Pastoral Helps
Showing 2951–3000 of 4114 results
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Childrens Sermons For Special Days
$13.95Add to cartChildren’s stories are important times for pastors and laypeople to relate to children in the context of worship. But resources that will hold their attention and help them learn about the Bible and the Christian faith are hard to find. Children’s Sermons For Special Days is both relevant and easy to use. The biblically based stories are told in a manner children can understand, and the pictures and activity sheets help to reinforce the learning experience. I highly recommend this book as a valuable tool for enhancing worship and learning for children.
Marvin Zehr
Conference Minister
Western District Mennonite ConferenceLooking for children’s material specifically tailored for holidays and other special, out-of-the-ordinary days? If so, then Julia Bland’s latest collection is a practical resource that you’ll draw on for fresh ideas throughout the year. Like all of her other popular titles, each children’s message in Children’s Sermons For Special Days is accompanied by a two-sided activity page — one side is a coloring page for younger children, while the other has a variety of puzzles and activities that emphasize the lesson’s key points for older children. Busy pastors and teachers who have little preparation time will love these scripturally sound and ready-to-use presentations — and better yet, so will your young people!
Lessons are included for:
* New Year’s Day
* Valentine’s Day
* Palm Sunday
* Easter Sunday
* Mother’s Day
* Father’s Day
* Independence Day
* Start of School
* First Day of Autumn
* Halloween
* Thanksgiving
* ChristmasDuring nearly 50 years as a pastor’s wife, Julia E. Bland has taught church groups of all ages from children through senior adults. She has been active in United Methodist Women and served as district chairperson of Global Concerns as well as Publicity and Public Relations. Bland’s award-winning oil, watercolor, and pen and ink artwork has appeared in private and public collections. Among her many CSS titles are Lessons We Can Learn From The Animals and Praises From The Psalms.
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Bethlehems Closet A Reunion Of Grace
$12.95Add to cartIf you want to try something different for Advent this year, Bethlehem’s Closet — A Reunion Of Grace is a great resource that provides congregations with an intriguing learning experience. It’s a unique series of five monologues telling the fascinating stories, warts and all, of the women mentioned in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. Donald Neidigk believes that the embarrassing events in some of these women’s lives are important for us to know, since they demonstrate that Jesus was born into an imperfect family, with secrets in the closet, just like you and me. And that makes him a sympathetic Savior — exactly what we need. So even though the shepherds and wise men may be more typical of the season’s characters, Bethlehem’s Closet — A Reunion Of Grace offers a refreshing way to celebrate Christ’s birth. Each monologue comes with a children’s message (using easily obtained objects to reinforce the lesson) and a convenient order of worship.
The monologues examine these women:
* Tamar — A Wronged Widow
* Rahab — A Former Prostitute
* Ruth — A Moabite Convert
* Bathsheba — A Violated Wife
* Mary — A Young Mother -
Virtual Incarnation
$12.95Add to cartIn a time when spiritual hype is rampant and modern Pharisees sometimes seen to drown out all other voices, the quiet, reflective messages of William Kincaid offer a refreshing journey for the soul. His relaxed, conversational style will engage readers, and the insights of this master preacher into both scripture and modern life will leave them thirsting for more. Virtual Incarnation? is a superlative collection of sermons-it is don’t-miss reading not only for ministers and teachers, but also for personal worship and devotions.
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Soaring Where Christ Has Led
$30.95Add to cartBelieving that Christian worship should be both exciting and stimulating and respectful of God and worshipers and liturgical traditions, Dick Avery and Don Marsh have put their considerable talents together to bring you ideas and music that make worship soar. As you read these groundbreaking ideas tailored to the seasons of the church year, you’ll find yourself saying, “Yes! YES! YES!” — and you’ll be eager to put them in place with your congregation.
Everything Avery and Marsh describe in this remarkable volume has been done successfully in their congregation at the regular Sunday morning service of worship, so you will find no off-the-wall suggestions pushed for mere novelty’s sake or just to “shake things up.” Rather, every principle, every suggestion, every idea has a purpose and goal befitting the Gospel and designed to help worshipers tune in to the mighty Lord of All.
With all of this plus several samples of original Avery & Marsh music, written especially for Sunday morning worship, Soaring Where Christ Has Led is a resource you will use week after week in planning worship services that delight congregations, honor God with momentous expressions of joy, and teach the way of Christ in today’s world.
