Church Administration
Showing 1–50 of 73 results
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Last Pastor : Faithfully Steering A Closing Church
$32.00Add to cartGail Cafferata was heartbroken when the church she pastored voted to close its doors. It may have been the right decision, but it led to a million questions in her mind about her call, leadership, and future. She began to think that other pastors who close churches perhaps go through this same experience. This led her to obtain a grant from the Louisville Institute to conduct a sociological study of over 130 pastors in five historically established denominations (Episcopal, Lutheran, United Methodist, Presbyterian, and United Church of Christ) who were called to serve churches that closed. This book tells the results of that study, which consisted of many interviews, and the hard-won lessons learned by these courageous pastors.
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Evangelical Theological Method
$28.99Add to cartMethod In Systematic Theology: An Introduction-Stanley E. Porter And Steven M. Studebaker
Codifying God’s Word: Bible Doctrines/Conservative Theology-Sung Wook Chung
Living God’s Love: Missional Theology-John R. Franke
Framers And Painters: Interdisciplinary Theology-Telford C. Work
God In Human Context: Reflection On Theology’s Contextuality And Contextual Theology-Victor Ifeanyi Ezigbo
Confessing The Faith: A Trinitarian Method In Dogmatic Theology-Paul Louis MetzgerResponse To Other Contributors-Sung Wook Chung
Response To Other Contributors-John R. Franke
Response To Other Contributors-Telford C. Work
Response To Other Contributors-Victor Ifeanyi Ezigbo
Response To Other Contributors-Paul Louis MetzgerWhat Have We Learned Regarding Theological Method, And Where Do We Go From Here? Tentative Conclusions-Stanley E. Porter And Steven M. Studebaker
ContributorsAdditional Info
How should one approach the task of theology?The question of methodology is increasingly one of interest among theologians, who recognize that the very manner in which we approach theology informs both the questions we ask and the conclusions we reach. This volume in IVP’s Spectrum Multiview series brings together five evangelical theologians with distinctly different approaches to the theological task: Sung Wook ChungJohn R. FrankeTelford C. WorkVictor Ifeanyi EzigboPaul Louis MetzgerAfter presenting their own approach-which include appeals to Scripture, context, missions, interdisciplinary studies, and dogmatics-they respond to each of the other views. Emerging from this theological conversation is an awareness of our methodological commitments and the benefits that each can bring to the theological task. -
Come Let Us Eat Together
$30.99Add to cartAcknowledgments
Introduction
1. The Supper Of The Lord: Goodness And Grace In 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 (Amy Peeler)
2. Churches And The Politics Of The Sacraments: Rethinking “Unity Of The Church” (D. Zac Niringiye)
3. In Persona Christi: The Catholic Understanding Of The Ordained Priesthood In Relation To The Eucharist (Thomas G. Weinandy)
4. A Way Forward: A Catholic-Anabaptist Ecclesiology (D. Stephen Long)
5. Ascension, Communion, And The Hospitality Of The Priest-King (Cherith Fee Nordling)
6. The Gospel We Share And The Unity We Seek: An Orthodox Contribution (Bradley Nassif)
7. Christ The Ursakrament (Katherine Sonderegger)
8. Visual Ecumenism: The Coy Communion Of Art (Matthew J. Milliner)
9. The Eucharist, The Risen Lord, And The Road To Emmaus: A Road To Deeper Unity? (Matthew Levering)
10. The Eschatological Dimension Of Sacramental Unity: An Orthodox Christian View (Paul L. Gavrilyuk)
11. “For You Have Been Planted Together With Christ”: Sacraments And The Life Of The Church (George Kalantzis)
12. Who Invited The Baptist? The “Sacraments” And Free Church Theology (Marc Cortez)
13. Sacraments And (Dis-)Unity: A Constructive Ecumenical Proposal Toward Healing The Divisions And Facilitating Mutual Recognition (Veli-Matti Karkkainen)
Contributors
Author Index
Subject Index
Scripture IndexAdditional Info
As Christians, we are called to seek the unity of the one body of Christ.But when it comes to the sacraments, the church has often been-and remains-divided. What are we to do? Can we still gather together at the same table?
Based on the lectures from the 2017 Wheaton Theology Conference, this volume brings together the reflections of Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox theologians, who jointly consider what it means to proclaim the unity of the body of Christ in light of the sacraments.
Without avoiding or downplaying the genuine theological and sacramental differences that exist between Christian traditions, what emerges is a thoughtful consideration of what it means to live with the difficult, elusive command to be one as the Father and the Son are one.
