Pastoral Helps
Showing 551–600 of 4114 results
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Let Us Prey Revised Edition (Revised)
$31.00Add to cartJesus warned of wolves carefully disguised as shepherds coming into local churches as pastors. It is the perfect disguise for a predator to access and devour the flock one lamb at a time while proclaiming himself as their protector and guardian. The result is spiritual devastation, broken congregations, and even destroyed churches. Darrell Puls attests from experience that the enemy has infiltrated the North American church through pastors with dangerously high levels of narcissism. These pastors hide under layers of the sacred, but it is always an illusion of smoke and mirrors.
Puls has experienced this reality from the inside as a staff pastor under a narcissist, and from the outside as a church consultant. He carefully unpacks toxic narcissism in everyday terms, and lets the victims tell their own stories. Let Us Prey, Revised Edition is as real as it gets.
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How To Promote And Conduct A Successful Revival
$22.99Add to cartYet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away. – 1 Corinthians 2:6
There are too many trying to promote revival by pushing doctrines that have never produced a revival in all of church history. These doctrines are called new, but they are in reality as old as the early heresies that crept into the church. They have never had power to produce conviction of sin, conversion, or regeneration, so presumably they will not have that power today.
Some of the methods described in this book will appear novel to many, but they are methods that have been tried before, and proven effective. There is no mere theorizing in the book. Men whom God has used in winning souls to Christ and building up believers, have been asked to write out of their own experience. No one who has been asked to write has declined. Such a book as this seems to be an absolute necessity of the hour. There are thousands of ministers and other Christian workers in the land longing for a true revival of God’s work, but with no experimental or even theoretical knowledge of how to go to work to promote such a revival. It is our earnest prayer and confident expectation that this book will prove helpful to all such men.
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3 Mile Walk Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$13.99Add to cartIn this five-session video Bible study (DVD/digital downloads sold separately), pastor and author Banning Liebscher draws on the story of Jonathan and his armor-bearer (told in 1 Samuel 14) to show how their three-mile journey carries a profound metaphor for believers today. Although the men were embroiled in a seemingly losing battle with the Philistines, they had the courage to take the fight to their enemy and believe God would back them up. To do so, they had to traverse a treacherous three-mile canyon between the two army camps before they could step into the battle and see God bring about the victory that had seemed impossible.
Like the army of Israel, many believers in the church today are “camped out” and not engaging the call of God on their lives. However, God is awakening dreamers like Jonathan and his armor-bearer-men and women who are discontented with the idea of staying passive about the problems they see or disconnected from the desires stirring in their hearts. The courage of these dreamers reminds us that God calls us to be like Jesus-to overcome evil with good, do the impossible, and see His kingdom come in the earth. The question before us is whether we will open our hearts to dream with God, become possessed with the same divine discontentment, and engage in pursuing our call with a true “yes”-a “yes” that says, “I take full ownership of this calling, and I refuse to settle for anything less than fulfilling it.”
Once we decide to engage our calling, we have a journey ahead of us. The three miles of Jonathan’s journey to the enemy’s camp represent the three key areas of character transformation that are required to fulfill our calling: holiness, courage, and faith. In this study, Banning brings both fresh and timeless insight and practical instruction for growing in each of these areas.
Designed for use with The Three-Mile Walk Video Study (sold separately).
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Act Like Jesus Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$13.99Add to cartIn this eight-session video Bible study (DVD/digital downloads sold separately), pastor and author Randy Frazee explains there is a difference between simply believing something in our heads and allowing those beliefs to shape our actions and behaviors. It is not enough to think like Jesus . . . we must also act like Jesus. For this reason, once we understand what we believe, we need to yield to the direction of the Holy Spirit and allow him to lead us to those biblical practices that will bring about spiritual transformation in our lives. As we do this, the Holy Spirit will lead us to make these resolutions:
*I will worship God for who he is and for what he has done for me.
*I will pray to God to know him, find direction for my life, and to lay my requests before him.
*I will study the Bible to know God and his truth and find direction for my daily life.
*I will dedicate my life to God’s purposes.
*I will fellowship with Christians to accomplish God’s purposes in my life and in the world.
*I will seek to understand my spiritual gifts so I can use them to fulfill God’s purposes.
*I will give my resources to fulfill God’s purposes.
*I will share my faith with others to fulfill God’s purposes.Grounded in carefully selected scripture, Act Like Jesus is a churchwide discipleship program that will take you on a journey to become more like Jesus in your behaviors. This revised study, adapted from Part 2 of the Believe churchwide study, includes an updated video study and new content and questions adapted from the existing Believe Study Guide and Think, Act, Be Like Jesus by Randy Frazee.
SESSIONS:
1. Worship
2. Prayer
3. Bible Study
4. Total Surrender
5. Biblical Community
6. Spiritual Gifts
7. Giving My Resources
8. Sharing My FaithDesigned for use with the Act Like Jesus Video Study (sold separately).
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City : Urban Churches In The Wesleyan-Holiness Tradition
$15.99Add to cartJesus commissioned his followers to make disciples of all nations, and John Wesley claimed that all the world was his parish. The church belongs in every part of the world, whether urban, suburban, or rural–but it originated in the city. Cities drive economic, cultural, and social change. Cities are the refuge of the poor and marginalized. Cities are mission fields ready to be sown and harvested.Yet many churches have left the city to pursue other ministry opportunities. In his seminal work, The City, David Busic traces the Wesleyan-Holiness history of ministry to, in, and from the urban core, and calls church leaders to remember and honor ancient visions for ministry by returning our faith communities to the city.