Nationally renowned for their creative worship celebrations, Richard Avery and Donald Marsh were colleagues in ministry for 40 years at the First Presbyterian Church in Port Jervis, New York, where Avery served as pastor and Marsh as choirmaster (directing 3 choirs) and director of arts (producing 83 major plays and working with educational projects). They have collaborated in composing hymns, songs, and anthems, of which more than 150 have been published. During the last 30 years they have led regional and national church assemblies, conferences, and workshops on worship, music, and drama for many denominations and in virtually all 50 states.
A native of California, Avery is a graduate of the University of Redlands and Union Theological Seminary in New York. Marsh has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Houston, and worked for 17 years in New York’s music and theater world as a composer, choreographer, pianist, and actor. Avery and Marsh continue their collaboration in composing for the church and in leading special liturgical and musical events while living in retirement in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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Battle For The Soul
$17.99Add to cart“This book is extremely helpful in ministering to others. It will give you the information to get past the game playing, guessing, and excuses and get right to the bottom-line issues in a person’s life. Clear and simple. Best of all, the focus is total reliance on the Person of Jesus Christ and His being in every way, shape, and form, all in all, to each individual believer.” –Mrs. Janie Glover, Christian Worker, Nampa, ID “I am amazed at the deep level of inspiration and revelation in Battle for the Soul. God is using GSM to reveal truths and depth that He has entrusted with few others on the face of the earth. The completed book will be a must-have for any minister seeking to break enemy strongholds in others’ lives, and I highly recommend it to any Christian who is ready to stand up and fight the good fight, move to another level with God, and get serious about letting Christ control his or her life. I asked one co-worker what he thought of a certain passage, and this was his response: ‘Again, another bottom line–sounds like Watchman Nee or possibly Francis Schaffer.’ He had no idea where the passage originated.” –Crystal Garvin, Editor, Patrick AFB, FL “Chapter 5 quite frankly about blew my mind–about Adam needing to be transfigured. WHOA. Totally new concept here.” –Trent Glover, Data Warehouse Manager, Nampa, ID
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Help Our Church Is Growing
$14.00Add to cartIt’s the secret, unspeakable dream shared by every minister. After years of diligent work in an average-sized church, you glance up one Sunday and notice a new family. The next month you notice another. Soon it seems like somebody new arrives almost every week. Suddenly you are the leader of a living, breathing, growing church!
Like any roller coaster ride, this one begins with a long, slow ascent. Attendance climbs. Giving climbs. Expectations climb. Of course a few problems crop up along the way, because, as with every other roller coaster, this one has a long and often scary downside. Even as your church continues to climb in every measurable statistic, you, the spiritual leader, may well find yourself in a virtual free-fall as you struggle over how to manage the impact this change will have on your congregation.
What can you, as a minister in a growing church, do to survive the pitfalls that lie just around the corner? What do you do when the old ways no longer work?
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Your First Two Years In Youth Ministry
$22.99Add to cartIn this sequel to his bestseller Purpose-Driven Youth Ministry, Fields offers 10 valuable steps to beginning a successful program. You’ll learn the importance of going before God, focusing on relationships, communicating your desires, identifying your personal values, developing and teaching your purpose, pursuing leaders, evaluating and creating programs, and more. Ideal for veterans or first-timers.
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Art Of Listening
$25.50Add to cart224 pages
Additional Info
Availability and confirmation—key concepts of philosophers Gabriel Marcel and Martin Buber—are central to this fresh approach to pastoral care, which Pembroke has structured around a practical theological framework. He also explores the possible effects of shame clergy often feel when they fall short in these areas. Essential wisdom for all pastoral counselors! -
Starting A Non Profit At Your Church
$26.00Add to cartA large and growing number of congregations are setting up church-based nonprofit organizations in order to operate community development or educational programs. Once formed, the nonprofit structure allows for new opportunities for accessing additional funding and drawing new collaborative partners and volunteers into the ministry. Joy Skjegstad outlines the step-by-step procedures for setting up a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization connected to a congregation using simple, easy-to-understand terminology and plenty of examples from churches that have already taken on this task.
In addition to accessible and specific information on the legal aspects of a church-based nonprofit, topics include:
Why set up a nonprofit?