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ReMission : Rethinking How Church Leaders Create Movement
$19.99Add to cartA systemic disease is lurking inside the church that is derailing it from what God intended it to be, to know, and to do. That disease is practical ignorance and isolation. If the church is to be healthy and thriving, its members must gain the needed know-how and skillsets to meaningfully engage with their increasingly difficult-to-reach unsaved neighbors, communities, and cultures in productive conversations about the good news of Jesus Christ. In other words, there must be a re-missioning of the body of Christ. Blending honest analysis with innovating principles, ReMission places the onus of change at the feet of today’s leaders. Each chapter of ReMission builds upon the next to practically equip leaders with tried-and-tested solutions that can outwardly mobilize a congregation, small group, or nonprofit ministry, and substantially increase the spiritual vitality of the body of Christ, both locally and globally. ReMission isn’t only focused on developing new “outfrastructure”; its aim is also to breathe new life into God’s kingdom and His chosen leaders who are serious enough to implement the life-changing strategies that are sorely needed.
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Lies Pastors Believe
$12.99Add to cartAll of us are tempted to believe lies about ourselves.
For many pastors, the lies we’re tempted to believe have to do with our identity: that God has called us to lead a movement, that we must sacrifice our home life for our ministry life, or that our image as holy is more important than our actual pursuit of holiness.
In Lies Pastors Believe, pastor and professor Dayton Hartman takes aim at these and other lies he has faced in his own ministry and seen other pastors struggle with. With a winsome and engaging style, Hartman shows current and future pastors why these lies are so tempting, the damage they can do, and how they can be resisted by believing and applying the truth of the gospel.
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United Methodist Church Membership Records Manual 2017-2020
$13.99Add to cartThe task of the church is to reach out to people and receive them in the name of Jesus Christ, to help them relate to God, to nurture and strengthen them in their journey of discipleship, and to send them into the world to live transformed and transforming lives. The United Methodist Membership Records System supports the pastoral concern for persons that is so important to this task. Using the forms and procedures described in this manual will enable your church to maintain excellent membership records, which will be the source of vital information used by pastors, witness ministry chairpersons, evangelism chairpersons, and other church leaders for effective ministries to make disciples. All the forms and procedures are ingredients in the pastoral care of the church. Because The United Methodist Church is a connectional church, we use a consistent approach to record keeping. Using these forms and procedures will help the pastor and staff meet the membership record-keeping and reporting requirements of The Book of Disciple. This manual includes: Background, purpose, and value for keeping membership records for care and outreach FAQs on records required ty The Book of Discipline 2016/li> Tips on how to close gaps in your membership records Sample of each membership record sheet with instructions Available online with purchase of this resource, includes: Searchable PDF of the Manual Templates for membership record sheets* Templates for 8.5″ x 11″ certificates for baptism, confirmation/reception, and membership in English, Korean, and Spanish Templates for additional forms, including Notification of Moved Members, Certificates of Transfer, and Verification of Baptism The United Methodist Financial Records Handbook 2017-2020 was developed by The General Council on Finance and Administration of The United Methodist Church. *Acid-Free archival paper is available from Cokesbury, so you can printout the forms for your permanent records.
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Transcending Mission : The Eclipse Of A Modern Tradition
$40.99Add to cartPrologue
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Enigma Of MissionPart I: Justifying Mission
1. Partisans And Apologists
2. Reading Scripture As Mission
3. Presenting History As Mission
4. Rhetoric And TropePart II: Innovating Mission
5. Holy Conquest
6. Latin Occupation
7. Mission Vow
8. Ignatian MissionPart III: Revising Mission
9. Protestant Reception
10. Missionary ProblemsEpilogue: Toward Pilgrim Witness
Abbreviations
Works CitedAdditional Info
Mission, missions, missional, and all its linguistic variations are part of the expanding vocabulary and rhetoric of the contemporary Christian missionary enterprise. Its language and assumptions are deeply ingrained in the thought and speech of the church today. Christianity is a missionary religion and faithful churches are mission-minded. What’s more, in telling the story of apostles and bishops and monks as missionaries, we think we have grasped the true thread of Christian history. But what about those odd shapes, those unsettling gaps and creases in the historical record? Is the language of mission so clearly evident across the broad reaches of time? Is the trajectory of mission really so explicit from the early church to the present? Or has the modern missionary enterprise distorted our view of the past? As with every reigning paradigm, there comes a point when enough questions surface to beg for a close and critical look, even when it may seem transgressive to do so. In this study of the language of mission-its origin, development, and application-Michael Stroope investigates how the modern church has come to understand, speak of, and engage in the global expansion of Christianity. There is both surprise and hope in this tale. And perhaps the beginnings of a new conversation. -
Pickled Priest And The Perishing Parish
$11.95Add to cartJust as baby boomers comprise the largest generation in America’s history, they also represent the largest percentage of current senior pastors in American churches. Boomer pastors all over the country are struggling to transition from their roots in twentieth-century church culture to ministry and leadership in our challenging twenty-first century–and this transition must take place for traditional churches to be a relevant factor in world redemption.
In The Pickled Priest and the Perishing Parish: Boomer Pastors Bouncing Back, Senior Pastor Hal West, himself a baby boomer, offers essential insights and words of inspiration for pastors, leaders, and Christians who desire to see renewal and transformation in their churches, in America, and in themselves.
