Blueprints for the Little Church
Creating an Orthodox Home
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Narrated by:
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Elissa Bjeletich
About this listen
How do we, as orthodox parents, keep our children in the church throughout their lives? It all begins with involving them in the life of the church from birth onward - in the parish and also at home. Blueprints for the Little Church provides practical ideas and encouragement - without judgment - for incorporating the primary practices of orthodox spirituality into your family life at every stage of its growth and throughout the church year.
©2016 Elissa Bjeletich and Caleb Shoemaker (P)2020 Elissa Bjeletich and Caleb ShoemakerListeners also enjoyed...
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- By: Joel C. Rosenberg, Dr. T. E. Koshy
- Narrated by: Joel C. Rosenberg, Lynn Rosenberg
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Every follower of Jesus Christ should be able to answer two simple questions: Who is investing in me?Whom am I investing in? God desires to pour an abundance of spiritual and emotional capital into your life - directly and through older and wiser believers. And he wants to use you to pour spiritual and emotional capital into the lives of others. Along the way, you’ll be changed. Others will change. God calls this process of spiritual investing "making disciples". It’s the heart of the Great Commission.
By: Joel C. Rosenberg, and others
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Intentional Faith
- Aligning Your Life with the Heart of God
- By: Allen Jackson
- Narrated by: Allen Jackson
- Length: 3 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Many Christians experience low points in their faith, times when their spiritual lives have grown cold, stagnant, or routine. They feel frustrated and are desperate to reconnect with God. Yet encouragement alone is not enough. We need God's power to bring transformation, and we need specific tools and a focused intent to know the Lord.
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Excellent content and narration!!
- By Pam on 08-24-24
By: Allen Jackson
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Own Your Life
- Living With Deep Intention, Bold Faith, and Generous Love
- By: Sally Clarkson
- Narrated by: Pamela Klein
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
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God has made you with the capacity to live courageously, to have great faith, and to become a person of influence. Sally Clarkson has raised her family, ministered around the world, and mentored countless women with this soul-resounding message. And in Own Your Life, she brings it straight to your heart.
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Inspiring and encouraging!
- By Maria on 08-26-15
By: Sally Clarkson
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The Illumined Heart: Capture the Vibrant Faith of the Ancient Christians
- By: Frederica Mathewes-Green
- Narrated by: Frederica Mathewes-Green
- Length: 2 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Why are modern Christians so indistinguishable from everyone else? How come Christians who lived in times of bloody persecution were so heroic, while we who live in safety are not? How could the first Christians fast valiantly, but we feel deprived without dessert? How did New Testament believers pray without ceasing? How could the early Christian martyrs actually forgive their torturers? What did the Christians of the first centuries know that we don't? This book explores these questions.
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Illuminating wisdom! Thank you!
- By James A. Coles Jr. on 06-17-16
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Here Am I, Lord...Send Somebody Else
- How God Uses Ordinary People to Do Extraordinary Things
- By: Jill Briscoe
- Narrated by: Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
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Major Ian Thomas, a British theologian and teacher and the founder of Torchbearers Bible Schools, spent seven exhausting years trying to live for Christ when he realized that God actually just wanted to live through him. He offered this extremely simple advice in considering the Christian life: Go where you are sent, stay where you are put, and do what you are asked. With her trademark warmth and keen sense of humor, esteemed Bible study teacher Jill Briscoe follows Major Thomas' example to help listeners learn how to allow God to live through them.
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Grateful for this book!
- By Amazon Customer on 03-07-19
By: Jill Briscoe
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Uncluttered
- Free Your Space, Free Your Schedule, Free Your Soul
- By: Courtney Ellis
- Narrated by: Courtney Ellis
- Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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This guide is not a formula about what stuff you need to give up. It's about slowing down long enough for God to remind you of his truth and what it means to be his child. Through heartwarming, relatable, and hilarious stories, Courtney Ellis shares her journey from a life of stress, stuff, and exhaustion to one of peace, space, and fulfillment. You'll learn practical tips for paring down your possessions, simplifying your schedule, and practicing the ancient art of Sabbath - even if you're a parent! Uncluttered ushers you towards a lifestyle of holiness and joy in the Lord.
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Outstanding and Eye Opening
- By Kathy Albritton on 01-03-20
By: Courtney Ellis
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Great House of God
- By: Max Lucado
- Narrated by: Alan Scott
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
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God doesn't want to be merely a weekend getaway. He has no interest in being a Sunday bungalow or even a summer cottage. He wants to be your mailing address, your point of reference, your home always. He wants you to live in the Great House of God.
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Make me feel more comfortable in needing God every step in my day.
