Church Life
Showing 76–150 of 556 results
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Dangers Of American Christianity
$15.99Add to cartThe message of the gospel should be the lens through which our world view is formed.
The author believes that instead our culture has made us water down the true message to fit contemporary American Culture.The dangers he identifies include:
-Getting too mixed up in our culture
-Isolating ourselves too much from contemporary culture
-Safe and easy believism without proper life changing repentance
-Making it all about what God can do for me
-Entitlement
-The prosperity gospel
-Not being busy with the things of GodThe Church needs to rediscover what made it the powerful force it is supposed to be in a culture that wants to adapt the Church to fit its own values.
We cannot water down or dilute the gospel message in any way and remain effective in a world of secular humanistic values.
The Church has to get back to biblical values and not compromise with the world’s values and culture.Each chapter has questions for reflection, if you’re reading on your own, or discussion in groups.
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Small Church Checkup
$16.00Add to cartMany small membership churches today are faced with the sobering reality of attendance loss and overall decline. This resource provides a guide to help you find hope, alternatives, and the possibility of a new beginning. Included are tools to help you measure your church’s vitality, evaluate the results, and diagnose your church’s condition, along with several options for treatment plans as you seek to faithfully serve your community. Remember that we can choose our story. If we believe in our hearts there is another possibility, we can be faithful in choosing intentional pathways forward that honor God, the church founders, and generations to come. Follow the steps outlined in these pages to evaluate where you are and what the next steps on your journey need to be as you seek to be a “not yet big church,” “a stable, small church,” or a church that chooses to close and be repurposed for unexpected new life.
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New Copernicans : Understanding The Millennial Contribution To The Church
$16.99Add to cartIn The New Copernicans: Understanding the Millennial Contribution to the Church, author John Seel, PhD, provides a road map to this new millennial landscape, and an antidote to being drawn off course.
The millennial generation is steering the church in a new direction and is providing a missional opportunity for the church. The church will either follow their lead, or meander in a direction leading them further away from the ultimate path of making disciples.
Millennials are the carriers of a profound shift in the culture narrative, one that will reshape our understanding of human society in the coming years. Rather than being a problem for the church to lament, this shift represents an occasion to celebrate. Yet it demands being able to understand this direction to a more accurate assessment of human nature and reality.
In The New Copernicans: Understanding the Millennial Contribution to the Church, author John Seel, PhD, provides a road map to this new millennial landscape, and an antidote to being drawn off course. Rather than give the reader a formula for their local church, Recalculating will provide a lens though which to see the world in the light of the millennial frame. It addresses the “why” questions, empowering the reader to assess their own situation and apply the appropriate direction. It will not advocate “cookie cutter” programs, rather provide a refreshed vision with which to interact along side this important generation.
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Vibrant Church : Strategies For Church Renewal
$13.99Add to cartHelp your church reach its potential to become a beacon in your community, a model of all that God has called the church to be. The Vibrant Church provides guidance for pastors and key lay leaders, teaching you how to make your church healthy in all areas of church life.
You’ll learn to:
-Write a specific vision for your church
-Improve your leadership skills
-Establish a strategic plan for the future
-Build the ministry team
-Grow a dynamic outreach ministry
-Disciple fully devoted followers of Christ
-Create an environment of genuine love and concern
-Develop meaningful worship
-Train faithful stewards of money and time -
American Church In Crisis
$24.99Add to cartGroundbreaking research based on a national database of over 200,000 churches shows that the overall United States population is growing faster than the church.
The director of the American Church Research Project, Dave Olson, has worked to analyze church attendance, showing that it is virtually unchanged from fifteen years ago while our population has grown by fifty-two million people. What does this mean for you, your church, and the future of Christianity in North America? The American Church in Crisis offers unprecedented access to data that helps you understand the state of the church today. “We live in a world that is post-Christian, postmodern, and multiethnic, whether we realize it or not,” says the author. This book not only gives a realistic picture that confirms hunches and explodes myths, but it provides insight into how the church must change to reach a new and changed world with the hope of the gospel. Readers will find a richly textured mosaic with optimistic and challenging stories. Charts, diagrams, and worksheets provide church leaders and motivated church members with a stimulating read that will provoke much discussion. Questions for discussion accompany the chapters.
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Infants And Children In The Church
$24.99Add to cartInfants and Children in the Church: Five Views on Theology and Ministry addresses an important, but often overlooked, theological and ministry issue facing the church today: How should churches receive and minister to the infants and children God has entrusted to their care?
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Stay In The City
$16.99Add to cartWe live in an urban age. To a degree unprecedented in human history, most of the world’s people live in cities. It is thus vital, say Mark Gornik and Maria Liu Wong, for Christians to think constructively about how to live out their faith in an urban setting.
In Stay in the City Gornik and Liu Wong look at what is happening in the urban church–and what Christians everywhere can learn from it. Once viewed suspiciously for their worldly temptations and vices, cities are increasingly becoming centers of vibrant Christian faith. Writing from their experience living and working in New York City, Gornik and Liu Wong invite readers everywhere to join together in creating a more flourishing–and faith-filled–urban world.
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MultiChurch : Exploring The Future Of Multisite
$24.99Add to cartIs it time for your church to go multisite? It seems everybody is doing it these days, so how do you know if it is the right solution for your congregation? MultiChurch brings clarity to the multisite movement and assembles the lessons it has learned over the past fifteen years. It explores the opportunities presented by the various forms of multi-site church, identifies areas of concern, and concludes that multisite is not only a biblically sound ecclesiological model, but also a model that provides a compelling solution to contemporary reductionism in the church.
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Tears In The Desert
$13.95Add to cartAre you interested in Christian service or studying for the Christian ministry? This book is uniquely designed to help you prepare for the challenges ahead and is endorsed by a pastor who served his church for thirty-eight years and the presidents of two seminaries who will recommend it to their students.
Karl Heller’s new book, Tears in the Desert: Lessons from the Joys and Sorrows of God’s Call, provides an up-close and personal account from the frontline of pastoral ministry. This is a refreshingly candid account of why pastoral ministry is so very challenging and at the same time so very important. By recounting the triumphs and tragedies of his own ministry, Dr. Heller is an able and wise guide, especially for seminarians preparing for pastoral ministry.
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Imagine Church : Releasing Dynamic Everyday Disciples
$14.99Add to cartJesus Christ has been the dominant figure in the history of Western culture for two millennia, and his birth the pivot of our calendar. He is the focus of Scripture and the heart of mission, the message that countless Christians cross land and sea, continents and cultures, to deliver.In masterly surveys, John Stott looks at the New Testament witness, at the way the church has portrayed Christ down through the centuries, and at the influence Christ has had on individuals over the last two millennia. Finally, turning to the book of Revelation, he asks what Jesus Christ should mean to us today. Here is the fruit of a lifetime of biblical study, rigorous Christian thought and devotion to the person of Jesus Christ.