The challenges facing traditional churches and the boomer pastors who lead them are many– not the least of which are pastors’ ensconced perspective of their own spiritual formation, theological training, and experience. In his unique, conversational, and at times humorous tone, Pastor Hal West first offers proof through his own -pickled- perspective and then explores, with help from the lessons of biblical prophets like Isaiah and Nehemiah, how boomer pastors can and must bounce back.
Change is challenging, but in our day of cultural conflict, political corruption, and spiritual crisis, change is imperative. It falls to church leaders, regardless of their decades of experience in ministry and leadership, to approach transformation with an open mind and provide guidance, vision, and restoration to their churches and the souls they serve. -
Tactful Advice For Calling Your Next Pastor
$10.99Add to cartA change of pastoral leadership creates a special kind of stress and strain on a congregation. Your church may prefer the more practical starting points, such as appointing a search team, getting assistance from a denomination, shoring up finances, addressing maintenance issues, and developing a quick timeline. Then there are the deeper matters: grief work, sober evaluation of effectiveness, prayer around core reasons for being, attending matters of the heart around communal healing and reconciliation, and authentic conversation about who we are called to be for the sake of the Gospel and the world around us.
Gary Straub articulates the dynamics of the pastoral search process from both sides of the equation. With more than 50 years of ministry experience-including calls to large congregations, interim positions, and coaching of pastoral candidates-Straub integrates practical advice with prayerful counsel. Healthy dialogue helps keep you passionately open to the Holy Spirit. Tactful Advice for Calling Your Next Pastor starts the dialogue and keeps it focused.
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Thriving In The Second Chair
$20.99Add to cartThe number of second chair leaders in churches and other ministries continues to grow rapidly. Churches operate with the leadership of paid and unpaid staff who are not the senior or lead pastor. Laity, licensed local pastors, and program ministry leaders are critical to the health and success of churches. In a new trend, there are far more executive pastors today than ten years ago. The campus pastor, another type of second chair leader, is also a rapidly growing group. Thriving in the Second Chair identifies and explores ten “key factors to thrive” (KFT’s) that determine whether someone truly thrives or barely survives in this vital but complex position. These ten factors are grouped into three sections: (1) the relationship with the first chair, (2) the definition and key meta-skills for the role, and (3) the personal and spiritual attributes that sustain leaders. Each factor is described in a separate chapter that includes the conceptual framework, real-life examples from the author’s own second chair ministry as well as that of many others, and practical steps to move toward thriving. Readers will be encouraged and equipped as they discover the keys to Thriving in the Second Chair.
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Longevity In Leadership
$15.99Add to cartEverybody knows that leading is challenging. Leaders are out front, showing people and organizations new places where they can and should go. They have to inspire people to challenge themselves to do more things or to increase their abilities in order to achieve specific goals.
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Thoughts From My Journey
$9.99Add to cartWith Thoughts from My Journey, Seattle business leader Ralph Palmen has gifted his readers with simple and profound words of wisdom that have a direct bearing on how we can live godly lives. Stemming from an intimate relationship with God and decades of experience and success in the business world, these devotional gems offer practical advice on dynamic Christian living, biblical management, leadership, and organizational development, and how to gain the cultural high ground in order to impact the world for Christ. Ralph Palmen is founder and president of the Palmen Institute, Inc. and co-founder of Express Employment Professionals.
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Vulnerable Pastor : How Human Limitations Empower Our Ministry
$22.99Add to cartForeword
Introduction: God Is An Odd LeaderPart I: Getting Over Ourselves: Vulnerability With God
1. Filled With Emptiness
2. What Makes Us Feel Weak. And What Doesn’t: A Confession
3. Save Me! Vulnerability And Salvation
4. Feeling Exposed: How Vulnerable Pastors Handle Emotions
5. I Need You! How Vulnerable Pastors Pray
6. Letting The Bible Read Us: How Vulnerable Pastors Read The BiblePart II: Being True To Ourselves: Vulnerability Behind The Scenes
7. Learning To Like The Mess: How Vulnerable Pastors Create Culture
8. Changing The Mold: How Vulnerable Pastors Recognize And Develop Leaders
9. Taking Our Own Sweet Time: How Vulnerable Pastors Use Their Time And Energy
10. Thriving For Others: How Vulnerable Pastors Measure SuccessPart III: Practicing In Public: Vulnerability With An Audience
11. Welcome To The Process: How Vulnerable Pastors Teach And Preach
12. The Right Kind Of Desperate: How Vulnerable Pastors Engage With The WorldEpilogue: Unfading Treasure In Jars Of Clay
Discussion Guide
Acknowledgments
NotesAdditional Info
Often pastors feel like we need to project strength and competency in order to minister effectively. That’s why we go to conferences and emulate the latest superstars. But we know we can never live up to those images. Deep down, we know our own limitations, our weaknesses, our faults. We fear that if people knew who we really are, we’d be disqualified from ministry. Not so. Mandy Smith unpacks the biblical paradox that God’s strength is revealed through our human weakness. Transparently describing her pastoral journey, Smith shows how vulnerability shapes ministry, through our spiritual practices and relationships, influencing our preaching, teaching and even the nuts and bolts of the daily schedule. Understanding our human constraints makes our ministry more sustainable and guards us against disillusionment and burnout. We don’t have to have it all together. Recognizing our weakness makes us rely on God, so our weakness can become a ministry resource. God has called you to lead not as a demigod, but as a human, so the world can see that the church is a place for humans like them. -
Focusing Your Church Board
$11.99Add to cartChurch boards are often the scene of confusion, conflict, and chaos. What’s the job of a board? What’s the role of the pastor in relation to the board? Should there be an elder board and an administrative board? Ted Hull’s use of illustrations and analogies bring these questions-and answers-into focus.
