Printed Resources

(to request any of these resources, please contact the Conference Office at 728-4999 or email: resource.center@vtcucc.org)

ADVENTURES OF HEALING - How to understand the biblical truths for wholeness of the body, mind, and spirit, by Pastor Donald Bartow.  A rich resource of "100 Adventures" (rather than chapters) written by the pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church, each adventure being one oversize page in length and covering such major topics as the Bible and healing, the denominations and healing, obstacles to health, the laying on of hands, and introducing a healing service.

A HUNGER FOR HEALING by J. Keith Miller.  The Twelve Steps as a classic model for spiritual growth.  "Miller offers guidelines and exercises which reveal the importance of the ongoing process of healing." Harvard Educational Review.

ALL WILL BE WELL: A Gathering of Healing Prayers edited by Lyn Klug.  Many different voices are represented in this collection of healing prayers.

ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE by Martha O. Adams - A call to courage for care givers.

A MINISTRY OF PRAYER by Donald Bartow - How to teach yourself and others to pray.

BELONGING: BONDS OF HEALING AND RECOVERY by Dennis, Sheila and Matthew Linn.  This book integrates the 12 Steps and Christianity in a profound way that is practical, readable and will help many people.

COME, HEALING GOD: PRAYER DURING ILLNESS by Joan and Lou Guntzelmann - This book offers suggestions for praying when you feel lost for words or overwhelmed with discomfort, or when you simply desire to know that God is close.

COMPANIONS ON THE WAY: THE ART OF SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE by Morton T. Kelsey.

DANCING IN THE DARK by Randy Hammer.  This book is a selection of true short stories that tell how faith helped people through hard times when no one else was there. The stories offer strength, hope and inspiration to face our everyday problems and the challenges in life. The book is good for personal inspiration as well as a source of sermon illustrations.

DANCING WITH DISABILITIES by Brett Webb Mitchell.  This book is a collection of personal experiences of the author witnessing how a disability can actually be an example to others to help them grow in their faith. Once people get past the disability and come to know the person, they can learn from the person with the disability. Once this happens then all can work together and grow in their faith. The person with the disability, then, is seen as a person with ability.  This book could assist people struggling with disabilities, whether their own or another person's, to find hope, strength and a better understanding of their abilities.

DON’T FORGIVE TOO SOON: EXTENDING THE TWO HANDS THAT HEAL by Dennis Linn, Sheila Fabricant Linn and Matthew Linn.  This book offers simple, healing processes for all those who struggle for the freedon to forgive.

EVIL, THE SHADOW SIDE OF REALITY by John A. Sanford.  A scholarly investigation of evil from the perspectives of Jungian psychology, mythology, and the Old and New Testaments, with some concluding chapters on the necessity of a "wholeness that comes about through imperfection, not through perfection."

FROGS INTO PRINCES by Richard Bandler and John Grinder - This resource explores neurolinguistic programming.

GETTING WELL AGAIN: A STEP-BY-STEP SELF-HELP GUIDE TO OVERCOMING CANCER FOR PATIENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES by O. Carl Simonton, Stephanie Matthews-Simonton, and James Creighton.  These pioneers in mind-body communication stress our participation in the healing process and write concretely on such topics as stress, belief systems, personality, visualization, exercise, and coping with fears.

GIFT OF INNER HEALING (THE) by Ruth Carter Stapleton.  A highly readable personal narrative of the healing of memories by a woman who now shares that gift through her ministry.

GOD, DREAMS AND REVELATION by Morton T. Kelsey.  Kelsey puts the meaning of dreams into perspective and helps the reader discover the richness of the Christian tradition.

GOOD GOATS: Healing Our Image of God by Dennis Linn, Sheila Linn, and Matthew Linn.
Here is a clear and simple picture of the God that Jesus revealed.  There is a question and answer section.

