Limited supplies: Order Lent-Easter bulletins now:
Call 1-800-245-7894, ext. 220, right away to order Mennonite Worship Bulletins for the season of Lent-Easter. This special series includes seven bulletins for March 1 to April 12. View cover images at www.mpn.net/bulletins/lent.

New for VBS 2009: Catch the Spirit! Join God’s Work in the World
Stories from Acts will help children experience the power of the Holy Spirit as they learn how to get involved, speak up and join God’s work around the world. Fun worship, interactive dramas, lively songs, an emphasis on Bible learning and 10 easy-to-plan activity centers will challenge children ages 4 to grade 8 to live together as Jesus’ followers and share the good news of Jesus with others. This resource includes a “Tools for Thailand” mission project. Alert your VBS team to find daily Bible texts and themes, sample sessions and an order form at www.mpn.net/vbs.

Got worship art?
Proclamation by Design: The Visual Arts in Worship explains why and how visual art is an indispensable part of telling the Story of God—through practical tips and stories from real congregations. Give this book to your worship team and place extra copies in the library and church office.

Don’t miss the Bus!
The Gather ’Round Talkabout is a take-home item to help everyone connect with the Gather ’Round quarterly themes. The Spring 2009 Talkabout—the “Good News Bus”—will take families on a special journey with God through short prayers, discussion suggestions, and activity ideas. Family members will enjoy placing the “license plate” stickers on their bus as they learn about “Living the Good News Together.” Order one for each family in your congregation.

Inspirational resources for all
Encourage members to use the following resources at home and to draw upon them in Sunday school, small group sessions or meetings. Order them for families or individuals in your church.

• Purpose: Stories of Faith and Promise has inspirational articles, verse and regular columns on food, peace, humor and resources.
• Rejoice! Daily Devotional Readings offers a brief meditation on a Scripture passage and a prayer suggestion for each day, as well as prayer requests from Mennonite workers and agencies.
• God With Us Today: Devotions for Families includes 100 engaging devotions written especially for families. [include graphic]
• Wrestling with God: Devotional Readings for Men offers 52 devotions for men, with articles on spiritual growth.
• Take our Moments and Our Days: An Anabaptist Prayer Book includes a four-week cycle of morning and evening prayer services.
• Gather ’Round Parent/Caregiver guide: Connect, the quarterly Bible study guide for adults, has brief daily devotions with each week’s session.

Reach out with Close to Home pamphlets
Help Christian caregivers serve people in your congregation or community who may be dealing with difficult personal issues. New Close to Home pamphlets include Bullying, Drug Addiction, Child Abuse. For sample excerpts and a full list of titles check www.mph.org/closetohome.

Help youth workers recharge
Beyond Me: Grounding Youth Ministry in God’s Story helps Christian youth workers look beneath programs, understand the consumerism and alienation in postmodern youth culture and respond with mature understandings of God’s call.

Worship resources for marking faith milestones
Faith Markers: Marking Each Child’s Faith Journey is a churchwide ministry program to help your congregation celebrate significant faith events in the lives of children and youth. Use the worship resources and ideas to nurture faith in all ages. Find more information at www.mpn.net/faithmarkers.

Browse & Buy!
Mennonite Publishing Network offers congregations the opportunity to receive free displays of MPN publications. Help your members get better awareness of and access to Mennonite resources. For information, e-mail patricia@mpn.net.

New study books for adults and leaders:

At-Tuwani Journal: Hope and Nonviolent Action in a Palestinian Village
Art Gish offers an inside view of the work of the Christian Peacemaker Teams in the Palestinian town of At-Tuwani. Through vivid stories told in journal fashion, Gish offers a candid but sympathetic portrait of traditional Palestinians in the shadow of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. In this sequel to his well-received 2001 Hebron Journal, Gish graphically documents the everyday struggles of Palestinians living in the midst of conflict with Israel. With a sense of hope, he also considers the possibilities for reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis.
Paper, 366 pages, $17.99

First Be Reconciled: Challenging Christians in Court
Richard P. Church seeks to recover the church as a unique reconciled body in a world of enmity, particularly via civil litigation. He traces the church’s historic reticence to litigate within the body and with non-believers through key biblical texts, a historical survey, with a particular focus on the Anabaptist witness and a constructive theological defense of the necessity of eschewing certain forms of civil litigation contrary to the church’s witness of reconciliation. This is book four in the Polyglossia: Radical Reformation Theologies series.
Paper, 232 pages, $19.99

Reasoning Together:A Conversation on Homosexuality
Two theologians, Ted Grimsrud and Mark Thiessen Nation, argue both sides of an issue that is vexing the postmodern church: homosexuality. This book develops the give-and-take over the differences between the two scholars, but it also offers areas of agreement and consensus.

“Reasoning Together recognizes the complexity of the often quoted Bible texts, demonstrates willingness to listen to each other, to alter one’s own views and seeks faithful application of the biblical message to the human condition.”—Sheldon Burkhalter, Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference
Paper, 318 pages, $17.99