Church Life
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Brain Savvy Leaders
$27.99Add to cartLeadership is tough. Church leadership can be even tougher. Leadership demands constant reframing and reappraisal of the situation, focus, objectivity, honest appraisal of yourself and others, and astute evaluation of available resources. Church leadership is all that and more. To be an effective church leader, you also have to love and have others’ best interest at heart. You have to align yourself and your church with God’s desire to transform lives for the better, both within and beyond your reach.
Using up-to-date research from brain science in easy-to-understand language, author Charles Stone will help you increase your personal productivity, handle stress and your emotions in constructive ways, create and sustain collaborative teams, and manage change in your church. Using illustrations and acronyms, Dr. Stone will show you how brain science can complement and reinforce what the Bible says about life and leadership. He will show you how basic brain processes affect leadership and your team’s ability to follow while becoming more cohesive and collaborative.
Each chapter gives practical tips and actionable steps to help leaders improve personal and organizational skills.
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Big Lessons From Little Places
$19.95Add to cartHighlights the ministry of the small congregation, a category into which 68% of
Episcopal congregations fall* Follows up on the author’s Becoming the Transformative Church and continues the
conversation about church re-structuring* Reflection/Study Guide questions included
Churchwide discussions on structure and growth tend to focus on the importance of
increasing “butts in the pews and bucks in the plates.” Suggestions have been made on
merging smaller dioceses to create larger ones and closing the doors of congregations
which do not have Sunday attendance of at least 200. This is a model of scarcity without
consideration of the value and abundance to be found in small churches.Discover the roles, possibilities, promise, and potential of being a small church! Travel
with Kay Collier McLauglin as she takes the back roads and byways of the United States,
visiting small churches that are making a difference in their community. Each chapter tells
a story about an example of faithfulness in the life of a small congregation and relates
that story to the essentials of faithful living and being church. The book challenges the
decision-makers in the Episcopal Church to think beyond traditional measures and shortterm
economic fixes to discover the life-giving opportunities and models presented by the
smallest congregations.For diocesan leaders, lay professionals, clergy, seminarians, and small groups.
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Orgullosamente Episcopal – (Spanish)
$18.95Add to cartA popular book translated for the significant Spanish-speaking population within the
Episcopal Church* Ideal for new-member, confirmation, and group study classes, plus lifelong
EpiscopaliansEpiscopalians newly discovering their church home or long-time members who may
have forgotten why they love the church will appreciate Unabashedly Episcopalian.
Bishop Andy Doyle has mined the Baptismal Covenant and his own experiences leading
the Diocese of Texas. The result is a heartfelt, smart, and practical book that calls
Episcopalians to wake up to the church’s unique gifts and story, and equips them to
share that witness in their neighborhoods and out in the world.For new members, study groups, church leaders and vestries, youth and young adults.
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Minister As Entrepreneur
$20.99Add to cartBuilding on his own experiences as a priest and an entrepreneur, Volland argues that the concept of entrepreneurship offers churches a helpful lens through which to view Christian ministry and mission, and an understanding and approach to ministry that is well fitted for the mission task in a rapidly changing world. He shows how an entrepreneurial approach is consistent with understandings of leadership in the major denominations and in the new churches. He also argues that such an approach is consistent both with the nature of God and with human collaboration with God’s activity in the world. “To be a minister is to face the everyday challenge of finding new ways to express the faith, and to refresh the life of the Church. This is the call to be an entrepreneur. Michael Volland sets out the case for the minister as an agent of change and as the one who looks for new ways to do things . . . This is an important and a timely book which will help us to see entrepreneurship as gift of God and a delight for the Church.’Pete Ward, Professorial Fellow in Ecclesiology and Ethnography, Durham University
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Women In The Church Revised Updated 2nd Edition
$7.99Add to cartDr. Everett Ferguson has made substantial revisions in this second edition of Women in the Church: Biblical and Historical Perspectives. In chapter one, he writes in detail regarding the New Testament texts concerning women’s roles in the assembly of the church. In chapter two, Dr. Ferguson explores the evidence from early church history concerning these same roles in the assembly. In chapter three, he addresses doctrinal considerations in light of the New Testament texts and the witness of early church history.
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Me To We
$20.99Add to cartChurches with front doors that open up mission fields rather than buildings.When Christians answer the clarion call to be missional, too often it is primarily to feel good or to grow in their own faith. But ultimately we remain unsatisfied because, in the end, it’s still about “me”-my church, my faith, my salvation. Then sometimes inspiration dries up.
We forget that Jesus is the head of the Church, which exists at God’s pleasure and disposal. God is birthing a new Social Gospel, meant to reclaim mission and justice ministries as prime directives for the Church, and not with the naive thinking of the 19th or 20th centuries.
What are the characteristics of this new Social Gospel? There is an expectation that mission is “with” and not “for” others. There is an acknowledgement that tolerance is not a dirty word and we have to find a peaceable way to live in our intercultural world. It carries the Wesleyan impulse to change the world by working to build God’s kingdom in this world. It offers the grace and salvation of Christ to those in need, believing that none are free unless all are free. It means that we feed the hungry, educate to poor, and equip the powerless in tangible ways.
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Church In Exile
$32.99Add to cartThe people of God throughout history have been a people of exile and diaspora. Whether under the Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks or Romans, the people chosen by God have had to learn how to be a holy people in alien lands and under foreign rule. For much of its history, however, the Christian church lived with the sense of being at home in the world, with considerable influence and power. That age of Christendom is now over, and as Lee Beach demonstrates, this is something for which the church should be grateful. The “peace” of Christendom was a false one, and there is no comfortable normalcy to which we can or should return. Drawing on a close engagement with Old Testament and New Testament texts, The Church in Exile offers a biblical and practical theology for the church in a post-Christian age. Beach helps the people of God today to develop a hopeful and prophetic imagination, a theology responsive to its context, and an exilic identity marked by faithfulness to God’s mission in the world.
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Heart Of Holiness
$13.99Add to cartWhat is the place of compassion in the life of holiness? It concerns not only the life of the individual disciple but poses important missional questions for the Church.
Is compassionate ministry a distraction from the core message of heart of holiness?
Are ministries of compassion best understood as effective tools to open doors for evangelistic outreach?
Is compassionate ministry one of those specialized ministries that we may choose to do where we have interest and opportunity?
As they draw from scripture, theology, the deep history of the Church, and the more recent history of the Wesleyan-Holiness movement, discover what scholars and ministry leaders believe is the place of compassion in the life of holiness.