HEALING by Francis MacNutt, O.P. A landmark book by one of the first Roman Catholics involved in the charismatic renewal, this text is composed of four sections: the healing ministry (its underlying meaning and importance); faith, hope and charity as they touch upon the healing ministry.

HEALING BODY AND SOUL by John Sanford.  Illness comes to all of us at sometime or another.  This book discusses the meaning of illness in the Gospels and helps us come to terms with important aspects of the meaning of illness, both for spiritual satisfaction and help with recovery.

HEALING & CHRISTIANITY IN ANCIENT THOUGHT AND MODERN TIMES by Morton T. Kelsey.  Kelsey traces the history of healing throughout the centuries - down to its current-day medical model, and shows how Christian healing can be aligned with medicine, psychology, and philosophy.

HEALING THE SHAME THAT BINDS YOU by John Bradshaw.  This book breaks new ground in the issues of societal and personal breakdown, offering new ways of recovery vital to all of us.

HEALING GIFT OF THE SPIRIT (THE) by Agnes Sanford.

HEALING JOURNEYS - A healing resource for women.

HEALING LIGHT (THE) by Agnes Sanford.

HEALING AND WHOLENESS by John Sanford

HEALING VISUALIZATIONS CREATING HEALTH THROUGH

IMAGERY by Gerald Epstein, M.D.  The author, a psychiatrist and pioneer in working dream therapy, provides a new vision of how the mind can help heal the body through the power of “imaginal medicine”.

HEALING WOUNDED EMOTIONS OVERCOMING LIFE’S HURTS by Martin H. Padovani.  The author shows the reader how to overcome the hurts life has dealt one.

HEALTHY CONNECTIONS: A Compendium of Congregational Ministries in Health, Welfare, and Human Services - This is a resource guide highlighting congregational approaches in addressing health and health care issues faced by individuals and communities

IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN TO ME by Claudia Black, PhD, MSW Children of Alcoholics as Youngsters-Adolescents-Adults.  This book is meant to help the reader understand the roles children in alcoholic families adopt, the problems they face in adulthood as a result, and what they can do to break the pattern of destruction.

JESUS AND WOMAN: AN EXCITING DISCOVERY OF WHAT HE OFFERED HER by Lisa Sergio.  An interpretation of ten scripture passages depicting Jesus' revolutionary relationships with women, including the woman at the well, Mary and Martha, his mother Mary, Mary of Magdala, the woman caught in adultery, the woman with the hemorrhage.

LIVING WITH CANCER: Meditations on Patience and Love by Melody and Richard Smith.  This book is written for those living with cancer: patients, their loved ones, and their caregivers.

MEDICINE AS MINISTRY: REFLECTIONS ON SUFFERING, ETHICS AND HOPE by Margaret E. Mohrmann, M.D. - In this theological reflection on illness, healing and the doctor-patient relationship, pediatrician Mohrmann bridges the sometimes disparate worlds of medicine and faith, of high technology and ultimate concern.

MIXED BLESSINGS by Paula Ripple Comin.  In all of our senses and all of life's circumstances there is a potential for pain and for blessing. The author gives thorough but simple understanding of both aspects pointing out that there is growth gleaned for good in negative circumstances. Decisions made help us to become what God has intended for us.

MODERN SPIRITUAL EXERCISES: A CONTEMPORARY READING OF "THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES OF ST.  IGNATIUS" by David L. Fleming, S.J. This is a modern rendering of the classic sixteenth-century discipline developed by St. Ignatius of Loyola.  It is a highly detailed four-week-long retreat and renewal.

MORE THAN SURVIVORS: GOD'S WAY OF RESTORATION FOR WOMEN by Ruth Sanford.  Writing from the perspective of a married woman with children, Sanford shares her experiences about guilt, bitterness, anxiety, depression, discouragement, and fear, and she offers advice about making love real in your home.

MY STORY AND "THE STORY" by Robert McAfee Brown.  This is a reprint of Brown's paper delivered at the 1974 annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion on the intersection between the Gospel story and our own life story.

