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200. Background Information for 1976-1981 Sources
đź“„ 5 pages This document provides background information and historical context for the sources in the 1976-1981 time period.
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201. Commentary on the Covenant
🔊 11:14 What does our covenant commitment mean? In this talk, given at a 1976 community meeting, Paul DeCelles unpacked the covenant: a commitment of our whole lives to the Lord and to one another. The covenant is a full commitment that involves our families, careers, relationships outside the community and mission.
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202. People of Praise: the Early Years
🔊 1:04:48 In this talk given in 1976 at a Community Weekend, Kevin Ranaghan provided a history of events between 1963 and 1971 that led to the formation of the People of Praise and then described developments in the community since 1971 that formed the body into what it was in 1976.
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203. Our Money and Work in Common
🔊 39:25 In this talk given at a 1976 Unity Weekend, Clem Walters began with potential causes for disunity: our different occupations, varying income levels, and different standards of living. He addressed a way of overcoming that disunity through a change of mind and heart about our jobs, money, and possessions. The talk included stories…
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204. Spontaneous Worship Excerpt
🔊 8:44 An excerpt of spontaneous worship including prophecy and prayer in inspired songs, recorded at a 1976 community meeting.
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205. 1976 Snapshot of Community Life
🔊 12:45 This sharing on community life in 1976 was given at the end of a talk on “Kingdom Building” at a Notre Dame charismatic conference. After a brief history of the community, Tom Finke described the life and work of the People of Praise emphasizing especially several prophecies and their fulfillment.
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206. 1976 Household Agreements List
đź“„ 3 pages A practical look at household life in 1976. This is a list of agreements made by members of one People of Praise household for the sake of common life and unity and to avoid misunderstanding and mismatched expectations.
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207. Being Men of God
🔊 32:02 In this elder’s conference talk, Paul DeCelles described the activities of men of God, especially those who are responsible for the well-being and growth of others in their communities. He covered thinking, studying, serving, doing battle and praying. He pointed out that Scripture should be the source that forms men of God.
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208. Small Groups in the People of Praise
📄 6 pages In this 1977 interview published in Pastoral Renewal, Paul DeCelles discussed the purpose and function of men’s and women’s groups in the People of Praise.
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209. Early Youth Ministry Proposals
đź“„ 6 pages A set of proposals for summer camp, childcare and preschool youth ministry, including a survey given to the adults of the community about what skills they might be able to share with People of Praise children. This survey was in part a response to a word from the Lord about the children.
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210. Handmaids in the People of Praise
đź“„ 4 pages This document dates from the time the first handmaids in the People of Praise were selected. It describes their pastoral role and their place within the order of the community.
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211. Love and Discipline
🔊 54:22 Using Exodus 34 and other passages, Paul DeCelles looked at the characteristics of God and the ways that discipline is an expression of love. He also talked about how love and discipline go hand in hand rather than being in opposition to each other.
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212. Living the Beatitudes
🔊 31:26 The first in a series of four talks on the Beatitudes given at community meetings in 1979. Paul DeCelles stressed the importance of Scripture study to see what the Lord says about himself so that we might adopt the spirituality of Jesus and have the mind of Christ.
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213. Blessed Are the Pure of Heart
🔊 31:01 The second in a series of four talks on the Beatitudes given at community meetings in 1979. Here Paul DeCelles taught about purity of heart, emphasizing that if we are not holy (pure) we will not accomplish what God wants us to do as a people. He talked about how one person’s action…
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214. Blessed Are the Peacemakers
🔊 25:35 The third in a series of four talks on the Beatitudes given at community meetings in 1979. The Lord himself is the perfect peacemaker, establishing peace between God and man, by offering himself as a sacrifice. Paul pointed out that those who want to follow Jesus in being peacemakers should expect humiliation, loss…
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215. Life in Christ for Unmarried Women
🔊 47:43 In this 1979 talk, Julie described the difficulties widowed, divorced and single women face. She talked about the importance of truth, forgiveness, trust in God fighting temptation and utilizing headship in facing these difficulties. She encouraged unmarried women to take their place in the body of Christ and to invest time in their…
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216. 1976-1978 Community Service Plans
📄 51 pages A collection of documents produced in the late 1970s as part of a pastoral plan to identify community services and organize them. These documents give a picture of all the service which was taking place at the time. They include each person’s service hours, organizational flow charts and demographic information.