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Ready Steady Grow
$15.99Add to cartDo you love your church and want to see it thrive?Are you keen to learn from someone whose own church has grown and started others too?Are you ready for the downsides as well as the inevitable joys?Ray Evans takes us on an interesting and exciting journey. He looks at the barriers to growth, as well as the hurdles of reorganization and structural changes that growing churches face. His findings are anchored in the Bible and the real world which we all inhabit.’Many have learned how to lead what they have,’ says Ray, ‘but they don’t know how to take it forward. You don’t see the glass ceilings until you crash into them, and the splinters bring pain everywhere.’In Ray, you will find a humble, wise and warm-hearted guide. This book will not only equip your church to grow, but will help prevent unnecessary disasters.
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Faith Generation : Retaining Young People And Growing The Church
$20.99Add to cartThe recent Church Growth Research (see www.churchgrowthresearch.org.uk) identifies that the successful transmission of faith to children and young people is a key factor in stemming decline and promoting growth. This book explores the cultural and theological reasons as to why this is the case and makes research-based recommendations for the faith formation of children and young people. The central argument is that church communities need to engage in deliberate strategies that help foster “intentional Christian Communities’ within which children and young people can form and sustain Christian identity.
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Online Mission And Ministry
$14.99Add to cartMany clergy and churches are now taking to the internet and social media to promote their churches or ministries, but few have thought through some of the difficult pastoral and theological issues that may arise.’Virtual vicar’ Revd Pam Smith guides both new and experienced practitioners through setting up online ministries and considers some of the issues that may arise, such as:Are relationships online as valid as those offline? Is it possible to participate in a ‘virtual’ communion service? How do you deal with ‘trolls’ in a Christian way? What is it appropriate for a clergyperson to say on social media?
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Economics Of Neighborly Love
$20.00Add to cart13 Chapters
Additional Info
What does the good news of Jesus mean for economics?Too often, Christian teaching and ministry have focused only on the gospel’s spiritual significance and ignored its physical, real-world ramifications. But loving our neighbor well has direct economic implications, and in our diverse and stratified society we need to grapple with them now more than ever.
In The Economics of Neighborly Love pastor Tom Nelson sets out to address this problem. Marrying biblical study, economic theory, and practical advice, he presents a vision for church ministry that works toward the flourishing of the local community, beginning with its poorest and most marginalized members. Nelson resists oversimplification and pushes us toward more complex and nuanced understandings of wealth and poverty. If we confess the gospel of Jesus, he insists, we must contend anew with its implications for the well-being of our local communities. Together we can grow in both compassion and capacity.
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What Clergy Do
$18.99Add to cartClergy have a pivotal role in creating and nurturing church communities in which all people can grow up into Christ. This book explores the nature of that role by considering key similarities with the essential but often conflicting demands of motherhood. Like mothers, clergy need to preserve and hold people faithfully, while encouraging them to grow, take initiatives and become more confident and self-supporting. This book will help clergy to think about how this is achieved through the myriad of ‘small’ things they do from day to day, highlighting skills such as comforting, cherishing and multi-attending – skills that are centrally important but often unarticulated and undervalued.
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Messy Church : Fresh Ideas For Building A Christ Centered Community
$20.00Add to cartWe like the idea of community, but where do we start? The Messy Church series provides resources to help your church bring together people of all ages and stages of faith, allowing them to experience a creative and fun-filled Christian community. Messy Church, the first book in the series, offers your church a tool to create a unique, come-as-you-are experience built on:
creativity-allowing space for all to play and create
celebration-worshiping God and his redeeming work in Jesus
hospitality-sharing a meal where all are welcomeThis complete resource helps you share the love of God and his people with families in your community, creating an opportunity for connection and learning in a fun and welcoming environment. With instructions for starting a program at your church, Messy Church includes fifteen sessions for use throughout the year. Let’s get messy!
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Lay Servants As Christian Transformation Leaders Participants Book (Student/Stud
$18.00Add to cartBuilding on the previous Lay Servant course “Does Your Church Have a Prayer?”, this Participant’s Book will guide Lay Servants seeking to be more empowered to lead their congregations toward vitality. Written with two distinct purposes, “Lay Servants as Christian Transformational Leaders” will first define the three types of Christian transformational leadership and the four qualities of Christian transformational leaders. Then the course will focus on congregational vitality, organizational life cycles, assessing current realities, and leading transformational change. The accompanying Leader’s Guide is in PDF form and is also available for downloading here.
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Sharing Gods Blessing
$15.99Add to cartA tried-and-tested resource for the renewal of the local church. Faced with the unsustainability of many inherited patterns of church, the temptation may be to fall into despondency rather than seeking to regenerate patterns of mission and ministry. This book is the result of a two-year research project aimed at enabling local churches to regain a sense of confidence through exploring God’s blessing and how that might be shared with the communities they serve. In Part One, Robin explores the meaning of blessing and the power of face-to-face group conversations to transform church congregations. Part Two of the book contains outlines for five guided conversations for change on the theme of blessing. Part Three contains case study material of how this material has been used in different contexts, including for Mission Action Planning (MAP).
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Forbearance : A Theological Ethic For A Disagreeable Church
$28.99Add to cartOffers a faithful, constructive way to deal with dissent
What happens when we approach disagreement not as a problem to solve but as an opportunity to practice Christian virtue?
In this book James Calvin Davis reclaims the biblical concept of forbearance to develop a theological ethic for faithful disagreement. Pointing to Ephesians and Colossians, in which Paul challenged his readers to “bear with each other” in spite of differences, Davis draws out a theologically grounded practice in which Christians work hard to maintain unity while still taking seriously matters on which they disagree.
The practice of forbearance, Davis argues, offers Christians a dignified, graceful, and constructive way to deal with conflict. Forbearance can also strengthen the church’s public witness, offering an antidote to the pervasive divisiveness present in contemporary culture.
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Developing A Powerful Praying Church
$8.95Add to cartBlackaby Ministries International
Today’s church faces challenges and crises it can only overcome through prayer. In their latest book, Blackaby and Fisher focus on the adjustments pastors and church leaders must make in their prayer life in order to see a rebirth of God-honoring, world-impacting …
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Caminos Olvidados – (Spanish)
$19.99Add to cartEl clasico cambio de paradigma propuesto por Alan Hirsch continua siendo la declaracion definitiva de la iglesia como un dinamico movimiento misional. El exito literario que fue la primera edicion, encendio una conversacion acerca de como aprovechar el poder de los movimientos para el crecimiento futuro de la iglesia. En esta edicion actualizada, Hirsch comparte conocimientos significativos obtenidos a lo largo del camino, proporciona nuevos ejemplos frescos de iglesias en crecimiento y reflexiona sobre los ultimos diez aos del movimiento misional. La nueva edicion ha sido completamente actualizada y revisada e incluye graficos, diagramas, un glosario ampliado de terminos, nuevos apendices, un nuevo prologo escrito por Ed Stetzer y un nuevo epilogo escrito por Jeff Vanderstelt. Conocido por su enfoque innovador a la mision, Hirsch es ampliamente reconocido como un lider pensador y estratega para iglesias en todo el mundo occidental. El considera a Caminos Olvidados como el trabajo guia para todos sus otros escritos. El libro cuidadosamente explora los factores que confluyen para generar movimientos de Jesus espiritualmente vibrantes, exponencialmente explosivos y de alto impacto en cualquier momento y en cualquier contexto. Esta amplia actualizacion del influyente trabajo de Hirsch ofrece un sistema de seis claves vitales para ver surgir un movimiento cristiano y estamos seguros que le dara forma al futuro del movimiento misional durante aos por venir.