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Our Global Families
$31.00Add to cartAs Christians, we belong to not only a diverse global Christian family but also a diverse human family. Todd Johnson, a noted expert on global Christianity and world missions trends, and Cindy Wu show how divisions within these families work against our desire to bring about positive change in the world. They provide an overview of global Christian identity, exploring how we can be faithful to our own tradition while engaging Christians across denominations and be better informed as we work with people of other religions. The book utilizes the latest research data on global Christianity and world religions and includes tables, graphs, charts, and end-of-chapter discussion questions.
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God Gave The Growth
$34.95Add to cartThe Episcopal Church has recognized that planting new churches is a high priority through the Mission Enterprise Zones initiative, which provides grant funding for new worshiping communities, in partnership with dioceses. While there is significant literature and training available for church planters in evangelical contexts, very little is available for planters in the Episcopal/mainline context. This book addresses how to rise up and train leaders for the difficult task of planting new churches in the twenty-first century. It answers the essential questions, such as why should we plant churches, what models of church planting are most successful, what kinds of leaders are necessary, and what problems can be expected. Through the author’s personal experience and interviews with diocesan experts and leaders in mainline denominations, it provides strategies, approaches, and problem-solving techniques.
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Father Tims Church Survival Guide
$20.95Add to cartIf you have little tolerance for ecclesiastical blowhards; if you’ve ever fantasized about implementing a clergy rating system (CRS); if you’ve ever sought tips on surviving diocesan convention; if you’ve ever tried to weasel your way out of pledging; then this book is for you,” says author Tim Schenck. “My take on church life isn’t for everyone-clergy who take themselves too seriously will hate it. But know that it all comes out of a place of deep love for God and the Church. There are inevitably things that drive us nuts about such an imperfect (i.e., human) institution. Yet if we can’t observe and comment on our own foibles we’re left without much hope. And anyway if God doesn’t have a sense of humor, I’m hosed.””
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House To House
$15.99Add to cartA MANUAL TO HELP YOU EXPERIENCE HEALTHY SMALL GROUPS AND HOUSE CHURCHES
Updated! House to House documents how God transformed a small fellowship of young believers into a worldwide movement. DOVE International(R) grew from 25 people to a cell church of over 2300 and then transitioned into a family of small group churches and house churches networking together throughout six continents.Larry Kreider draws from thirty years of victories and defeats to provide an overall paradigm with which to “do” church, where every believer becomes a minister. To embrace this paradigm, the very core of what drives and moves the church is changed. It is not about being clergy run, but rather, church leadership exists to equip and release the believers to become the ministers through small groups and house churches and fulfill their God-given call.
The book’s view of small groups and house churches, based firmly on the scriptures, from their purpose of reaching people for Christ to making disciples to their impact on today’s world, will inspire believers, Christian leaders, and churches, traditional or contemporary, in years to come…transforming them from individual congregations, large and small, into church planting movements.
Includes study and discussion questions after each chapter. Use it as a handbook for small group and house church dynamics as well as an invaluable tool to train leaders.
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Missional Worship Worshipful Mission
$29.99Add to cartA rich, fresh take on the meaning and practice of Christian worship
A common perception among Christians is that worship is only a Sunday morning activity done within the walls of the church, while, by contrast, mission involves how the church engages the outside world. But Ruth Meyers argues that there is a dynamic correlation between worship and mission, and she explores that relationship in this book.
Meyers takes the reader chapter by chapter through the various parts of the Sunday worship service, incorporating stories of worship practices in different churches, and shows how the actions of worship relate to mission in the world. The book’s last chapter offers a conceptual tool for preparing worship that is a rich celebration of the mystery of God’s love.
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Transitioning Into A Prototype Church
$27.99Add to cartRevival Waves Of Glory Ministries
Bill Vincent is an anointed Prophetic writer that releases powerful fresh revelation in all he does. Bill released first his powerful book BUILDING A PROTOTYPE CHURCH and now Volume 2 TRANSITIONING INTO A PROTOTYPE CHURCH. You will be able to see into God’s heart of a new type of Church coming forth. This book will help anyone whom wants to be more than just an every day Church. God will truly transition your Church as you obtain all the in-depth revelations in this breakthrough book. May the Spirit of God help you as you begin TRANSITIONING INTO A PROTOTYPE CHURCH. -
Exploring Christian Theology Revelation Scripture And The Triune God (Reprinted)
$17.00Add to cartAn Easy-to-Understand Study of Christian Doctrine from Trusted Dallas Seminary Professors
This engaging and accessible systematic theology clearly explains essential spiritual truths for those new to doctrinal study or in need of a refresher. The authors use quick-paced introductions, overviews, reviews of the key tenets of orthodox evangelical doctrines, and more for an easy grasp of the subjects. The book includes two parts:
* How Firm a Foundation: Revelation, Scripture, and Doctrinal Truth
* God in Three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy SpiritThe writers, Douglas Blount and J. Scott Horrell, and the contributors, J. Lanier Burns and Glenn R. Kreider, are all Dallas Seminary professors and theologians led by general editors Nathan D. Holsteen and Michael J. Svigel.
Exploring Christian Theology is useful for discipleship, preview or review of doctrine, or personal reference. It can be used by ministry training programs, Bible colleges, or seminaries as an introduction to prepare students for more in-depth theological study.
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Breaking Bread Breaking Beats
$29.00Add to cartContents:
Getting Started
1. Moments In The History Of Black Churches And Hip-Hop
2. Black Churches, Hip-Hop, And The Body
3. Black Churches, Hip-Hop, Race, And Ethnicity
4. Black Churches, Hip-Hop, And Poverty
5. Black Churches, Hip-Hop, And Gender
6. Black Churches, Hip-Hop, And Sexuality
7. Black Churches, Hip-Hop, And Ethics
8. Black Churches, Hip-Hop, And Globalization
9. A Relationship Between Black Churches And Hip-Hop?
10. The Cipher
The CERCL Writing Collective Members
Glossary
Selected Bibliography
NotesAdditional Info
What is hip-hop, and how does it impact the Black Church? How does the Black Church integrate hip-hop? How do black churches think about hip-hop? How do these different, yet deeply interrelated communities think about the key topics of modern life-be it gender, sex, race, or globalization?These questions and more are the concern of the CERCL Writing Collective, under the mentorship of Anthony Pinn. In this innovative project, ten individuals write as one voice to illuminate the ways that hip-hop and the Black Church agree, disagree, and inform each other on key topics.