- By Anonymous User on 12-13-24
By: Max Lucado
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Upside-Down Spirituality
- The 9 Essential Failures of a Faithful Life
- By: Chad Bird
- Narrated by: Brandon Batchelar
- Length: 6 hrs and 35 mins
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In our age when the church can too often seem like a poor copy of the world, Chad Bird challenges us to reclaim the astounding originality of our ancient, backward faith. With compelling examples from the Bible and today, Bird paints an enticing picture of the counterintuitive, countercultural life that God wants for us. He helps listeners delight in all of the ways that Jesus turned the world upside down, allowing us to experience true freedom, not from our weaknesses but in the midst of them.
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Great messages for today
- By Fred M on 07-24-22
By: Chad Bird
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Prayer Matrix
- Plugging into the Unseen Reality
- By: David Jeremiah
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 1 hr and 42 mins
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David Jeremiah approaches the good news of God's willingness to respond to our prayers from a fresh angle, describing prayer as the built-in trigger for the good things that happen in this world. Listeners will discover just how eagerly God is waiting to answer us. Like a loving father, He is always glad to have us come to Him as children with the things that are on our heart! Prayer delights God's heart, because He has ordained the processes of the world to work through the prayers of His people.
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The Great Dr. David Jeremiah
- By Lenny P on 06-01-12
By: David Jeremiah
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What listeners say about Blueprints for the Little Church
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- c
- 05-08-20
Just what my Little Church Needed
In full disclosure, for my honest opinion on Blueprints for the Little Church: Creating an Orthodox Home by Elissa Bjeletich and Caleb Shoemaker, I was given a free audio copy of the book.
Christ is Risen!
It’s hard to say if I’d appreciate this book as much as I do right now, under these unusual circumstances. It’s a very Orthodox Quarantine in our home. And this book finding us, in quarantine, could not have come at a better time.
Everything revolves around the home. We have a stay-at-home order, and we’ve done our best to abide by this, with, I’ll admit, few indiscretions. Nonetheless, for the most part, we spend our time in this home. So listening to this book was a blessing.
As converts, we have been slow to pick up the specifics of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Those are the three essential components, the building blocks, for the Orthodox church. And, as I said, it’s been slow for us. We converted 9 years ago. And since then we’ve moved 4 times, had 3 children, changed jobs 6 times, and changed churches 3 times. It’s been a bit of a blur. Between nursing, diapers, meals, dishes, laundry, an internationally traveling husband, and homeschooling, the building blocks of the church haven’t always been our focus.
So, to listen to Blueprints for the Little Church during laundry folding sessions in the morning/ afternoon has been like having a dear grandma, loving and true, walk me through the importance of each step. It could be Elissa Bjeletich’s voice too. Love and tenderness exude from each word.
My grandma was Roman Catholic, and while she certainly had a love for God and the sacraments, she died before I started my family, so I never got that opportunity to talk to her about “How do you get the kids to cooperate during prayers?” or “How can fasting become more palatable for the little children?” or “What’s your favorite almsgiving opportunity with little children?”
Neither my husband or I grew up in homes that centered their lives around the Orthodox Faith’s practices, so, it’s helped those fragmented pieces of advice over the past 9 years fall into place.
And the blessings have been palpable.
We are fasting together, as a family, today’s a fish day, hurray!
We pray together as a family in the morning and evening. I was use a piece of discarded wood and a wooden spoon to create my own Talanton (an ancient call to prayer). The children have a sip of holy water, a piece of antidoron, and put their cross necklaces on after those morning prayers. We have holy oils at the ready for nights when we feel anxious and upset.
We have limited the amount of screen times that the children and the adults indulge in. That has been one of the greatest “break throughs” I’ve had concerning screens. For years my intuition said that screens and the enticement of entertainments hurt me. I didn’t have a TV for all of my college years and my adult life before children. I just really disliked them. And I couldn’t exactly pinpoint why I did until I was listening to this audiobook.
Elissa and Caleb explain, “The safest road to hell is to be gently lulled into thinking about anything except God. Entertainments need not be spectacularly wicked or even particularly interesting; if they keep us from prayer and from building loving community in our homes, then they’ve succeeded in damaging our spiritual lives. The Psalmist writes, ‘Be still, and know that I am God’ (Psalm 45[46]:11); but where will we find stillness we we keep busy with mind-numbing distractions?” (p. 140)
I took facebook and instagram off my phone. And I felt affirmed in this choice because this morning I read in Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: The Life and Teachings for Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica, “Our life depends on the kind of thoughts we nurture. If our thoughts are peaceful, calm, and meek, and kind, then this is what our life is like. If our attention is turned to the circumstances in which we live, we are drawn into a whirlpool of thoughts and can have neither peace nor tranquility” (p. 63).