PAIN SEEKING UNDERSTANDING.  Edited by Margaret E. Mohrmann and Mark J. Hanson.  Dealing with the suffering and ensuing questions of faith that are prompted by the suffering, the editors give a series of essays on the decision to turn from God or to God. To justify God in the presence of suffering, the part of medicine and technology in the scheme of life' s pain, the editors include many works by fellow theologians.  To fully understand this work, one might need time to contemplate the complexity of the role faith and science play together in the healing process, of finding some good in suffering.

PARISH NURSING: Promoting Whole Person Health within Faith Communities ed. Phyllis Ann Solari-Twadell and Mary Ann McDermott.  This is a handbook on health promotion and care within faith communities.

PATHWAYS THROUGH PAIN by Ann Callender.  Ordinary pain, that which is not spectacular, but chronic, wears and tears on the sufferer and that person's faith. The author, through examples of her own pain and it's diminutive effects on her life, tries to discern growth beyond it. She gives examples from the paths taken by others -­Jesus, St. Paul, St. Teresa, monks and nuns. Through pain, other good is discovered, hidden talents are uncovered, new relationships are formed, and peace and joy result.

POWER TO HEAL (THE) by Francis MacNutt.

PSYCHOLOGY, MEDICINE AND CHRISTIAN HEALING by Morton T. Kelsey.  A revised and expanded edition of Healing and Christianity.  A comprehensive summary of the ancient arts of healing.  A book to live with and use as a means of reflection on how to gain serenity and find healing for one's self and for the world.

PRAYERS by Michel Quoist, International bestseller.

PRAYER THAT HEALS, PRAYING FOR HEALING IN THE FAMILY (THE) by Francis MacNutt.  An easy-to-read, straightforward, and practical introduction to praying for healing in the family, a much neglected part of many Christians' lives.

PRAYING OUR GOODBYES by Joyce Rupp.  This is a book for anyone who has experienced loss.  It is designed to help the reader recognize, ritualize, reflect on and re-orient themselves.

PRAYING WITH ANOTHER FOR HEALING by Dennis & Matthew Linn and Sheila Fabricant Linn.  A detailed workbook covering all aspects of healing and including also lesson plans for a healing seminar by three persons who are much in demand as seminar leaders.

PROCESS OF ENGAGEMENT (THE) by Nancy L. Tubesing, D. Tubesing & and William M. Peterson.  The fourth monograph in the series on the Wholistic Health Center Project, it focuses on the engagement of people in the process of becoming and staying healthy.

RACHEL'S CRY by Kathleen C. Billman & David Migliere.  This book explores why there is a danger that praise without lament can become triumphalism and a danger that lament without praise is hopelessness. The author compares Rachel's life to that of Mary and tells why both are important. The idea that life is all wonderful without tragedy is a false idea. Lament needs
acceptance as does praise to bring a rebirth of hope into people's lives.

ROLE OF FAITH IN THE PROCESS OF HEALING (THE) by Edgar N. Jackson.  Teacher and psychologist, Jackson investigates the connections between health and faith, with the thesis that we are to some degree responsible for the good or ill health we experience.

SIMPLE WAYS TO PRAY FOR HEALING by Dennis Linn, Sheila Fabricant Linn and Matthew Linn.  This book contains the eight ways to pray for healing that are simple enough for small children, yet profound enough for sophisticated adults.

SPIRITUAL EXERCISE OF ST. IGNATIUS (THE) translated by Anthony Mottofa, Ph.D.

THIS GRIEF IS MINE: Personal Journey and Guide Through the Aspects of Grief, Comfort and Healing by Norma Atherton.  This VT author openly and freely discusses every aspect of grief through a unique blend of personal tragedy, researched professional opinions, and spiritual insights.

