Pastoral Helps
Showing 2951–3000 of 3900 results
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Worship Centered Teaching
$13.99Add to cartRelating faith to teenagers is tough. How do we pass the faith to the next generation? Help your teens take their faith beyond the walls of the church and into the story of God. Help your teens put faith and worship into practice in everyday life. Get Worship-Centered Teaching.
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Principles And Practice Of Preaching
$31.99Add to cartFor years I have had two growing convictions: first, that a person learns to preach, insofar as anyone ever learns, by preaching continuously in a normal pastorate; and second, that the learning never ceases. Throughout the book, therefore, I have had in mind simultaneously the young man just beginning his ministry and the experienced preacher who feels the need of restudying his methods…A person learns to preach by preaching regularly over a period of years while at the same time his appraising and improving his techniques in the light of recognized principles. This book is designed as just such an ‘on-the-job’ aid…”
“Technical proficiency is not attained once and for all…the preacher who would be skilled must win his skill afresh every week. Skill is the ability to use knowledge effectively. Knowledge is forever increasing and undergoing revision. Methods of utilizing it must, therefore, undergo modification from time to time.”
“Preaching procedures must be adapted to the several stages of the minister’s own growth and to the changing conditions of the people. Methods effectual in one period of life will not necessarily suffice for other periods. Even though the principles of effective preaching remain constant, the way in which they work out varies as situations change. Hence, homiletical methods need to be revised several times within a single lifetime. This book is planned to aid the experienced pastor who finds it advisable at intervals to evaluate and re-evaluate his techniques of sermonizing.” (excerpts from the Preface by Ilion T. Jones)
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Games 3 : For Youth Groups
$22.99Add to cartThe newest volume in the best-selling Ideas Library is Games 3! A huge collection of over 400 of the newest, most fun, creative, youth-group-tested games ever imagined! Indoor games, outdoor games, water games, balloon games, wide games, living room games, large and small group games, all kinds of wacky games, rowdy games, silly games, quiet games, hilarious games, games with a point–brand new games to keep your group laughing, playing together, and building community at the same time. Perfect for youth leaders and recreation directors.
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Cherry Log Sermons
$22.00Add to cartInternationally recognized preacher and accomplished teacher Fred Caddock pastors a small country church in the mountains of north Georgia-Cherry Log Christian Church. These sermons on a variety of topics and texts show the homiletical variety and skill long associated with Craddock, including his deft use of storytelling, an astounding ability to interpret the biblical text for our day, and a keen pastoral sensitivity to the everyday needs of listeners.
Craddock’s insights collected here are great for laypersons seeking honest spiritual direction and are suitable for pastors and preachers looking for models for their own sermons and for all those readers who delight in the Christian gospel phrased in imaginative and challenging ways.
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Preaching From Luke Acts
$17.99Add to cartThe context for this book is rooted in the life of the local church. We desire to integrate biblical scholarship and homiletical theory with the task of preaching Luke/Acts. Our prayer is that the responsible integration of these resources will increase the ability of the Holy Spirit to empower preachers for faithful proclamation of God’s word. To that end we give God the glory
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More Junior High And Middle School Talksheets Updated
$16.99Add to cartIn an hour (or less!) your kids are gonna look at you with that “OK, so what are you gonna make us do” look. You’ve exhausted the first 50 TalkSheets for middle schoolers and now you’re scrambling for more. Yup, you’ve got them here?50 more updated TalkSheets to get your youth thinking about real-life issues–on everything from pornography to spiritual growth. Get your kids out of the church gymnasium and into some hardcore discussion. These TalkSheets have been working for leaders like you for over a decade. And, hey, they’re hardly any work for you! Just pick one, make copies, and see your kids get real with themselves and each other. It’s the best thing since, well – the first 50 TalkSheets! So get going!
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More High School Talksheets Upcated
$22.99Add to cartIn an hour (or less!) your kids are gonna walk in, sit down, and give you that “OK, entertain us” look. Resist the urge to play Bible Pictionary again for the fifth time! You’ve hit it off with–and exhausted–the first 50 TalkSheets for high schoolers and now you’re looking for more. Look no further. Inside are 50 more revised and updated TalkSheets to get your kids talking about real-life issues–on everything from pornography to spiritual growth. These TalkSheets have been working for leaders like you for over a decade. And, hey, they’re hardly any work for you! Just pick one, make copies, and sit back to see your youth get real with themselves and each other. It’s the best thing since, well – the first 50 High School TalkSheets! So get going!