This book grows out of the popular religion and Hip-Hop course, soon to be offered as an open enrollment online course, at Rice University by Anthony B. Pinn and Bernard ‘Bun B’ Freeman. Like the course, the book offers engaging insights into one of today’s most important musical genres and reflects on its broad cultural impact.
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Re Vision : The Key To Transforming Your Church (Reprinted)
$23.00Add to cartPastors around the country continue to look for the program, the book, or the sermon series that will turn their plateaued or declining churches around. But what if the answer to revitalizing the church was closer to home? According to trusted church leadership expert Aubrey Malphurs and veteran pastor Gordon E. Penfold, it is. They believe that pastors themselves are the key. In a time when many pastors are jumping from church to church every two or three years as they search for the “right fit” where they can “make a difference,” churches are suffering from a lack of sustained leadership from pastors with a viable vision for ministry.
In Re:Vision, Malphurs and Penfold take pastors through a process of discovery and self-evaluation designed to help them re-envision their role, create a culture for positive change, and recruit people to come alongside them as helpers and encouragers. Multiple appendices offer self-diagnostic tools and surveys to help pastors assess their strengths and weaknesses for more effective ministry.
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Rapture Revelations
$13.95Add to cartRevival Waves Of Glory Ministries
Unfortunately, most of our modern day teachings on this most important doctrine are misleading, to say the very least. Bill Vincent has studied for years and now is releasing his findings in this book, Rapture Revelations. A careful scrutiny of the Scriptures will reveal the truth about the second coming of Christ, which we generally refer to as “the rapture”. In Rapture Revelations, he has set out to correct the most obvious errors of the pre-tribulation doctrine and to establish the basic foundation for understanding the truth of the matter. Great care is taken to follow the guidelines of Scripture and the Biblical basis of doctrinal interpretation, precept upon precept and line upon line. This is the only method of interpretation used in the pages of Rapture Revelations. Since God Himself revealed His method of understanding doctrine, it is believed by the author to be the best method to use. Therefore, with Bible in hand, follow along with the Scriptures quoted and see if you don’t find truth within its pages. In Rapture Revelations, Bill answers questions that many do not know the answers to. Be open and allow this page-turner to open up the biggest controversial subject of the rapture of Jesus Christ. If you are a lover of truth, you will enjoy this very basic presentation of Biblical facts concerning the doctrine of the “gathering together” of Christ’s saints unto Himself. -
Your Identity In Christ
$10.99Add to cart19 Chapters
Additional Info
There are so many of us believers that live a life that is dominated by defeat, guilt, condemnation, and shame. So many of us live powerless lives and we are far from the passionate Paul that was zealous, bold and courageous. There is a real need for the body of Christ not to view themselves through the lens of their own sins and other people’s opinions, but to view themselves as sons of God and how the Bible describes them in their TRUE Identity in Christ. This book provides a watershed of truth, insights and revelations that will help each reader come to see themselves as the Bible declares them to be. Come and read nineteen good things that God says you are, and let the truth change you, as it did for the author. Many people run from prophet to prophet to hear that God loves them, has a purpose and destiny for them, and believes in them, when if they had the right book in their hands and took the time to let the truths soak in, they would finally be set free, and propelled toward their destiny. This is such a book! -
Church According To Paul
$34.00Add to cartAmid conflicting ideas about what the church should be and do in a post-Christian climate, the missing voice is that of Paul. The New Testament’s most prolific church planter, Paul faced diverse challenges as he worked to form congregations. Leading biblical scholar James Thompson examines Paul’s ministry of planting and nurturing churches in the pre-Christian world to offer guidance for the contemporary church. The church today, as then, must define itself and its mission among people who have been shaped by other experiences of community. Thompson shows that Paul offers an unprecedented vision of the community that is being conformed to the image of Christ. He also addresses contemporary (mis)understandings of words like missional, megachurch, and formation.
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Forgive Us : Confessions Of A Compromised Faith
$24.99Add to cartMany people have become angry and frustrated with organized religion and evangelical Christianity, in particular. Too often the church has proven to be a source of pain rather than a place of hope. Forgive Us acknowledges the legitimacy of much of the anger toward the church. In truth, Christianity in America has significant brokenness in its history that demands recognition and repentance. Only by this path can the church move forward with its message of forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace. Forgive Us is thus a call to confession. From Psalm 51 to the teachings of Jesus to the prayers of Nehemiah, confession is the proper biblical response when God’s people have injured others and turned their backs on God’s ways. In the book of Nehemiah, the author confesses not only his own sins, but also the sins of his ancestors. The history of the American church demands a Nehemiah-style confession both for our deeds and the deeds of those who came before us. In each chapter of Forgive Us two pastors who are also academically trained historians provide accurate and compelling histories of some of the American church’s greatest shortcomings. Theologian Soong-Chan Rah and justice leader Lisa Sharon Harper then share theological reflections along with appropriate words of confession and repentance. Passionate and purposeful, Forgive Us will challenge evangelical readers and issue a heart-felt request to the surrounding culture for forgiveness and a new beginning.
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Shrink : Faithful Ministry In A Church Growth Culture
$24.99Add to cartAmong followers of Jesus, great is often the enemy of good. The drive to be great—to be a success by the standards of the world—often crowds out the qualities of goodness, virtue, and faithfulness that should define the central focus of Christian leadership. In the culture of today’s church, successful leadership is often judged by what works, while persistent faithfulness takes a back seat. If a ministry doesn’t produce results, it is dropped. If people don’t respond, we move on. This pursuit of ‘greatness’ exerts a crushing pressure on the local church and creates a consuming anxiety in its leaders. In their pursuit of this warped vision of greatness, church leaders end up embracing a leadership narrative that runs counter to the sacrificial call of the gospel story. When church leaders focus on faithfulness to God and the gospel, however, it’s always a kingdom-win—regardless of the visible results of their ministry. John the Baptist modeled this kind of leadership. As John’s disciples crossed the Jordan River to follow after Jesus, John freely released them to a greater calling than following him. Speaking of Jesus, John said: ‘He must increase, but I must decrease.’ Joyfully satisfied to have been faithful to his calling, John knew that the size and scope of his ministry would be determined by the will of the Father, not his own will. Following the example of John the Baptist and with a careful look at the teaching of Scripture, Tim Suttle dares church leaders to risk failure by chasing the vision God has given them—no matter how small it might seem—instead of pursuing the broad path of pragmatism that leads to fame and numerical success.