Advantages and disadvantages to setting up a nonprofit
Assessing readiness for the challenge
Defining the nonprofit’s mission and niche
Accountability and control
Establishing a board structure and defining board roles
Maintaining a positive relationship with the congregation
Personnel issues
Developing a fundraising plan
Ongoing evaluation
Whether a congregation is setting up new program or has an established nonprofit that needs to be restructured or redefined, congregations will find helpful guidance in this practical, experience-based book. Foreword by Mary Nelson, President, Bethel New Life, Inc., Chicago. -
Ending With Hope
$23.00Add to cart“Why is it we do funerals so well but often balk at even recognizing the death of a congregation? Couldn’t we do grief ministry and funerals as well for social groups as we do for individuals?” challenges Gilson Waldkoenig, in his seminary classes. Waldkoenig, associate professor of church in society at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, contributes his special insights on the subject of church endings, in this unique and important book.
Ending with Hope grows out of the understanding that although closing a congregation is in many ways about dying, it can also be about new life. Closing a congregation does not have to be about failure but can be about redirecting resources for new ministry.
Contributors represent eight denominations and include more than a dozen pastors, lay leaders, judicatory staff, and others who have “been there”-who have helped congregations through the painful closing process. Resources include models for assessing whether a congregation should close; reflections on members’ and pastors’ experiences during closing; case studies; guidance for deciding what to do with a building; suggestions for selecting and preserving documents and artifacts; rituals for healthy closings; a survey of historical trends regarding closings; and other helpful materials.
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Ministry And Money
$26.00Add to cartFrank, straightforward guidance for clergy seeking to develop a sound theology of money and skills for church administration, Ministry and Money also puts forth a new strategy for self-care, and a confident approach to managing both personal and congregational finances. Alban Senior Consultant and author Dan Hotchkiss wants to help clergy overcome their own anxieties about money matters so they can help others address the personal, social, and congregational aspects of this challenging and often difficult topic.
Hotchkiss observes that clergy are anxious about money for all the same reasons other people are and for some special reasons, as well:
Many people believe that what is “spiritual” excludes money and power.
Many clergy’s own finances are in difficulty.
Clergy depend on their congregations for their livelihood.
And in many congregations, clergy effectiveness may still be judged in financial terms.
Drawing on the full spectrum of American religious life, Hotchkiss addresses these important issues, offering practical assistance to clergy who wish to become more effective leaders by examining their own unique anxieties and convictions about money. -
12 Dynamic Shifts For Transforming Your Church
$18.99Add to cartThat today’s mainline churches are in crisis is apparent; a solution is less obvious. In this constructive new book E. Stanley Ott points a way ahead, describing twelve shifts in philosophy and practice that can help congregations build need-responsive, disciple-growing churches full of life and vigor.
Arguing that the weakness of the church today is a loss of personal spirituality and congregational vitality, Ott challenges local churches to discover how to adjust the style of their ministries to attract new people while encouraging current members. Ott examines the characteristics of “traditional” churches, extols the features of new, “transformational” churches, and lays out proposals to help established congregations make the transition.
Well balanced by an honest assessment of the church’s present and a positive vision for its future, this book is must reading for pastors, church leaders, and members of every congregation.
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Servants Manual : Christian Leadership For Tomorrow
$16.00Add to cartChristians and their institutions are stuck, says Michael Foss, stuck in the thinking and dilemmas of the past. This short volume is a plea for Christians to rethink their point and purpose in light of larger cultural changes and a crisis in leadership. Foss detects a crisis in leadership in declining rates of church participation, stagnant levels of students preparing for ministry, and burnout among clergy. To energize a new generation of leaders able to transcend yesterday’s thinking, Foss encourages a new style of ecclesial thinking. He first traces the larger cultural shifts that affect the church’s position in the world and styles of leadership. He then diagnoses church thinking as largely reproductive of past successes and ineffective in this new context. Advancing to productive thinking empowers Christians to leave behind the most important and frustrating dichotomies or polarities in today’s church: evangelism vs. social justice, control vs. freedom, growth vs. discipleship. Foss’s model of moving from issues into conversation and then into compassion is a blueprint for new leadership “equipped to think productively for the sake of the reign of our God in the world.” This book is aimed in part at bringing the key ideas and energy of Foss’s earlier book, Power Surge, to a wider audience of concerned Christians, potential leaders for the next generation.
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Preaching Workbook Series 1 Year 1
$31.95Add to cartProviding a fresh, timely reflection every week can be a daunting task. So when time or inspiration is flagging and you need the jump-start of creative ideas, the “Preaching Workbook” from CSS is just what the doctor ordered! Prominent pastor, former seminary president, and prolific author Jerry Schmalenberger draws upon the experiences of a lifetime in the ministry to help readers effectively share God’s word with crisply written insights. This outstanding set of practical aids explores many homiletical approaches and is sure to help preachers prepare more vital, incisive sermons.
