Church Life
Showing 351–400 of 857 resultsSorted by latest
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Staying Alive : Why The Conventional Wisdom About Traditional Churches Is W
$14.99Add to cartLucas Park Books
The conventional wisdom says it’s not possible to thrive today as a traditional congregation whether “traditional” means worship style or program structure. Staying Alive takes readers on a journey across America to look for best practices of thriving traditional congregations. -
Healthy Community : Moving Your Church Beyond Tunnel Vision
$15.99Add to cartChurches in America are dying. It s a sad reality, but statistics show that some 3,000 churches close their doors permanently every year. What does it take for a church today to remain healthy? How can pastors lead their churches into the future as strong, thriving communities?
In The Healthy Community, church leaders will be able to diagnose the problems that may exist in their own church and understand what it looks like when a church is lacking healthy essentials such as a doctrinal statement, grace, a mission, pastoral leadership, and discipled believers.
This book is an important first step for pastors who want to lead their churches towards health, and avoid becoming another statistic.
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Missional House Churches
$26.99Add to cartMissional House Churches examines the impact and effect that house churches are having in the United States in evangelizing, discipling, and church planting in local communities. Based on the author’s first-hand research and interviews with over thirty missional house churches as well as his own experiences, this insightful work offers an inside look at, and analysis of the workings of the missional house church.
Topics addressed include the recent growth in the popularity of house churches in the United States, what defines church, various characteristics of the house churches, methods of evangelism and leadership development which lead to growth, use of financial resources for missions and benevolence, future of house churches in North America and the relationship of church planting movements and house churches. The appendices describe the research methodology and surveys used in the study as well as characteristics of church planting movements.
This book will be of interest to church leaders, mission-minded thinkers, and students who wish to explore, understand, and participate in this phenomenon of the missional house church movement.
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Cultivating Sent Communities
$33.99Add to cartHow can pastors help to create missional faith communities that are willing to participate in God’s healing of the world? Cultivating Sent Communities reimagines spiritual formation through the lens of mission, covering such topics as the role of Scripture, congregational discernment, and short-term missions and drawing on case studies from diverse contexts including Ethiopia, England, Leipzig, and San Francisco. Full of rich practical, theological, and sociological insights into forming missional churches, this fourth volume in the Missional Church Series calls readers to deepen the core practices that have defined Christians for centuries — and to reclaim them within the context of cultural adaptation and innovation.
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Stop The Churchs Revolving Door
$30.99Add to cartDoes your church have a revolving door? Most churches do not have a ministry to establish and maintain authentic personal relationships with inactive members, visitors, or prospective members. Before implementing this ministry, one church failed to stay relationally connected to its members. Is your church suffering from the same dilemma?
This new ministry empowered churches toward improving its church health, increasing service opportunities for laypeople, and establishing stronger personal relationships. It is possible in your church, too! This book provides a guide toward implementing this crucial ministry in your church. It is time to stop your church’s revolving door!
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Stop The Churchs Revolving Door
$13.99Add to cartDoes your church have a revolving door? Most churches do not have a ministry to establish and maintain authentic personal relationships with inactive members, visitors, or prospective members. Before implementing this ministry, one church failed to stay relationally connected to its members. Is your church suffering from the same dilemma?
This new ministry empowered churches toward improving its church health, increasing service opportunities for laypeople, and establishing stronger personal relationships. It is possible in your church, too! This book provides a guide toward implementing this crucial ministry in your church. It is time to stop your church’s revolving door!
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Kingdom At War
$18.99Add to cartThe Kingdom at War is a prophetic view of the structure and power of the Church that will be given authority to overcome the enemy and see the establishment of the Kingdom of God in the last days. The book concentrates on establishing a “city church” that will reap the harvest, extend the Kingdom of God, overcome the kingdom of darkness, and bring glory to the King. Using prophetic Scriptures from the Old Testament, the author applies them to the New and the present Church, presenting a comprehensive picture of the glorious possibilities for today’s Church.