Ted first looks at the foundation of governance, both from a biblical and historic perspective. Then he introduces Policy Governance(R), often referred to as the Carver model, and confronts questions regarding whether this secular model can work in the church, or if it should even be allowed. He even argues for why a church board may not want to use Policy Governance.
When you’re done reading, you’ll never look at the role of a church board in the same way again. In fact, whether you’re a member of your church board or the board of any charity, you’ll find yourself reaching for this book more than once.
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Stan Tolers Practical Guide To Hiring Staff
$14.99Add to cartGetting the right staff at the right time can make or break a congregation’s momentum. Drawing from his vast experience as a senior pastor and leader of large organizations, Toler shares the secrets that will make your first hire the right one. Subjects include: casting the vision for staff expansion, funding a new position, communicating vision to staff members, setting staff expectations, interviewing, the first thirty days, and how to be a great boss.
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Chronicles Of A Church Administrator
$13.49Add to cartA practical handbook for ministry leaders and full-time church staff employees charged with doing full-time ministry. The approach is simplistic yet resourceful enough because the ideas are not all theory and personal opinion but concerns servant leadership. Smart administration is smart administration and a solid work ethic is a solid work ethic, independent of context. The Study Guide, Work Section Answers and Some Quick How-Tos are worthy of being carried around daily for reference purposes.
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Help It Still Hurts
$23.99Add to cartWhen the relationship between the pastor and the congregation is good, the hope of the congregation is that the pastor never leaves from serving the church. The reality of the Scripture and life reveals that serving a church forever is not possible. Transition is an inevitable phenomenon.
Cynthia Hinson Graham remembers being sad as a child when her pastor did not return to church after his illness. She recalls, “The church never came together as a family to talk about what happened or how they felt.” Forty years later, the senior pastor at her church announced his retirement, but offered no guidance “for the church family to come together and process their reactions or responses to the impending transition.”
In this study, Hinson Graham examines how a congregation deals spiritually and emotionally with the loss of its long-time pastor, as well as how the exiting pastor should prepare for his or her departure. She focuses on five independent African-American churches, which are significant because they were led by a single senior pastor, rather than by a board of governance or denominational order.
During her research, Hinson Graham explored the answers to four core questions: What were the spiritual and emotional responses to the transition of a long-term pastor? How were congregants able to express these feelings? What mindsets were most common when faced with the transition? And what, if any, processes were followed to ease the transition for the church body?
The author acknowledges the logical concern with the reasons for the current pastor’s departure and the uncertainty concerning the incoming pastor, but these are before and after issues. The emotional and spiritual well-being of church members during the transition, however, is of concern here. In a clear and approachable voice, Hinson Graham cites extensive biblical precedents for managing such matters.
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Ideal Class Book
$4.99Add to cartIt is important to keep accurate records, and this class book for 75-member classes helps with this task. This book enables one to record attendance for a full year with each student’s address, phone number, birthday, church relationship, and additional class sessions. Available individually or in packages of six.
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Ideal Class Book
$3.99Add to cartIt is important to keep accurate records, and this class book for 25-member classes helps with this task. This book enables one to record attendance for a full year with each student’s address, phone number, birthday, church relationship, and additional class sessions. Available individually or in packages of six.
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Effective Staffing For Vital Churches (Reprinted)
$19.00Add to cartWell-staffed churches grow. But how do churches staff for growth in these rapidly changing times when budgets are tight, mission opportunities abound, and there is a growing shortage of qualified pastors, staff members, and church leaders? Two veteran pastors and church growth consultants offer workable solutions that focus on the four core processes vital to church health and growth: bringing people to Christ and the church, retaining them, discipling them, and sending them back out into the world. They also show pastors how to navigate the leadership transitions they must make to become increasingly effective as the church grows. Pastors will learn how to be leaders who multiply leaders and develop a mission-minded staff that does the same. Foreward by Ed Stetzer.
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Church Planting For Reproduction
$16.49Add to cartThe task of church planting requires the wisdom of a practitioner and the logic of a strategist. With his years of experience planting churches, and his extensive research on the subject, the author displays these two requisites on every page of his fruitful study.
“As a missionary and missiologist,” writes J. Ronald Blue of Dallas Theological Seminary, “the author gives a new perspective to church planting that extends beyond the immediate and sometimes shallow goal of a newly installed fellowship of believers. This book will be an invaluable aid to church planters and missionaries. This is a church planting guide that puts it all together.”