Each chapter includes:
– a listing of and commentary on selected scripture texts
– a theme for the day’s service
– suggestions on preaching possibilities
– an outline of possible sermon moves
– additional illustrations to help flesh out the message -
Age Of The Reformation
$55.99Add to cartHughes Oliphant Old’s survey of preaching throughout the history of the Christian church has been heralded as a monumental achievement. This fourth volume of Old’s history brings the story of preaching up through the Protestant Reformation to the end of the seventeenth century.
This is the pivotal volume in Old’s project because it covers not only what the Reformers preached but also their reform of preaching itself. Luther made a clear break with the preaching traditions of the Middle Ages, while figures like Bucer and Calvin developed a strong expository approach to preaching. Old traces the main events and people involved in the development of distinctly Protestant forms of preaching, giving due attention to how and in what sense preaching was itself an act of worship.
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Spiritual Leaders Guide To Self Care
$32.00Add to cartThe Spiritual Leader’s Guide to Self-Care is an ideal companion for clergy, lay leaders, and others who would like guidance about how to make changes in their personal life and ministry but do not want to read a text-heavy book about self-care. The guide addresses seven themes:
Creating a Life Vision
Caring for Yourself at Work
Nurturing Your Relationships
Caring for Your Spirit and Body
Caring for Your Finances
Caring for Your Intellect
Sustaining a Life Vision
Readers may work through one of the 52 sections each week or adopt a more leisurely pace. The guide includes journalwriting suggestions, personal reflection questions and activities, guidance for sharing the discovery process with another person, an activity for the coming week, and suggested further resources, such as novels, videos, and Web sites. Foreword by Roy M. Oswald, Alban Institute Senior Consultant. -
Difficult But Indispensable Church
$19.00Add to cartWhy is it so difficult to be church today? Of course, Christian community is marked by ennobling worship, mutual care, and joyful celebration. But just as often it is marred by staid routine, insularity, and disagreement over leadership, budgets, ethical stances, or even the shape of congregational prayer itself. Alienation, blame, and power struggles ensue. Is church worth it? In this volume of fresh thinking about life in Christian community, twenty-one theologians from Wartburg Seminary strongly attest to Christ-centered community, offering new views of church as the indispensable site of radical Christian commitment and an essential healer for a hurting world. Reflective churchgoers will find here a virtual theological guide to church renewal. In part 1 the authors show how church can model an alternative vision of community, helping people achieve well-being and health, even as their differences are affirmed. Part 2 gets to the heart of Christian practice through creative discussions of belief, fellowship, encounters with Scripture, preaching, and moral deliberation. Part 3 finds the church in motion in new ways of understanding discipleship and mission near and far. Part 4 shows how a Christ-inspired openness can reveal new perspectives on tough issues of public policy, race and class, and ordination of gays and lesbians. Modeling what they espouse, the authors find unanimity in affirming the strengths of diversity, the unsuspected key to church renewal. Contributors include: James L. Bailey, Karen L. Bloomquist, Norma Cook Everist, Roger W. Fjeld, Ann L. Fritschel, Paul Hill, Peter L. Kjeseth, L. Shannon Jung, Duane H. Larson, Elizabeth A. Leeper, David J. Lull, Craig L. Nessan, James R. Nieman, Daniel L. Olson, Winston Persaud, Duane A. Priebe, Ralph W. Quere, David A. Ramse, Gwen B. Sayler, Thomas H. Schattauer, and H. S. Wilson.
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Too Deep For Words
$32.00Add to cartExploring fundamental ways in which verbal expression in worship relates to aesthetic expression, Clayton Schmit provides a vitally important book for all homiletics students and scholars. Worship isn’t just a sequence of “holy” words. Schmit reflects theologically on the relationship between verbal and aesthetic expression and the aesthetic responsibility of those who preach, pray, and lead in public worship.
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Preaching John
$25.00Add to cartThe Gospel of John and 1 John exhibit a peculiar Christian language and thought that need to be understood and employed in the preaching ministry. The preacher’s task involves penetrating the thick and often confusing language of the Gospel and comprehending its frequently paradoxical theology. The preacher can find new and powerful resources for preaching in Johannine language and thought, as well as its use of narrative and discourse. These discoveries facilitate preaching John in ways that are consistent with recent trends in homiletic theory. The method of this book is to combine the practical (how to preach John) with proposals for understanding the Gospel and 1 John. The author offers a variety of sermon ideas and designs throughout each chapter based on numerous passages selected from the Revised Common Lectionary.