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Widening The Circle
$14.99Add to cartForeword
Introduction
First Wave (1950s And ’60s)
Second Wave (1970s And ’80s)
Third Wave (1990s To Present)Additional Info
In the last half-century, a growing number of North Americans have been smitten with an Anabaptist-Mennonite vision of church and mission. Often coming from outside the Mennonite mainstream, they’ve formed communities with others of like mind and sought to live out their radical faith. But in the process, they often bump up against the institutional church that has housed the radical vision for generations. The stories and reflections offered in Widening the Circle explore that creative tension. The result is a rich showcase of Jesus-centered discipleship-windows into what the future church can look like.Contributing authors are Vincent Harding, Rosemarie Freeney Harding, Rachel Elizabeth Harding, Sally Schreiner Youngquist, Celina Varela, Regina Shands Stoltzfus, Hedy Sawadsky, AndrA(C) Gingerich Stoner, Peter Sprunger-Froese, Mary Sprunger-Froese, Dawn Longenecker, Tim Nafziger, James Nelson Gingerich, Sarah Thompson, Bert Newton, Mark Van Steenwyk, Andrea Ferich, Seth McCoy, Jamie Arpin-Ricci, Anton Flores-Maisonet, Calenthia S. Dowdy, Jesce Walz.
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Vision For The Aging Church
$28.99Add to cartJames M. Houston and Michael Parker believe now is the time for the church to offer ministry to its increasing numbers of seniors and to benefit from ministry they can offer. They issue an urgent call to reconceive the place and part of the elderly in the local congregation, showing that seniors aren’t the problem–they are the solution.
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Going Deep : Becoming A Person Of Influence
$19.99Add to cartThe future of the Christian faith will not be determined by the number of people who fill the pews but by the spiritual depth of those people.
Pastor Gordon MacDonald revisits the fictional New England congregation of his critically acclaimed book Who Stole My Church to deal with a new dilemma: What’s his church’s story? What is it doing that justifies its existence? The importance of these questions is anything but fiction. Through a series of e-mails and discussions with friends and parishioners, Pastor Gordon’s search for their story leads him to realize that the future of the Christian faith, and thus the church, is at risk.
As MacDonald says, “We seem to know how to get unchurched people to visit our buildings. We even seem to know how to draw them across the line into a declaration of personal faith in Jesus. But what we do not seem to know is how to cultivate spiritually deep people. Tomorrow’s church could be headed for trouble.” Deep people. People who possess spiritual awareness and maturity, people with solid, grounded, life-altering faith. MacDonald shows that the church needs people with a passion for God’s presence and a desperate hunger to seek him above all things.
Join Pastor MacDonald and his congregation on their quest to cultivate spiritual depth and grow into a community of believers whose hearts and minds are truly focused on God.
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Why Men Hate Going To Church (Revised)
$18.99Add to cartReveals why men are the world’s largest unreached people group and what to do about it.
It’s Sunday morning. Where are all the men? Golfing? Playing softball? Watching the tube? Mowing the lawn? Sleeping? One place you won’t find them is in church. Less than 40 percent of adults in most churches are men, and 20 to 25 percent of married churchgoing women attend without their husbands. And why are the men who do go to church so bored? Why won’t they let God change their hearts? David Murrow’s groundbreaking book has been completely revised and updated, with eye-opening research and a persuasive grasp on the facts, to explain the problem and offer hope and encouragement to women, pastors, and men. Why Men Hate Going to Church does not call men back to the church-it calls the church back to men.
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To Life : Rediscovering Biblical Church
$14.99Add to cartAre you satisfied with your Christian life or do you get the feeling that something is missing, but you’re not sure what it is? Have you ever asked the question, where does the World end and the Church begin? Is the 21st Century Church truly the best it could possibly be? Are there forgotten places that we should be revisiting?
Dare we believe that we could return to the Biblical Church of the first apostles?
Some say we can’t, others have tried and failed. This author believes it’s worth trying again because it’s all a question of mindsets and this book will explain why, with the wit, wisdom and wonder that is the trademark of Steve Maltz’s writing.
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How The Church Lost The Truth
$14.99Add to cartIt should have been so simple. There was the Bible, God’s authoritative and complete word for mankind. His gift to us. One volume of sixty six books in all, from “In the beginning” to “amen”. One basic message. Choose Life, He said. So what did we do? We chose … denominations, 38,000 of them. One book, thousands of interpretations.