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Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church Grow
$17.00Add to cartBestselling, Easy-to-Use Spiritual Gifts
Resource for Group UseThis trusted spiritual gifts resources has been helping individuals and congregations learn about their unique giftings for generations. Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church Grow is the quintessential group resource. Comprehensive and easy to understand, this guide includes the questionnaire and will help you and your group identify the gifts God has given you. More than that, you will discover how each gift works so that you and your group or congregation can use your unique gifts to help your church and community flourish.
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New Day In The City
$20.99Add to cartFrederich Buechner once wrote, “Dreams of fame and fortune die hard, if they ever die at all.” Many mainline urban congregations remember the days of fame and fortune-days when their prominence downtown mattered. Population shifts, the decline of mainline congregations, and demographic changes have robbed many downtown churches of these dreams – but not all churches. Many congregations struggle to survive while others are positioned to thrive. These churches have learned to let go of nostalgic dreams and tired habits, to walk with God into a new day of vibrancy, mission, and ministry. Authors Donna Claycomb Sokol and Roger Owens have pastored urban congregations that have managed to grow again, reversing decades of decline. In A New Day in the City they share the stories of the churches they’ve served, and the lessons they’ve learned from other successful urban churches and pastors. Their aim is to help others join God in the deep and wide mission of embodying the Kingdom. Along the way, they challenge some cliches about church leadership, offering a fresh perspective on what congregational renewal can look like and how it can become a reality. The book does not offer easy answers, because churches can’t simply replicate what someone else has done. Rather, the book offers the framework for crucial conversations urban churches need to have in order to find their own way to renewal. The end of each chapter features a set of practical guidelines for leading a congregation to address the questions that matter most.
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Preaching In The Era Of Trump
$14.99Add to cartNow more than ever, it’s time to preach.
The election of Donald Trump left countless faith leaders across the country speechless. Now that he is president, silence must give way to prophetic preaching.
Christians have long debated whether politics should be addressed from the pulpit. Following Donald Trump’s controversial, divisive rise to power and the sweeping changes his fledgling administration has already proposed, that s no longer a question political preaching will be the order of the day, even for pastors who try to steer clear of controversy. It s up to preachers to make the church great again by leading it to embrace and embody God s concern for those whose lives are at stake in a Trump administration. Veteran teacher, preacher, and author Wes Allen offers a blueprint for addressing current events through a Gospel lens, persuasively and pastorally without engaging in divisive, antagonistic rhetoric.
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Church Faith Future
$19.95Add to cartIn this challenging but hopeful new book, Church, Faith, Future: What We Face, What We Can Do, Father Louis J. Cameli renders a carefully composed portrait of the church in North America today. Drawing on philosophy, history, cultural analysis, and sociology, he offers a sobering picture of where church and faith stand in our society and where they seem to be headed. Identifying several possible ways forward, Fr. Cameli points out the way he sees as the most promising and most faithful to Catholic tradition.
In a fascinating afterword to the book, Archbishop Blase Cupich enters into dialogue with Fr. Cameli s thinking, describing how the Archdiocese of Chicago has begun to address the issues and the directions indicated. -
Unstuck Church : Equipping Churches To Experience Sustained Health
$16.99Add to cartAcclaimed church leader, blogger, founder and chief strategic officer of The Unstuck Group, Tony Morgan unpacks the lifecycle of a typical church, identifies characteristics of each phase, and provides practical next steps a church can take to move towards sustained health.
Think about your church for a moment. Is it growing? Is it diminishing? Is it somewhere in between? Acclaimed church leader, blogger, and founder and chief strategic officer of The Unstuck Group, Tony Morgan has identified the seven stages of a church’s lifecycle that range from the hopeful and optimistic days of launch, to the stagnating last stages of life support.
Regardless of the stage in which you find your church, it carries with it the world’s greatest mission-to “go and make disciples of all the nations . . .” With eternity at stake the Church should be doing most everything within its power to see lives changed forever. The Church should strive for the pinnacle of the lifecycle, where they are continually making new disciples and experiencing what Morgan refers to as “sustained health.”
In The Unstuck Church, Morgan unpacks each phase of the church lifecycle, and offers specific and strategic next steps the church leader can take to find it’s way to sustained health . . . and finally become unstuck.
The Unstuck Church is a call for honest an assessment of where your church sits on the lifecycle, and a challenge to move beyond it.
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Gospel DNA : 21 Ministry Values For Growing Churches
$15.99Add to cart22 Chapters
Additional Info
Acts chapter 20 tells how Paul sat down to train the elders of the Ephesian church he had planted some years before. The principles of gospel ministry he lays down are simple, but absolute dynamite.In 21 simple, practical principles, Richard Coekin sets out how this “Gospel DNA” should shape our approach to building churches today.
This book draws on his experience as Director of the London-based Co-Mission church-planting initiative in the UK. It will help you be part of a dynamic strategy for growing gospel churches today.
Includes a Foreword by D.A. Carson
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To Alter Your World
$22.00Add to cartIntroduction
1. God Groans Like A Woman In Labor
2. What’s Standing In Our Way?
3. A Divine Disruption
4. Midwives To The Birth Of The New Creation
5. Making Space For Birth To Happen
6. On Being Adaptive And Daring
7. How To Really Change The World
8. Changing The World Through Our Work
9. Changing The World Through Placecrafting
10. Being Changed As We Bring Change
11. Suffering Along The Way
Acknowledgments
NotesAdditional Info
In Christ, a new world is being born and the new creation is unfurling all around us. God is directing history toward the future restoration, repair, and renewal of all creation. And our job is to cooperate with God in being a sign and foretaste of that coming world. Renowned missional leaders Michael Frost and Christiana Rice introduce the bold metaphor of a midwife to depict us as God’s birthing assistants as the kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven. With groundbreaking ideas and practical illustrations from all corners of the globe, To Alter Your World will change the way you see how your church can partner in God’s world-altering mission. Nothing else could be more rewarding than laboring alongside a God who is birthing the new creation and inviting all to join in its benefits and blessings. -
Transcending Mission : The Eclipse Of A Modern Tradition
$40.00Add to cartPrologue
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Enigma Of MissionPart I: Justifying Mission
1. Partisans And Apologists
2. Reading Scripture As Mission
3. Presenting History As Mission
4. Rhetoric And TropePart II: Innovating Mission
5. Holy Conquest
6. Latin Occupation
7. Mission Vow
8. Ignatian MissionPart III: Revising Mission
9. Protestant Reception
10. Missionary ProblemsEpilogue: Toward Pilgrim Witness
Abbreviations
Works CitedAdditional Info
Mission, missions, missional, and all its linguistic variations are part of the expanding vocabulary and rhetoric of the contemporary Christian missionary enterprise. Its language and assumptions are deeply ingrained in the thought and speech of the church today. Christianity is a missionary religion and faithful churches are mission-minded. What’s more, in telling the story of apostles and bishops and monks as missionaries, we think we have grasped the true thread of Christian history. But what about those odd shapes, those unsettling gaps and creases in the historical record? Is the language of mission so clearly evident across the broad reaches of time? Is the trajectory of mission really so explicit from the early church to the present? Or has the modern missionary enterprise distorted our view of the past? As with every reigning paradigm, there comes a point when enough questions surface to beg for a close and critical look, even when it may seem transgressive to do so. In this study of the language of mission-its origin, development, and application-Michael Stroope investigates how the modern church has come to understand, speak of, and engage in the global expansion of Christianity. There is both surprise and hope in this tale. And perhaps the beginnings of a new conversation. -
Organizing Church : Grassroots Practices For Embodying Change In Your Congr
$24.99Add to cartWhat if congregations embraced community organizing? While many theories exist on how to plant or how to renew a church and its leadership, Organizing Church offers a unique perspective that brings together the tools of community organizing and a robust ecclesiology to suggest a new way forward for revitalizing and empowering churches. This book is a helpful field guide for pastors and other church leaders trying to build healthy congregations, create a deep culture of discipleship in their community, and to respond to the challenges presented by the global culture of the 21st century.