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Your Identity In Christ
$17.99Add to cart19 Chapters
Additional Info
There are so many of us believers that live a life that is dominated by defeat, guilt, condemnation, and shame. So many of us live powerless lives and we are far from the passionate Paul that was zealous, bold and courageous. There is a real need for the body of Christ not to view themselves through the lens of their own sins and other people’s opinions, but to view themselves as sons of God and how the Bible describes them in their TRUE Identity in Christ. This book provides a watershed of truth, insights and revelations that will help each reader come to see themselves as the Bible declares them to be. Come and read nineteen good things that God says you are, and let the truth change you, as it did for the author. Many people run from prophet to prophet to hear that God loves them, has a purpose and destiny for them, and believes in them, when if they had the right book in their hands and took the time to let the truths soak in, they would finally be set free, and propelled toward their destiny. This is such a book! -
Starting Missional Churches
$22.99Add to cartAll mission is local–the people of God joining the work of God in a particular place. In Starting Missional Churches Mark Lau Branson and Nicholas Warnes introduce us to seven missional churches and explore what it looks like to be salt and light where you are.
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Iglesia Relevante – (Spanish)
$15.99Add to cartRobert Barriger es considerado un valioso punto de referencia para miles de pastores en Latinoamerica. Sin ninguna duda, el trabajo logrado por su iglesia le da autoridad para hablar sobre formas en las que una congregacion de creyentes puede convertirse en una influencia relevante en su comunidad, incluyendo el establecimiento de programas medicos, politicos y familiares como muy pocas congregaciones de America.
Barriger es el pastor principal de Camino de Vida en Lima, Peru, una de las iglesias de mas impacto en el pais y en todo Sudamerica. Esta iglesia ha llevado a cabo una serie de proyectos de valor cultural y de influencia gubernamental en servicio a la comunidad. Barriger es de California, pero hace muchos anos hizo del Peru su casa donde vive con Su esposa, dos hijos y nietos. Su libro, La Iglesia Relevante, es una lectura sin duda requerida para cualquiera que quiere que su iglesia crezca en calidad como en cantidad y que busca que sea de un profundo impacto en la sociedad que la rodea.
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1 Kingdom Under God
$8.99Add to cartThe kingdom agenda is God’s blueprint for how all of life ought to be lived. However, the problem we face today is that many people have misunderstood the kingdom, therefore marginalizing its authority and influence not only in our own lives but also in our land. When Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,” He was referring to a literal entity – a kingdom that carries with it all of the power we need to live victorious lives and transform the world around us.
In One Kingdom under God, Dr. Tony Evans tells us it is time to recognize that the kingdom of God is not some ethereal fairy tale located in some far-off land. It is both here and now and it is time that we accessed all that it has to offer. This booklet is a part of the Life under God Series – a 5 book series adapted from the 5 sections found in The Kingdom Agenda, the legacy work of Dr. Tony Evans. This booklet is based on the “One Kingdom under God” section.
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1 Church Under God
$8.99Add to cartThe church has been established as that place where the values of eternity operate in history. It is a place where weary people can go to find truth, acceptance, freedom, forgiveness and hope. Operating in the world while being a model for the world, it offers an alternative to the world. God has so positioned and postured this unique body of Christ as a community of individuals spiritually linked together with the primary purpose of reflecting and legislating the values of His kingdom.
In One Church Under God, Dr. Tony Evans explores the purpose, Person, presence, people, power and proclamation of the church in order to equip believers to fully live out the great commission of Christ. This booklet is a part of the Life under God Series – a 5 book series adapted from the 5 sections found in The Kingdom Agenda, the legacy work of Dr. Tony Evans. This booklet is based on the “One Church under God” section.
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Community In The Inventive Age
$18.99Add to cartThe Inventive Age (the cultural turning following the Agrarian, Industrial, and Information ages) provides opportunities for reshaping all institutions and communities. Doug Pagitt brings to life ten Inventive Age characteristics as they are experienced through the community of Solomon’s Porch – a holistic missional Christian community in Minneapolis. These ten characteristics of Inventive Age culture will serve as a guide for those creating new faith communities and making changes in existing ones.
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Church In The Inventive Age
$18.99Add to cartMany books seek to predict the future of Christianity, but few help us grasp the opportunities of the current situation and equip us to navigate the present. Doug Pagitt, author, radio host, and pioneering leader, does just that, offering fresh, optimistic insights and practical suggestions. According to Pagitt, the last two centuries can be divided into four epochs: Idyllic, Industrial, Informational and now-Inventive. The Inventive Age – our currently reality – presents distinct opportunities for how faith communities think, what they value, and the tools they use. Pagitt offers leaders in Christian communities (and beyond) essential frameworks for participation in the Inventive Age.
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8 Secretos De Un Buen Lider (Student/Study Guide) – (Spanish) (Student/Study Gui
$12.99Add to cartThis study guide goes hand in hand with the book ‘Pastoral Principles of Psalm 23’ which the author is planning to promote heavily for the purpose of enabling leaders to cultivate healthy growth in their churches. In this study guide, intended to complement the book and not as a replacement, each chapter from the book is reflected in a series of weekly reading to facilitate both group and individual study. The author is also very committed to the idea of follow-up assignments that may be useful for discipleship groups for leaders as well as for the mentoring of ministerial students.
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Modelo Coach Para Lideres Cris – (Spanish)
$14.99Add to cartThe COACH Model is a radically different approach to leading people. Rather than provide answers, leaders ask questions to draw out what God has already put into others. Learn how to create powerful conversations to assist others to solve their own problems, reach goals, and develop leadership skills in the process.
Whether you are working with employees, teenagers, or a colleague living in another city, you’ll find powerful tools and techniques you need to increase your leadership effectiveness.
The COACH Model for Christian Leaders is packed with stories and illustrations that bring the principles and practice to life. Based on first-hand experience and taught around the world, this book will transform your conversations into powerful learning and results. -
Being Church Doing Life
$18.99Add to cartEvidence now suggests that contextual church plants have an important role to play in church growth. There is an increasing international interest in these new and different forms of church, often known as ‘Fresh Expressions’ or ’emerging church’. Author Michael Moynagh is a member of the UK national Fresh Expressions movement, a remarkable initiative that has attracted widespread attention around the world. In this inspiring volume he shares practical and comprehensive advice on how to start and grow new churches – however small – in every context of life. This popular introduction emphasizes practical aspects, telling many of the great stories that have emerged through practitioners. It will enthuse and help church leaders and individuals to start and develop these communities; and advise them on how to help them grow to maturity and become sustainable.