Snake handlers in Kansas, Prosperity teachers in Washington, Liberationists in El Salvador, Gay Bishops in New Hampshire, New Age rectors in London. They all claim the Bible as their inspiration and rulebook. Once this book is opened, why is it that folk seem to see different things? One book, one message, one Babel. How come? Where can the Truth be found or has the Church lost The Truth?
This explosive book tells the whole sad story of what actually happened to the Church over the last two thousand years and how it managed to lose its focus and take on so many ideas from Greek philosophy that Christianity has just become a melting point of truth mixed up with very strange ideas.
If Jesus were to return today, which Church – if any – could He call his own?
In this challenging, provocative but entertaining book the author examines what has happened to some key battlegrounds for Truth and asks, where did those ideas come from?
*How did God kick things off?
*How does He deal with His covenant people?
*Who does He let into heaven?
*What is Hell really like?
*How is He really going to wrap things up?Some of the answers will astound you and you may also be prompted to ask the question, how has the Church managed to lose so much Truth?
Prepare to be challenged to the very core of your faith.
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Think Christianly : Looking At The Intersection Of Faith And Culture
$26.99Add to cartThink Christianly is about seizing the opportunities we have every day to speak the life Jesus offers into our culture. Tragically, many such opportunities pass us by unclaimed—either because we don’t notice them or we have not prepared ourselves to enter into them. And those around us seem to grow increasingly unwilling to hear anything the church has to say.
Jonathan Morrow helps church leaders envision and implement ways for their congregations to ‘think Christianly’ about contemporary questions and to speak in informed, engaging ways. Morrow explores many of the important issues that Christians often hear raised with regard to faith—questions about who Jesus was, the good and bad of religion, pain and evil in the world, the reliability of the Bible, sexuality and intimate relationships, and hope for change, among others.The life and faith issues that Think Christianly addresses lead to cultural moments where Christianity and contemporary culture intersect. This book will help churches take vital steps toward cultivating compassion and competence in speaking faithfully to a questioning world.
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Dead Church Walking
$24.99Add to cartMost everyone recognizes that the traditional Western way of doing church is in deep trouble and has been struggling for years to survive. While the successful rise of some new, non-traditional churches often take the sting out of the demise of the average church, the truth is that God still can renew congregations that have a rich history but are struggling to adjust in today’s postmodern culture.
In his new book, Dead Church Walking, author Jimmy Dorrell offers both Biblical and social principles with clear suggestions for congregations willing to significantly change to become a body of believers that proclaims God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. While there are no easy fixes, this book addresses underlying symptoms of broken models that often perpetuate terminal illness stopping the church from doing God’s work on earth.
Dorrell says our churches don’t need new missions statements or re-structuring but a fresh wind of God’s spirit. We don’t need charismatic leaders but compassionate, Christ centered leaders. He shows us how to embrace change, overcome the obstacles to change, and focus on kingdom growth instead of church growth. This book is hopeful and encouraging, bringing fresh ideas to ignite the fire of churches and put them on the road to recovery.
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Masters Plan : A Strategy For Making Disciples
$13.99Add to cart1. The Vision Of The Father
2. The Cali Story
3. What Is The Master’s Plan?
4. The Encounter Weekend Retreat
5. The Courses And Classes Of The Master’s Plan
6. Basic Principles Of Disciple-Making
7. The Two Types Of Small Groups In The Master’s Plan
8. The Journey Of “Joe Unbeliever” To “Joe Disciple-Maker”
9. The Next Steps
10. What God Is Doing In The Church Of The Nazarene Through The Master’s Plan In North AmericaAdditional Info
Pray. Disciple. Repeat.God has a vision, plan, and design for our lives and ministries. It is greater than we could ever imagine. By discovering and pursuing his design, we find our greatest joy and fulfillment. Fortunately, Jesus has already told us our mission: to partner with God and make disciples in all the nations.
In The Master’s Plan, Craig Wesley Rench unpacks a disciple-making strategy currently being used around the world. Learn about the 6 basic components of the method, study the principles and practices of spiritual multiplication, and discover why over 30,000 churches are using the Master’s Plan method of disciple-making.