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John Wesley On Christian Beliefs
$35.99Add to cartThis is the first volume of The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, transcribed into today’s English. The volumes in this series accurately transcribe Wesley’s eighteenth-century language into a form suitable for today’s readers. Volume 1, 1-20 contains the first twenty sermons, in which Wesley deals with theology. Appropriate for individual and small-group study.
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If It Could Happen Here
$17.99Add to cartIn this informative book, Jeff Patton describes six “levers” for transforming a small-membership church: prayer, discerning a clear vision, indigenous worship, growth groups, membership that means something, and lay pastoring. Filled with solid insights on how the principles Patton has developed can be applied in different contexts, this book will offer hope to all leaders of small-membership congregations who know that there is more to life in Jesus and want to experience it.
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Preaching Is Believing
$28.00Add to cartThis practical handbook will help preachers equip congregations to grasp core Christian convictions so that the community can believe, live, and witness with integrity. Allen encourages preachers from the broad spectrum of theological families to bring their perspectives more boldly to the surface of the sermon. This volume does not so much advocate a special kind of preaching as it commends more conscientious and critical attention to systematic theology throughout the preparation and preaching of all sermons.
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Spiritual Maturity : Preserving Congregational Health And Balance
$19.00Add to cartLike all human bodies, the body of Christ that we call “church” needs to attend to its health or it may become ill. Renowned pastor, preacher, and teacher Frank Thomas believes that many congregations exhibit a number of dysfunctional habits in conducting business that lead to rifts, divides, and even congregational splits. Often they are caused by leadership styles that are ineffective and controling. Thomas examines how poor congregational leadership is often the result of personality conflicts among leaders and how many key leaders–both clergy and lay–participate in keeping unhealthy methods alive. Thomas’s book will help lay and clergy leaders improve the health of their congreagation by taking a close look at the styles of church leadership, methods of information flow, and levels of participation that exist within the body. Thomas offers a holistic solution based on a model of spiritual maturity for creating and preserving a healthy comgregation.
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Pastors Guide To Effective Ministry
$14.99Add to cart12 Chapters
Additional Info
Systematic theology. . . Philosophy of religion. . . Old Testament exegesis. Just about every seminary-trained pastor is educated in these areas. But how about nurturing the congregation? Don’t forget administration of the church and pastoral counseling. And on a more personal note, they must keep their family life in shape, care for their own physical and emotional health, manage their finances, and maintain a pure life and witness.Larry Burkett, Dallas Willard, William Willimon, and Dale Galloway, along with other well-known church leaders, provide solid advice for the personal and professional development of pastors. This book will be a desktop companion for pastors who are in the trenches and facing the day-to-day challenges of ministry.
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New Tools For A New Century
$24.99Add to cartIs your church bewildered by the new technologies? Newell tours the most important options, keeping in mind the financial constraints of small- to medium-sized churches. Sane, careful explanations of how to set up a congregational website, use PowerPoint presentation software, and plenty more.
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Ideas For 52 Great Childrens Sermons And Other Good Stuff
$12.95Add to cartChildren are the future of the church — and pastors are always on the lookout for creative ideas for “children’s time.” Because abstract concepts are so difficult for children (and many adults) to grasp, it’s very important to use simple, concrete methods of illustrating biblical truth. This resource offers a year’s worth of ideas you can expand upon for great messages. Each nugget makes the scriptures understandable to children of all ages — while having some fun in the process. The material also can be used in the home or for story time in Sunday school or day care settings.
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Nurturing Faith In Families
$25.99Add to cartA family crisis is occuring in church-going families. Often church leaders are perplexed about the best way for their congregation to care for their families within their midst and in the community. This book offers 425 creative ideas that pastors, teachers, and other leaders can use to help families grow spiritually and feel more connected to the church.
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Now Bring Your Joy To This Wedding
$14.95Add to cartOne of the important, if often overlooked, tasks of the parish pastor is effective premarital counseling. Since many couples are overwhelmed by the arrangements for their wedding, it can often be difficult to lead them into a realistic and faithful dialogue that prepares them for the long-term implications of the marriage covenant. Developed by an experienced pastoral counselor/marriage therapist along with a parish pastor, Now Bring Your Joy To This Wedding is an excellent premarital resource with a practical, accessible approach to preparing couples for the joys and challenges of marriage. Its field-tested material is structured around four key areas of married life: intimacy, power, security, and freedom/responsibility. The text is addressed to couples in a friendly, conversational tone, and questions, exercises, cartoons, and guidelines stimulate active participation. Each chapter has prayer exercises that reveal God’s grace-filled ways. Two workbooks (one each for the bride and groom) for writing down and sharing responses are also included. Whether the setting is a weekend retreat for a number of couples, individual counseling sessions with a pastor, or even use by a couple themselves, Now Bring Your Joy To This Wedding is sure to help couples grow in all phases of their relationship.