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1 Small Step Participants Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$9.99Add to cartCan ordinary people make a lasting impression on the world around them? Matthew Barnett’s answer is an emphatic Yes! With inspiring stories and biblical takeaways, Barnett calls readers to set aside their fears and boldly embrace the life-changing adventure of being the heart, hands, and feet of Jesus to the broken people right outside their front doors.
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Think Like Jesus Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$13.99Add to cartIn this eight-session video Bible study (DVD and digital downloads sold separately), pastor and author Randy Frazee explains that when Jesus saves us and ushers us into his kingdom, he begins a process of transformation within us that starts with our thoughts. As God begins to transform our minds, we begin to think like Jesus and believe like Jesus. For this reason, it is important for us to understand the eight key beliefs of the Christian faith that-when embraced in our hearts and minds-create true change in our lives, in the church, and in the world:
*I believe the God of the Bible is the one true God-Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
*I believe God is involved in and cares about my daily life.
*I believe we come into a right relationship with God, by his grace, through faith in Jesus.
*I believe the Bible is the Word of God and has the right to command my beliefs and actions.
*I believe I am significant because of my position as a child of God.
*I believe the church is God’s primary way to accomplish his purposes on earth today.
*I believe all people are loved by God and need Jesus Christ as their Savior.
*I believe that Jesus will return to judge all people and establish his eternal kingdom.Grounded in carefully selected scripture, Think Like Jesus is a churchwide discipleship program that will take you on a journey to become more like Jesus in your beliefs. This revised study, adapted from Part 1 of the Believe churchwide study, includes an updated video study and new content and questions adapted from the existing Believe Study Guide and Think, Act, Be Like Jesus by Randy Frazee.
SESSIONS
*God
*Personal God
*Salvation
*The Bible
*Identity in Christ
*Church
*Humanity
*EternityDesigned for use with the Think Like Jesus Video Study (sold separately).
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Be Like Jesus Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$13.99Add to cartIn this eight-session video Bible study (DVD/digital downloads sold separately), pastor and author Randy Frazee explains that our spiritual transformation involves not only thinking and acting like Jesus but also allowing those thoughts and behaviors to shape our attitudes. As we do this, we experience a new way of looking at the world and discover an inner strength that allows us to remain steadfast, secure, and solid in the face of any circumstance. We also discover a new desire to serve others . . . which, in turn, draws them to the love of Christ. We know we are becoming like Jesus when we possess these attributes:
*I have a deep love for God and for the other people in my life.
*I have inner contentment in spite of my circumstances and understand my purpose in life.
*I have freedom from anxiety because I am at peace with God, others, and myself.
*I have experienced the power, through Christ, to control my thoughts and behaviors.
*I have patience in the unavoidable pressures of life and am slow to anger.
*I have the desire to be kind and good in my relationships with others.
*I have established a good name with God and others based on my loyalty to those relationships.
*I have become thoughtful, considerate, and calm in my dealings with others.Grounded in carefully selected scripture, Be Like Jesus is a churchwide discipleship program that will take you on a journey to become more like Jesus in your behaviors. This revised study, adapted from Part 3 of the Believe churchwide study, includes an updated video study and new content and questions adapted from the existing Believe Study Guide and Think, Act, Be Like Jesus by Randy Frazee.
SESSIONS
*Love
*Joy
*Peace
*Self-Control
*Patience
*Kindness / Goodness
*Faithfulness
*GentlenessDesigned for use with the Be Like Jesus Video Study (sold separately).
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Finding Our Voice
$17.99Add to cartNo one preaches in a cultural vacuum.
The message of what God has done in Christ is good news to all, but to have the greatest impact on its hearers–or even to be understood at all–it must be culturally contextualized.
Finding Our Voice speaks clearly to an issue that has largely been ignored: preaching to Asian North American (ANA) contexts. In addition to reworking hermeneutics, theology, and homiletics for these overlooked contexts, Kim and Wong include examples of culturally-specific sermons and instructive questions for contextualizing one’s own sermons.
Finding Our Voice is essential reading for all who preach and teach in ANA contexts. But by examining this kind of contextualization in action, all who preach in their own unique contexts will benefit from this approach.
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Diary Of A Pastors Soul
$21.00Add to cartDiary of a Pastor’s Soul tells the story of a fictionalized pastor, embarking on his final year before retirement, who reflects on the experiences and relationships that have formed his vocation and shaped his soul over a lifetime of pastoral ministry.
Drawing on his own experiences, seasoned pastor Craig Barnes invites readers to embrace the life lessons of a pastor who has been formed by his failures and his fleeting moments of glory, but most of all by discovering the holy in the routine but often quirky duties of being a parish pastor.
Through 52 weekly thematic entries, Barnes presents spirituality in narrative form through a collection of interwoven stories about learning to love others with curiosity, amazement, vulnerability, and most of all gratitude for the grace found in flawed lives.
Barnes’s fictionalized diary approach creatively shows how the pastoral vocation forms mind, heart, and soul, helping pastors make sense of their own calling. With unvarnished honesty, this book eloquently illustrates a lifetime of ministry, revealing how “the Holy haunts the landscape of life.”
