Church Life
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Neighborhood Church : Transforming Your Congregation Into A Powerhouse For
$22.00How can we embody the values of love, grace, and justice? As faith communities, how can our collective embodiment of these values shine even brighter? The answers to these questions must always unfold right here, right now, exactly where God has planted us. Neighborhood Churchacts as a resource to inspire churches to become a vibrant and engaging community partner with the families and neighborhoods living around them. The need for transformation is acute. Congregational decline continues across all mainline denominations. The abandonment of the church by the millennial generation is ubiquitous; no denomination is escaping it. This is, in part, a consequence of disconnection from our communities. Van Tatenhove and Mueller believe that, parish by parish, we can reverse this trend. They dare to have an audacious hope for local congregations not only as signs of God’s kingdom but as life-giving institutions that anchor their neighborhoods. Drawing on their combined sixty years of parish experience, wisdom from Asset-Based Community Development, and compelling case stories, Van Tatenhove and Mueller do more than just call us to incarnational ministry. They give practical, essential tools that lead to communal conversion, develop the DNA of listening, spur fruitful partnerships, promote integrated space, and sustain long-term visions. They believe these tools will spark true revival and unleash the power of incarnational ministry.
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Humilitas : A Lost Key To Life Love And Leadership
$24.99Humility, or holding power loosely for the sake of others, is sorely lacking in today’s world. Without it, many people fail to develop their true leadership potential and miss out on genuine fulfillment in their lives and their relationships. Humilitas: A Lost Key to Life, Love, and Leadership shows how the virtue of humility can turn your strengths into true greatness in all areas of life. Through the lessons of history, business, and the social sciences, author John Dickson shows that humility is not low self-esteem, groveling, or losing our distinct gifts. Instead, humility both recognizes our inherent worth and seeks to use whatever power we have at our disposal on behalf of others. Some of the world’s most inspiring and influential players have been people of immense humility. The more we learn about humility, the more we understand how essential it is to a satisfying career and personal life. By embracing this virtue, we will transform for good the unique contributions we each make to the world.
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Community Rules : An Episcopal Manual
$18.95* Practical guide to church community life Taking the approach of Michael Pollan’s Food Rules, Community Rules seeks to distill the basics of “good church” into a set of memorable rules. Working with three sections, the authors draw on their years of combined experience in academic and church administration to identify the basic Christian principles that underpin Episcopal community and then apply them to actions and relationships. The book seeks to explicate the best personnel practices, as well as good governance and communal life together, alongside a framing within the Christian worldview. The goal is to provide a text that can serve as a guide for any and all members of a parish, most especially those who serve on vestries or as volunteers.
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99 Prayers Your Church Needs But Doesnt Know It Yet
$9.99When the unexpected comes and you can’t find the words to pray, 99 Prayers Your Church Needs (But Doesn’t Know It Yet) will provide the starting point that will help lead you to the prayer your congregation or pastor needs. From prayers for a family who has lost a loved one to addiction, to a prayer for the new pastor in a new congregation, these 99 prayers will help you respond to a multitude of unexpected prayer requests? whether celebratory or grieving, or somewhere in between?in the course of your congregation’s life.
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Reciprocal Church : Becoming A Community Where Faith Flourishes Beyond High
$22.99Introduction: Reciprocal Church
Part 1: A Theological Vision For The Reciprocal Church
1. Eating Melon On Tuesdays: Young People And Faith
2. Galloping Mares: The Gospel Without Christ’s Church
3. A Vital Identity: God Gathers A People
4. A Vital Purpose: Christ Is Reconciling Relationships
5. A Vital Avenue: The Spirit Transforms You, Me, And UsPart 2: Values And Practices For Flourishing Communities
6. Tetherballs And Floodlights: Valuing Memory
7. The Oxpecker’s Gift: Valuing Mutuality
8. Seeing Beyond The Epidemic: Recognizing Potential
9. Moving Beyond The Epidemic: Valuing Contribution
10. Windmills Of Hope: Valuing MaturityEpilogue: Faith Flourishes With Practice
Acknowledgments
Discussion Questions
NotesAdditional Info
The church faces an unprecedented loss of rising generations. Young adults who were active and engaged in the local church are leaving the community behind after high school. What can we do? Responding to these concerning statistics, Sharon Galgay Ketcham reflects theologically on the church community and its role in forming faith. She exposes problems in the way leaders conceive of and teach about the relationship between individual faith and the local church, and offers fresh solutions in the form of values and practices that can shape a community into a place where faith will flourish in those both young and old.Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
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Welcoming Justice : Gods Movement Toward Beloved Community (Expanded)
$18.99We have seen progress in recent decades toward Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of beloved community. But this is not only because of the activism and sacrifice of a generation of civil rights leaders. It happened because God was on the move.