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High School Talksheets Psalms And Proverbs Updated
$22.99Add to cartKing David and Solomon knew a thing or two about God–in fact, what they wrote still applies to teenagers today. And, it’s no secret that teenagers learn more from conversing among themselves than from having somebody talk at them. High School TalkSheets Psalms and Proverbs–Updated! contains 50 discussion starters on topics of perennial relevance and high interest to teenagers such as?
* trusting God
* freedom from fear
* staying spiritually healthy
* dealing with evil in the world
* sharing Christ with others
* and many, many moreThese TalkSheets spring from the wisdom books of the Old Testament and are more relevant and helpful to your youth than you may think! They are designed in one-page reproducible handouts with provocative questions and compelling design–useful ammo to get bored church kids and unchurched kids alike talking and thinking about what the Bible says about issues that matter to them.
High School TalkSheets Psalms and Proverbs–Updated! can stand alone as simple and effective discussion starters. Or youth workers can unwrap the topic into a full-blown Bible study, thanks to leaders’ instructions that come with each TalkSheet – detailed suggestions for further group exploration, Bible references galore, Internet resources, and activities to pursue in and out of the meeting.
TalkSheets are versatile! Youth leaders can use a TalkSheet to enhance an existing lesson (each TalkSheet is identified by topic, so youth leaders can quickly find a TalkSheet on the topic they’re teaching on) – or they can use a TalkSheet as an entire lesson in itself (if the youth leader is a good facilitator, and if the students enjoy exploring a topic in a directed discussion) – and TalkSheets are perfect for student leaders to use with small groups
High School TalkSheets Psalms and Proverbs–Updated! is the perfect small-group discussion-starting resource for youth meetings, small groups and cell groups, Sunday school, and camps and retreats.
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High School Talksheets Updated
$24.99Add to cartIt’s meeting time again and your high schoolers have spent the last twenty minutes talking about spring break and prom dates. A handful of guys are shooting hoops in the church gym while three girls in the corner are swooning over the homecoming king. And you think you’re gonna get them talking about peer pressure or popular music?! Good luck. They’d rather be doing their geometry homework.
But then again, maybe you’ve found a solution! TalkSheets have been working for leaders like you for over a decade. And now they’re Updated–ready to help you get a hardcore discussion going to hit home on real issues–everything from drinking to social injustice. And, there’s hardly any work for you! Just pick one, make copies, and let the questions and activities get them thinking about their world and their lives. So get them thinking (if you dare)! Too bad everything isn’t this easy!
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Junior High And Middle School Talksheets Psalms And Proverbs
$22.99Add to cartThis volume of TalkSheets is a newly revised and updated version that contains 50 one-page reproducible handouts to help youth workers jumpstart and lead discussions on relevant topics and interests to junior high and middle school youth of the millennium.
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Listening To God
$23.00Add to cartPeople today are less interested in thinking about God while being much more interested in knowing God, observes spiritual director and author John Ackerman, who served as a parish pastor for four decades. In this insightful book, Ackerman outlines ways congregations can promote members’ spiritual growth toward a greater intimacy with God. This book is about the whole system-individuals and small groups, lay leaders and clergy, worship and education-everything we do in a congregation to form us more fully into the body of Christ and to become aware of Christ in us. Ackerman offers two basic, four-step models and several additional tools that can be used to create a more encompassing process. And it all begins with learning to listen as a community, and to notice what God is doing in our life together. Foreword by Alice Mann, author of Can Our Church Live? and The In-Between Church.
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Craddock Stories
$23.99Add to cart“Those who have heard Craddock preach know that the stories he weaves are a “secret weapon” of his preaching. Now Mike Graves and Richard Ward have complied Craddock Stories, a collection of more than 200 stories that Craddock tells, based on his own life and ministry. Even those who don’t follow Craddock’s preaching model will thoroughly enjoy the winsome and insightful stories in this collection.”