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Grace (Student/Study Guide)
$9.99Add to cartHave you ever felt that you wanted to get closer to God but didn’t derserve even to try? This book explores God’s love for us and how it isn’t something we earn, but something that is; how that love leads us into relationship with God and with others; and how our hearts and lives are changed as we use the gifts God has given us to build community, growing toward perfect love.
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3 Months With Matthew (Student/Study Guide)
$14.99Add to cartAvailable in English for the first time, Three Months with Matthew is popular author Juso Gonzalez’s study of the Gospel of Matthew. Eminently readable, the study uses the see-judge-act method to bring readers closer to the text and to inform and challenge the daily life of the Christian. These thirteen studies can be used for Sunday school, evening Bible study, home study meetings, retreats, or personal Bible study. It can easily be used as a daily Bible study, as each lesson is divided into seven parts.
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Fling Open The Doors
$26.99Add to cartThe temptation to focus only on their own internal problems and issues is powerful for congregations. Without realizing it, even churches that have a long tradition of outreach and social involvement become centered on issues of institutional survival and preservation. Worst of all are congregations that adopt a “fortress mentality,” addressing the larger community rarely, and only in the “language of Zion” when they do. In this book, Paul Nixon paints a picture of what community-based ministry is all about. Drawing on his experiences within a congregation that has seen twenty-five years of increased worship attendance, he lays out practical steps that churches can take to plant themselves firmly within the lives of the communities they serve. Written with an infectious sense of hope, this book will become a critical tool for church leaders seeking to transform their congregations into outward-looking.
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Vanishing Ministry In The 21st Century (Revised)
$18.99Add to cart1. The Mess Of Reality
2. The Devilish Diversion
3. The Company Of The Committed
4. The Road Back
17 PagesAdditional Info
Tom Brokaw labeled them the “Greatest Generation,” and for decades the vision and commitment of the World War II generation have changed the world. Christian ministries have flourished, and the gospel has circled the globe because of the lifelong service of the faithful believers in that generation. But times – and generations have changed. Today’s inheritors of the Great Commission are not signing up for vocations in Christian service at anywhere near the rate of their immediate predecessors. Given this alarming trend – coupled with aggressive evangelization by other world religions – what’s the future of the worldwide movement of the gospel message? In this updated and revised edition, Dr. Kroll provides a careful overview and able assessment of the condition of Christian ministries. He offers a penetrating look at the current state of vocational Christian ministry and the changes we’re making – and not making – around the world. He gives praise for progress made during the last decade and issues a renewed call for ongoing change. -
Congregations In Transition
$26.00Add to cartThis hands-on guide helps congregations meet the reality and challenges of today’s constantly changing urban and suburban church communities. Congregations in Transition, written in an easy-to-follow workbook format, is designed to help communities of faith focus on the changing needs of their members and explore the opportunities and options open to them.
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New Testament Exegesis (Revised)
$32.00Add to cartA favorite among pastors and seminary students for 20 years, Fee’s trusted handbook offers a clear, step-by-step process for interpreting the Greek text—even if you only know English. Newly revised, his indispensable manual provides seasoned guidance for accurate reading and practical help for sermon preparation. Includes an extensive annotated bibliography explaining the best resources
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Why Didnt Noah Swat Both Mosquitos
$13.95Add to cartGod made a few perfect heads, the rest he covered with hair.
Subject: BaldnessA certain church was taking a missionary offering. As the plate was passed to one dour-/aced man, he growled, “I don’t believe in missions.” The usher replied, “Well, then take some out, brother, this offering is for the heathen.”
Subject: OfferingA congregation in Florida installed a sound system on a trial basis. One reaction: “If I had wanted to hear, I would have moved up front.”
Subject: HearingAcross one-half century of Hoover Rupert’s ministry, humor has been a part of his preaching portfolio. This collection includes nearly 300 stories collected by the author that could be used by any preacher.
The stories are listed alphabetically by subject or theme. Themes range from religious to secular. A selection of topics includes: accidents, babies, Bible, complaints, church, Devil, ecumenical, faith, heaven, Jesus, music, offering, prayer, theology, viewpoint, words and others.