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Right Thinking In A Church Gone Astray
$16.99Add to cartKeeping the Church on Track in a Secular World
One of the greatest challenges to Christianity today is the pervasive influence popular culture has on the church. When Christians embrace a secular worldview, it causes division within the church and greatly diminishes its impact.
Right Thinking in a Church Gone Astray offers responses from trusted evangelical voices on 20 timely issues. With a careful look at God’s Word, you’ll gain wisdom and insights on highly relevant topics such as…
*countering the church’s celebrity culture
*ministering to the “Me Generation”
*discovering where science meets Scripture
*responding appropriately to homosexuality
*reclaiming the essentials of the Christian faithWith biblical guidance on these and other controversial matters, this resource provides much-needed clarity for today’s church.
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Megachurch Accountability In Missions
$27.99Add to cartMegachurches are of relatively recent vintage. Their numerical strength invests them with social and financial power. To whom, if anyone, however, are megachurches accountable? What role do they play as innovators in missions? How have their enormous influence and financial strength been harnessed? What lessons can be learned? What course corrections ought to be made? Over the course of a week, the third meeting of the Korean Global Mission Leadership Forum (KGMLF), held in Korea in 2015, addressed these and related questions. Combining the insights of a rich mix of Korean and international megachurch leaders and scholars, Megachurch Accountability in Missions: Korean and Global Case Studies offers analysis, critique, and positive recommendations for future megachurch engagement in mission. This book is the third volume in KGMLF’s Accountability in Missions series.
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Race And Place
$24.00Add to cartWe long for diverse, thriving communities in our neighborhoods and churches, yet we see that racial injustice that are so entrenched in places and spaces. What we are missing is a recognition of the impact that physical structures and locations have on our quest for reconciliation. This book helps us understand the realities that divide us.
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Keeping The Fire
$12.99Add to cart“Revival is about the Reviver – nothing more and nothing less”. Thus opens Rolland Baker’s important new book. The evidence of revival in Mozambique through IRIS Global is clear to see: tens of thousands of churches have been planted and hundreds of thousands of lives have been surrendered to Christ. But what have been the keys to seeing such revival sustained over so many years?
Rather than offering a transferable model – because everyone’s context is different – Rolland Baker shares the five core principles that have become the bedrock of IRIS Global’s ministry. They reveal how revival can be sustained by supernatural love. These five principles fuel a cooperation with the Holy Spirit that leads to a Kingdom outpouring.
Rolland writes, “We don’t impose these values on our ministry – the Spirit of God has imposed them on us. We simply recognize and adopt them.” Readers will grasp both a deep longing for authentic relationship with the Lord and see how His love and power might be released in their own lives and ministry.
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Sheltered Through The Storm
$18.99Add to cartAs storms of persecution, betrayals, and attacks face believers worldwide, many are filled with fear and wonder if God has abandoned His people.
The challenges the Church faces today are many:
Unprecedented attacks from without and within
Radical Islamic terrorism spreading fear
A deterioration of morality and Judeo-Christian values
A lack of dependence on the truth of God’s Word.
Michael Jolayemi says the Church must be courageous, and reach out to help a frightened world. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only effective weapon against terrorism and social injustice. He challenges the Church to live holy in a perverted world that seeks to destroy its godly heritage, and return to its total dependence on the basic truths of the Word of God. -
Owning Faith : Reimagining The Role Of Church And Family In The Faith Of Te
$15.99Add to cartMore than ever, young disciples want relationships with their parents and other adults; Owning Faith helps older disciples understand how to honor and nurture relationships that last a lifetime.
Today’s adolescents face an uphill climb as they seek to own their faith. And while it’s easy to think that what they really need is an expert, Owning Faith lets you in on God’s big secret: what they need more than anything else is you.
Owning Faith is an accessible guide into the adventure-filled spiritual journey of adolescents. If you would like to learn how to be a wise and compassionate companion who can make an eternal difference in the lives of youth, Owning Faith will show you how.
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Building Strong : Gods Blueprint For Building The Church
$14.95Add to cartIn this timely book, veteran author and pastor, Robert Gay, clearly articulates God’s practical and spiritual plans to build healthy and growing churches. It takes multi-generations ministering together in unity and in the power of the Holy Spirit to counter the changing trends of a worldly culture and establish the Kingdom of God. Both pastors and congregations will be equipped to rise to the challenge as this compelling revelation is released. You will find the answers to your ministry questions contained in this one masterful text.
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Altars Where We Worship
$35.00Add to cartWhile a large percentage of Americans claim religious identity, the number of Americans attending traditional worship services has significantly declined in recent decades. Where, then, are Americans finding meaning in their lives, if not in the context of traditional religion? In this provocative study, the authors argue that the objects of our attention have become our god and fulfilling our desires has become our religion. They examine the religious dimensions of six specific aspects of American culture-body and sex, big business, entertainment, politics, sports, and science and technology-that function as “altars” where Americans gather to worship and produce meaning for their lives. The Altars Where We Worship shows how these secular altars provide resources for understanding the self, others, and the world itself. “For better or worse,” the authors write, “we are faced with the reality that human experiences before these altars contain religious characteristics in common with experiences before more traditional altars.” Readers will come away with a clearer understanding of what religion is after exploring the thoroughly religious aspects of popular culture in the United States.
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Beating The Boundaries
$21.95Add to cartUsing the image of the traditional practice of “beating the bounds” of the parish, this book contrasts the desire to mark boundaries with God’s call to explore boundaries in order to open them. Building on visits to nine Episcopal and Church of England congregations, Spicer explores how they are opening the boundaries between inherited expressions of church and the unique contexts in which they find themselves. He argues that to beat the boundaries around their current expressions of church, congregations should (1) name a missional identity common to both their past expressions of congregational life and the church they hear God calling them to become; (2) identify whom they’re seeking to reach in the community and how they intend to do so; (3) identify what sort of new church expression God is calling them to create; (4) empower a missional leader and plan for governance issues their work may raise; and (5) collaboratively identify how to define success and how to understand what might be seen as failure in terms of common church metrics.
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State Of Missiology Today
$38.00Add to cartThe 2015 Missiology Lectures at Fuller Theological Seminary marked the fiftieth anniversary of the School of Intercultural Studies (formerly School of World Mission). The papers from that conference present a “state of the art” in the field of missiology, drawing on the past and looking ahead to a diverse, global future.