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Birthing The Sermon
$29.99Add to cart“For these women, preaching is not one of the tasks of ministry-preach, teach, pastor, govern. Preaching is who they are. Whatever process they follow-which include admitting to writing ‘Saturday night specials’ and grabbing a children’s book to read from the pulpit-preaching is about connecting their lives to the pulse of the congregations, and to the heartbeat of God.”
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Kicking Habits : Welcome Relief For Addicted Churches
$26.99Add to cartHighly motivating reading for any congregation which has stagnated or is caught up in a seemingly irreversible decline. Offers 20 shocking truths that thriving congregations have discovered to help overcome self-destructive practices. Serves as a much-needed early warning system
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Size Transitions In Congregations
$23.00Add to cartCongregations that seek growth are often frustrated at hitting a plateau-caught in a transition zone between sizes. The Alban Institute has long been recognized as a leader in size transition research and learning, and this anthology offers an in-depth collection of resources, through new articles developed for the book as well as previously published and highly regarded pieces that inform and provoke.
In a new essay, Arlin Rothauge, director of the Seabury Institute and author of Sizing Up a Congregation for New Member Ministry, a classic on the subject, offers his reflections on the state of the research and the models that have been used to frame discussion about size transitions. Alban senior consultant Alice Mann describes key findings from her current research on the pastoral-to-program size transition, perhaps the most common and most difficult to address. Other new material focuses on size transition in synagogues; the program-to-corporate transition; and the “awkward size” congregation with the resources of a pastor-centered congregation, but the desire to be program size.
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Counseling Women : A Narrative Pastoral Approach
$34.00Add to cartIn this signal volume, Christie Neuger offers a new feminist paradigm for radical, effective, empowering counseling for women. She contends that pastors must take up the challenge of pastoral counseling, especially in lgith of the revolutionary pastoral implications of gender studies and feminist theology, as well as the continuing personal and social effects of sexism. Neuger’s work promises to aid counselors “to help women resist and transform the negative effects of a woman-unfriendly culture” and so to reclaim their stories, their strength, and their lives.
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Postmodern Youth Ministry
$26.99Add to cartThe rules have changed. Everything you believe is suspect. The world is up for grabs. Welcome to the emerging postmodern culture. A “free zone” of rapid change that places high value on community, authenticity, and even God–but has little interest in modern, Western-tinged Christianity. Postmodern Youth Ministry addresses these enormous philosophical shifts and shows how they’re affecting teenagers.
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Tree Of All Hearts
$15.00Add to cartThis collection of original contemporary parables and stories written by the authors for readers and hearers is presented with powerful wisdom and truths through the telling of stories.
Jesus was the master storyteller, and among his best-loved and most remembered words are the parables. Stories are essential for describing the Christian experience. The power of parables and stories lies in their ability to address matters of the heart in ways akin to poetry. As an aid to preaching and teaching, parables provide powerful windows to truths that can be grasped by the hearer on many levels.
The collection of parables and stories in this book addresses common themes of the Christian life: faith, fear, discipleship, discipline, death, life, salvation, and hope. Some are parables in the strict sense of the term; others are fables and genre stories. Like any good story, each will speak to the listeners at whatever level of readiness and understanding they bring to the story.
Each story includes corresponding Bible passages and a list of study questions for pondering various aspects of the story, either in personal reflection or group study.
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Shaping The Spiritual Life Of Students
$24.99Add to cartJonathan’s drug use has come between him and Jesus. Rachel, trapped in an abusive relationship, is afraid to return to church. How can you help spiritually alienated teenagers? Offering practical insights, Dunn teaches you to be attuned to teens’ deepest needs so that you can help them pace their lives—physically, intellectually, emotionally, socially, and spiritually.
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Care For The Soul
$39.99Add to cartNineteen psychologists and theologians look at the boundaries between science and religion, trying to find common ground in an area fraught with controversy. How does modern psychology’s approach differ from the age-old techniques used by clergy? What can each side learn from the other?