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217. Social Justice and the People of Praise
📄 5 pages This paper was written sometime in 1979. It was meant as an answer to people who criticized the People of Praise for not being concerned enough with the poor and needy. The paper describes how the community’s approach to social problems was environmental (personal) rather than institutional.
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218. The Weekly Meeting
đź“„ 8 pages A working paper written by Paul DeCelles for a seminar on community building in 1979 that outlines six purposes for the weekly meetings of the community. He made several points for leaders about how meetings should be led and what they should accomplish.
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219. Vision of Community
đź“„ 4 pages A working paper written by Paul DeCelles for a seminar on community building in 1979 that explained the fundamental human need for communal relationships. Paul addressed how modern society’s move away from family structure to a productivity structure has come at a cost. Community in Christ is a completely different way to…
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220. Memos on Weddings and Dating
đź“„ 5 pages and 4 pages, respectively Two memos addressed to the coordinators by Kevin Ranaghan with proposals for a People of Praise approach to state-in-life decisions, dating, engagement and weddings.
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221. Training Sons
🔊 43:16 In this teaching, given at a retreat for non-community members in 1980, Clem shared his experience of applying God’s word to the task of training sons. He described how raising sons requires prayer, consistency, discipline and a major time commitment. Note: The other talks from this retreat can be accessed in the File…
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222. Be Hungry for the Word of God
đź“„ 9 pages This is an archival transcript of a talk given at a 1980 community meeting. We don’t have a recording of this meeting. The talk began with comments about the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. What was at issue was the correct reading and interpretation of Scripture. Paul DeCelles then talked about…
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223. The Character of a Christian Woman
🔊 28:38 Using examples from Scripture, Jeanne DeCelles described the qualities and character of a Christian woman and noted the ways the world does not value these things. She ended by sharing her own paraphrase of Proverbs 31, “The Woman of the People of Praise.”
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224. Resisting Temptation, The Good Samaritan and Prayer
🔊 36:54 A recording of a 1980 community celebration men’s night. Three parts of the evening were recorded: prophecies given at the men’s night; a spontaneous response to those words by Paul DeCelles exhorting the men and boys to resist carnal temptation; and a prepared teaching on love of neighbor (the Good Samaritan) and love…
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225. Roles of Men and Women Revisited
🔊 46:37 This talk given at a 1981 elders’ meeting by Kevin Ranaghan summarized the teaching of the People of Praise on the roles of men and women and contrasted these views with current worldly trends. He also described potential excesses in this area which he had seen in the wider charismatic renewal and Pentecostal…
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226. Women’s Groups
🔊 39:16 This talk, given at a 1981 elders’ meeting by Sharon Rose, covered topics regarding women’s groups including why we have them, the role of the head of the group, problems in women’s groups and what makes them work well.
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227. Being a Handmaid
🔊 1:13:52 This talk was given at a 1981 elders’ meeting by Julie Walters. In it, she looked at the use of the word “handmaid” in Scripture. She talked about the reason for having handmaids, the qualities of a handmaid and the pastoral role of a handmaid.
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228. Accomplishing Our Work through Divisions
🔊 39:14 In this talk given at a 1981 elders’ meeting, Paul DeCelles discussed the introduction of divisions into the structure of the community, noting how this organizational change was for the sake of apostolic activity. Paul discussed the goals and objectives of each of these new divisions and provided details about the structure and…
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229. Reasons for Starting Trinity School
🔊 27:01 In this talk given at a 1981 elders’ meeting shortly before Trinity School opened its doors for the first time, Kerry Koller explained why the community decided to start a school and how it would be different from other schools.