The author emphasizes that the primary goal of missions constitutes planting churches, which in turn are able to reproduce themselves. By using the proven management method Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT), the author outlines each step needed to accomplish that goal. Over sixty charts illustrate his principles and directives.
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Church Administration And Management
$34.99Add to cart* Achieving excellence in church management * Vital information on proper, ethical conduct for God’s servants * Clear information on achieving the frugal use of resources * A valuable and timely resume of the full-time ministry * Takes you beyond mediocrity in church administration One night while studying in a remove town of Ghana, God miraculously anointed Dag Heward-Mills as he waited upon the Lord. He supernaturally heard the words, “From now on you can teach…” This supernatural call is what has ushered him into a worldwide ministry. Today, his Healing Jesus Crusades are conducted throughout the world with thousands in attendance and many accompanying miracles. These phenomenal miracles, attested to by medical doctors have included the opening of the eyes of the blind, the restoring of hearing to the deaf, the emptying of wheel chairs and even the raising of the dead. Dag Heward-Mills, an author of several bestselling books also founded the Lighthouse Chapel International has become a worldwide denomination. His radio, TV and internet programs reach millions around the world.
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Crucified Church : Leading Your Church Through Death & Rebirth
$15.99Add to cartWarning: The Church is Dying…and She Should! The Church is losing ground in America. In The Crucified Church: Leading Your Church through Death & Rebirth, seasoned pastor and church planting expert, Joel Rissinger insightfully and candidly shows that revival or renewal of an impotent, biblically deprived church are simply not enough. With great love for the Bride of Christ, Rissinger shows why the death of a church is often its biblical pathway to life. In The Crucified Church! you will be equipped to: * Explore the biblical foundation for church death and rebirth * Crucify unbiblical doctrine, to ensure our gospel is everything Jesus is, was, taught, lived, did, and will do in the future. * Crucify church structure, to ensure our churches are led more as a theocracy than a democracy. * Crucify church vision, to ensure it is based on the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. * Crucify missions, to ensure they center on church planting and multiplication. And much more!
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Foundations Of Church Administration
$34.99Add to cartChurch leadership is a demanding and challenging role. There are many responsibilities involved in leading a church, which can be difficult to maneuver without the proper tools and resources.
Written with Bible-based truths and helpful insights, Foundations of Church Administration is both an exploration of those responsibilities and a practical guide to navigating through them. Each chapter is authored by a notable expert in the field who, with sound experience and effective steps, helps church leaders efficiently succeed in the many facets of their responsibilities.
In this honest exploration, church leaders will find a new perspective on church administration that will help them dig deeper and develop a long-lasting and effective practice of leading and administrating a church.
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Many Parts One Body
$28.95Add to cartProperty issues will be major topic of debate at 2009 Episcopal General Convention
Clear, concise information on the legal structure and governance of the Episcopal Church
Debunks misinformation about Episcopal governance promulgated on conservative blogs and publications
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Fly In The Ointment
$25.95Add to cartAn ecumenical resource that helps churches and church leaders begin to think about how to transform themselves into vital, flourishing organizations-transformation that requires deep, systemic change on the part of the bodies that are meant to help congregations live into their mission in the world.
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Reverse Mentoring : How Young Leaders Can Transform The Church And Why We S
$24.95Add to cartEarl Creps is known for his work in connecting the younger generation of postmoderns with their Boomer predecessors. The author of Off-Road Disciplines, Creps, in this new book, takes up the topic of how older church leaders can learn from younger leaders who are more conversant with culture, technology, and social context. In addition to making the benefits of what he calls “reverse mentoring” apparent, he also makes it accessible by offering practical steps to implement this discipline at both personal and organizational levels, particularly in communication, evangelism, and leadership.
Creps’ new book is a topic of interest both inside and outside the church as older leaders realize that they’re not “getting it” when it comes to technologies (iPod, IM, blogging) or cultural issues such as the fact that younger people see the world in an entirely different way. Creps has been personally involved in reverse mentoring for several years and has spoken and written on the subject extensively. He has pastored three churches (one Boomer, one Builder, on X’er) and is currently a church planter in Berkeley, California. He has also served as a consultant and and a seminary professor and administrator, holding a PhD in Communication Studies and a D.Min. from the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. -
Leadership Handbook Of Management And Administration (Revised)
$33.00Add to cartThis substantial resource offers pastors and church leaders practical insight into the daily issues of running a church. Conceived and compiled by the editors of Leadership journal, this book covers the full spectrum of ministry practice. Readers will learn about perennial topics such as time management, negotiating the terms of a call, handling crisis and conflict, hiring and managing staff, conducting special fund drives, spending church money, and dealing with tax and law considerations.
This revised and expanded edition of a proven ministry resource contains new contributions from prominent ministry leaders. Contributors include Leith Anderson, Rick Warren, Brian McLaren, Luis Palau, John Ortberg, Aubrey Malphurs, and many others.
