Publishers

Hope for spiritual refugees, church burnouts, and freedom seekers. After years of participating in a comfortable faith tradition, many find themselves in a spiritual wilderness, feeling disillusioned with church, longing for more freedom and less religion in their lives. If that describes you, you’re in good company. Countless men and women are in the middle of a shifting faith—and aren’t sure where to turn. But losing beliefs doesn’t mean you have to lose your faith. Pastor, friend, and spiritual director Kathy Escobar has journeyed with many who have experienced significant shifts in the faith they once considered unchangeable. Through their stories and her own, Kathy has discovered that growth and change are natural parts of life in our relationship with God. Filled with honest stories and practical insights, Faith Shift gives language to what many experience as their faith evolves. With an inviting blend of vulnerability and hope, it addresses the losses that come with spiritual shifts and offers tangible practices for rebuilding a free and authentic faith after it unravels. Includes personal reflection and group discussion questions at the end of each chapter.

Faith Shift: Finding Your Way Forward When Everything You Believe Is Coming Apart

Convergent Books

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