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Living Church : Convictions Of A Lifelong Pastor
$22.99Add to cartPreface: “Emerging Churches”
The Postmodern World
Acknowledgments And Abbreviations
1. Essentials: God’s Vision For His Church
2. Worship: Glorying In God’s Holy Name
3. Evangelism: Mission Through The Local Church
4. Ministry: The Twelve And The Seven
5. Fellowship: The Implications Of Koinonia
6. Preaching: Five Paradoxes
7. Giving: Ten Principles
8. Impact: Salt And Light
Conclusion: Looking For Timothys In The 21st Century
HIstorical Appendix 1: Why I Am Still A Member Of The Church Of England
Historical Appendix 2: I Have A Dream Of A Living Church
Historical Appendis 3: Reflections Of An OctogenarianAdditional Info
John Stott describes the characteristics of an “authentic” or “living” church that conserves Scripture and radically combines tradition and that convention called “culture.” He presents the Bible’s wisdom with a teacher’s skill and applies it with a pastor’s heart. Stott shows that becoming a living church is not an impossible goal. -
You Cant Keep A Good Tune Down
$14.49Add to cartWarbling sopranos, bellowing basses, someone in the back row at least a line ahead of everyone else, fusty robes, intransigent organists and temperamental clergy – welcome to the world of the local church choir. There is no better observer of the volatile relations between the clergy, the choir, the organist and the congregation than Reg Frary who has seen it all in over seventy years’ first hand experience of sitting in the choir stalls Sunday by Sunday and at weddings, funerals, carol services, festivals and other occasions.
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How The Church Lost The Way
$14.99Add to cartTackling the ‘uncomfortable truth’ for the Church, this book packs a heavyweight punch in a lightweight package. With great clarity and style the author explains how the Church has been strangled by its past and how the faith in Jesus Christ was infiltrated by pagan ideas from Greek philosophy that have remained to this day. This book exposes and explains how this affects our understanding of the Bible, God, Church and everything in-between. In this provocative, entertaining and encouraging book, we will explore our true roots and discover practical keys to move forwards.
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Fathering Leaders Motivating Mission
$24.99Add to cartA unique book addressing the biblical requirement for apostles and their role in shaping todays church in fathering leaders and motivating mission.
One of the sad factors of church life is that many pastors are lonely and their heart cry is for a fathering style of relationship, where they can be cared for pastorally, as well as mentored in the development of gifts and practical skills for their ministry.
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Remixing The Church
$35.99Add to cartThe Emerging Church movement is a key part of the current landscape of Christianity.The term ’emerging church’ is not without its critics. It is used both by those who participate in new worship communities such as those represented at Greenbelt and by those who are suspicious of the claim that the emerging church presents something radically new. Doug Gay attempts to look beyond such polarization and to articulate a hermeneutical process of audit, retrieval, unbundling and remixing of key elements of traditional Christian practice.Remixing the Church has the potential to become a standard work on contemporary ecclesiology.
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Renovate Or Die
$16.99Add to cartBe the Church Jesus calls us to be.
Bob Farr asserts that to change the world, we must first change the Church. As Adam Hamilton says in the Foreword, “Read [this book] carefully with other leaders in your church…You’ll soon discover both a desire to renovate your church and the tools to effectively lead your church forward.” If we want to join Robert Schnase and claim radical hospitality, passionate worship, intentional faith development, risk-taking mission and service, and extravagant generosity, we must also engage pastors and motivate churches. We must renovate and overhaul our churches and not merely redecorate and tinker with our church structure.
With straight forward language and practical tips, this book will inspire and help you organize your church for new life on the mission field. Learn how to grow your church and discover the commitments that denominational leaders must make to guarantee the fruitfulness of local congregations.
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Renovation Of The Church
$24.99Add to cartCopastors Kent Carlson and Mike Lueken tell the story of how God took their thriving, consumer-oriented church and transformed it into a modest congregation of unformed believers committed to the growth of the spirit–even when it meant a decline in numbers.