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Conflict Management For Faith Leaders
$14.99Add to cartIs conflict a dirty word? Does it bring to mind images of disagreement, fights, and shattered relationships? For ministry leaders, the likelihood of conflict comes with the job, but the result does not have to be destructive.Conflict Management for Faith Leaders is about handling conflict in a way that is positive and constructive. With this book readers will discover multiple techniques for assessing and managing conflict and learn guidelines for choosing which technique to use in a given situation.A practical resource for pastors and ministry leaders, Conflict Management for Faith Leaders acknowledges that leadership brings with it the risk of opposition. Packed with useful insights and stories based on the experiences of other faith leaders, this book is the ideal tool when the risk of opposition becomes reality.
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All Dressed Up And No Place To Go
$10.99Add to cartThe church is busy, constantly touching the community and consistently committed to marketing what we have to offer. We believe the love of Jesus and the fellowship of His followers that is experienced by all who frequent our fellowship should characterize every church. Jesus himself said, “A new command I give you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34,35). That love for Him should be the experience of anyone and everyone who embraces the ministry on any level. That love for Him should transcend all of our presuppositions about what the church should be. It should demolish any argument about who should or should not be a part of our church. That s the thing that puzzles me about the church at large today. Why are we so separated? Why are we divided? Why have we allowed denomination to be placed at the forefront of significance? Why has race or ethnicity served as a characteristic of why we are a part of a certain gathering of believers? Why has socio-economic status become a determinant in the question of who our church should reach? Why is the church unprepared to meet the needs of some who would love to be a part of the fellowship? The church of the Lord Jesus Christ in our nation should be recognized by the same characteristics as that of the early church in the Book of Acts. This living organism called the church should be known for its perpetual growth. In “All Dressed Up and No Place to Go”, Wallace Phillips, Pastor of Carpenter’s Shop Church and author of the popular book “Just Plain Vanilla”, addresses many issues that have caused division in the church and provides practical advice to bringing unity to the local church fellowship. This is a MUST READ for any pastor.
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Revelation : The Best Is Yet To Come
$14.99Add to cartLaunch! Publication
The book of Revelation is a love letter to the church. Yet most view it as troubling, and many misunderstand what the Lord is trying to tell us. Didn’t the Jews in Jesus’ day have some of the same problems?
Early biblical prophecy, already fulfilled, helps define what is about to happen. Are some bad, scary events looming on the horizon? Yes, and you’ll learn about that. But even more important, you’ll see what Scripture has to say about you as the overcomer. The puzzles of Revelation are coming together, and we who love and serve the Lord are seeing that the best is yet to come.
Revelation: The Best is Yet to Come provides a simple running commentary and interpretive guide for the beginner. Our hope is that laypersons and preachers not familiar with the book of Revelation will be encouraged to do a more in-depth study. The material takes an unashamed pretribulation, premillennial position within a traditional dispensational framework.
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Slow Church : Cultivating Community In The Patient Way Of Jesus
$22.99Add to cartFast food. Fast cars. Fast and furious. Fast forward. Fast . . . church? The church is often idealized (or demonized) as the last bastion of a bygone era, dragging our feet as we’re pulled into new moralities and new spiritualities. We guard our doctrine and our piety with great vigilance. But we often fail to notice how quickly we’re capitulating, in the structures and practices of our churches, to a culture of unreflective speed, dehumanizing efficiency and dis-integrating isolationism. In the beginning, the church ate together, traveled together and shared in all facets of life. Centered as they were on Jesus, these seemingly mundane activities took on their own significance in the mission of God. In Slow Church, Chris Smith and John Pattison invite us out of franchise faith and back into the ecology, economy and ethics of the kingdom of God, where people know each other well and love one another as Christ loved the church.
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There Are Millions Of Churches
$18.99Add to cartIntroduction
1. Facts And Figures
2. Whorshipping The Stars Rather Than God
3. Divisions And Doctrines
4. Why Are There So Many Churches?
5. Why The World Is Going To Hell
6. What The Hell
7. Going To Hell
8. The Dead Church
About The Author
Recommended BooksAdditional Info
Whether everyone will admit it or not, the traditional church is in deep trouble and has been struggling for years to survive. There is a small rise of some new, non-traditional churches that help us all realize that God truly has a new way of doing Church. There is no easy fixes but at the same time, there are real roots that are being revealed in this book. The Church does not need another program nor does it need another religious organization. We don’t need religious leaders but compassionate, Christ centered leaders. Bill is a prophet of God with a strong Word that all of the Church needs to hear. Bill reveals that there are so many Churches both big and small meeting and keeping silent while the World gets worse in many areas. The fact of the matter is the world and even some Churches are on the road to Hell. We must hear the urgency of all that God has laid on the heart of Bill Vincent and many prophetic voices like him. So many Churches in America why is America in such bad shape somebody is dropping the ball This why we can’t just go to Church as spectators when we’re asked to pray for a person or Country we need to take it seriously and really travail and intercede instead of shrugging it off and leaving it to the next person. This would be where someone would drop the ball. You know why bad things have happened in America because God is trying to wake this Country up and believe there is a higher power in this Country and it is not the President of the United States. -
Bourgeois Babes Bossy Wives And Bobby Haircuts
$16.99Add to cartAuthor and New Testament scholar Michael Bird was formerly in favor of distinct gender roles in ministry, a viewpoint commonly called ‘complementarianism.’ But inconsistencies in practice and careful biblical study convinced him to rethink his position. Now in favor of full equality for men and women in ministry roles, Bird nevertheless strikes a respectful tone toward those in his previous camp, while seeking to craft a perspective that both values women and upholds biblical differences between the sexes. Humorous and hard-hitting, Bird’s writing on this topic will challenge readers on both sides of the gender-issue divide.
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New Parish : How Neighborhood Churches Are Transforming Mission Discipleshi
$22.99Add to cartWhen . . . faith communities begin connecting together, in and for the neighborhood, they learn to depend on God for strength to love, forgive and show grace like never before. . . . The gospel becomes so much more tangible and compelling when the local church is actually a part of the community, connected to the struggles of the people, and even the land itself. Paul Sparks, Tim Soerens and Dwight J. Friesen have seen–in cities, suburbs and small towns all over North America–how powerful the gospel can be when it takes root in the context of a place, at the intersection of geography, demography, economy and culture. This is not a new idea–the concept of a parish is as old as Paul’s letters to the various communities of the ancient church. But in an age of dislocation and disengagement, the notion of a church that knows its place and gives itself to where it finds itself is like a breath of fresh air, like a sign of new life.