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Tactful Advice For Calling Your Next Pastor
$10.99Add to cartA change of pastoral leadership creates a special kind of stress and strain on a congregation. Your church may prefer the more practical starting points, such as appointing a search team, getting assistance from a denomination, shoring up finances, addressing maintenance issues, and developing a quick timeline. Then there are the deeper matters: grief work, sober evaluation of effectiveness, prayer around core reasons for being, attending matters of the heart around communal healing and reconciliation, and authentic conversation about who we are called to be for the sake of the Gospel and the world around us.
Gary Straub articulates the dynamics of the pastoral search process from both sides of the equation. With more than 50 years of ministry experience-including calls to large congregations, interim positions, and coaching of pastoral candidates-Straub integrates practical advice with prayerful counsel. Healthy dialogue helps keep you passionately open to the Holy Spirit. Tactful Advice for Calling Your Next Pastor starts the dialogue and keeps it focused.
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Beauty Of Grace
$14.99Add to cartEncouraging and Heartfelt Stories of Grace Connect Women’s Hearts with God–Now in Paper
In this hectic life, it’s easy to forget that God is always near, even though he sends us frequent reminders. The beauty amid the mess, a well-timed word of encouragement from a friend, the memories that won’t let go of our hearts–they’re all ways God extends us grace. But if we’re not paying attention, we can miss them. With heartfelt stories from some of today’s foremost writers, The Beauty of Grace is a haven of calm contemplation amid the chaos. These inspiring stories helps readers appreciate the benefits of cultivating friendship, waiting on God, choosing joy, staying connected, learning to trust, and much more.Contributors include Jessica Turner, Lisa-Jo Baker, Holley Gerth, Ann Voskamp, Bonnie Gray, Tsh Oxenreider, Leeana Tankersley, Emily Freeman, Margaret Feinberg, and many others. -
Grab Gather And Grow
$15.99Add to cartJim and Jen Cowart, authors of Start This, Stop That, offer a fresh strategy for developing community groups for your whole church and beyond. Harvest Church (www.harvestchurch4u.org), a young United Methodist congregation twenty miles southwest of Macon, met for seven years (on Sundays) on the move in a rented theatre. They learned about adaptive systems, digital tools, and flexible overhead. Since building a multipurpose facility on 43 acres near Warner Robins, Georgia in 2007, Harvest Church applied what they learned about mobility and sustained rapid growth to 2700 in worship attendance, with seven weekend services. They dispensed with a typical education wing (at significant cost savings) and classrooms in favor of four multipurpose rooms. They adapted a community groups strategy, which meets primarily in homes. Over 18 months they have expanded from 76 community groups to over 250 community groups. In this leadership book, Jen and Jim offer a five-part method for transforming a congregation through launching community groups. Community groups become a multiplication strategy because they nurture an urgent expectation outside the congregation to share the good news with persons not yet professing faith, while creating a well defined path for growth in discipleship. The book will include the following themes: Group Explosion – New Strategy for 100% plus group participation Overcoming Obstacles – Structuring for Maximum Growth vs Control – Crowd to Core Group Growth The Power of the Pulpit – This system is driven from the stage Living the 5 through Group Life – How the CG lives into Fellowship, Discipleship, Ministry, Evangelism, and Worship Creating Infrastructure for Facilitators
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Praying For Your Pastor
$18.00Add to cartIt’s tough to be a pastor. Pastors face demands and pressures on every side, from the challenges of church ministry to the realities of spiritual warfare. But you can make a difference. Your prayers provide a lifeline for your pastor’s spiritual health and ministry effectiveness. Eddie Byun offers a handy, practical guide to praying for pastors. He shares stories of how congregational intercession changes things, with specific guidelines for prayers for protection, rest, anointing, integrity and more. God calls us to pray for our leaders. When we do, their ministry is strengthened, the kingdom is advanced and lives and communities are transformed.
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Ministry Of Discernment
$24.95Add to cartBoth the faithful and bishops are called to learn and to teach. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, the faithful of the local church witness to the apostolic tradition with their lives, and so are teachers. Learning to receive and respond to the sense of the faithful is an essential way the bishop grows in his personal ability to teach the church’s faith in authentic and meaningful ways. How is the bishop’s ministry of discernment formed by spirituality, and what structures strengthen it? Ignatian spirituality and the structures of discernment in the Society of Jesus model ways for bishops to cultivate discernment as a spiritual habit and provide insight for renovating diocesan structures to incorporate discerning dialogue with the faithful. In A Ministry of Discernment, Amanda Osheim moves from ecclesiological theory to imagining spiritual practices and church structures in the hope of contributing not only to the academic conversation about the sensus fidelium but also to the ways the church practically lives out our response to the Holy Spirit.
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Riddle Of Life
$23.99Add to cartFresh translation of a classic treatise on Christian belief
In the spirit of C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, eminent Calvinist thinker J. H. Bavinck’s Riddle of Life offers a compact and compelling treatise on Christian belief, starting with the eternal questions that haunt every conscious human being: Why are we here? Where do we come from? What is our destiny? How should we live? He goes on to explore essential topics including sin, salvation, and Jesus the Redeemer; faith and idolatry; God’s great plan for creation; and the ultimate purpose behind our lives.
This lucid new translation by Bert Hielema of a classic text will make Bavinck’s profound reflections on faith and the meaning of human life accessible to a new generation of seekers.
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Made To Lead
$16.99Add to cartWomen were made to lead. Even in church.
Jesus affirmed women as leaders-many contend Mary Magdalene was the first female minister. Yet women in ministry face challenges and obstacles, both from churches and from their own self-doubts. Both men and women miss out when women don’t lead.
Made to Lead empowers you to live out your calling boldly and confidently. Draw closer to God with relevant biblical examples and heartfelt prayers. Break down stereotypes of women in leadership. And create your own successful reality in which you are a key part of God’s holy community.
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Apostolicity : The Ecumenical Question In World Christian Perspective
$40.00Add to cartAbbreviations
1. The Problem Of Apostolicity
2. Apostolicity Under The Horizon Of Schism
3. Culture As The Nature Of Apostolic Continuity
4. Apostolicity And Colonization: A Relationship?
5. Subordinating Apostolicity To The Apostolate
6. Historical Continuity In The Perspective Of World Christianity
7. Jesus Christ, The One Ground Of The Apostle
8. Apostolicity: The Livingness Of The Living Word
Bibliography
Author Index
Subject Index
Scripture IndexAdditional Info
What constitutes the unity of the church over time and across cultures? Can our account of the church’s apostolic faith embrace the cultural diversity of world Christianity? The ecumenical movement that began in the twentieth century posed the problem of the church’s apostolicity in profound new ways. In the attempt to find unity in the midst of the Protestant-Catholic schism, participants in this movement defined the church as a distinct culture-complete with its own structures, rituals, architecture and music. Apostolicity became a matter of cultivating the church’s own (Western) culture. At the same time it became disconnected from mission, and more importantly, from the diverse reality of world Christianity. In this pioneering study, John Flett assesses the state of the conversation about the apostolic nature of the church. He contends that the pursuit of ecumenical unity has come at the expense of dealing responsibly with crosscultural difference. By looking out to the church beyond the West and back to the New Testament, Flett presents a bold account of an apostolicity that embraces plurality. -
Equipping Church : Serving Together To Transform Lives
$22.99Add to cartPicture your church as a place where the priesthood of believers finds its expression in creative and powerful ways. Picture leaders and staff equipping and unleashing people to minister in ways consistent with how God designed them. Think of the effectiveness, vitality, and contentment that come when the body of Christ nurtures itself through the healthy give-and-take of each member. In The Equipping Church, Sue Mallory describes the benefits, the structure, and the culture of an equipping church and shows how your congregation can become one. This book is about limitless possibilities. Think “vision.”