As Kent and Mike found out, a decade of major change is not easy on a church. Oak Hills Church, from the pastoral staff to the congregation, had to confront addiction to personal ambition, resist consumerism and reorient their lives around the teachings of Jesus. Their renewed focus on spiritual formation over numerical growth triggered major changes in the content of their sermons, the tenor of their worship services, and the reason for their outreach. They lost members.
But the health and spiritual depth of their church today is a testimony of God’s transforming work and enduring faithfulness to the people he loves.
Honest and humble, this is Kent and Mike’s story of a church they love, written to inspire and challenge other churches to let God rewrite their stories as well. Read it for the church you love.
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Prodigal Spirit
$14.99Add to cartA robust theology of the Holy Spirit can help build strong local churches and transform local communities. Drawing on ancient and contemporary church movements, including Holy Trinity Brompton and the Alpha course, this book suggests an understanding of the Spirit as the one who draws humankind and the whole of creation into the love that exists between the Father and the Son. From that starting point, it works out the implicatons of this for the Christian experience, the church’s evangelism, its communal life, and it transformational role in local communities.
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Becoming An Anti Racist Church
$27.00Add to cartMartin Luther King’s observation that 11 a.m. on Sunday is the most segregated hour of the week remains all too true.
Christians addressing racism in American society must begin with a frank assessment of how race figures in the churches themselves, leading activist Joseph Barndt argues. This practical and important volume extends the insights of Barndt’s earlier, more general work to address the race situation in the churches and to equip people there to be agents for change in and beyond their church communities.
A hallmark of Barndt’s analysis is his keen grasp of the deep yet checkered legacy that American church and church bodies inherit on this question. Yet Barndt also lifts up the ways in which their prophetic work has proved a catalyst for progress in American race relations, and he clearly shows why and how churches can inculcate an anti-racist commitment into their collective lives.
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Jesus Salvation And The Jewish People
$29.99Add to cartThe Uniqueness of Christ for Salvation (Rolf Hille)
View of Salvation in Early Christianity and Early Judaism (Eckhard Schnabel)
John’s Gospel and Jewish Monotheism (Andreas Kostenberger)
Martin Luther and the Jewish People (Berthold Schwarz)
The Early Pietistic Movement and Jewish Evangelism (David Dowdey)
Urgent Issues in Jewish Evangelism Around 1900 (Kai Kjr-Hansen)
Germany’s Romantic Nationalism and Anti-Semitism (Mike McDuffee)
Messianic Jewish Reflections on the Holocaust (Michael Brown)
Two Covenant Theology and Jewish Missions (Henri Blocher)
Implicit ‘Universalism’ in Some Messianic Judaism (Richard Harvey)
Replacement Theology and its Implications (Darrell L. Bock)
Karl Barth, Mark Kinzer, and the Jewish People (Eckhard Schnabel)
Resources and Current Practices in Jewish Evangelism (Tuvya Zaretsky) -
Your Church In Rhythm
$30.00Add to cartBruce Miller debunks the idea of balance-basically trying to have it all, all the time. Most churches and their pastors try to do everything at once and feel guilty if any one aspect (worship, ministries, outreach, etc.) is neglected. He replaces the exhausting concept of balance with the idea of rhythm: churches, like people, need to give attention to different programs and ministries at different times, basically by attending to their seasons and cycles.
*Offers an innovative new model for church leaders
*Miller has been influential in the formation and promotion of “Church-Based Training” as in international movement
*Offers a proven method for avoiding burnout for church leaders and members by doing the right things at the right timeThe author offers much-need help to overwhelmed leaders and shows them how to apply Miller’s seasonal/cyclical approach to church life.
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Experiencing Gods Love In The Church
$16.99Add to cartThe church still demonstrates the heart of God to a wanting world.
Some turn off the church, criticizing its flaws and saying it is passe. Lost love for one another is the cause. When love is absent in a church, the results mar the church’s repuration. Church splits. Disloyalty. Disrespect. Disputes over nothing. Church hoping. Bashing good pastors.
Experiencing God’s Love in the Church encourages everyday believers to reconsider what Christ intended His body to be. Tom Blackaby calls readers to revive their commitment to love one another. When the world sees God’s people love as He loves, they see the Father – who sent the Son as a demonstration of His irresistable love for all.