THEOLOGICAL ROOTS OF WHOLISTIC HEALTH by Thomas Droege, R. Underwood, H. Rust, K. Vaux and J. Westberg.  The first monograph in the Wholistic Health Care series of five is a compilation of five articles responding to many of the religious questions raised by the Health Care Project.

TO HEAL THE SICK by Charles and Frances Hunter.  The founders of the City of Light Christian Center offer a direct, down-to-earth "how to" book, in the belief that others can also become "common, ordinary, everyday miracle workers."

TO TOUCH THE HEM OF HIS GARMENT: A TRUE STORY OF HEALING by Mary Drahos.  Drahos relates the story of her own healing from multiple sclerosis and provides a helpful overview of the many available avenues of healing in our culture, some Christian and some not.  Includes a chapter on death as the perfect healing.

TRACKS OF A FELLOW STRUGGLER: Living and Growing through Grief by John Claypool.  The contents of this book are records of the prophetic utterance of Claypool as he spoke with his congregation of his terror, grief, loss, comfort and consecration in the face of the death of his 10 year old child.

TWELVE STEPS: A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY (THE).  A working guide for adult children from addictive and other dysfunctional families.  Based on biblical teachings.  Workbook from Recovery Publication.

TWELVE STEPS TO SPIRITUAL WHOLENESS: A CHRISTIAN PATHWAY by Philip St. Roman.  This book presents the “Twelve Steps” as a way to grow, to move toward a "Spiritual Awakening," an awareness of our true self in God.

UCC PARISH NURSE DIRECTORY - This is an alphabetical listing of UCC Parish Nurses by state and conference areas.

UCC PARISH NURSE NETWORK: Linking and Touching the Lives of All - The Health and Wellness Program of the UCC provides this manual in order to reclaim the ministry of health and healing within the denomination.

UNDERSTANDING DIFFICULT SCRIPTURES IN A HEALING WAY by Matthew, Sheila and Dennis Linn.  The authors have collected several difficult passages in scripture and consulted some of the best scholars to help interpret passages that have been healing for themselves and the retreatants that they work with.  The Linns present simple criteria that anyone can use in reading passages so that they come away feeling closer to God, themselves, others, and the universe. 

UNDERSTANDING PRAYER: AN EXPLORATION OF THE NATURE,
DISCIPLINES, AND GROWTH OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE by Edgar N. Jackson.  The subtitle says it all: an excellent, thorough teaching book on prayer as the basic human language and humankind as the praying creature.  Topics include the process of prayer, the discipline of prayer, prayer and the dimensions of selfhood, the techniques of prayer, and the fruits of prayerful living.

WHEN SOMEONE DIES by Edgar N. Jackson.  Part of the Pocket Counsel Books series, this brief, insightful book deals with such issues as emotional needs, cultural hazards, helpful versus unhelpful beliefs, and it also describes human grief as the natural process that leads to recovery from loss.

WORKBOOK ON CHRISTIANS UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND IN RECOVERY (THE) by Maxie Dunham.  The reason for this workbook is to make us aware, if we're not already, of the crippling, even killing forces that control our lives, to give us hope and resources for fighting battles with our enemies, and to give us direction to move in paths of recovery and wholeness.

WOUNDED HEALER: MINISTRY IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY (THE) by Henry Nouwen.  The well-known Christian teacher Nouwen writes on ministering to others out of our own hurts, as we share life together in a world that is largely dislocated, rootless, hopeless, and lonely.

WRESTING WITH LIGHT:  Meditations for Caregivers in Word and Image by Robert Merrill Eddy and Kathy Wonson Eddy - This book will strengthen, comfort, and uplift those who give tirelessly of their time so that others can live better lives.

YOUR SPIRITUAL GIFTS CAN HELP YOUR CHURCH GROW by C. Peter Wagner.  A former missionary to Bolivia and a faculty member of Fuller Theological Seminary, Wagner discusses twenty-seven spiritual gifts that may be present among the members of the body, and he then gives five steps to using those gifts for the body's growth.