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Guide For Godparents
$7.95Add to cartA Guide For Godparents is an aid for pastors who deal with ministering to a parade in our constantly moving parish populations. Often godparents arrive from out of town or state. The parents themselves move more often today than ever before in our society.
With this book you will cover the theological basics of baptism and the spiritual life in a way that is simple and friendly without being simplistic or condescending.
The spiritual basis of the book is suited to the busy couples that the church sees coming for their spiritual nurture and the baptism of their children. The content of this book will not scare off these couples — parents and godparents — returning to their church.
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Gods Game Plan
$12.95Add to cartGod’s Game Plan will add color, warmth, humor, and imagination to any preacher’s message. Its anecdotes can be used by anyone who seeks to interpret more effectively the Good News in our day.
The book includes over 75 sports anecdotes that relate to all age groups. Themes used cover the entire range of athletics from team to individual competition.
Subjects are grouped in nine categories including:
Training
Risking
Losing
Winning
and Witnessing.Author Richard A. Hasler chooses anecdotes Jimmy Carter, John Wooden, Frank Laubach, Martin Marty, and many others. The book includes an extensive scripture index.
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Holy Communion Is
$12.95Add to cartWhat can the busy pastor say that has not already been said before, when the congregation gathers to share the Sacrament of the Altar? What new meanings and insights about this special Meal ought to be imparted before the breaking of the bread and passing of the cup?
R. E. Lybrand, also a busy pastor, has created this useful resource to help you give your congregation thirteen thoughtful snapshots of this always-fresh and sometimes-too-familiar sacrament.
Holy Communion is:
Real Presence
Refreshment
Reconciliation
Reunion
Running No MoreThere are messages enough in this brief resource for each month in the year. A special concluding message is designed for use on First Communion Sunday.
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Penguin Principles : A Survival Manual For Clergy Seeking Maturity In Minis
$12.95Add to cartQuestion: Why is a parish pastor like a penguin?
Answer:
Penguins have a way of looking dignified and ridiculous simultaneously.
Penguins are sensitive to heat.
Penguins have treacherous enemies.
Penguins are relatively defenseless.
Penguins have a homing instinct.
No matter what happens to penguins, they keep their heads high. (from the Authors’ Preface)While the surgeon-general has yet to rule publicly on this matter, the evidence suggests that reading this book could be injurious to the professional health and the personality of those pastors who are without fault; who have never had a parishioner or a denominational official or a seminary professor lay a guilt trip on them; and who find it painful to laugh at themselves.
Lyle E. Schaller
Yokefellow Institute
(from the Foreword)I believe this book will be a balm to veterans in the pastoral office and will help new clergy avoid many of the pitfalls that lie hidden in the path …
Paul A. Weber
President, Ohio District, LCMS -
Shadows To Sunrise
$19.95Add to cartAre you looking for fresh, vibrant material for Holy Week worship? Do you want your congregation to experience the unforgettable drama of Jesus’ suffering, so that they more fully appreciate the celebration and joy of Easter? If so, then you’ll want this anthology that provides several innovative choices for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter sunrise worship. Copying privileges are included for all six segments.
Beyond The Shadows combines communion with gradually extinguished candlelight to create a moving Maundy Thursday tenebrae experience. As each part of the Passion story unfolds, more candles are snuffed out, and the service concludes in total darkness. By reminding us that the Light of the World came to us, yet was engulfed in total darkness as his life slipped away, Beyond The Shadows focuses worshipers’ attention on the coming resurrection, and how that brightness contrasts with the darkness of the crucifixion.
When The Son’s Light Failed is a poignant Good Friday dramatization that imagines the presence at the crucifixion of many women whose lives were profoundly affected by Jesus. The women all share their stories with each other as they witness our Lord’s ultimate sacrifice. It’s a moving portrayal which reminds us that Jesus’ ministry touched the lives of everyone.
The tenebrae service Choices At The Cross explores some of the choices faced by those involved in the events of Christ’s Passion — ones of far greater magnitude than what we often face on a daily basis. Choices At The Cross emphasizes that the most important decision we ultimately face is our response to the question posed by Pilate: “What shall I do, then, with Jesus, who is called Christ?”
Based on John’s account of Christ’s passion, Good Friday Readings, Meditations, And Prayers is a series of seven brief contemplations and prayers that can form the basis for a remarkably effective Good Friday service or be used for personal devotional reading during Lent. Filled with vivid imagery, the meditations make the scriptures come alive while relating them to contemporary life.