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Accidental Anglican : The Surprising Appeal Of The Liturgical Church
$17.99Add to cartMany are longing for historical connectedness and for theology that is “not tied to the whims of contemporary culture, but to apostolic-era understandings of Christian faith and practice.” They also yearn for rhythms and routines that build spiritual health. Still others are responding to a call to participate in worship rather than merely sitting back and looking at a stage. Liturgy offers all of this and more. In this book Todd Hunter chronicles his journey from the Jesus People movement and national leadership in the Vineyard to eventually becoming an Anglican Bishop. Along the way he explains why an evangelical Christian might be drawn to the liturgical way. Curious about the meaning of liturgy? Come and discover what may be waiting for you there.
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Worship And Mission After Christendom
$29.99Add to cartToday, as Christendom weakens, worship and mission are poised to reunite after centuries of separation. But this requires the church to rethink both “mission” and “worship.” In post-Christendom mission, God is the main actor and God calls all Christians to participate. In post-Christendom worship, the church tells and celebrates the story of God, enabling members to live in hope and attract outsiders to its many tables of hospitality.
In this passionate and thoughtful study, Alan Kreider and Eleanor Kreider draw upon missiology, liturgiology, biblical studies, church history, and the vast experience of today’s global Christian church. Academically responsible but also practical and accessible, Worship and Mission After Christendom is a much-needed guide for people who take seriously God’s call to be the church in a world where institutional religion is no longer taken for granted.
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New Kind Of Christianity
$16.99Add to cartAfter the hailstorm of controversy stirred up by the hardcover, we hope the paperback release keeps the debate going. One of the most innovative Christian voices today and author of the controversial A New Kind of Christian faces head-on the questions that will determine the shape of the faith for the next 500 years.
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Global Church Planting (Reprinted)
$42.00Add to cartPrologue: The Parable Of The Apple Trees
Part 1: Biblical Foundation
Part 2: Strategic Considerations
Part 3: Development Phases
Part 4: Critical FactorsAdditional Info
With over forty years combined global church-planting experience, Craig Ott and Gene Wilson are well qualified to write a comprehensive, up-to-date guide for cross-cultural church planting. Combining substantive biblical principles and missiological understanding with practical insights, this book walks readers through the various models and development phases of church planting. Advocating methods that lead to church multiplication, the authors emphasize the role of the missionary church planter. They offer helpful reflection on current trends and provide best practices gathered from research and empirical findings around the globe. The book takes up a number of special issues not addressed in most church planting books, such as use of short-term teams, partnerships, and wise use of resources. Full of case studies and real examples from around the world, this practical text will benefit students, church planters, missionaries, and missional church readers. -
For The Communion Of The Churches
$33.99Add to cartEncourages Christians to work toward greater unity and fellowship
Founded by Abbe Paul Couturier in 1937, the Groupe des Dombes is a Protestant-Catholic coalition in French-speaking Europe uniting Reformed, Lutheran, and Catholic scholars in a common spirit of prayer, dialogue, and discernment; their pioneering work has influenced many other official ecumenical dialogues.
*Brings together an anthology of statements produced by the Group des Dombes from 1971 to 1991, appearing here together in English translation for the first time
*Expresses the Groupe’s keen insights into the renewal of theology and church life necessary for progress toward full ecclesial unity
*Invites churches today to strive for more fruitful dialogue and greater harmony -
Servanthood As Worship
$9.99Add to cartBrowse a Christian book website or bookstore and notice all there is for leaders and would-be leaders. There are studies of leaders, keys to leadership, and tips on becoming a leader. Books that promote servanthood tend to be about leadership. But how many books inspire us simply to serve one another? The appeal of leadership has hijacked the biblical call to servanthood. As a result, we major on a role that will only ever be held by a few, and we largely ignore a role that ought to be held by every Christian. Whatever happened to servanthood? Servanthood as Worship offers Christians a biblical understanding of their calling to serve in the church, motivated by the grace that is ours in the gospel. It has the potential to revitalize service teams in churches across the world, from church plants to established congregations.