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Attract Families To Your Church
$20.99Add to cartThis book will help church pastors and leaders navigate the changing tides in ministry to become the kind of church that families want to attend, where the church’s dynamic faith invites families who may then bring their friends. This means reaching out to all kinds of families, some with needs that only a church family can fulfill.
To grow and remain vital, churches need to attract families. But the cultural landscape has changed and any church may have two-parent families with children, blended families, boomerang families, adult children of divorce and their families or lack of families, single adults whose family is the church, grandparents parenting again, childless families, co-habitation families, and children with three legal parents. With practical helps and suggestions for ministries, worship, small groups, and even facilities, author and family expert Linda Ranson Jacobs will help you create a welcoming place for everyone.
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There Are Millions Of Churches
$11.95Add to cartIntroduction
1. Facts And Figures
2. Whorshipping The Stars Rather Than God
3. Divisions And Doctrines
4. Why Are There So Many Churches?
5. Why The World Is Going To Hell
6. What The Hell
7. Going To Hell
8. The Dead Church
About The Author
Recommended BooksAdditional Info
Whether everyone will admit it or not, the traditional church is in deep trouble and has been struggling for years to survive. There is a small rise of some new, non-traditional churches that help us all realize that God truly has a new way of doing Church. There is no easy fixes but at the same time, there are real roots that are being revealed in this book. The Church does not need another program nor does it need another religious organization. We don’t need religious leaders but compassionate, Christ centered leaders. Bill is a prophet of God with a strong Word that all of the Church needs to hear. Bill reveals that there are so many Churches both big and small meeting and keeping silent while the World gets worse in many areas. The fact of the matter is the world and even some Churches are on the road to Hell. We must hear the urgency of all that God has laid on the heart of Bill Vincent and many prophetic voices like him. So many Churches in America why is America in such bad shape somebody is dropping the ball This why we can’t just go to Church as spectators when we’re asked to pray for a person or Country we need to take it seriously and really travail and intercede instead of shrugging it off and leaving it to the next person. This would be where someone would drop the ball. You know why bad things have happened in America because God is trying to wake this Country up and believe there is a higher power in this Country and it is not the President of the United States. -
Jesus Justice And Gender Roles
$7.99Add to cartAt one point in her life, author and co-founder of Redeemer Presbyterian Church Kathy Keller sought pastoral ordination. Yet she came to adopt the view that men and women have different roles in marriage and ministry, and that fulfilling such roles pleases God and leads to greater personal fulfillment. In this unapologetic but nuanced piece, Keller presents a caring and careful case for biblical gender differences and the complementarian view of women in ministry. At the same time, she encourages women to teach and lead in the church in ways that may startle some complementarians. Readers on both sides of this hot-button topic will be challenged by her ministry-tested and thoroughly Scriptural perspective.
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Millennials And Mission
$14.99Add to cartThis book focuses on the passing of the torch in cross-cultural missions and church ministry to the Millennial generation. Jim and Judy Raymo grapple with big questions and concerns in Millennials and Mission, while giving an in-depth look at this up-and-coming generation of young people and the future of missions in its hands. They highlight the strengths and weaknesses of this populous group born between 1982 and 2000, comparing and contrasting its characteristics with those of the Baby Boomers and Gen Xers. In spite of the challenges ahead, Millennials and Missions gives a clearly optimistic picture of the Millennial generation’s potential contribution to accomplishing the Great Commission.
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Resident Aliens : A Provocative Christian Assessment Of Culture And Ministr (Ann
$22.99Add to cartA vision of the Church as a colony, a holy people, a family standing for sharply focused values in a devalued world.Only when the Church enacts its scandalous Jesus-centered tradition, will it truly be the Body of Christ and transform the world. Twenty-five years after its first publishing, Resident Aliens remains a prophetic vision of how the Church can regain its vitality, battle its malaise, reclaim its capacity to nourish souls, and stand firmly against the illusions, pretensions, and eroding values of today’s world.
Resident Aliens discusses the nature of the church and its relationship to surrounding culture. It argues that churches should focus on developing Christian life and community rather than attempting to reform secular culture. Hauerwas and Willimon reject the idea that America is a Christian nation, instead Christians should see themselves as “residents aliens” in a foreign land. Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon maintain that, instead of attempting to transform government, the role of Christians is to live lives which model the love of Christ. Rather than trying to convince others to change their ethics, Christians should model a new set of ethics which are grounded in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
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Antichrist : The Search For Amalek
$15.99Add to cartThere were many mass murderers throughout history, including Mao of China (49-78 million), Leopold of Belgium (8-10 million), and Joseph Stalin of Russia (6-20 million). Each one is a frightening example of mankind’s evil.
There is a subtle difference between these three and Adolf Hitler, for example, who directed most of his fury at one particular people … the Jews. That strain of hatred is different. It desires more than to shed blood; it desires to wipe the slate clean of the memory of an entire race of people.
The killers in this book are enemies of God; they are not random and they are connected by blood.
“So that the name of Israel is remembered no more” (Psalm 83:4).
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Global Reformation : Transitioning The Church For Strategic Kingdom Advance
$15.99Add to cartDr. Munien’s book particularly stands out because of his extraordinary ability to impart with the greatest simplicity at the same time that he brings complete understanding to every reader from the Word of God. He examines the historical, cultural and scriptural foundations necessary to build the “Perfect Man” in the image of God’s pattern.
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Sentness : Six Postures Of Missional Christians
$28.99Add to cartForeword
Introduction: Shift
1 Beyond Consumerism
2 Sent People
3 Submerged Ministry
4 Shalom Spirituality
5 Safe Places
6 Shared Life
7 Standing In The Gap
Conclusion: Starting Something New
Afterword
Acknowledgments
Best Further Reading
EndnotesAdditional Info
Ever wonder why people fall asleep in church? It happens. We’ve all seen it. We shuffle into rows of seats that grow more comfortable with every new fundraising campaign. We slouch down and settle in for an hour or so, as singers and storytellers and preachers and teachers take their turns filling our ears. And almost without fail, at least one of us nods off while listening to the greatest story ever told. The church was not meant to be like this. The church was meant to be on its feet, in the world, telling stories and making all things new. The church was meant to be sent. Kim Hammond and Darren Cronshaw want to help us–all of us–get our sentness back. Dive into Sentness, and you’ll discover the six postures of a church that’s keeping pace with God’s work in the world. And you’ll rediscover the gospel that first quickened your pulse and got you up on your feet, ready to go wherever Jesus called you. Get Sentness,, and prepare to get sent. -
Dancing With The Devil
$17.99Add to cartIn Dancing with the Devil, evangelist Melvin Pillay addresses cultural Christianity in America and the adversary’s plot to pull the Church into a deadly waltz of apostasy. This wake-up call will challenge readers to examine one’s personal faith and understanding of biblical Christianity. As a missionary from South Africa, Pillay shares his heart for the American church to turn the tide back toward a nation that is submitted to God’s authority rather than pinned under man-made institutions. Much like C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, strategies of the enemy are exposed and brought to light. The forgotten pillars of the Christian life are outlined with an honest heart to see God’s people return to their intended purpose and calling. Jesus gave the mandate to discern the times, to watch and pray. This timely word is speaking to the Body of Christ and her need to rise up against the threat of spiritual darkness and prepare for His return.