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When Moses Meets Aaron
$34.00Add to cartWith the number of large congregations rising in the U.S., these congregations are increasingly dependent upon a greater number of staff to meet the needs of their diverse collection of members. As leaders of multi-staff teams, senior clergy must play the dual role of both Moses and Aaron-both visionary and detail-oriented leader-in order for their large congregations to thrive. They need to be skilled with the tools of human resource management, while at the same time setting a vision and inspiring both staff and congregation.
Unfortunately, until now there have been few resources for senior clergy who lead multi-staff teams. Working without adequate models and tools, senior clergy of large congregations often find themselves with passionate, dedicated staff members who are moving in different directions, competing over limited resources and attention. They end up with questions of how to evaluate the performance of staff and direct their efforts. They find themselves using time, attention, and resources to care for staff rather than using staff as a resource to care for the mission of the congregation.
Alban senior consultants Susan Beaumont and Gil Rendle have developed When Moses Meets Aaron to help clergy responsible for several-member staff teams navigate these unknown waters. They have taken the best of corporate human resource tools and immersed them in a congregational context, providing a comprehensive manual for supervising, motivating, and coordinating staff teams. Rendle and Beaumont give both detailed and big picture guidance on hiring, job descriptions, supervision, performance evaluation, staff-team design, difficult staff behavior, and more. Their combined experience in consulting and training with staff and leaders of large congregations proves invaluable in this manual for today’s leadership demands.
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Beyond The First Visit (Reprinted)
$20.00Add to cartA complete guide to new member assimilation-the best ways to invite, greet, and follow-up on guests to a church.
Does your church put out the “Welcome” mat or the “Do not disturb” sign?
We all like to think that our church is the friendliest one in town. But do visitors see it that way? Church consultant Gary L. McIntosh invites you to take another look at your church through the eyes of a first-time guest to identify the things that might be holding them back from a second visit.This very practical book offers sound advice on assessing and improving the ways in which your church attracts people, welcomes them, does follow-up, and brings them into the church family. More than simply offering mere techniques, it gives suggestions for making a welcoming attitude part of the very fabric of your church.
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Ministry Staff Member
$19.99Add to cartThis comprehensive resource provides counsel and direction for associate staff members. It can be used to train new staff members, for orientation with seminary interns, for in-service training in church staff meetings, or as a reference tool to consult if facing staff tensions and challenges. Topics covered include knowing your job, embracing your role as a servant leader, serving responsibly, getting along with others, living a balanced life, and avoiding things that get in the way.
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Basic Business Principles For Growing Churches
$10.95Add to cartPastors are schooled in theology and ministry, but few receive training in the fine points of church administration. Learning how to handle a congregation’s finances “on the job” can be a harrowing experience. Yet efficiently managing your church’s business affairs is a key element in keeping current members satisfied with their pastoral leadership — and in attracting the new members you need for your church to grow in size and influence.
In Basic Business Principles For Growing Churches, Arnold Cirtin shares expertise gained from more than four decades of corporate and academic experience. He provides a clear and helpful primer for pastors with limited training in business administration on such practical topics as accounting, fiscal management, and marketing.
This is an indispensable book for pastors of small- and medium-sized churches (who typically are also their congregations’ principal financial officers), as well as for church treasurers, trustees, and other financial board members. When you follow the guidelines in Basic Business Principles For Growing Churches, your church will be fiscally responsible, managed efficiently, and able to maximize its growing stewardship of God’s resources.
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Great Giveaway : Reclaiming The Mission Of The Church (Reprinted)
$22.00Add to cartHas the North American church relinquished her God-given mission to parachurch organizations, psychotherapy, and consumer capitalism? Warning that postmodern evangelicals are increasingly modeling their ministries after secular sciences and “farming out” church functions in the name of efficiency, Fitch challenges believers to reclaim the lost practices of evangelism, physical healing, and spiritual formation.
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So Youre On The Search Committee (Revised)
$13.00Add to cartSo You’re on the Search Committee focuses on the experience of pastoral search committees and the unique role that laity in most denominations play in this crucial process. Because a change of pastors is, as Alban Institute founder Loren Mead puts it, a “critical moment of ministry,” participation as a member of a search committee is a big investment with tremendous rewards, both for the congregation as well as for the individual.
Authors Ketcham and Hahn find that the pastoral search process presents both search committee members and the congregation as a whole with limitless opportunities for growth and faith development. They offer insightful reflections on the deeper issues of congregational identity and transformation that search committees will find themselves wrestling with, as well as raise warnings about some of the obstacles committee members can expect to encounter in the search process.
So You’re on the Search Committee began as a conversation between Celia Allison Hahn, former editor-in-chief at the Alban Institute, and Bunty Ketcham, a consultant with considerable experience serving on search committees. First published in 1985, this new edition retains the original book’s interview format and includes significant updates and revisions based on new learnings and experiences with congregations going through pastoral transition.