Historian and theologian Charles Marsh partners with veteran activist John Perkins to chronicle God’s vision for a more equitable and just world. Perkins reflects on his long ministry and identifies key themes and lessons he has learned, and Marsh highlights the legacy of Perkins’s work in American society. Together they show how abandoned places are being restored, divisions are being reconciled, and what individuals and communities are now doing to welcome peace and justice.
Now updated with a new preface to reflect on current social realities, this book reveals ongoing lessons for the continuing struggle for a just society. Come, discover your part in the beloved community. There is unfinished work still to do.
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Church Forsaken : Practicing Presence In Neglected Neighborhoods
$24.99“There are no God-forsaken places, just church-forsaken places.” -Jon Fuller, OMF International
Jonathan Brooks was raised in the Englewood neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. As soon as he was able, he left the community and moved as far away as he could. But through a remarkable turn of events, he reluctantly returned and found himself not only back in Englewood but also serving as a pastor (“Pastah J”) and community leader.
In Church Forsaken, Brooks challenges local churches to rediscover that loving our neighbors means loving our neighborhoods. Unpacking the themes of Jeremiah 29, he shows how Christians can be fully present in local communities, building homes and planting gardens for the common good. His holistic vision and practical work offers good news for forgotten people and places. And community stakeholders and civic leaders will rediscover that churches are viable partners in community transformation in ways that they may never have considered.
God has always been at work in neglected neighborhoods. Join Pastah J on this journey and discover new hope for your community.
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Seeing Jesus In East Harlem
$21.99Introduction
Part 1: Show Up
1. El Testimonio: Go And Show Yourself
2. The “Here I Ams” Of Life: Calling And Holy Disorientation
3. Incarnational: Tracing Our Presence Through Christ’s Body
4. Naming Whiteness: Discerning Space As Disciple MakingPart 2: Staying Put
5. Staying Public: Welcoming Home The Prophets
6. Remaining At Work: Becoming God’s Crowdsource In The Barrio
7. Staying Together: When Hope Became A HouseholdPart 3: See
8. Look Again: Generous Seeing As A Measure Of Discipleship
9. Curating Heaven: Dance And Dirge At Christ’s Table
10. El Culto: Marking Life’s Moments, Rescripting Trauma
11. Apocalypse: Church From A Different Vantage PointAcknowledgments
NotesAdditional Info
We are all located in different places. Some of us move from neighborhood to neighborhood or even state to state. And the way we grow as disciples and lead others in spiritual growth depends on our contexts. Pastor Jose Humphreys recognizes how deeply our faith is tied to our particular stories in our particular places. Grounded in his own deep faith and wisdom, he writes out of his experiences as a Puerto Rican pastor who has planted a multiethnic church in East Harlem. In this book, he offers a framework to help church leaders take discipleship seriously in their places, calling them to show up, stay put, and see what God is doing in their midst. Combining spiritual formation with activism, vivid narrative with exhortation, and realism with hopefulness, Humphreys offers pastors and church planters a thoughtful look at discipleship in a complex world.Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
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Placemaking And The Arts
$33.99We are, each one of us, situated in a particular place.As embodied creatures, as members of local communities and churches, as people who live in a specific location in the world, we all experience the importance of place. But what role does place play in the Christian life and how might our theology of place be cultivated?In this Studies in Theology and the Arts volume, Jennifer Allen Craft argues that the arts are a significant form of placemaking in the Christian life. The arts, she contends, place us in time, space, and community in ways that encourage us to be fully and imaginatively present in a variety of contexts: the natural world, our homes, our worshiping communities, and society. In so doing, the arts call us to pay attention to the world around us and invite us to engage in responsible practices in those places.Through this practical theology of the arts, Craft shows how the arts can help us by cultivating our theological imagination, giving shape to the Christian life, and forming us more and more into the image of Christ.
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True Inclusion : Creating Communities Of Radical Embrace
$14.99Discover how to move your church beyond mere welcome to radical embrace.