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Lecciones Biblicas Creativas P – (Spanish)
$14.99Add to cartThink of it as a lean, mean, Bible doctrine course_without the lecture; but it doew have lots of options, music and drama, small-group work, and reproducible, interactive worksheets with eye-catching designs and soul-searching content. In these 12 clear, complete sessions, author Chap Clark guides kids (and you) through the Big Ideas in this first-century letter to Christians trying their darndest to live godly lives in an ungodly culture. Here are topics made to order for teenagers living at the turn of the 21st century. Teach your way through Romans with these ready-to-go sessions. Or scanvege whatever you want of the creative scripts, handouts, and other options to customize a lesson of your own. Any way you use it, this book is your no-doze ticket to solid Bible doctrine.
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Reading The Bible In Faith A Print On Demand Title
$23.99Add to cartReading the Bible in Faith gathers the deepest reflections of leading pastor-theologians dealing with the heart of Holy Scripture – the restoration of the proper relationship between God and his people. Speaking ecumenically, pastor to pastor, the contributors to this very special book provide sound encouragement, rooted in both the Bible and experience, to other church leaders who are also called to stand as the theologians of their local congregations. Seeing the present “crisis of the church” more truly as a crisis of faith that compels too many pastors to major in the minors, this volume confidently reaffirms the Christian gospel as the trustworthy and dynamic basis for the church’s mission and ministry. Short, insightful writings by respected leaders of local congregations urge church renewal through scripturally grounded preaching, teaching, pastoral care, and church administration.
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Preaching For Special Services
$18.00Add to cartSooner or later, every pastor will be called on to conduct special services. Baptisms, weddings, funerals, infant presentations, and evangelistic services, each in their own way, challenge pastors to find the right words to mark the occasion.
Preaching for Special Services will help pastors prepare sermons for these special services. Each chapter explores a different occasion and offers the perspective, encouragement, and practical advice that pastors need as they plan their messages.
Through this useful book, pastors will discover how Christ-centered special occasion preaching can make a difference in the lives of their listeners.
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Altar Call
$20.99Add to cartThis volume will examine commitment in the context of the individual and institutinal response to God’s call to be God’s people. “The call from God is a call to the altar, to the holy, in a simple do-able way.” explains the author. “Right now we are a little like an aborted African chant in the mainline church; there is a call, but no response.” Donna Schaper outlines various reasons for this disconnect between call and response, and she offers ten concrete ways of responding to the gospel through specific actions that will help persons reconnect with their commitment to be the people of God.
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Excellent Protestant Congregations
$34.00Add to cart1. Lutheran Ministries Of Southwest Oklahoma
2. Seekers Church
3. Mountain Top Community Church
4. All Saints Episcopal Church
5. Riverside Baptist Church
6. First United Methodist Church
7. Chinese Christian Union Church
8. Full Gospel Church Of God In Christ
9. Warehouse 242Additional Info
Though it is popular for individuals to seek a variety of spiritual practices and approaches, the local congregation still remains the place where most Christians turn for religious education, nurture, ritual, and a sense of community. With the influx of new faces in the pews, many congregations are struggling to respond to their spiritual needs. In Excellent Protestant Congregations, respected religion journalist Paul Wilkes profiles nine dynamic, geographically and denominationally diverse congregations that have the ability to create a vibrant community of workshop. Wilkes draws out the “points of excellence” that lie beneath each congregation’s success and vitality. From hosting luncheons after funerals to organizing powerful life-changing retreats, from developing a capital campaign to getting volunteers to cheerfully do work for the church, Excellent Protestant Congregations provides real-world insights that are both inspiring and applicable in a local congregation. The geographic listing of over 300 excellent Protestant congregations and an index guiding readers to specific topics, such as stewardship, bereavement, and how to reach Gen Xers, make Excellent Protestant Congregations an invaluable resource for church life. -
Using Illustrations To Preach With Power
$22.50Add to cartPaul’s vivid metaphor of the “armor of God” still speaks to us today. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “dream” transformed an entire nation. Using illustrations in your sermon furthers your congregation’s understanding. Arguing that lively illustrations are vital to effective preaching, Chapell shows you how to choose, shape, and incorporate them into your sermons.