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Becoming Real : And Thriving In Ministry
$21.95Add to cartFollow the REAL rubric for success in starting new ministries If congregations were to look outside their doors, they may find that the people who need the good news don’t look like them and that the way to engage them is by having ministries that are REAL. REAL ministry is respectful relationships, excellence, authenticity, and love. This easy-to-understand perspective on relationships can be implemented in any setting with any group. To continue the mandate, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,” we have to have relationships with those whom God has put in our neighborhoods. Each chapter contains a study guide with Bible verses and reflection questions. The author also offers real anecdotes and examples of what to do–and what not to do–so that when using the REAL rubric with any group of people, you can emulate Jesus and bring the good news to them. Church leaders wanting to be more inclusive or trying to grow in their changing neighborhood will find this book a welcome resource.
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Heirs Together
$16.99Add to cartA church where everyone–adults, young people and children–has one vision and moves together. It almost sounds too good to be true. The vision which has inspired Daphne Kirk for over thirty years, and which she has actively sought to pass on to others, is of a church which includes all ages (children, young people and adults) in every aspect of its life. This is the vision of the intergenerational Church. Kirk writes with great energy and passion, presenting a radical picture of intergenerational cell life without glossing over the difficulties of initiating and sustaining that life.
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Pastoral Care : A Practical Guide
$29.99Add to cartAt the heart of the local church is the Christ-like care it manifests to its own members and those in the community. Increasingly, with fewer full-time ministers, this role is falling to the laity, often without formal training. This book will help ordained and lay members of the church to be more confident and better equipped in pastoral skills. Included are sections on understanding pastoral ministry, how to minister safely, developing appropriate skills for use in church and in the wider community and how to minister to oneself. A practical, hands-on book that all in pastoral ministry should read, and one that will help new pastors to survive and thrive in a long-term ministry in the church.
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Living Hope : A Practical Theology Of Hope For The Dying
$22.99Add to cartLiving Hope explores the meaning of Christian hope, its theology and psychology. It reflects on the sources of hope and wrestles with the concern for a hope that is not just a set of cliches, but which is engaging and realistic, suggesting practical ways of nurturing hope in those we care for. Russell Herbert argues that resurrection is central to Christian hope, drawing on the insights of psychology, nursing science and Jurgen Moltmann’s theology of hope. The book integrates theological reflection with a number of case studies and practical suggestions for clergy and pastoral carers.
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Intergenerational Cell Resources
$24.99Add to cartIntergenerational Cell Resources is intended to supplement Heirs Together. The four Ws of Welcome, Worship, Word and Witness are clearly explained and laid out, with guidelines and useful suggestions for the prayer night and the social outreach event which form an integral part of each meeting series. The meeting outlines in this book provide you with all the practical help you need to run your cell meeting, including photocopiable handouts and forms for delegating the various components.
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All Age Everything
$18.99Add to cartThere are many differing opinions on children and their ability to worship. Some churches aim for frequent, all-age services as their way of encouraging children to encounter God, while others rely on the groups that children are sent to during the service. Like all areas of ministry with children, all-age worship is not easy–there are barriers to face, mistakes to make and lessons to learn. This revised edition of All-Age Everything is full of ideas and suggestions to make all-age worship a true intergenerational worship experience. It looks at every part of an all-age service, from how to go about the initial planning, followed by tips for welcomes and beginnings, to endings and blessings. The ideas can be adapted to suit your own church setting, but, most of all, they make meeting God fun for the entire church family, however young or old.
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Disciple Making Culture
$15.99Add to cartA PRACTICAL GUIDE TO HELP YOU CULTIVATE HEALTHY CHURCH CULTURE
Church leaders who focus on programs, strategy, and curriculum can easily miss what ties them all together: culture. Cultivating culture is the difference between churches who flourish and those who flounder at disciple-making. Leaders must cultivate a healthy disciple-making culture. But how?
Author Brandon Guindon’s book Disciple-Making Culture provides a how-to guide for cultivating a healthy disciple-making culture throughout your church. He walks readers through key components of healthy culture, which he has uncovered over the course of his more than twenty years of disciple-making in various contexts. Using time-tested principles, he answers a challenging question: “How do we actually live out the Great Commission-as a church?”
Learn a relational method for making disciples at your church that is built upon how Jesus and the early church made disciples. Gain the tools needed to transform your church’s culture. Walk away with a reproducible model that’s been successfully implemented by thriving disciple-making churches around the world. Allow the pages of Scripture to become not only words-but also real-life experiences.
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30 Days To Understanding The Bible Study Guide (Student/Study Guide)
$13.99Add to cartIn this six-session video Bible study (DVD/digital downloads sold separately), bestselling author, pastor, and theologian Max Anders guides participants through the entire Bible, providing them with an understanding of all the major biblical characters, the major events, and the major points of geography they need to know to get a solid grasp of the story of the Old and New Testaments. By spending just 15 minutes a day in personal study for five days each session, participants will come to understand not only the facts and history of the Bible but also its teachings that have become such an important foundation of Western civilization.
Participants will learn about the Ten Great Subjects of the Bible (the Bible, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, angels, man, sin, salvation, Church, and future things) and some of the more puzzling points of Scripture, such as why there are four Gospels, how to understand Jesus’ parables, the importance of miracles, the importance of the Resurrection, and much more.
The Bible is an enormous book covering much information and many subjects, and while it is not possible to learn everything about it in 30 days, they will gain a beginning knowledge-an overview-they can use to build a more complete understanding in the years ahead. In just fifteen minutes a day for thirty days, group members can gain a foundational grasp of the most important book ever written.
Designed for use with the 30 Days to Understanding the Bible Video Study (sold separately).