So your church website says you’re welcoming, a rainbow flag flies out front, worship uses gender-inclusive language, and you make sure you greet the stranger next to you on Sunday mornings. But is all of that really enough? And what if those welcoming gestures actually keep visitors from returning and exclude dozens of other groups or people in your community?
In True Inclusion, public theologian and pastor Brandan Robertson shares how to move your church from mere welcome to radical embrace. Pointing to a clear biblical imperative for radical inclusivity in the sanctuary and in the public square, Robertson presents a paradigm-shifting vision of community, “where nothing is simple, nothing is easy, but everything is beautiful.” Learn practical, step-by-step approaches to becoming deeply, robustly, and richly inclusive of all people regardless of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, political affiliation, and socioeconomic status.
Written for people and communities at every stage of the journey, True Inclusion will challenge and inspire you to embody a gospel of radical embrace for all.
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It Takes A Church To Baptize
$24.70A popular New Testament scholar explores the biblical basis, history, meaning, and practice of infant baptism, arguing that it must begin with the family and then extend to the church.
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Loving And Leaving A Church
$26.00Barbara Melosh’s story was a common one. A second-career seminarian, she arrived at her first pastorate brimming with enthusiasm and high hopes. The blue-collar congregation to which she’d been called had a glorious past but an uncertain future. Certain that she could turn around its slow yet undeniable slide into decline, Melosh inaugurated a number of church growth and outreach programs. Most of these efforts had little effect, and the ones that did seem to work soon suffered reverse outcomes and eventual demise. In the end, Melosh had to conclude that the members of the congregation liked their church the way it was and that she could not drag them into a future they did not want.
Yet while the congregation failed to change itself, Melosh notes, it succeeded in changing her. Simply put, it made her a pastor. At times heartbreaking and hilarious, Loving and Leaving a Church offers a glimpse into the challenges and opportunities of ministry in a mainline church.
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Come Back Effect (Reprinted)
$18.82Highly sought-after speakers and consultants provide church leaders valuable insights and practical ideas on how to create a ministry driven by hospitality and an experience that makes first-time guests keep coming back.
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New Apostolic Reformation
$19.99This critique provides a framework for understanding and interpreting the widespread but little-known New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) movement. As the authors state in the preface: “We write this book with two major goals in mind. First, to give people an idea of the sheer size and reach of the NAR movement. And second, to systematize its key teachings and practices and evaluate them on the basis of Scripture and careful reasoning – . In our judgment, the NAR perspective crosses these boundaries [that is, certain broad parameters, revealed in Scripture and practiced in the historical orthodox church], and it does so in part because of flawed theology rooted in a flawed understanding of Scripture. We wish to warn readers about a possible confusion: Some critics have linked the NAR movement with mainstream Pentecostalism and charismatics. We do not do this. In fact, it is our contention that the NAR movement deviates from classical Pentecostal and charismatic teachings. This movement has emerged out of independent charismatic churches and, thus, has gained a foothold in many of those churches in varying degrees.”
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Disruptive Witness : Speaking Truth In A Distracted Age
$18.99Introduction
Part One: A Distracted, Secular Age
1. The Barrier Of Endless Distraction
2. The Barrier Of The Buffered Self
3. Searching For Visions Of FullnessPart Two: Bearing A Disruptive Witness
4. Disruptive Personal Habits
5. Disruptive Church Practices
6. Disruptive Cultural Participation
Conclusion: Large And Startling Figures
NotesAdditional Info
We live in a distracted, secular age.These two trends define life in Western society today. We are increasingly addicted to habits-and devices-that distract and “buffer” us from substantive reflection and deep engagement with the world. And we live in what Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor calls “a secular age”-an age in which all beliefs are equally viable and real transcendence is less and less plausible. Drawing on Taylor’s work, Alan Noble describes how these realities shape our thinking and affect our daily lives. Too often Christians have acquiesced to these trends, and the result has been a church that struggles to disrupt the ingrained patterns of people’s lives. But the gospel of Jesus is inherently disruptive: like a plow, it breaks up the hardened surface to expose the fertile earth below. In this book Noble lays out individual, ecclesial, and cultural practices that disrupt our society’s deep-rooted assumptions and point beyond them to the transcendent grace and beauty of Jesus.Disruptive Witness casts a new vision for the evangelical imagination, calling us away from abstraction and cliche to a more faithful embodiment of the gospel for our day.Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
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Serving God In A Migrant Crisis
$21.99“God has used migration for millennia to achieve his purposes for his people,” writes Patrick Johnstone. “He is doing so again in our time.”