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Fishers Of Men
$12.49Add to cartIn Chapter one the author presents several testimonies that are a result of outreach teams and individuals on Soul Winning Missions.
In Chapters two through five the author covers Why we should be Soul Winners, Why the Church is weak in this area, Who should be Soul Winners, and Where we should Win Souls.
In Chapter six and seven the author outlines the Mechanics or the (How To) of Soul Winning.
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Conflict : Causes And Cures
$19.49Add to cartConflict is serious and needs the church’s serious attention. Every eight hours a pastor is terminated. Every year over a thousand churches disband; often because of conflict.
Supported by over thirty years of academic research and based on real-life experiences in ministry, Conflict: Causes and Cures presents practical perspectives, solutions, and resources for dealing with conflicted churches.
Dr. Smith shares the top ten causes of conflict in a lively case study format and discusses three necessary approaches to conflict-education, mediation, and restoration.Complete with scripture references and biblical applications, Conflict: Causes and Cures is essential reading for those who are concerned about this critical problem that confronts our churches today.
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Think Kingdom Be Family
$19.99Add to cartThe Think Kingdom-Be Family Initiative (TKBF) is a biblically-grounded, research-based, and relationally-delivered discipleship approach to identify the elements that characterize missional families and to effectively mobilize them. Many families lack a corporate sense of mission. As a result, churches need to embrace the challenge of mobilizing families according to their collective identity and purpose in Christ and His mission. In the end, this qualitative research demonstrates that a new way of being and doing is possible through redemptive family wholeness, characteristics, and mobilization.
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Sailboat Church : Helping Your Church Rethink Its Mission And Practice
$20.00Add to cartIs your church a rowboat church or a sailboat church?
Rowboat churches depend largely on human effort. In a time of often shrinking budgets and membership, rowboat churches frantically row harder against a current, often frustrated and disappointed at their efforts. Sailboat churches, on the other hand, take up the oars, hoist sales, and rely on the Holy Spirit to guide them.
Arguing that churches should be “sailboats,” author Joan S. Gray encourages readers to shift concern from the many daily, practical concerns of their local church to consider how new directions might be found by allowing the Holy Spirit to provide fresh ideas. The book includes 40 days of sailing prayers, quotes from Scripture, brief reflection questions, and an extensive bibliography that is arranged by theme. Perfect for groups to read together, this book will help leaders reframe their church’s mission and practice with the Holy Spirit as their guide.
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Distinctive People : A Thematic Study Of Aspects Of The Witness Of Baptists
$49.99Add to cartIn the twenty-first century there are an increasing number of books in different fields that are evaluating critically aspects of life in the previous century. The Religious History of British people in this period is a significant part of that story. A Distinctive People will evaluate aspects of the history of one of the Christian denominations in Scotland looking at major themes such as Baptist attitudes to war and pacifism, the influence of the charismatic movement and their involvement in social action, their contribution to ecumenical relations in Scotland and relationships with fellow Baptists in other countries, together with the theological influences on Baptists, and a chapter on home mission.
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House Of Pain
$14.49Add to cartChurch Hurt. Whoever coined this phrase should get a Nobel prize for Truth. Who would have imagined that some of the most memorable church moments, or moments in life for that matter, would be those that evolved around the topic of church hurt. We certainly expect hurt from our family, hurt from our friends, even hurt from total strangers. But to be hurt by those that profess to know, love and serve the same God that I know, love and serve was more than I could have ever fathomed.
Consequently, this book was borne out of the conversations and eventual revelation received from God Himself regarding the pain experienced as the result of church experiences. This subject is approached in an effort to take a candid look at “church hurt”, the effects it has on us as Christians, and ultimately the positive results it can have on our Christian growth.
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Underground Church
$19.99Add to cartThe Chinese house church is one of the most misunderstood and controversial subjects in Christian world missions today. Many questions about it abound, such as…
*How did it start?
*How does it work?
*How is it led?
*Why does it continue to experience revival?
*Is it necessary, now that China has extended religious freedoms?Much of the confusion is caused by the Chinese government, which deceives journalists and foreign missionaries with promises of religious freedom that are never kept.
The truth is, the house churches of China are growing at a phenomenal rate. Never in the history of the world have so many people in such a short time left one belief system for another without a hostile revolution. Lives in China are being transformed daily by the gospel of Jesus Christ and the display of His miraculous power.
The Underground Church demystifies the Chinese house church movement, with real-life examples and personal testimonies from Chinese Christians. The movement’s unique characteristics-both good and bad-are addressed, as well as how they have led to the church’s astonishing growth.
Be amazed at what God is doing in China!
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Servants Heart : Tips For The Associate Minister
$15.49Add to cartIf you are a minister serving under a senior pastor or a lay leader in the church contemplating greater service in the Kingdom, you may be facing frustration about the direction of the ministry God has given you. You know that God has placed something within you, but you are having trouble finding out exactly how to openly express this inward passion. Well, this book will help you find the direction you need.
In A Servant’s Heart, Pastor Kenneth Kemp explores the ways an associate minister-one who serves under a senior pastor-can be effective in the role of a subordinate leader. Having served many years in this role himself, Pastor Kemp sees the role of the associate minister as being integrally important to the ministry of the church, rather than just a temporary position to occupy until something better comes along. He prepares the associate minister with practical advice from the basics of accepting the Master’s call to speaking to social issues to dealing with frustration. Each chapter presents a review of an important ministerial development concept, followed by a sermonic presentation to illustrate that concept. You will be a better preacher, leader, member, and servant if you read and adhere to these practical tips for the associate minister
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Help It Still Hurts
$23.99Add to cartWhen the relationship between the pastor and the congregation is good, the hope of the congregation is that the pastor never leaves from serving the church. The reality of the Scripture and life reveals that serving a church forever is not possible. Transition is an inevitable phenomenon.