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Heavens Morning Breaks
$22.99Add to cartAt the heart of this book is the importance of balancing the Christian gospel with the hopes and wishes of a grieving family, even if these wishes do not entirely fit with the minister’s personal theology. Brooks examines the changes in funeral practice over the last 20 years before looking at issues such as cremation versus burial, life after death and difficult funeral services–where suicide or the death of a child may be a factor, or where mourners are few.
With a chapter on pastoral care for the bereaved as well as resource sections containing suggested orders of service, hymns, songs, prayers and readings, this is a helpful addition to literature on funerals for those involved in ministry.
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Embody : Five Keys To Leading With Integrity
$18.99Add to cartPastors and other leaders feel trapped in systems and institutions where actions and decisions often seem to have little to do with the scripture they read or the theology they profess. They are swept into leadership norms that resemble business models more than mission. They see in others and (sometimes) recognize in themselves the disconnect between their own theology and their leadership. They feel unable to fully integrate their beliefs with their behavior.
Many leaders–younger ones, especially–are frustrated and disillusioned by this disconnect. They see hypocrisy all around them, and in themselves. They see that our culture is at a critical juncture, which gives ministry a greater sense of urgency. But they want to do things differently, to be what they believe. They want to embody their Christian beliefs in every decision, every act of ministry leadership.
The functional authority of scripture must be evident in the way church leaders lead, both within the congregation and in the public square. The way we church leaders lead proves the bible does–or does not–matter. In Embody, Karoline Lewis shows how to frame leadership in the church and public square theologically, and from the perspective of incarnation. She shows how leadership can be a direct line between what you believe and what you do. She incorporates examples of Jesus’ leadership and the Paraclete in the Gospel of John, showing how leadership was achieved by walking beside.
Embody offers practical things for the reader to consider and do, instruction and guidance for how to make the ‘integration steps’ necessary in order to become an embodied leader, and exploration of core components of embodied leadership.
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Semi Final Musings
$17.99Add to cartThe target audience for this volume is ministry leaders, Pastors, elders and deacons, as well as those individuals who would like to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. The audience will be of necessity: men and women who are either in College or Seminary and/or in ministries working in churches.
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Semi Final Musings
$26.99Add to cartThe target audience for this volume is ministry leaders, Pastors, elders and deacons, as well as those individuals who would like to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. The audience will be of necessity: men and women who are either in College or Seminary and/or in ministries working in churches.
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Rediscipling The White Church
$20.99Add to cart“Many white Christians across America are waking up to the fact that something is seriously wrong–but often this is where we get stuck.”
Confronted by the deep-rooted racial injustice in our society, many white Christians instinctively scramble to add diversity to their churches and ministries. But is diversity really the answer to the widespread racial dysfunction we see in the church? In this simple but powerful book, Pastor David Swanson contends that discipleship, not diversity, lies at the heart of our white churches’ racial brokenness. Before white churches can pursue diversity, he argues, we must first take steps to address the faulty discipleship that has led to our segregation in the first place. Drawing on the work of philosopher James K. A. Smith and others, Swanson proposes that we rethink our churches’ habits, or liturgies, and imagine together holistic, communal discipleship practices that can reform us as members of Christ’s diverse body.
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Recovering From Biblical Manhood And Womanhood
$18.99Add to cartWhile evangelicalism dukes it out about who can be church leaders, the rest of the 98% of us need to be well equipped to see where we fit in God’s household and why that matters. Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood is a resource to help church leaders improve the culture of their church and disciple men and women in their flock to read, understand, and apply Scripture to our lives in the church. Until both men and women grow in their understanding of their relationship to Scripture, there will continue to be tension between the sexes in the church. Church leaders need to be engaged in thoughtful critique of the biblical manhood and womanhood movement and the effects it has on their congregation.
Do men and women benefit equally from God’s word? Are they equally responsible in sharpening one another in the faith and passing it down to the next generation? While radical feminists claim that the Bible is a hopelessly patriarchal construction by powerful men that oppresses women, evangelical churches simply reinforce this teaching when we constantly separate men and women, customizing women’s resources and studies according to a culturally based understanding of roles. Do we need men’s Bibles and women’s Bibles, or can the one, holy Bible guide us all? Is the Bible, God’s word, so male-centered and authored that women need to create their own resources to relate to it? No! And in it, we also learn from women. Women play an active role as witnesses to the faith, passing it on to the new generations.
This book explores the feminine voice in Scripture as synergistic with the dominant male voice. Through the women, we often get the story behind the story–take Ruth for example, or the birth of Christ through the perspective of Mary and Elizabeth in Luke. Aimee fortifies churches in a biblical understanding of brotherhood and sisterhood in God’s household and the necessity of learning from one another in studying God’s word.
The troubling teaching under the rubric of “biblical manhood and womanhood” has thrived with the help of popular Biblicist interpretive methods. And Biblicist interpretive methods ironically flourish in our individualistic culture that works against the “traditional values” of family and community that the biblical manhood and womanhood movement is trying to uphold. This book helps to correct Biblicist trends in the church today, affirming that we do not read God’s word alone, we read it within our interpretive covenant com
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Beyond The Childrens Corner
$27.50Add to cartBeyond the Children’s Corner is a practical handbook to help churches become more welcoming to children and families in worship. It encourages PCCs and ministry teams to reflect on the spiritual needs of children, the pastoral needs of families, and how to remove barriers and manage change effectively.