Millions are on the move, driven by war, drought, terrorism, poverty, failed states, environmental catastrophes, disease, revolutions, and the desire for a better life. Christians have a unique perspective on the migrant crisis: after all, Jesus was a refugee. So were Abraham, Joseph, and Moses.
Today, some turn their backs on refugees. In Serving God in a Migrant Crisis, Patrick Johnstone and Dean Merrill help us understand what’s causing today’s refugee crisis, explore Christian theology and tradition on migration, and show us how Christian workers around the globe are opening their hearts to embrace these modern outcasts.
“The world has literally come to our doorstep,” they write. “Will we open the door?”
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Quit Church : Because Your Life Would Be Better If You Did (Reprinted)
$22.50Based on research among congregations across the country, seasoned church coach and pastor Chris Sonksen reveals habits we need to simply let go, along with spiritual practices we need to relearn in order to thrive as individuals and produce growth in our churches.
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Who Is My Neighbour
$15.99Following Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, and with increasing division, xenophobia, and confusion over future national and international relationships, this thought- and action-provoking book considers the crucial question: Who is my neighbor?
What does the Christian injunction to “love your neighbor as yourself” actually mean in practice today? Contributions by renowned theologians and practitioners reflect on this subject in relation to issues of poverty, ecology, immigration, fear, and discrimination, and the recent political upheavals both in Europe and the United States.
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Free At Last
$10.99Gods Life Publishing
What is one of the most stubborn problems permeating America churches today? Racism! It divides Christian’s brothers and sisters and hinders the spreading of the gospel. Free at Last! Is a concise, in-depth study that reveals the malignancy hampering the Body and gives a biblical antidote to address this spiritual hindrance.
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Organic Outreach For Churches (Expanded)
$16.99Nearly all churches and ministries consider themselves dedicated to evangelism, and many explicitly include outreach in their mission statements. But few are actually bearing fruit. Kevin Harney diagnoses this problem and offers guidance for multiplying the outreach impact of churches. Organic Outreach for Churches provides direction for local congregations to weave evangelism into the fabric of the church. Commitment to the Great Commission is not simply about sending money and prayers to missions or holding occasional events to reach out (although these things are good). Organic outreach happens when evangelistic vision and action become the domain of every ministry and the commitment of every person in the congregation. This will not happen accidentally. There is huge spiritual and practical resistance to such changes. But the only way evangelism will become an organic part of a church is when every leader and each member is gripped by a commitment to proclaiming the gospel. This book is a roadmap for pastors and leaders who wish to infuse evangelistic passion into every aspect of their church’s life.
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Life Tastes Better
$3.99It’s easy to think that following Jesus would make life less fun and more limited. Drawing on his decades of introducing the real Jesus to people, founder of NewFrontiers Terry Virgo reveals the surprising truth that the Jesus who turned water into wine is ready to make every life taste better, both now and eternally. Easy-to-read, short, clear, faithful and conversational, this is a perfect book to give to an interested friend.
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House United : How The Church Can Save The World
$34.98Introduction
1 The Divided States Of America
2 A Tale Of Two Prayers
3 Righteous Minds
4 The Perils Of Echo Chambers
5 The Dividends Of Difference
6 Meeting Through Mission
7 Christian Mingle
8 Courageous Conversations
9 Mission 4.0: How The Church Can Save The WorldAdditional Info
By entering the culture wars, churchgoers in the United States have ushered the Left and the Right to even greater extremes. Battles over moral issues like abortion rights and homosexuality have now widened to include taxation and size of government, so that specific church affiliation has become an accurate predictor of political party affiliation. The extremists in American politics rely on Christians to be the engine that pushes the culture farther right or left.Allen Hilton believes that religion isn’t inherently divisive, and he suggests a new role for Christianity. Jesus prayed that his disciples might all be one, and this book imagines a proper answer to that prayer in the context of American polarization.
Rather than asking people to leave their political and theological beliefs at the church door, Hilton promotes a Christianity that brings people together with their differences. Through God’s transforming work, he writes, we can create a house united that will help our nation come back together.