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Sacred Cows Make Great BBQs
$24.99Add to cartWhat are the ‘sacred cows’ of the Christian life? Why are they there? And should they be challenged?
In Sacred Cows Make Great BBQs, Dave Gilpin (leader of Hope City Church, Sheffield) attempts to round up some the sacred cows so happily grazing in the fields of church life, and confront them in his unique, relaxed and informal, yet incisive style.
Fifteen myths so prevalent in the Christian world today are dealt with in Sacred Cows Make Great BBQs. Dave Gilpin sets out to release people back into the real freedom and successes of authentic Christian living.
For the sake of the future church, in Sacred Cows Make Great BBQs Dave Gilpin has become the smiling assassin of the holy cow.
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Leading The Congregation (Revised)
$34.99Add to cartLeading the Congregation is a complete and definitive guide to the practice of church leadership. The book describes essential paradigms for the leader that integrate spiritual integrity and service within a “systems” view of the congregation and its ministry.
This revised and updated version focuses on the challenges of congregational leadership in a culture that has fewer ties to Christian faith. The authors lay out the dual contexts in which church leaders must function-within the congregation, and as the congregation’s representative to the community-and they explain the very different skill sets required to flourish in each. Underlying the revised edition is an insistence on the congregational leader’s call from God, and cultivation of her or his relationship with God. Leadership is not the same thing as charisma, they explain; it is rather a set of attitudes and practices that each of us can and must master if we are to be worthy servants of Christ.
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Journey In The Wilderness
$18.99Add to cartThe last forty years have seen transitions in mainline churches that feel, for many, like a journey into the wilderness. Yet God is calling us in this moment, not to grieve over the changes we have experienced, but to hear the call to a new mission, and a new faithfulness. Gil Rendle draws on decades as a pastor and church consultant to point a way into a hopeful future. The key to embracing the wilderness is to learn new skills in leading change, to reach beyond a position of privilege and power to become churches that serve God’s hurting people.
Empowers readers to minister more faithfully, and joyfully, in a situation of congregational and denominational transition
A careful analysis of the changes that have taken place in mainline Protestant churches over the last decades.
Thorough review of the lessons learned, both inside and beyond the church, about leading organizations during times of social upheaval.
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Pastor And Deacons
$12.99Add to cartHow should a church be organized? What functions do the pastors, deacons, and congregation serve? Who qualifies for the offices of pastor and deacon? How should a church manage its finances? How does a congregation biblically address problems? The authors answer these important questions and many more. As fellow servants in the same church, the authors have collaborated in the writing of this book. Pastors and Deacons is a practical exposition and application of biblical principles of church organization and leadership. The “on-the-job,” real-life experiences of the authors make this a particularly practical book.
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Real Life Discipleship (Student/Study Guide)
$19.99Add to cartReal-Life Discipleship explains what should happen in the life of every Christian and in every small group so that the church becomes an army of believers dedicated to seeing the world saved. With the overriding goal to train disciples who know how to make more disciples, this book offers proven tools and strategies from Real Life Ministries, one of America’s fastest-growing churches. Discover what the Bible says about true and effective discipleship with these strategies and practices.
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Mobilizing Men For One On One Ministry
$19.00Add to cartA Dynamic New Approach to Men’s Ministry
Men’s breakfasts, golf outings, and other events still have a place in men’s ministry. But Steve Sonderman is finding that the most effective ministry is relational rather than programmatic. Drawing from the successes at his church and others, Sonderman shows leaders how to motivate and mobilize their men to minister to each other. Readers learn what men are looking for today, how men grow spiritually, and how to develop a leadership pipeline in their church.
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For The Parish
$35.99Add to cartFresh Expressions of Church are most significant development in the Church of England in recent decades. Many have called for a thorough theological engagement with the movement. The Church of England is engaging in radical new departures when the ecclesiological thinking for such experiments is far from complete. Parishes are the mainstay of the ‘inherited church’. Frequently they are belittled and cast as either unhelpful or irrelevant. The authors argue for the vitality of the parish, both for mission and for discipleship. The authors argue that the forms of the church are to be an embodiment of her faith. They should therefore be more determined by our theological traditions than by the surrounding culture. They show that the traditions of the parish church represent ways in which time, space, community are ordered in relation to God and the gospel.