What might your church look like if its members became vital, fully empowered partners in ministry? How can you help them discover and release their full potential? How would their roles change–and yours?
AN EQUIPPING CHURCH IS A CHURCH WHERE:
* pastors and leaders enable church members to share in ministry
* people’s gifts, talents, and life callings are matched with areas of service
* ministry opportunities are recognized and developed
* the culture encourages the growth of a broad array of ministries
*a well-designed system addresses needs of every kind, both individual and corporate *the pastor doesn’t have to be all things to all peopleUnpacking insights and principles uncovered by Leadership Training Network over the last several years, Mallory helps you customize an equipping system and culture in your church. You’ll proceed from preparation (what you need to know), to foundations (what you need to change), to construction (what you need to do). In the process, Mallory takes you inside the story of her own church, Brentwood Presbyterian, to observe the different stages of their trial-and-error journey and how it has transformed their approach to “doing church.” See how they dealt with various concerns that arose along the way, and meet men and women whose lives have been changed because Brentwood took the ministry road less traveled. Each chapter includes a section of “Equipping Principles,” questions for discussion and reflection, and a summary of different equipping churches from around the country. With the accompanying Equipping Church Guidebook, this book will be a mile marker in your church–and the gateway to a more effective and biblical approach to ministry.
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Cruciform Church : Becoming A Cross Shaped People In A Secular World (Expanded)
$19.99Add to cart“This new edition of The Cruciform Church finds Churches of Christ at a quite different place than they were sixteen years ago when the book was first released. On the one hand, our culture is more clearly post-modern and post-Christian. All of the Christian players today are finding themselves cultural outsiders, much like the earliest Christians. We are waking up to the reality that we are in a missionary situation in our own culture, and this is forcing us (slowly, by fits and starts) to rethink our priorities and our mission. On the other hand, Churches of Christ themselves are engaging more and more in the kind of healthy theological rethinking that this book called for back in 1990. Many congregations are shedding the sectarian or exclusivist outlook, gaining new appreciation for their heritage, refocusing on the central doctrines of the faith, and entering into serious dialogue about carrying out the mission of God in this new time…Perhaps this new edition can continue to provide stimulus and guidance as the adventure continues. Toward that end, this edition contains a new chapter, “Last(ing) Things,” that seeks to show the close relationship between eschatology and discipleship, between one’s view of the coming kingdom of God and the cruciform life.” – From Allen’s Preface to the Revised Edition
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Impossible People
$16.00Add to cart1. New World, Old Challenge
2. The Greatest Challenge Ever
3. The War Of Spirits
4. Exploring The Heart Of Darkness
5. Life With No Amen
6. Yesterday, Today, Forever
7. Give Us The ToolsAdditional Info
The church in the West is at a critical moment. While the gospel is exploding throughout the global south, Western civilization faces militant assaults from aggressive secularism and radical Islam. Will the church resist the seductive shaping power of advanced modernity? More than ever, Christians must resist the negative cultural forces of our day with fortitude and winsomeness. What is needed is followers of Christ who are willing to face reality without flinching and respond with a faithfulness that is unwavering. Os Guinness describes these Christians as “impossible people,” those who have “hearts that can melt with compassion, but with faces like flint and backbones of steel who are unmanipulable, unbribable, undeterrable and unclubbable, without ever losing the gentleness, the mercy, the grace and the compassion of our Lord.” Few accounts of the challenge of today are more realistic, and few calls to Christian courage are more timely, resolute?and hopeful. Guinness argues that we must engage secularism and atheism in new ways, confronting competing ideas with discernment and fresh articulation of the faith. Christians are called to be impossible people, serving an Impossible God. -
Kingdom Conspiracy : Returning To The Radical Mission Of The Local Church
$22.00Add to cartAn Award-Winning Challenge to Popular Ideas of the Kingdom
According to Scot McKnight, “kingdom” is the biblical term most misused by Christians today. It has taken on meanings that are completely at odds with what the Bible says and has become a buzzword for both social justice and redemption. In “Kingdom Conspiracy,” McKnight offers a sizzling biblical corrective and a fiercely radical vision for the role of the local church in the kingdom of God. Now in paper.
Praise for “Kingdom Conspiracy -
Serving A Movement
$18.99Add to cartOur goal as Christians is never simply to build our own tribe. Instead, we seek the peace and prosperity of the city or community in which we live through a gospel movement led by the Holy Spirit, a movement united by the gospel of Jesus Christ, a common mission to reach and serve others, and a commitment to be gracious and generous to those who disagree with you.
In Serving a Movement, best-selling author and pastor Timothy Keller looks at the nature of the church’s mission and its relationship to the work of individual Christians in the world. He examines what it means to be a “missional” church today and how churches can practically equip people for missional living. Churches need to intentionally cultivate an integrative ministry that connects people to God, to one another, to the needs of the city, and to the culture around us. Finally, he highlights the need for intentional movements of churches planting new churches that faithfully proclaim God’s truth and serve their communities.
This new edition contains the third section of Center Church in an easy-to-read format with new reflections and additional essays from Timothy Keller and several other contributors.
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Why Bother With Church
$7.99Add to cartIntroduction
1. Foundations: How To Consider Church
2. Life Changing: How To Attend Church
3. Running: How To Organize Church
4. Imperfect: How To Survive Church
5. Wonderful: How To Love Church
ConclusionAdditional Info
The church has an image problem.It is widely viewed in the world at large as being outdated, boring, irrelevant and filled with backbiting hypocrites.
How different that picture is to how the Bible talks about the new family that Jesus has gathered. It is a precious bride, a sparkling jewel, a lifeboat for forgiven sinners that is precious and holy; nurturing and warm; filled with truth, friendship and all embracing, forgiving love.
Sam Allberry understands the collision between these two views, and how, even as Christian believers, we can lose sight of how truly wonderful church is and should be, and what a privilege it is to be part of, and to serve.
In this brief accessible but thorough guide to church, Sam outlines what church is and why we need it. And how, when we have got it wrong, we can move closer to what a true church should be.
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Trouble Ive Seen
$29.99Add to cartWhat if racial reconciliation doesn’t look like what you expected? The high-profile killings of young black men and women by white police officers, and the protests and violence that ensued, have convinced many white Christians to reexamine their intuitions when it comes to race and justice.
In this provocative book, theologian and blogger Drew G. I. Hart places police brutality, mass incarceration, antiblack stereotypes, poverty, and everyday acts of racism within the larger framework of white supremacy. Leading readers toward Jesus, Hart offers concrete practices for churches that seek solidarity with the oppressed and are committed to racial justice.
What if all Christians listened to the stories of those on the racialized margins? How might the church be changed by the trouble we ve seen?