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Uncovering Your Churchs Hidden Spirit
$23.00Add to cartParishioners today look to their congregations to feed their spiritual hunger. But many members and clergy are not sure how the words “congregation” and “spirituality” fit together. Author Celia Hahn interviewed 30 lay people and clergy from five Episcopal congregations to discover their stories of congregational spirituality and to help them identify the congregation’s gifts for spiritual development. Hahn becomes a spiritual companion and resource for the searching congregation, guiding the church as it begins to discover its gifts. How is God at work in our congregation? How do members empowered by the transforming Spirit minister in their workplaces, neighborhoods, and families? How do members move into a deeper relationship with one another and with God? Foreword by Tilden Edwards, executive director of the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Direction.
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Its News To Me Messages Of Hope For Those Who Havent Heard Cycle A
$12.95Add to cartAll too often, many people find traditional worship dull and the sermons they hear impractical for living in today’s world. Yet Linda McCoy is convinced that the message of God’s unconditional love is the most vital word for life anyone can receive — especially those who have never heard or truly experienced it. Her inspiring sermons share that message of hope with modern Americans by bridging the gap between the sacred and the secular. As the fruit of her non-traditional ministry directed toward those who have never been part of a church or who have been “turned off” or “disenfranchised” by the established church, McCoy’s short, to-the-point messages effectively and relevantly communicate the good news to anyone who is searching for an experience of the Divine. Readers of these sermons will be connected to a deep sense of purpose and enriched by God’s amazing love and grace.
Sermon titles include:
* Prepare For Arrival — Matthew 3:1-12
* The Power Of A Dream — Matthew 2:13-23
* Positive Identification — John 1:29-42
* Building Bridges — Matthew 5:21-37
* It’s A Mystery — Matthew 17:1-9 -
Blueprints For Worship
$23.99Add to cart165 Pages
Additional Info
This book is intended to provide practical assistance for pastors, musicians, and others who plan and lead worship in local congregations. Based upon the 1989 United Methodist Hymnal, the 1992 United Methodist Book of Worship, and the 1992 Revised Common Lectionary, this book will enable you to create, design, build, and lead effective worship experiences in your local congregation. Through a worksheet format that culls information and references from the sources mentioned above, you’ll be able to more effectively integrate preaching, music, movement, and environment. -
Controlling Your Emotions Before They Control You
$17.99Add to cartHarvest House Print on Demand
Are you riding an emotional roller coaster and don’t know how to get off? This hands-on guide gives solid biblical counsel to help you deal with depression, overcome anger, handle stress, face fear, forgive others, and praise God in the midst of it all. Includes real-life stories, emotional evaluations, and personality charts.
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How To Reach Secular People
$23.99Add to cartHOW TO REACH SECULAR PEOPLE
How do you communicate the Christian faith to the growing numbers of “secular” people in the western world? Pastors and Sunday school teachers who teach the faith week by week to professing Christians experience their assignment as increasingly difficult; so how do you communicate Christianity’s meaning to people who do not darken church doors, who have no church background, who possess no traditional Christian vocabulary, who do not know what we are talking about? The question presses us with greater intensity as we realize that the countries and populations of the western world have become “mission fields” once again.
The following pages contain a mere fraction of what we will one day know about effective mission in the western world. But they contain enough insight from communicators, congregations, and converts to help 99 percent of our churches to triple the number of new Christians they help into faith and thereby become contagious movements in their communities.
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Teologia Practica Pastoral – (Spanish)
$14.99Add to cartWould you like to know how to prepare your vision and present it to writing to the church? How to give specific job functions to each of your collaborators? How many types of leaders there are? How to write thankful notes to thankful offerings? Which are the critical phases in the pastoral ministry? What place the pastor’s wife occupies? How many different ecclesiastic governments exist? How to celebrate different ceremonies, from funerals to dedicating babies? These and other topics are discussed in this practical guide for pastors.
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Beyond The Ordinary A Print On Demand Title
$21.99Add to cartOver the past few decades mainline Protestant congregations have not easily embraced the notion of spirituality. As much as any aspect of church life, spirituality has been misunderstood, misused, and resisted by both clergy and laity. Yet times are changing. Today many people feel a deep spiritual hunger and are out looking for fulfillment in a wide variety of settings. In this new context, mainline congregations need to awaken to the presence of the Spirit in their midst and equip leaders to nurture both the personal and corporate spirituality of their congregations.