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Building Credibility In Leadership
$19.99Today there is a lack of trust in leaders, notably those leading the church, potentially leading to a lack of trust in God Himself – the Leader. As secondary leaders we must help to build credibility in leadership by remembering that our service is “unto the Lord.” This book giving sound instructions on how to become the type of leader God has destined you to be.
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Melodies Of A New Monasticism
$68.00The New Monastic Movement is a vibrant source of renewal for the church’s life and mission. Many involved in this movement have quoted Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s conviction that the church must recover ancient spiritual disciplines if it is to effectively engage “”the powers that be.”” Melodies of a New Monasticism adopts a musical metaphor of polyphony (the combination of two or more lines of music) to articulate the way that these early Christian virtues can be woven together in community. Creatively using this imagery, this book draws on the theological vision of Bonhoeffer and the contemporary witness of George MacLeod and the Iona Community to explore the interplay between discipleship, doctrine, and ethics. A recurring theme is the idea of Christ as the cantus firmus (the fixed song) around which people perform the diverse harmonies of God in church and world, including worship, ecumenism, healing, peace, justice, and ecology.
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7 Dangers Facing Your Church
$16.99Our culture is changing, and the church seems to be under increasing pressure. But these dangers are not new, and God’s word shows us how to meet them head on. Discover how Jesus’ messages to seven first-century churches in Revelation 2 3 is his message to your church today too. Together, you can live as Christ’s faithful, hope-filled people in a changing culture.
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From Jerusalem To Timbuktu
$23.99Christianity started in Jerusalem. For many centuries it was concentrated in the West, in Europe and North America. But in the past century the church expanded rapidly across Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Thus Christianity’s geographic center of density is now in the West African country of Mali-in Timbuktu.
What led to the church’s vibrant growth throughout the Global South? Brian Stiller identifies five key factors that have shaped the church, from a renewed openness to the move of the Holy Spirit to the empowerment of indigenous leadership. While in some areas Christianity is embattled and threatened, in many places it is flourishing as never before.
Discover the surprising story of the global advance of the gospel. And be encouraged that Jesus’ witness continues to the ends of the earth.
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People Are The Mission
$17.99When it comes to interacting with guests, churches typically gravitate towards one of two camps: over-the-top, shock-and-awe, let-us-entertain-you or oh-man,-some-people-just-showed-up, underwhelming experience. Each extreme has drawbacks: on one end, people become the center of the universe. On the other, hospitality is effectively ignored in deference to the “serious business” of worship.
People Are the Mission proposes a healthy middle, one where guests are esteemed but the gospel is the goal. Danny Franks, Connections Pastor at Summit Church, shows churches how to take a more balanced approach – a “third way” that is both guest-friendly and gospel-centric. He shows why honoring the stranger doesn’t stand in opposition to honoring the Savior. People are the mission that Christ has called us to, and if we focus on people we can better assist people to focus on the gospel.
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Dangers Of American Christianity
$15.99The message of the gospel should be the lens through which our world view is formed.
The author believes that instead our culture has made us water down the true message to fit contemporary American Culture.The dangers he identifies include:
-Getting too mixed up in our culture
-Isolating ourselves too much from contemporary culture
-Safe and easy believism without proper life changing repentance
-Making it all about what God can do for me
-Entitlement
-The prosperity gospel
-Not being busy with the things of GodThe Church needs to rediscover what made it the powerful force it is supposed to be in a culture that wants to adapt the Church to fit its own values.
We cannot water down or dilute the gospel message in any way and remain effective in a world of secular humanistic values.
The Church has to get back to biblical values and not compromise with the world’s values and culture.Each chapter has questions for reflection, if you’re reading on your own, or discussion in groups.
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Building The Body
$18.81Experienced church consultants take church leaders through five stages of “church fitness” by describing characteristics that every church should strive for to make the most impact in lives and in the world.
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Small Church Checkup
$16.00Many small membership churches today are faced with the sobering reality of attendance loss and overall decline. This resource provides a guide to help you find hope, alternatives, and the possibility of a new beginning. Included are tools to help you measure your church’s vitality, evaluate the results, and diagnose your church’s condition, along with several options for treatment plans as you seek to faithfully serve your community. Remember that we can choose our story. If we believe in our hearts there is another possibility, we can be faithful in choosing intentional pathways forward that honor God, the church founders, and generations to come. Follow the steps outlined in these pages to evaluate where you are and what the next steps on your journey need to be as you seek to be a “not yet big church,” “a stable, small church,” or a church that chooses to close and be repurposed for unexpected new life.