Key Features:
-Written by well-known theologian and blogger Drew Hart with foreword by Christena Cleveland
-Hard-hitting analysis of racial injustice in the twenty-first century
-Provides a call to action for Christians committed to racial justice and creative proposals for antiracist practices for churches -
Next Worship : Glorify God In A Diverse World
$20.00Add to cartWhat happens when a diverse church glorifies the global God? We live in a time of unprecedented intercultural exchange, where our communities welcome people from around the world. Music and media from every culture are easily accessible, and our worship is infused with a rich variety of musical and liturgical influences. But leading worship in multicultural contexts can be a crosscultural experience for everybody. How do we help our congregations navigate the journey? Pioneering worship leader Sandra Van Opstal is known for crafting worship that embodies the global, multiethnic body of Christ. Likening diverse worship to a sumptuous banquet, she shows how worship leaders can set the table and welcome worshipers from every tribe and tongue. Van Opstal provides biblical foundations for multiethnic worship, with practical tools and resources for planning services that reflect God’s invitation for all peoples to praise him. When multiethnic worship is done well, the church models reconciliation and prophetic justice, heralding God’s good news for the world. Enter into the praise of our king, and let the nations rejoice!
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Beyond The Local Church
$18.00Add to cartForeword
Introduction
1. The Power Of A Balanced Anatomy
The Biblical Genius And Design For Apostolic Structures And Movements
2. Limping Or Leaping Through Time
The Encouragement Of Apostolic Missionality In History
3. Mother Teresa Wasn’t A “Para-Catholic”!
Why “parachurch” Is A Dirty Word
4. So What Is “Apostolic”?
The Oft-neglected Essential To Authentic Missionality
5. Holy Discontent And Sanctified Ambition
The Apostolic Imperative Of Ephesians
6. Setting Visionaries Free
Pioneering As A Second Decision Entrepreneur
7. Finding Second Decision People
How To Engage And Release Apostolic Leaders
8. Running Together!
The Exponential Leverage Of Interdependence
9. Movements Of God
The Extraordinary Results Of Apostolic Gifting Lived Out In Apostolic Structures
10. The Momentum Of Movements
To Kill Or To Multiply, That Is The Question
Conclusion: Be A History Shaper
AcknowledgmentsAdditional Info
Many people have given up on the church. But that doesn’t mean that they’ve given up on God or Christianity. In many cases, it was merely that local church congregations were not the best context for missional people to live out their sense of God’s call.The good news is that God is raising up vibrant movements of Christians in a vast array of vocations around the world: disciple-making ministries, missions, relief and development, social activism, advocacy and much more. These are all strategic ways to live for the kingdom-in venues beyond the local church.
Wherever movements of the gospel have occurred, visionary people and apostolic structures have been essential. Mission leader Sam Metcalf shows how God has always worked through entrepreneurial individuals and organizations that launched out in fresh ways. He gives biblical and missiological foundations for missional movements, showing that what has often been called “parachurch” is an equally valid manifestation of the church. Affirming the strengths of apostolic personalities, Metcalf shows how they can be deployed to cross cultural barriers, renew secular societies and transform the nations with the power of the gospel.
God may be inviting you to join what he is doing around the world. Answer the call and discover how God can use you beyond your imagination.
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Prophetic Lament : A Call For Justice In Troubled Times
$22.00Add to cartWhen Soong-Chan Rah planted an urban church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, his first full sermon series was a six-week exposition of the book of Lamentations. Preaching on an obscure, depressing Old Testament book was probably not the most seeker-sensitive way to launch a church. But it shaped their community with a radically countercultural perspective. The American church avoids lament. But lament is a missing, essential component of Christian faith. Lament recognizes struggles and suffering, that the world is not as it ought to be. Lament challenges the status quo and cries out for justice against existing injustices. Soong-Chan Rah’s prophetic exposition of the book of Lamentations provides a biblical and theological lens for examining the church’s relationship with a suffering world. It critiques our success-centered triumphalism and calls us to repent of our hubris. And it opens up new ways to encounter the other. Hear the prophet’s lament as the necessary corrective for Christianity’s future. The Resonate series recovers the ancient wisdom of Scripture and helps us understand how it resonates with our complex world. The stories and insights of a book of the Bible are brought into conversation with contemporary voices of hope and lament–the cultural messages we interact with on a daily basis. The Scriptures become a meeting ground where God speaks to the pressing concerns of our day, and we are confronted in turn with a fresh experience of God’s truth.
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Counterfeit Christianity : The Persistence Of Errors In The Church
$21.99Add to cartHistoric heresies didn’t die or fade away. Each generation boasts its own. Even while these counterfeit teachings remain outside the accepted bounds of Christianity, modern-day versions plague churches.So how does a church leader or pastor understand and deal with these age-old controversies when they pop up in the congregation? In this book, Roger Olson describes the curses but also gifts that heresies bring the Church. While heresies can occasionally correct a version of orthodoxy, they are not simple confusions or misunderstandings about impenetrable mysteries of divine revelation. Instead they undermine the faith and are dangerous distortions. The author describes major heresies and how the church dealt with them, the players, and what pastors can do to address these faith issues in order to educate congregations about Jesus, God, and salvation. Also included are questions for individual or group study.
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Spent Matches : Igniting The Signal Fire For The Spiritually Dissatisfied
$14.99Add to cartSpent Matches explores the possibility that a few small paradigm shifts within the church might make the difference between extinction and effectiveness. In fact, taking a clue from the automobile industry, the church might be able to not only halt the rapid decay in attendance but also become an effective tool in achieving Jesus’ final command. For instance, the Hybrid car has become the answer to Detroit’s environmental and oil crisis issues. Finding the synergy between two technologies, gas and electric has created a new day for the auto industry. Likewise, Spent Matchesexplores how the church can find synergy between two seemingly competing thoughts: an invitation to come and a command to go. The Hybrid metaphor brings energy to the church’s mission and an explanation to the age-old argument of Missional versus Attractional methods.
Features include:
*Innovative ideas for growing the church
*Methods to reach those who may never have attended church
*Scripture passages that touch on the subject of church growth -
Young Faith : Expressions Of Faith Hope And Love By A Young Generation Of C (Stu
$10.99Add to cartIntroduction
Trusting Our Creator
Lindsey Davenport
Bill And Casi Kenyon
Nathaniel Metherel
Michael Mitchell
Lauren Morton
Brady Preston
Ian Quinn
Hearing The Word Of God In An Age Of Sound-bites
Aaron And Kelli Morton
Trevonte Peterson
Jackie Preston
Lacey Sargent
Catherine Simmons
Gerald Stevens
Jordan And Erin Tanner
God’s Help In Time Of Struggle
Amanda Benezra
James Franklin
Andrew Gifford
Alan Pitchford
Britney Mitchell
Danny And Kenzie Wilson
The Importance Of A Spiritual Community
Chance And Lindsy Bailey
Casey And Hannah Haynes
Stephen And Danielle Morton
Molly Risley
Daniel And Leigh Roberts
Traci Russell
Living As Sons And Daughters Of Light
Caleb And Tara Bailey
Dallis Bailey
Janelle Garcia
Jesse Gauther
Marcus And Alex Yi Yue Riley
Taylor And Sarah Robles
Patricia Wampol
ConclusionAdditional Info
Stop wringing your hands! The Lord’s church is successfully surviving the changes brought on by our shift into post-modern, post-Christian America. The Christian landscape is teeming with bright, dedicated twenty-and thirty-somethings who have picked up the torch of faith and are spreading the good news here at home.Bruce Morton has gathered their stories for our encouragement. In an age of no absolutes, you’ll discover that there are still plenty of young people – from Christian universities, state schools, and more – who are firmly grounded in God’s Word and actively involved in making a difference for the sake of His kingdom.