Based on multiple training sessions and extensive casework, informed by research by the Church of England’s Life Events team and the Methodist Church, it explores:
? The changing needs of modern families;
? What tells you it’s time for change;
? ‘Quick wins’ to make the worship space more welcoming and spiritually imaginative;
? Engaging children in spiritually nourishing worship;
? Children and contemplative worship – what to do about noise;
? Building and sustaining relationships with families and children.Many books on All-Age Worship focus the service itself. Beyond the Children’s Corner explores how children and adults can be truly integrated as the church community, covering parents’ perspectives, the church building and the challenge of change as well as what happens in worship.
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Adept Church : Navigating Between A Rock And A Hard Place
$15.99Add to cartA theologically grounded, yet practical, user-friendly guide for church leaders seeking to save their churches. A methodical, logical approach for strategic development and decision-making. A clear process for showing congregations how to define their reality, and a map showing the way to move forward.
Offers a clear process to help congregations understand their situation by taking an honest “look in the mirror.”
Helps congregations build a realistic roadmap for moving forward.
Illustrates how the status quo (institutionalism) is rewarded and that seeking transformation goes against institutionalism.
Outlines what it means to be an adept church, a church that can navigate between a rock and a hard place because it makes decisions based upon where it needs to go and not where it is currently.
Provides practical, first step for congregations to move forward.
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For His Glory Leader Guide
$15.99Add to cartDiscover Your True Worth in Christ.
What comes to mind when you hear the word masterpiece? Perhaps you think of a beautiful painting, a spectacular home renovation, or a captivating sunset. But few of us would describe ourselves with that word. We tend to listen instead to the lies that define us as rejected, unwanted, less than, ugly, stupid, or a failure. Sometimes we can feel more like worthless junk than a valuable masterpiece. Yet that is exactly what God’s Word says that we are!
In For His Glory, Marian Jordan Ellis leads us in an in-depth study of Ephesians to help us dismantle the lies we’ve believed about ourselves and replace them with a new identity built on God’s Word. The truths in this beloved epistle speak to the core beliefs we carry about ourselves, revealing to us our part in God’s magnificent design to redeem a people for Himself who reflect His glory to the world. Drawing on her own journey of transformation and her passion to equip women to overcome shame, insecurity, inferiority, and condemnation, Marian invites us on a journey to discover our true worth in Christ, our status as beloved children of God, and our glorious calling as His masterpiece.
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Biblical Theme Of Peace Shalom
$39.95Add to cartPreaching the Gospel is at the heart of ministry and is often the core of the pastor’s job. It’s also often the most public part of the profession. Week after week, the pastor must deliver a message to the congregation that is both cogent and relevant to the lives of the people in the pews. Much study and research goes into the crafting of this message. Pastors begin this study in seminary, and it becomes a life-long pursuit.
In Peace / Shalom, James Durlesser and Ron Love have created a volume designed to not only provide thorough exegesis of the biblical theme of Peace / Shalom, but also how that exegesis can be applied to the daily living of the Christian. Throughout this book, the reader will not only find information about how the subject of peace permeates the scriptural canon but will also discover many ways to help the person in the pew have a better understanding of Peace in Scripture as it applies to today’s world, and how it applies to their individual lives.
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Holding Up Half The Sky
$21.00Add to cartWomen have played significant roles in ministry and leadership throughout the history of the church and the pages of the Bible. Today, women make up more than half the church, and do much of the mission, ministry, and discipleship in the life of the church. But women have often been held back from ministry roles. Graham Joseph Hill outlines the biblical vision for women in ministry and leadership. He offers a biblical and passionate call for women to be released to teach, to lead, to preach, to serve, to pastor, and to minister in every area of the church. The Bible paints a radical vision of women, empowered and emboldened for full ministry participation in Christ’s church. The biblical vision for women and for their role as teachers, witnesses, disciplers, and leaders transforms not only personal lives, but also the church and the world. This book offers a biblical case for women teaching and leading in the church. Hill then explores practical ways that we can empower and release more female leaders in the church, and ways that we can amplify the voices and honor the gifts of women in the way Jesus intended. Together women and men can revitalize the church and renew the world.
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Delighted : What Teenagers Are Teaching The Church About Joy
$22.99Add to cartWhat would youth ministry look like if it were based on a pursuit of authentic Christian joy?
Joy is not often a word young people associate with church–but it should be. By reimagining three common practices in youth ministry through the theological lens of joy, veteran youth workers Kenda Creasy Dean, Wesley Ellis, Justin Forbes, and Abigail Visco Rusert demonstrate how to shift this association and become more honest about what youth ministry can, and can’t, do to support young people and their faith. Grounding youth ministry in joy rather than in fear also models a way forward for the church. It reminds us that youth ministry is not a tool for anxious congregations to use to ensure their survival. Rather, youth ministry–like all ministry–is a way to help people name and experience God’s delight, free from fear and anxiety about their futures.
Delighted is the first book to emerge from the Yale Center for Faith and Culture’s Adolescent Faith and Flourishing project, offering a sustained reflection on joy’s practical importance for youth ministry. With reflection questions offered at the end of each chapter, Delighted is easy for youth ministers, volunteers, and pastors to pick up and use immediately–tapping into young people’s instinctive desire for joy for the entire church, as well as for ministry with teenagers.
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Sundays Sermon For Mondays World
$25.99Add to cartWhat can preachers do to help congregants navigate everyday life with the courage, imagination, and savvy it takes to testify in action and word to God’s mercy and justice?