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New Copernicans : Understanding The Millennial Contribution To The Church
$16.99In The New Copernicans: Understanding the Millennial Contribution to the Church, author John Seel, PhD, provides a road map to this new millennial landscape, and an antidote to being drawn off course.
The millennial generation is steering the church in a new direction and is providing a missional opportunity for the church. The church will either follow their lead, or meander in a direction leading them further away from the ultimate path of making disciples.
Millennials are the carriers of a profound shift in the culture narrative, one that will reshape our understanding of human society in the coming years. Rather than being a problem for the church to lament, this shift represents an occasion to celebrate. Yet it demands being able to understand this direction to a more accurate assessment of human nature and reality.
In The New Copernicans: Understanding the Millennial Contribution to the Church, author John Seel, PhD, provides a road map to this new millennial landscape, and an antidote to being drawn off course. Rather than give the reader a formula for their local church, Recalculating will provide a lens though which to see the world in the light of the millennial frame. It addresses the “why” questions, empowering the reader to assess their own situation and apply the appropriate direction. It will not advocate “cookie cutter” programs, rather provide a refreshed vision with which to interact along side this important generation.
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Vibrant Church : Strategies For Church Renewal
$13.99Help your church reach its potential to become a beacon in your community, a model of all that God has called the church to be. The Vibrant Church provides guidance for pastors and key lay leaders, teaching you how to make your church healthy in all areas of church life.
You’ll learn to:
-Write a specific vision for your church
-Improve your leadership skills
-Establish a strategic plan for the future
-Build the ministry team
-Grow a dynamic outreach ministry
-Disciple fully devoted followers of Christ
-Create an environment of genuine love and concern
-Develop meaningful worship
-Train faithful stewards of money and timeAdd to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase
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American Church In Crisis
$24.99Groundbreaking research based on a national database of over 200,000 churches shows that the overall United States population is growing faster than the church.
The director of the American Church Research Project, Dave Olson, has worked to analyze church attendance, showing that it is virtually unchanged from fifteen years ago while our population has grown by fifty-two million people. What does this mean for you, your church, and the future of Christianity in North America? The American Church in Crisis offers unprecedented access to data that helps you understand the state of the church today. “We live in a world that is post-Christian, postmodern, and multiethnic, whether we realize it or not,” says the author. This book not only gives a realistic picture that confirms hunches and explodes myths, but it provides insight into how the church must change to reach a new and changed world with the hope of the gospel. Readers will find a richly textured mosaic with optimistic and challenging stories. Charts, diagrams, and worksheets provide church leaders and motivated church members with a stimulating read that will provoke much discussion. Questions for discussion accompany the chapters.
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Power Of The 72
$19.99Foreword By Darrell Johnson
Introduction: Welcome To The 72Part I: Theology
1. Faith Comes First
2. Sent To The Poor
3. Wolves, Bears, And Crushing PressurePart II: Application
4. How People Become Christians
5. Earnest And Powerful Prayers
6. Friends: Secular To Sacred
7. Experience: Healing And Hearing
8. Conversion: Rejoice With MeEpilogue: A Final Benediction
Acknowledgments
NotesAdditional Info
They were not professionals. They were not celebrities. We don’t even know their names.We know very little about them, except that they were ordinary people who were drawn to Jesus. When Jesus asked them to join him in his mission, they stepped up, answered the call, and went out in his name. And amazing things happened as a result.
They were the 72. And God uses normal people like the 72 to bring good news to the world.
Pastor and evangelist John Teter explains how Jesus trains ordinary people to accomplish an extraordinary mission. He unpacks the story of the sending of the 72 to reveal how they were equipped in evangelism and discovered opportunities to herald God’s kingdom in concrete and tangible ways. Filled with vivid stories of Teter’s remarkable experiences in ministry and church planting, this book shows how we can live out God’s call and witness the transformation of those around us.
You too have been called by Jesus. Discover how God empowers you to play your part. Welcome to the 72.
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Infants And Children In The Church
$31.23Infants and Children in the Church: Five Views on Theology and Ministry addresses an important, but often overlooked, theological and ministry issue facing the church today: How should churches receive and minister to the infants and children God has entrusted to their care?
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Stay In The City
$16.99We live in an urban age. To a degree unprecedented in human history, most of the world’s people live in cities. It is thus vital, say Mark Gornik and Maria Liu Wong, for Christians to think constructively about how to live out their faith in an urban setting.