Good Friday: I Was There is a stark, gripping Good Friday worship experience which confronts us with the powers of darkness and destruction which were responsible for Christ’s crucifixion. Brief monologues from seven shadowy personae (Doubt, Sorrow, Fear, Shame, Agony, Hate, and Death) dramatically recall how our Lord suffered as he took the sins of humanity upon himself.
Designed as a co
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At The Cross With Jesus
$12.95Add to cartBy combining a compelling sermon series with an insightful group of monologues, At The Cross With Jesus offers flexible, effective resources that will keep the cross central in your congregation’s minds and hearts during Lent. Practical for use in any church, large or small, the material in At The Cross With Jesus is perfect for midweek worship or Holy Week services, and could also be used for a Bible study.
The five moving messages in The Symbols Of The Cross examine Jesus’ final days by focusing on powerful images from the Passion story. Each homily relates these events to our everyday lives by exploring a specific symbol and the human characteristic it exemplifies. There are also directions for creating a searing memory of these symbols by placing visual representations of each image on a wooden cross.
Symbols included are:
* The Palms (a symbol of our fickleness)
* The Money Bag (a symbol of our greed)
* The Towel (a symbol of servanthood)
* The Crown of Thorns (a symbol of mockery)
* The Nails of the Cross (a symbol of suffering)In Five Who Knew Jesus, five persons who were intimately acquainted with Jesus describe their personal relationships with him. Through hearing the perspective of those who played critical roles in Jesus’ life, we are encouraged to look more closely at our own relationships with Christ during the introspective season of Lent. The monologues may be performed in readers’ theater format, but are even more effective if memorized. Few props are required, and costumes are a nice touch but not essential.
Characters represented are:
* John — a hot-tempered man who becomes the disciple of love
* Mary, the mother of Jesus — a woman who suffers a mother’s pain while humbly accepting God’s will
* Peter — an arrogant man who becomes a humble disciple
* Judas — the disciple who failed because he thought he knew best
* Mary Magdalene — a woman of the world who strives to love herself as Jesus loved her -
Life Injections 2
$17.95Add to cartLife Injections II shows how the scriptures can provide help, comfort, and insight into life’s problems. Father Richard Zajac’s heartfelt and thought-provoking messages draw inspiration from many sources, including his extensive hospital experience. Whether you’re interested in striking sermon illustrations, wisdom for coping with difficult circumstances, or just bedside reading with a message of hope and peace, Life Injections II is just what the doctor ordered!
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Let Me Tell You
$12.95Add to cartEven though the sermon is perhaps the central element of Protestant worship, preachers sometimes have difficulty capturing the imagination of their audiences and communicating the spiritual resources that worshipers need. But the messages in David Rogne’s latest book, Let Me Tell You…, provide the living connection that worshipers are hungering for. Rogne makes a further presentation of an autobiographical homiletic style described in his previous CSS release, Telling It Like It Was. Readers will see how the preacher can assume the identity of featured characters, stressing aspects of their spiritual pilgrimages which are relevant for today’s faithful living. Following an introductory chapter in which Rogne briefly touches on issues raised by the characters represented, he presents twelve monologues highlighting the experiences of both biblical and more recent personalities. You’ll meet such fascinating personages as Abraham, Jeremiah, Thomas, Paul, Father Damien, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The monologues depict individuals who persevered through difficulty and emerged with their faith intact.
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Come In And Worship
$12.95Add to cartCome In And Worship offers a complete worship resource for your Holy Week needs, including a festival celebration for Palm Sunday, a Holy Communion service for Maundy Thursday, and a tenebrae service for Good Friday. Each features lengthy scriptural readings supplemented with stirring messages that place worshipers in the emotional turmoil of the passion events. The Palm Sunday ceremony includes a charming children’s story, “The Donkey’s Tale.”
Anyone who has to plan or lead worship will find these services to be a wonderful way of bringing Holy Week to life for congregations. Use them in combination with Bankhead’s other Lenten titles for a complete interrelated seasonal program.
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Shepherd And His Sheep
$12.95Add to cartOne of the most striking representations of Jesus in the scriptures is that of a shepherd. Based on John 10’s statement that He is the Good Shepherd, this series of eight lessons teaches youngsters of Jesus’ unfailing love and care (even to the point of death on the cross). Like all of her previous collections, each children’s message is accompanied by a two-sided activity page — one side that’s a coloring page for younger children, and the other with numerous puzzles and activities to reinforce the lesson’s theme for older children. Bland has a well-earned reputation for biblical faithfulness, creativity, and practicality. Busy pastors and teachers have found her ready-to-use materials just what they need for their children’s time — we know you’ll love her latest release!