Christianity’s witness depends on credible Christian lives carried out in ordinary settings of everyday life. Sunday’s Sermon for Monday’s World helps preachers design sermons that equip believers to act with improvisational, creative courage in the ordinary settings of their Monday-to-Saturday lives.
How can we who preach inspire the “ordinary prophets” of our time–those who, in Christ’s name, will act in great or small ways as agents of redemptive interruption? Sally A. Brown, with her extensive experience both in parish ministry and training others for ministry, shares preaching strategies that equip these ordinary prophets to take daring action.
Brown begins by reconsidering the power and limits of the missional model of Christian witness and argues that Christian witness today must be adaptive, and therefore imaginative and improvisational. She then turns to the connection between the sermons our listeners hear on Sunday and their capacity to timely, inventive action in everyday situations.
Sunday’s Sermon for Monday’s World will inspire both preachers and those who listen to them to move from sanctuary to street, week after week, eager to discern and participate in the ongoing, redemptive work of God already under way amid the ordinary scenes and settings of their Monday-to-Saturday lives.
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Surrendered Participant Workbook (Workbook)
$17.99Add to cartLearn How to Surrender Like Jesus.
Are you facing a problem in life that you just can’t fix, no matter what you do? Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase “Let go and let God.” But it’s easier said than done. Is it possible that giving up on what you can’t change is God’s path to peace for your life? In this six-week Bible study of Jesus in the wilderness, Barb explores Jesus’ time of testing and contrasts it with the Israelites’ failures in the wilderness.
As you learn from Jesus’ example, you’ll discover six principles that will equip you to let God lead you to victory despite your circumstances as you deal with the problems and pain you are facing:
1. Recognize You Can’t Handle It
2. Stop Following Your Feelings
3. Give Up Control and Reach for God
4. Embrace God’s Better Blessing
5. Let Go of Fear
6. Experience the Blessings of a Surrendered LifeIf you’re tired of following your feelings or being disappointed by unchanging circumstances, learn how to surrender like Jesus and experience God’s power and peace in your life as never before.
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For His Glory Participant Workbook (Student/Study Guide)
$17.99Add to cartDiscover Your True Worth in Christ.
What comes to mind when you hear the word masterpiece? Perhaps you think of a beautiful painting, a spectacular home renovation, or a captivating sunset. But few of us would describe ourselves with that word. We tend to listen instead to the lies that define us as rejected, unwanted, less than, ugly, stupid, or a failure. Sometimes we can feel more like worthless junk than a valuable masterpiece. Yet that is exactly what God’s Word says that we are!
In For His Glory, Marian Jordan Ellis leads us in an in-depth study of Ephesians to help us dismantle the lies we’ve believed about ourselves and replace them with a new identity built on God’s Word. The truths in this beloved epistle speak to the core beliefs we carry about ourselves, revealing to us our part in God’s magnificent design to redeem a people for Himself who reflect His glory to the world. Drawing on her own journey of transformation and her passion to equip women to overcome shame, insecurity, inferiority, and condemnation, Marian invites us on a journey to discover our true worth in Christ, our status as beloved children of God, and our glorious calling as His masterpiece.
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Marriage Course Study Journal
$14.99Add to cartToday we are facing a global crisis when it comes to families. Marriages are under more pressure than ever. Many children are growing up without experiencing the security of their parents’ love and commitment to each other-and consequently are finding it harder to receive God’s unconditional love. There is an urgent need to invest in marriage and family life, for strong societies are built on strong families, and strong families are built on strong marriages.
The Marriage Course, developed by Nicky and Sila Lee of Alpha, has been revised and updated to provide practical tools to help couples at every stage of their relationship. This update includes talks from experts including Dr. Gray Chapman, Dr. Henry Cloud, and Dr. Sue Johnson on topics such as money, sex, love languages, healthy boundaries, and building connections. The course will also cover how couples can:
*Better understand each other’s needs
*Communicate more effectively
*Grow closer by learning methods to resolve conflicts
*Recover from the way they may have hurt each other
*Recognize how their upbringing has affected their relationship
*Improve relationships with parents and in-lawsThe Marriage Course is based on a Christian understanding of love and serves to strengthen marriages within the church while being accessible for all couples from any cultural background, with or without a background in the Christian faith.
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Birth : The Mystery Of Being Born
$26.00Add to cartThis volume explores the connections between our own birth, the experience of having children, and the new birth of the Christian life. Seasoned pastor James Howell offers theological perspectives on a variety of themes associated with birth, such as who we are in light of having once lived in utero, why people might have children, infertility, adoption, baptism, and how to make sense of it all in light of God coming to us first in Mary’s womb and then as an infant. The book includes artwork, photos, and drawings.
About the Series
Pastors are called to help people navigate the profound mysteries of being human, from birth to death and everything in between. This series, edited by leading pastoral theologian Jason Byassee, provides pastors and pastors-in-training with rich theological reflection on the various seasons that make up a human life, helping them minister with greater wisdom and joy. Future volumes will cover addiction, disability, friendship, illness, parenting, and technology. -
Aging : Growing Old In Church
$21.99Add to cartSeasoned pastor and church leader Will Willimon excels at creating thought-provoking, accessible books for working pastors and seminarians. In Aging, he takes a theologically rich look at numerous aspects of growing old.Drawing on Scripture, literature, current research, and his experiences as an aging adult, Willimon reflects on aging as a spiritual journey. He explores the challenging realties as well as the rewarding joys of growing old and shows pastors how to help their congregants grow old gracefully and in good Christian hope. Willimon also offers practical advice on helping church members as they encounter retirement, aging, caring for the aging, loss, bereavement, and finding faith in the last quarter of life. This eloquent, delightfully Christian perspective on aging will be of interest to all who care for aging souls–not only pastors but also chaplains and other ministers in hospitals, hospices, and extended care facilities.About the SeriesPastors are called to help people navigate the profound mysteries of being human, from birth to death and everything in between. This series, edited by leading pastoral theologian Jason Byassee, provides pastors and pastors-in-training with rich theological reflection on the various seasons that make up a human life, helping them minister with greater wisdom and joy. Future volumes will cover addiction, disability, friendship, illness, parenting, and technology.