That part at the end “whirlpool of thoughts” hit me in the gut this morning. Oh, how social media is full of those right now. And not just social media, even messages from family and friends can be strange and full of that “whirlpool”. I refuse to get sucked in. And I believe it’s the prayers, fasting, and almsgiving, that is giving me the strength to focus on loving Christ, His Church, myself, my husband, my children, and our home together.
Anyways, I’d highly recommend this book to anyone who recently converted to Orthodoxy or who needs a refresher in the basics. I ended up purchasing a hard copy from my church bookstore so that I could refer to more easily throughout the year.
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- KMM
- 04-24-20
Excellent, engaging and practical!
Having had the opportunity to meet the Elissa previously at a women's retreat, so hearing her voice made me feel transported back to that special day!
It was so easy to get caught up in all that she was sharing. What Elissa and Caleb have done so fluidly is weave Orthodox theology, with a variety of traditions and advice on how to apply it in your home, while acknowledging that every home will be a little different and find it's own unique application. Therefore her advice is neither too rigid that it feels unattainable, nor too vague that you are left uncertain where to begin. As a busy parent I really appreciate feeling like every bit of time listening to this audiobook was time well spent. She also intersperses with humorous anecdotes so that even if my kids overhear the recording they find themselves charmed into listening too!
As an adult convert, I often feel like there is just SO MUCH that I don't know, about our rich theology and traditions, it is daunting to know how to begin instructing my kids when I still have so very much to learn. This book has really helped give me so many ideas and tools for ensuring that I not only live my faith on a daily basis for my own spiritual growth, but so that I am doing all I can to raise my children to have a deep faith and personal relationship with God.
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- Katharine M.
- 04-17-20
Timely Advice
As many of us retreat to our homes and face the daunting task of journeying through Great Lent and Holy Week, only to celebrate the Feast or Feasts and the Paschal season in our own icon corners, the book Blueprints for the Little Church: Creating an Orthodox Home, by Elissa Bjeletich and Caleb Shoemaker is especially timely. Not only is it available in print, but you can also download the audiobook instantly from Audible.com. For those familiar with another of Elissa’s projects, the podcast Tending the Garden of Our Hearts, her voice will be a welcome guide. This time she coaches parents through the process of building up a prayer life and a home that reflects their love of God, which will enable them to raise children that will number among His saints.
Though converts would find this book particularly informative, it is valuable for cradle Orthodox Christians as well. Those who grew up in a single jurisdiction may delight in learning about others. For instance, I enjoyed hearing the details of Slavas, the Serbian tradition of honoring a family saint and offering hospitality on that feast day. Similarly, the activities suggested for each feast are especially welcome for those of us enduring stay at home orders. Many of the suggestions are new ideas that only require items found in the home, and would make the feasts come alive for children and teens.
Consider spending a few hours listening to Blueprints. It is sure to strengthen and encourage you as you prepare to greet the unique challenge of celebrating Pascha apart from your church family.
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- Tom
- 10-27-20
Blueprints for the Little Church
An excellent book. Perfect not only for the new convert but for all Orthodox parents. I wish I had this book when my children were young. Elissa has a very pleasant, cheerful voice which makes the book very easy to listen to. The book is full of practical advice and wonderful suggestions. I particularly loved the appendix where she walks you thorough the church liturgical year with easy family activities and projects for the children to participate in each feast day. She also includes recipes for those without a yiayia (grandmother) to help. I highly recommend this book.
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- Christopher Grant
- 10-24-20
A great book for families entering Orthodoxy
As a Protestant who has just discovered Orthodoxy, I have been looking for ways to incorporate Orthodox practices into our family life. Orthodoxy can seem foreign and intimidating at first. It is hard to know where and how to begin. This book is the perfect guide. Beginning with the Orthodox view of the family as a “Little Church”, the authors help the reader see how each element of life, even the most mundane tasks, can be brought into their relationship with God. The authors include the readings and prayers from Orthodox wedding and baptism services, which are beautiful and profound, as well as the wisdom of the saints on marriage and family. They give instruction on how to set up an icon corner and steps to center family life around prayer. They offer strategies for preparing children at home for the liturgy, guidelines for regular fasting, and suggestions for almsgiving. There is a lengthy appendix that works its way through the liturgical year with resources and activities to engage children in the celebrations and remembrances. The authors include many excerpts from regular Orthodox moms and dads who give a candid view of their struggles and successes with spiritual disciplines in the home. I found this to be refreshing and encouraging. This book does not give a list of strict rules that must be observed in every home. The reader is advised to seek the wisdom of their priest and take things slowly.
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