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Exciting World Of Churchgoing
$14.49Add to cartDave Walker, a thirty-something cartoonist, web editor and former church and community youth worker has become the UK’S leading cartoon commentator on the state of the Church (local and national). His Guide to the Church cartoons appear weekly in the Church Times, and on the paper’s daily blog, and many more can be found on Dave’s website, www.cartoonchurch.com This is his third collection of cartoons. His first cartoon collection reprinted within three months and is now in its third printing. His second collection is in its second printing. His many fans will love this third volume with its Tweeting bishops, its sociological study of the average Lent group, its handy guide to weighing up the respective merits of going to a church service vs. an Alpha course, and a great deal more.
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Strategically Small Church (Reprinted)
$16.00Add to cartBrandon O’Brien helps pastors and church leaders understand that a smaller church is sometimes better than a big one. He demonstrates the strengths of small congregations, including that today’s church “shoppers” want services that are local, personal, and intimate. Also, small churches provide space to nurture close relationships across age and lifestyle barriers, and they facilitate a higher level of commitment from laypeople. And small church budgets are often more effective because of greater efficiency. The Strategically Small Church will encourage small-church pastors in their ministries and challenge them to play to their strengths.
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Church Hurts Can Make You Bitter Workbook (Workbook)
$10.99Add to cartI dedicate this workbook to those who do not know how to move on from the hurt, and pain they have experienced in life. Hurt is common to us all, and if we do not deal with it properly, it can paralyze us to the point of leaving us helpless and stagnated.
This self-help study book will provide you with an opportunity to eliminate your hurts by, focusing on some major areas that can keep you bound: relationships, forgiveness, the tension between God’s will and yours, self-inventory, prayer and deliverance, and healing. The questions and Scriptures dealing with these areas will help you identify various issues in your life, using the Bible as a reference for answers. Focus on God’s will for you, as you work hard throughout this workbook to become whole and complete.
Many people do not understand how to get out of the hurt cycle. I admonish you to read the book Church Hurts Can Make You Bitter or Better: You Choose!, which will show you how to triumph over hurts, regardless of their source, and then you can use this corresponding workbook to address your issues.
Many of you can confess that now is the time to move on from where you are to where you need to be. No matter who offended you or what kind of hurt you suffered, you must move on. No longer, allow the enemy of your soul to keep you in this holding pattern. Pray, acknowledge, forgive, apologize, and say goodbye. The time to move on is now!
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Christians Are Hate Filled Hypocrites And Other Lies Youve Been Told
$15.00Add to cartAccording to the media, the church is rapidly shrinking, both in numbers and in effectiveness. But the good news is, much of the bad news is wrong. Sociologist Bradley R. E. Wright uncovers what’s really happening in the church: evangelicals are more respected by secular culture now than they were ten years ago; divorce rates of Christians are lower than those of nonbelievers; Christians give more to charity than others do. Wright reveals to readers why and how statistics are distorted, and shows that God is still effectively working through his people today.
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In His Image
$24.99Add to cartYou’ve heard the overwhelming statistics. You’ve probably felt compassion, guilt, powerlessness, hopelessness. You might have given money, food, clothes, or even some of your time to help a few of the billions of people living in destitution in our world. But have you actually engaged with someone, another human being created in the image of God, who is dying in the arms of poverty?
Andy Matheson, Oasis International Director, argues that we can only begin to understand poverty, its effects, and possible solutions when we focus on the truth that all people are made in God’s image. God calls us to meet with the poor not primarily to offer services or to develop programs, but to develop relationships and to show God’s love.
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Christian Mindful Manners
$10.99Add to cartThis book promises to offer practical tips on how to help a church member who is struggling with mental health issues. The book is based on Biblical scripture and over 16 years of professional human service experience.
More than 54 million Americans are affected by mental illness, and the church world can provide personal enrichment to its own. The world needs to see the Church’s love in action and what better way than the Church reaching out to those who are hurting and leading them toward mental health recovery.