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Leading Leaders : Empowering Church Boards For Ministry Excellence (Reprinted)
$20.00Add to cartThe key to effective leadership in the vast majority of today’s churches lies as much with their governing boards as it does with their pastor. But many churches are lead by those who volunteer to chair committees because there is a need, yet they have no leadership training to speak of. How well-meaning but sometimes ill-prepared lay people guide the path of a church body? The secret lies in offering effective, practical training. Leadership expert Aubrey Malphurs provides this in Leading Leaders. Filling a gaping hole in leadership literature, Malphurs offers workable strategies to train laypeople to successfully lead their churches.
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Change Of Pastors (Revised)
$23.00Add to cartRevised Edition Of Critical Moment Of Ministry: Change Of Pastors
Twenty years after Critical Moment of Ministry was first published, Loren Mead returns to his groundbreaking work on one of the most important times in a congregation’s life-the time between one pastor’s leaving and another’s arrival. In this revised edition, A Change of Pastors, Mead shares the wisdom he gained from 35 years of studying congregations, wisdom that he hopes will allow congregations to take full advantage of this “extraordinarily pregnant moment” during which incredible congregational change can happen.With the voice of an old friend and trusted counselor, Mead leads his readers through the challenges of forming committees, negotiating denominational relations, and managing the search process. He describes in detail the seven sequential steps congregations ought to take to ensure a smooth transition: termination, direction finding, self-study, search, decision/negotiation, installation, and start-up. Additionally, Mead devotes a chapter to nonsequential developmental tasks, tasks that should take place throughout the transition and into the congregation’s future: coming to terms with the past, discovering a new identity, allowing for needed leadership changes, rediscovering the denomination, and commitment to new directions in ministry. Performing these developmental tasks in concert with the seven sequential steps allows congregations to take full advantage of this fertile time for change in the congregation, this “critical moment of ministry.”
A revised text and introduction, an updated bibliography, and a new preface and afterword make A Change of Pastors crucial for any congregation undergoing or about to undergo a change of pastors. In the midst of this transition, there is no doubt that your congregation will find a new pastor. But this book will help you to do more than merely find a hired hand to manage the preaching and the worship. You will discover what God wants you to be and do. You will find a new commitment to ministry. And you will find the pastor who will help make that ministry happen.
Loren B. Mead is president emeritus of the Alban Institute, which he founded in 1974. Since his retirement in 1993, he has continued to consult with congregations, lecture, and write. He has written many books, including The Once and Future Church: Reinventing the Church for a New Mission Frontier (Alban, 1991).
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Work Of The Church Trustee
$15.99Add to cart1. Who Make The Best Trustees?
2. It’s A Big Job
3. Your Board Should Be The Best
4. The Money In Your Hand
5. Buried Treasure For The Kingdom
6. Working With The Professional Team
7. Trustees In A Changing World
8. You Learn Through Others
9. Trustees Are Ministers, Too
AppendixesAdditional Info
There is more to serving as a trustee than counting money or arranging to repair the church plumbing! Beginning with the biblical and theological basis of service, Orlando Tibbetts has prepared a very comprehensive guide to deepen and broaden the trustee’s sense of ministry and mission in his/her service to the church. An excellent tool for new or experienced board members, this book covers every facet of the trustee’s responsibility as a steward of the community’s concerns and as a servant of the Lord. It is both practical and inspiring. -
Evaluating The Church Growth Movement
$26.99Add to cart“The church growth movement (CGM) has stirred debate ever since it was first introduced by Donald McGavran in the 1960s. By the 1980s it attracted enough attention to merit the publication of around 580 church growth books. Many churches experienced significant growth applying these principles. But during the 1990s critics questioned the movement and its theological underpinnings. Nevertheless, interest in the movement continues in the 21st century. It’s a movement that can’t be ignored. This Counterpoints Church Life book presents five viewpoints on the CGM from national church leaders from a diverse denominational, theological, and geographical representation. The five perspectives include: * Effective evangelism view: Church growth effectively confronts the culture (Elmer Towns) * Gospel in our culture view: Church growth does not effectively engage the culture (Craig Van Gelder) * Centrist view: Church growth has been culturally insightful but theologically superficial (Charles Van Engen) * Reformist view: Church growth has not developed a balanced intertwining of theological reflection, cultural analysis, historical perspective, and practical strategy (Gailyn Van Rheenan) * Renewal view: Church growth must come from the inside out being a community of faith focusing on kingdom issues (Howard Snyder) Not only do the five main contributors respond to each other’s positions, but another chapter gives the responses and views of three nationally known pastors for whom church growth is not an academic discipline but a matter of hands-on daily involvement. The book intends to make a valuable contribution to the church by bringing together conflicting views so all perspectives are heard and readers can make their own informed conclusions. The book’s introduction by Gary McIntosh shows why this is a movement that can’t be ignored. He gives a helpful brief overview of the history of this movement that celebrates its fiftieth anniversary in 2005. Each chapter includes discussion questions enabling readers to use this book in small group and classroom settings.”