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Connections Year A 3 Volume Set
$155.00Add to cartDesigned to empower preachers as they lead congregations to connect their lives to Scripture, Connections features a broad set of interpretive tools that provide commentary and worship aids on the Revised Common Lectionary.
This nine-volume series offers creative commentary on each reading in the three-year lectionary cycle by viewing that reading through the lens of its connections to the rest of Scripture and then seeing the reading through the lenses of culture, film, fiction, ethics, and other aspects of contemporary life. Commentaries on the Psalms make connections to the other readings and to the congregation’s experience of worship.
This set contains all three volumes for Year A.
Connections is published in partnership with Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
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Surviving A Dangerous Sermon
$18.99Add to cartPreachers increasingly see the need to deliver sermons that are “dangerous” in a variety of ways: the way they challenge hearers’ comfort levels and challenge established powers and hierarchies. Author Frank Thomas helps readers understand those dangers–especially the forces of power and hierarchy that are so intrinsic in our everyday lives and in society as a whole. He teaches how to anticipate and navigate those forces, to open opportunities for dangerous preaching, and to mitigate negative impact on congregants, the preacher, and the preacher-congregation relationships.
Surviving a Dangerous Sermon is a logical follow-up to Thomas’s previous book, How to Preach a Dangerous Sermon. It equips preachers to say what must be said, in a way that it is heard, so that the sermon has a chance to do its work on human hearts, without negative consequences.
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Learning Cycle : Insights For Faithful Teaching From Neuroscience And The S
$26.99Add to cartHow teachers teach is not necessarily how learners learn.
Educators generally focus on content delivery. But much of the learning process involves affective and behavioral factors that shape learners’ outcomes. Veteran educators Muriel and Duane Elmer provide a holistic model for how learning takes place. Their learning cycle moves beyond mere recall of information to helping learners value and apply their learning in ways that are integrated into behavior and practice. With insights from neuroscience, educational psychology, and learning theory, they address how the brain can become more receptive, how emotional environments affect learning, and how learning tasks and experiential exercises can help foster the development of skills and habit formation. They do so in the context of a thoroughly Christian framework that emphasizes not just knowledge, but character, integrity, and wisdom. Learning can be accomplished in and beyond the classroom to move from content mastery to life experience. Here are sound avenues for helping your students become the lifelong learners God intends.
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Bridging Theory And Practice In Childrens Spirituality
$22.99Add to cartBridging Theory and Practice in Children’s Spirituality explores the different contexts, methods, and situations that influence and foster a child’s spirituality and faith development. Through a blend of theoretical understanding held in tension with practical application, it equips those who are in, or being prepared for, the varied contexts where children are spiritually formed.
It represents a broad range of Christian expression writing from a Christ-centered perspective that furthers the conversation about the next steps in children’s spirituality and faith development. Moving beyond the basics of faith nurture and what makes for effective ministry, this resource deepens our understanding of the practices in children’s by bringing together the best of theory and practice and includes contributions from:
*Dr. Scottie May (Wheaton College)
*Dr. Kevin Lawson (Biola University)
*Dr. Erik Carter (Vanderbilt University)
*John Roberto (Vibrant Faith)
*Dr. Dana Kennamer Pemberton (Abilene Christian University)
*Dr. Shirley Morganthaler (Concordia University – Chicago)
*Dr. Holly Catterton Allen (Lipscomb University)
*Dr. Robert Keeley (Calvin College and Calvin Seminary)
*Dr. Mimi Larson (Wheaton College)
*Lacy Finn Borgo ( Renovare Institute) and others.Pastors, professors, seminary students and children’s ministry leaders and practitioners all believe that nurturing a child’s spiritual development is important. Yet often they are unsure about which current trends should be embraced. This book will help equip these people with the grounding needed to evaluate trends and with specific suggestions for moving forward. With short, accessibly written chapters it helps pastors and leaders stay up to date with current trends and is an excellent resource for teaching in college and seminary classrooms.
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Way Of Worship Student Workbook (Workbook)
$12.99Add to cartThe Way of Worship Student Workbook is a practical guide that accompanies The Way of Worship, providing questions for discussion and reflection, as well as hands-on activities to better prepare you for a lifestyle of worship. It is a resource to encourage those who are answering the calling of God on their lives to lead worship.
The Way of Worship (available separately) provides a biblical theology of worship, as well as a practical manual for practicing private and public worship as a way of life. This accompanying workbook serves as a journal and guidebook, allowing those who read and study The Way of Worship to further explore the concepts, internalizing and applying them to life.