Beyond the Ordinary is explicitly written to help church leaders who have had no formal training in spiritual formation. Drawing from years of experience teaching Christian spirituality, Ben Campbell Johnson and Andrew Dreitcer explore the spiritual dimensions of leadership, looking in depth at the meaning of spirituality as it relates to the tasks of ministry. This friendly, inspiring book will enable readers to erase the negative stereotypes of spirituality and develop vital models and practices for the church today.
The book introduces a faithful understanding and practice of the spiritual life to those who have not yet dipped into the well that is Christian spirituality. For those who have already tasted this water and still thirst, it offers a way to dip even more deeply. Chapters discuss the issues surrounding a meaningful spirituality for our changing times, the importance of holding prayer and mission in tension, and the crucial role of Scripture in the formation of our lives. The authors also underscore the importance of vision, myth, and discernment in the spiritual life of the church. And they discuss the power of spiritual practices like discernment and visioning for enhancing the spirituality of congregations and for helping them become agents of social transformation.
Intended for personal and group use by pastors, elders, other church leaders, and those preparing for service in the church, the book includes suggestions for reflection and discussion as well as journaling exercises that encourage learning and growth.
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Listening Ministry : Rethinking Pastoral Leadership
$17.00Add to cartListening Ministry is a timely and practical work that invites church leaders (professional and non-professional) to look at leadership in the church in a completely different way. It is also a valuable scholarly work that calls forth new learning through the reflection questions provided at the end of each chapter. The book helps readers rethink the dynamics of ministry from the perspective of listening, focusing on both its individual and communal dimensions. Hedahl’s work presents a unique blend of theological reflection on listening, new and tested research on listening as it relates to church leadership, and suggested forms of listening as education and skills assessment in a continual effort to locate and understand listening as the heart of effective and faithful ministry.
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Pastoral Leadership : A Handbook Of Resources For Effective Congregational
$30.99Add to cartThis comprehensive problem-solving reference for pastors provides theological foundations and experience-tested techniques for effective clergy leadership.
Robert D. Dale offers insight into the dynamics of clergy management by placing leadership into a congregational context and stressing servanthood as the primary biblical leadership image. Following a discussion of the three critical dimensions of organizational effectiveness, Dale explores and critiques the four basic leadership styles: catalyst, commander, encourager, and hermit. Out of this background exploration, Dale discloses decision-making guidelines that have proved effective in helping clergy: resolve conflicts; lead churches through change; define the congregation’s dream; budget resources effectively; manage meetings; build teams; and, motivate oneself and others.
Pastoral Leadership concludes with a unique look at the effects of clergy leadership on the pastor as a person, offering valuable insight into clergy spirituality, burnout, family demands, and career development. Notes, a bibliography, and review questions accompany each chapter.
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Peace Skills (Teacher’s Guide)
$24.95Add to cartPart of the Peace Skills Set, this Leaders’ Guide is designed to prepare people to lead Peace Skills workshops in their communities. It contains several suggested workshop designs to accommodate different workshop goals, lengths, and formats; clear guidelines for teaching with role plays, case studies and sacred texts; and a broad variety of cases, role plays and specific faith texts for group discussion.
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House Divided : Bridging The Generation Gaps In Your Church
$28.99Add to cartGenerational differences are nothing new in church. There have always been groups and subgroups within a congregation, divided along lines with age. Yet with the possible exception of their educational programs, congregations have generally practiced a “one size fits all” approach to ministry and worship. Whichever group is dominant, generally the older members, although it can be the younger generations as well-sets the tone for musical styles, preaching emphases, and outreach focus.
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Web Of Womens Leadership
$20.99Add to cartThis book calls for women in church leadership to recognize the potential of female styles of authority and ministry, and to lay claim to them as a way to move beyond the hierarchical models that have so long dominated our understanding of how the church practices its mission and organizes its life. It offers detailed, practical steps for how to work with laity, other clergy, and congregational leadership groups to achieve this transformation in the way the church organizes itself for ministry.
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Turn Your Church Inside Out
$16.00Add to cartWhile many mainline churches are encountering significant decline in attendance, some are being transformed into vibrant communities of faith! More than a church growth book, this insightful guide will help you reshape your church—with enthusiastic support from your congregation—into a mission center bringing Christian witness and practice into all areas of your community.