In Stay in the City Gornik and Liu Wong look at what is happening in the urban church–and what Christians everywhere can learn from it. Once viewed suspiciously for their worldly temptations and vices, cities are increasingly becoming centers of vibrant Christian faith. Writing from their experience living and working in New York City, Gornik and Liu Wong invite readers everywhere to join together in creating a more flourishing–and faith-filled–urban world.
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Going To Church
$14.99Looking in turn at the church as it is, the church as it’s meant to be, and the church as it might become, this book offers humour and insight, as well as encouragement to feel that going to church is really worthwhile.
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Faith Generation : Retaining Young People And Growing The Church
$20.99The recent Church Growth Research (see www.churchgrowthresearch.org.uk) identifies that the successful transmission of faith to children and young people is a key factor in stemming decline and promoting growth. This book explores the cultural and theological reasons as to why this is the case and makes research-based recommendations for the faith formation of children and young people. The central argument is that church communities need to engage in deliberate strategies that help foster “intentional Christian Communities’ within which children and young people can form and sustain Christian identity.
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Church In Ordinary Time
$23.99Much of Christian theology is focused on the story of Jesus and the promised consummation of all things-but the church spends its life in the gap between them. How can we live more faithfully as Christians in this gap between the resurrection of Christ and the eschaton? In Church in Ordinary Time, Amy Plantinga Pauw argues that the liturgical season of ordinary time aptly symbolizes the church’s existence as God’s creature in this time between the times.
Pauw presents a compact Trinitarian ecclesiology that is attuned to church life in this era of ordinary time. Formal ecclesiologies have largely neglected this ordinary-time dimension of Christian life, she says, and in so doing have virtually ignored the ongoing graciousness of God’s work as Creator. Drawing on the seasons of the church year and the creation theology elaborated in Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, Pauw offers wisdom for daily life in Christian communities of faith.
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Messy Christmas : Three Complete Sessions And A Treasure Trove Of Ideas For
$26.99Christmas can be complicated. Parties, gifts, and family tensions dominate the season. So maybe it’s time we explore what Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany are really about. The Messy Church series provides resources to help your church bring together people of all ages and stages of faith, allowing them to experience a creative and fun-filled Christian community. Messy Christmas offers your church a tool to create a unique, come-as-you-are experience built on :
creativity-allowing space for all to play and create
celebration-worshiping God and his redeeming work in Jesus
hospitality-sharing a meal where all are welcomeThese three once-a-month sessions include Christmas prayers, global action suggestions, games and competitions, Christmas food crafts, and many other ideas to experience joy during this time of the year. This season, give your community the gift of a messy church!
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MultiChurch : Exploring The Future Of Multisite
$24.99Is it time for your church to go multisite? It seems everybody is doing it these days, so how do you know if it is the right solution for your congregation? MultiChurch brings clarity to the multisite movement and assembles the lessons it has learned over the past fifteen years. It explores the opportunities presented by the various forms of multi-site church, identifies areas of concern, and concludes that multisite is not only a biblically sound ecclesiological model, but also a model that provides a compelling solution to contemporary reductionism in the church.
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Tears In The Desert
$18.60Are you interested in Christian service or studying for the Christian ministry? This book is uniquely designed to help you prepare for the challenges ahead and is endorsed by a pastor who served his church for thirty-eight years and the presidents of two seminaries who will recommend it to their students.
Karl Heller’s new book, Tears in the Desert: Lessons from the Joys and Sorrows of God’s Call, provides an up-close and personal account from the frontline of pastoral ministry. This is a refreshingly candid account of why pastoral ministry is so very challenging and at the same time so very important. By recounting the triumphs and tragedies of his own ministry, Dr. Heller is an able and wise guide, especially for seminarians preparing for pastoral ministry.
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Online Mission And Ministry
$14.99Many clergy and churches are now taking to the internet and social media to promote their churches or ministries, but few have thought through some of the difficult pastoral and theological issues that may arise.’Virtual vicar’ Revd Pam Smith guides both new and experienced practitioners through setting up online ministries and considers some of the issues that may arise, such as:Are relationships online as valid as those offline? Is it possible to participate in a ‘virtual’ communion service? How do you deal with ‘trolls’ in a Christian way? What is it appropriate for a clergyperson to say on social media?