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I Still Believe Leaders Guide
$14.99Add to cartMany small group leaders feel ill-equipped to create natural conversation that leads to a meaningful experience for their group members. This I Still Believe Leader’s Guide works in conjunction with the video series to equip group leaders with helpful tips on leading a group, thoughtful discussion questions for each week, and suggested scripture to read. Create a directed, safe, and open environment to lead your group to trusting and leaning on God and his promises during life’s most difficult times.
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I Still Believe Participants Journal (Student/Study Guide)
$14.99Add to cartThe most difficult aspect of life is enduring trials and difficulties of any kind. From cover to cover, one of the strongest themes threaded throughout Scripture is holding onto God and his promises when suffering comes into our lives. The I Still Believe Journal is a thirty-five-day journey into discovering his strength in our darkest moments.
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Smart Church Finances
$15.99Add to cartWhat can the Church learn from the business world?
You’re a leader of a ministry, nonprofit, or church. You trained to be a faithful counselor, preacher, interpreter of God’s Word–so why do you find yourself spending so much energy on administration tasks that threaten to drain your time, energy, and joy?
Look to this book for the coaching you needed, yesterday. Written from years of ministry and business experience, Business for Ministry is built on a solid foundation of business principles but–unlike many business books–in a straightforward style that anyone can grasp. You’ll learn how to:
*Communicate vision and strategize with a team
*Steward resources well (yes, including budgeting)
*Prioritize goals, wisely make decisions, and evaluate outcomes based on vision and data
*Leverage the existing talents of men and women at your church, many of whom don’t fit in “traditional” ministry rolesThis field guide to building a holistic, sustainable system for your church will both help you address the business needs of your church and free your leaders to serve, fully and joyfully.
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I Still Believe Small Group DVD Kit
$39.99Add to cartThe I Still Believe Small Group Kit combines a 5-episode DVD series, 35-day devotional journal, and thorough leader’s guide to serve as a five-week guided tour for small groups through the biblical response to commitment, sacrifice, grief, loss, and also God’s sovereignty and redemption. This kit comes as a ready-to-use package that makes it easy to implement small groups in your church or ministry.
Includes: Video Series, Leader’s Guide, and Study Journal
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Welcoming The Future Church
$17.99Add to cartIf you’re not reaching the future of the church, your church has no future. As much sting as that statement has, it’s hard to argue with. Yet many churches have no idea how to attract and retain younger generations.
If you want to understand how to reach, teach, and empower young adults in your church, Jonathan “JP” Pokluda is ready to show you how. Sharing stories of successes and failures during his years of ministering to Millennials, JP offers you transferable principles that will help you mobilize the next generation toward Jesus. He encourages and equips you to:
– be real
– teach the whole truth
– hold traditions loosely
– find young leaders
– give the ministry away
– and so much moreTomorrow’s church is out there, waiting for you to care, to reach out, to understand their struggles, and to show them why today’s church needs, wants, and cherishes them.
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Acts Leader Guide (Teacher’s Guide)
$15.99Add to cartThe Acts of the Apostles is a unique and crucial book that chronicles the story of God’s grace flooding out to the world through the lives of the apostles in the decades immediately following Christ’s ascension into heaven.
In Acts: Catching up with the Spirit, author and biblical scholar Matthew Skinner provides a broad yet theologically attuned introduction to this important book and its message of fulfilling the Great Commission.
Skinner explores six key themes that illustrate the ways in which reading Acts is capable of igniting our imagination about the character of the Christian gospel, the work of God’s people (the church), and the challenges of living faithfully in a complex and changing world. The Leader Guide contains everything needed to guide a group through the six-week study including session plans, activities, and discussion questions, as well as multiple format options.
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Sin And Mental Ailments
$29.99Add to cartIn Romans 7:15, St. Paul expressed frustration with something all of us can relate to, saying, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” Despite our best efforts to live our lives as we ought to, we repeatedly fall into the trap of “not understanding what we do,” and constantly perpetrating the same missteps we have previously vowed never to take again. What is the reason of our deeply ingrained fallibility? Christians do what they hate either because they consciously, deliberately and sinfully transgress Jesus’ commands, or because they are experiencing unintended and often unconscious symptoms of mental ailments. The interconnectedness of sinful and psychologically disordered behaviors is undeniable. Malignant selfishness, which we recognize as sin, is often linked to narcissistic character features. Repeated belligerent acting out may be rooted in a paranoid mindset. Emotional cruelty may be not freely chosen but tied to antisocial personality traits; sinning against the sixth commandment can be driven by the illness of pedophilia. The reverse is also true: most mentally disordered behaviors involve some form of intentional and sinful violation of Jesus’ command. Though the boundary between sin and sickness may appear fuzzy at times, a thorough understanding of their interplay is of utmost importance when faced with matters of freedom of choice, conscience, responsibility and, most of all, pastoral care.
This comprehensive handbook on pastoral care successfully integrates the biblical and medical/scientific perspectives on human anthropology, mental illness and sin. It expounds on the signs of all major mental ailments and provides recommendations for their pastoral and medical treatment. Problems from psychoses to mood disorders, suicide to sexual disturbances, anxiety to addictive behaviors, and ailments in between are explained. Readers will find new insights on the ways in which various personality disorders interfere with spiritual functioning. Developmental stages in life are also discussed, together with the spiritual challenges they pose, and the pastoral answers they call for. This work does not shy away from controversial topics, such as post-abortion syndrome, euthanasia, gender ideology, or the psychological aspects of atheism. Soundly faith-based, yet well-grounded in contemporary psychiatric knowledge, this handbook captures a lifetime of learning and healing by practicing psychologist wh