So, stop fretting about the future. There is a bold, young faith already taking root and making a difference in today’s church.
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Beyond Suffering For The Next Generation Teachers Guide (DVD)
$45.00Add to cartCreated by Joni and Friends Christian Institute on Disability. Beyond Suffering Leaders Guide is a 2 DVD and CD-ROM set that offers teaching resources for use with the Beyond Suffering Study Guide. Inside this case you’ll find a complete leaders guide, 16 lesson plans, introductory videos for each course module, case studies from the award-winning Joni and Friends Television Episodes and much more!
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Christian Writers Guide To The Book Proposal
$10.95Add to cartA complete proposal sells your book, pure and simple. But some authors don’t think a proposal is necessary. Perhaps you already have a contract, or you plan to self-publish. If you don’t have to sell the book to a publisher, why write a proposal? That reasoning sounds logical, but there are purposes for a book proposal beyond selling it to a publisher. In A Christian Writer’s Guide to the Book Proposal, I share six reasons why it benefits you to write a book proposal and seven items that should be part of every book proposal. A Christian Writer’s Guide to the Book Proposal is based on my previously published writing and on my teaching at Christian writers’ conferences around the country. The material included applies to writers and book projects of all sorts: fiction and nonfiction; completed manuscripts and unwritten book ideas, first-time and previously published authors, traditionally published, indie, and self-published. So, give your book idea a chance for success. Learn how with A Christian Writer’s Guide to the Book Proposal.
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Brain Savvy Leaders
$27.99Add to cartLeadership is tough. Church leadership can be even tougher. Leadership demands constant reframing and reappraisal of the situation, focus, objectivity, honest appraisal of yourself and others, and astute evaluation of available resources. Church leadership is all that and more. To be an effective church leader, you also have to love and have others’ best interest at heart. You have to align yourself and your church with God’s desire to transform lives for the better, both within and beyond your reach.
Using up-to-date research from brain science in easy-to-understand language, author Charles Stone will help you increase your personal productivity, handle stress and your emotions in constructive ways, create and sustain collaborative teams, and manage change in your church. Using illustrations and acronyms, Dr. Stone will show you how brain science can complement and reinforce what the Bible says about life and leadership. He will show you how basic brain processes affect leadership and your team’s ability to follow while becoming more cohesive and collaborative.
Each chapter gives practical tips and actionable steps to help leaders improve personal and organizational skills.
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New Adapters : Shaping Ideas To Fit Your Congregation
$17.99Add to cartJacob Armstrong shares time-tested principles for church pastors and leaders with a brief introduction at the beginning of each chapter from mega-church pastors Adam Hamilton and Michael Slaughter. Armstrong demonstrates how classic principles are being translated in a variety of new contexts, by a new generation of leaders. The book provides guidance for pastors and leaders on how to translate ideas and practices for their own context and reflects the sense of opportunity and hope that is beginning to flourish in some mainline churches today. These principles are adaptable for any size congregations across denominations.
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10 Prescriptions For A Healthy Church
$18.99Add to cartIn 10 Prescriptions for a Healthy Church, authors Bob Farr and Kay Kotan offer the Top Ten prescriptions for issues seen during church consultations. Farr and Kotan share their expertise from working with churches to detail the most common concerns and obstacles found when consulting with congregations.
In their conversational style, Farr and Kotan offer a practical approach to fixing common problems, offering strategies sure to help congregations achieve success in specific areas of ministry. Proven success stories offer application, hope, and practicalities from benefiting congregations.
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Minister As Entrepreneur
$20.99Add to cartBuilding on his own experiences as a priest and an entrepreneur, Volland argues that the concept of entrepreneurship offers churches a helpful lens through which to view Christian ministry and mission, and an understanding and approach to ministry that is well fitted for the mission task in a rapidly changing world. He shows how an entrepreneurial approach is consistent with understandings of leadership in the major denominations and in the new churches. He also argues that such an approach is consistent both with the nature of God and with human collaboration with God’s activity in the world. “To be a minister is to face the everyday challenge of finding new ways to express the faith, and to refresh the life of the Church. This is the call to be an entrepreneur. Michael Volland sets out the case for the minister as an agent of change and as the one who looks for new ways to do things . . . This is an important and a timely book which will help us to see entrepreneurship as gift of God and a delight for the Church.’Pete Ward, Professorial Fellow in Ecclesiology and Ethnography, Durham University
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Propel : Good Stewardship Greater Generosity
$17.99Add to cartChurches are hurting in multiple areas including dwindling finances and shrinking congregations. Seminaries are educating and training the future of ministry yet doing so with limited resources and declining enrollment. There’s an urgent need for resources aimed at addressing those hurts in specific ways. Tangible stewardship models resulting in greater generosity can offer financial peace and a thriving membership base, propelling ministry to new heights.
Propel offers solutions beyond the church’s walls to reach all areas of training and resources to support and sustain vital ministry, scholarship, education, and mission. Through creating a culture of generosity, Clayton Smith outlines detailed models to increase giving through various outlets including planned giving, vision casting, and capital campaigns.
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Me To We
$20.99Add to cartChurches with front doors that open up mission fields rather than buildings.When Christians answer the clarion call to be missional, too often it is primarily to feel good or to grow in their own faith. But ultimately we remain unsatisfied because, in the end, it’s still about “me”-my church, my faith, my salvation. Then sometimes inspiration dries up.
We forget that Jesus is the head of the Church, which exists at God’s pleasure and disposal. God is birthing a new Social Gospel, meant to reclaim mission and justice ministries as prime directives for the Church, and not with the naive thinking of the 19th or 20th centuries.
What are the characteristics of this new Social Gospel? There is an expectation that mission is “with” and not “for” others. There is an acknowledgement that tolerance is not a dirty word and we have to find a peaceable way to live in our intercultural world. It carries the Wesleyan impulse to change the world by working to build God’s kingdom in this world. It offers the grace and salvation of Christ to those in need, believing that none are free unless all are free. It means that we feed the hungry, educate to poor, and equip the powerless in tangible ways.
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With All Our Prayers
$19.99Add to cartA resource for both corporate worship and personal devotion, With All Our Prayers invites readers to pray, think, and live into God’s purpose for the world and for their own lives. Written by a longtime Presbyterian pastor, the beautiful prayers in this book are theologically grounded in God’s steadfast love and invincible grace and contain traditional elements of adoration, confession, thanksgiving, petition, and intercession.
In this helpful volume church leaders will find prayers ordered around the liturgical calendar with themes appropriate to the seasons of the church year. Individuals and prayer groups will find guidance in praying for church and world, in interceding on behalf of strangers and enemies as well as loved ones and friends.