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Economics Of Neighborly Love
$21.9913 Chapters
Additional Info
What does the good news of Jesus mean for economics?Too often, Christian teaching and ministry have focused only on the gospel’s spiritual significance and ignored its physical, real-world ramifications. But loving our neighbor well has direct economic implications, and in our diverse and stratified society we need to grapple with them now more than ever.
In The Economics of Neighborly Love pastor Tom Nelson sets out to address this problem. Marrying biblical study, economic theory, and practical advice, he presents a vision for church ministry that works toward the flourishing of the local community, beginning with its poorest and most marginalized members. Nelson resists oversimplification and pushes us toward more complex and nuanced understandings of wealth and poverty. If we confess the gospel of Jesus, he insists, we must contend anew with its implications for the well-being of our local communities. Together we can grow in both compassion and capacity.
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Messy Church : Fresh Ideas For Building A Christ Centered Community
$21.99We like the idea of community, but where do we start? The Messy Church series provides resources to help your church bring together people of all ages and stages of faith, allowing them to experience a creative and fun-filled Christian community. Messy Church, the first book in the series, offers your church a tool to create a unique, come-as-you-are experience built on:
creativity-allowing space for all to play and create
celebration-worshiping God and his redeeming work in Jesus
hospitality-sharing a meal where all are welcomeThis complete resource helps you share the love of God and his people with families in your community, creating an opportunity for connection and learning in a fun and welcoming environment. With instructions for starting a program at your church, Messy Church includes fifteen sessions for use throughout the year. Let’s get messy!
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Sharing Gods Blessing
$15.99A tried-and-tested resource for the renewal of the local church. Faced with the unsustainability of many inherited patterns of church, the temptation may be to fall into despondency rather than seeking to regenerate patterns of mission and ministry. This book is the result of a two-year research project aimed at enabling local churches to regain a sense of confidence through exploring God’s blessing and how that might be shared with the communities they serve. In Part One, Robin explores the meaning of blessing and the power of face-to-face group conversations to transform church congregations. Part Two of the book contains outlines for five guided conversations for change on the theme of blessing. Part Three contains case study material of how this material has been used in different contexts, including for Mission Action Planning (MAP).
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Why Go To Church
$12.95* Easy to read; short book on a key topic for seekers * Distinguished author who knows the church from the inside and out In an age where people increasingly spend their weekends anywhere but in a place of worship, it is important to ask why anyone should go to church. In Why Go to Church? Robertson addresses the top reasons for not attending and goes further to explore how church participation can enhance one’s life on so many levels. Essential reading for those who have thought about going to church, are thinking about going back to church, and even those who go to church regularly but want to attain a deeper worship experience.
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Forbearance : A Theological Ethic For A Disagreeable Church
$28.99Offers a faithful, constructive way to deal with dissent
What happens when we approach disagreement not as a problem to solve but as an opportunity to practice Christian virtue?
In this book James Calvin Davis reclaims the biblical concept of forbearance to develop a theological ethic for faithful disagreement. Pointing to Ephesians and Colossians, in which Paul challenged his readers to “bear with each other” in spite of differences, Davis draws out a theologically grounded practice in which Christians work hard to maintain unity while still taking seriously matters on which they disagree.
The practice of forbearance, Davis argues, offers Christians a dignified, graceful, and constructive way to deal with conflict. Forbearance can also strengthen the church’s public witness, offering an antidote to the pervasive divisiveness present in contemporary culture.
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Developing A Powerful Praying Church
$9.95Blackaby Ministries International
Today’s church faces challenges and crises it can only overcome through prayer. In their latest book, Blackaby and Fisher focus on the adjustments pastors and church leaders must make in their prayer life in order to see a rebirth of God-honoring, world-impacting …
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It Has Not Yet Appeared What We Shall Be
$49.991. The Problem And Its Setting
2. Literature Review
3. Exegesis Of Pertinent Passages
4. A Reconsideration Of The Imago Dei
5. Implications And Practical ApplicationsAdditional Info
The doctrine of the imago Dei has been criticized for technically excluding people who suffer from severe cognitive disabilities. With such people in mind, Hammond reexamines the doctrine and sets forth a more accurate and inclusive understanding. This work concludes with implications and practical applications to help seminary professors, pastors, and church members include, embrace, and welcome people with severe intellectual disabilities and their families.Add to cartin stock within 3-5 days of online purchase