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Who Runs The Church
$24.99Add to cart“Many Protestants, individually and denominationally, are divided by differences regarding the form of church government. While these differences are not necessarily as divisive as theological and doctrinal issues, they are significant to churches and church leaders and affect the way Christians do God’s work. This book in the highly acclaimed Counterpoints series offers insights and contrasts into four kinds of church government: (1) episcopalianism (hierarchical, with priests, bishops, and archbishops), (2) presbyterianism (a representative form at multiple levels-church, classis/presbytery, synod/general assembly), (3) single-elder congregationalism (pastor-led local autonomy), and (4) plural-elder congregationalism (another form of local autonomy). Each form of government is explored through (1) description, (2) historical development, (3) hermeneutical assumptions, (4) biblical and theological foundations, (5) an understanding of the nature, number, and relationship of church officers, (6) the practical implications. The contributors are Peter Toon of the Anglican Church (episcopalianism), L. Roy Taylor of the Presbyterian Church in America (presbyterianism), Paige Patterson of the Southern Baptist Convention (single-elder congregationalism), and Samuel E. Waldron of the Reformed Baptist Church (plural-elder congregationalism).” EDITOR: Cowan, Steven B.
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Making Disciples Making Leaders
$27.00Add to cartThis book offers a model for selecting and training church officers that is grounded in spiritual discernment and development. The book begins with a biblical understanding of leadership, moves into consideration for how to train a Nominating Committee to select leaders according to the biblical vision, and then offers a step-by-step plan for a training event with three components. The training plan is designed to build up the church leaders spiritually and to set their work in the context of discipleship, as well as to teach them some of the fundamentals of the rules of governance of their denomination. The book ends with concrete suggestions for how future work of the church board can be structured to reflect the emphases highlighted in the training session.
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Bivocational Pastor : Two Jobs One Ministry
$15.99Add to cartSucceed in bi-vocational ministry. Bi-vocational ministers face unique challenges. Often times, you are called to lead smaller churches with few resources, many of which have plateaued or are in decline is looked at by some as a “second-class” ministry performed by people who do not have the opportunity to serve a larger church. Along with your family and church responsibilities, your second job also requires a large amount of time each week.
But you have a special calling, as both of your jobs can provide opportunities for ministry. In his new book, Dennis Bickers provides solid advice to help you succeed in bi-vocational ministry. You’ll learn how to:
*Manage time wisely
*Define success on your own terms
*Develop a vision for your church
*Maintain a passion for the ministry
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Choosing Church
$50.00Add to cartWidely known theological educator and sociologist Carol Lytch presents this well-researched study of what attracts teenagers to the church and what keeps them there. The cogent research includes interviews of a number of teenagers and their parents from mainline Protestant, evangelical, and Roman Catholic congregations. Groundbreaking and fascinating, Choosing Church ultimately serves as a highly useful description of the most effective ways that congregations and parents can foster faith in early teenagers that will help them value the church as a place to obtain identity, belonging, and growth.
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Ushers In Ministry
$13.49Add to cartBiblical Perspectives and Personal Reflections for Ushers, Greeters, and Lay Ministry These writings are not simply lists of ironclad duties and actions that need to be taken by ushers or those in lay ministry. Rather, they are a product of biblical understandings and personal reflections of the author, having evolved from hundreds of hours of consideration and experiences on the essentials of what would make the ministry of ushering more effective. Anyone engaged in the ministry of ushering or greeting should find much of value in these writings, as one will be exposed to biblical perspectives regarding these ministries. Overseers of these ministries should find their workload lightened by using these writings as a framework for providing direction to those who are so serving, since time for meetings and training sessions is always in short supply. Any of these essays may also be used effectively in group discussions and should result in a higher level of attainment.
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Pastors Guide To Growing A Christlike Church
$14.99Add to cartIn The pastor’s Guide To Growing A Christlike Church, you’ll discover the keys to creating a vibrant, biblical, spiritually healthy church. William Willimon, Kennon Callahan, George Hunter III, and other well-known church leaders will teach you how to:
*Develop servant leaders among the laity
*Get laity involved in serving the community
*Nurture healthy spirituality in the church
*Develop authentic Christian community and fellowship
*Plan worship services that bind church members together
*Cast a vision for the future of the church
*And much more! -
Getting The Word Out
$32.00Add to cartHigh quality publications and public relations will enhance a congregation’s overall ministry by promoting strong stewardship, effective evangelism, and exciting parish education. Getting the Word Out provides all the tools congregations need to create attention-grabbing, informative, and inspiring communications.
Frederick H. Gonnerman shows readers how to assess their audience and the competition for the audience’s attention; identify a publication’s purpose; and create useful, readable, and attractive publications-whether print or online, for the congregation or a broader community. One chapter deals with the role of publications in the celebration of special events.
Approaching the parish communications task as a team effort-one that might include pastors; a volunteer or paid editor; and secretaries, other paid staff, and lay leaders-Gonnerman shares the experience and expertise of professional journalists, graphic designers and artists, photographers, and public relations personnel. Getting the Word Out will teach every member of the team how to produce the most effective and highest quality publications possible. Foreword by Martin E. Marty.