Cynthia Hinson Graham remembers being sad as a child when her pastor did not return to church after his illness. She recalls, “The church never came together as a family to talk about what happened or how they felt.” Forty years later, the senior pastor at her church announced his retirement, but offered no guidance “for the church family to come together and process their reactions or responses to the impending transition.”
In this study, Hinson Graham examines how a congregation deals spiritually and emotionally with the loss of its long-time pastor, as well as how the exiting pastor should prepare for his or her departure. She focuses on five independent African-American churches, which are significant because they were led by a single senior pastor, rather than by a board of governance or denominational order.
During her research, Hinson Graham explored the answers to four core questions: What were the spiritual and emotional responses to the transition of a long-term pastor? How were congregants able to express these feelings? What mindsets were most common when faced with the transition? And what, if any, processes were followed to ease the transition for the church body?
The author acknowledges the logical concern with the reasons for the current pastor’s departure and the uncertainty concerning the incoming pastor, but these are before and after issues. The emotional and spiritual well-being of church members during the transition, however, is of concern here. In a clear and approachable voice, Hinson Graham cites extensive biblical precedents for managing such matters.
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Operation Of The Gifts And Ministry Of The Holy Spirit
$17.49Add to cartAs the world marches to the rhythm of prophetic eventualities, and the imminent return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, the church’s responsibility to the world is to appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit in their daily walk, so that world is drawn to seek Christ. Without the Holy Spirit, the Church is powerless in this present world. Lost souls will have no light to draw them to the way of truth. The Operation of The Gifts and Ministry of the Holy Spirit looks at The Promised Gift and the Church’s response.
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Iglesia Unica – (Spanish)
$17.99Add to cartWritten by church consultant Will Mancini expert on a new kind of visioning process to help churches develop a stunningly unique model of ministry that leads to redemptive movement. He guides churches away from an internal focus to emphasize participation in their community and surrounding culture. In this important book, Mancini offers an approach for rethinking what it means to lead with clarity as a visionary. Mancini explains that each church has a culture that reflects its particular values, thoughts, attitudes, and actions and shows how church leaders can unlock their church’s individual DNA and unleash their congregation’s one-of-a-kind potential.
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Fur Die Nachste Generation – (Other Language)
$12.49Add to cartLet each generation tell its children of your mighty acts. Psalm 145:4 NLT
It is natural for every church to follow a path that leads to more funerals than baptisms. Actually, with thousands of churches worldwide closing their doors every year, every church is potentially on a path to extinction.
For A New Generation is not about changing your church’s statement of faith or core beliefs. It is about evaluating and changing, as needed, your church’s programs, ministries, traditions and practices to more effectively reach the next generation.
Written to both church leaders and members, it presents a pathway to allow the reader to become a catalyst in creating a church that will thrive for generations to come. It is based on the assumption that accepting the status quo is the greatest threat to your church’s core mission and, perhaps, to the very survival of your church.
Any church leader or member, no matter the denomination, can benefit from working through the challenging questions posed in For A New Generation. Andy Stanley
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Exploring Christian Theology The Church Spiritual Growth And The End Times
$20.00Add to cartDallas Seminary Professors Make Basic Theology Accessible for All
Theology doesn’t have to be complicated. In this book, trusted Dallas Seminary professors present a concise systematic theology that distills the essential spiritual truths in a way that makes sense to readers–students, lay people, and pastors. Here are introductions, overviews, and reviews of key tenets of orthodox protestant evangelical doctrines. The book also includes an annotated list of key applicable Bible texts, a quick-paced story of doctrine throughout church history, heresies or distortions to be aware of, and more.
Exploring Christian Theology is useful for discipleship, catechism, membership training, preview or review of doctrine, or quick personal reference. It can also be used by ministry training programs, Bible colleges, or seminaries as an introductory primer to orient students in preparation for a more in-depth study of theology.
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Birmingham Revolution : Martin Luther King Jrs Epic Challenge To The Church
$16.99Add to cartFrom time to time prophetic Christian voices rise to challenge our nations “original sin.” In the twentieth century, compelled by the Spirit of God and a yearning for freedom, the African American church took the lead in heralding the effort. Like almost no other movement before or since, Christian people gave force to a social mission. And, remarkably, they did it largely through nonviolent actions. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s words and historic efforts as the Moses of this civil rights movement stand out as perhaps the most significant instance of a modern Christian leader acting in a prophetic role to instigate political change. In many ways “The Letter from Birmingham Jail” stands at the center of that movement. In this book African American journalist Edward Gilbreath explores the place of that letter in the life and work of Dr. King. Birmingham Revolution is not simply a work of historical reflection. Gilbreath encourages us to reflect on the relevance of King’s work for the church and culture of our day. Whether its in debates about immigration, economic redistribution or presidential birth certificates, race continues to play a role in shaping society. What part will the church play in the ongoing struggle?
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Transition Movement For Churches
$15.99Add to cartThe Transition Town Movement is a fast growing social movement with hundreds of local groups which aims to prepare communities for the impact of peak oil and climate change. Many Christians are involved already, but this is the first book to equip local churches to engage with the movement towards greater simplicity.
It provides:
* the main tenets of Transition
* a theological vision of the Church as a Transition movement by showing the commonalities that already exist
* signs that the movement is grounded in the visionary and prophetic
* examples of green Church initiatives and Transition projects
* suggestions of how to incorporate Transition ideas into worship and pastoral practice and policy
* ways to build bridges and partnerships between church communities and Transition communities -
Disunity In Christ
$20.99Add to cartDespite Jesus’ prayer that all Christians “be one,” divisions have been epidemic in the body of Christ from the beginning to the present. We cluster in theological groups, gender groups, age groups, ethnic groups, educational and economic groups. We criticize freely those who disagree with us, don’t look like us, don’t act like us and don’t even like what we like. Though we may think we know why this happens, Christena Cleveland says we probably don’t. In this eye-opening book, learn the hidden reasons behind conflict and divisions. Learn: Why I think all my friends are unique but those in other groups are all the sameWhy little differences often become big sources of conflictWhy categorizing others is often automatic and helpful but can also have sinister side effectsWhy we are so often victims of groupthink and how we can avoid itWhy women think men are judging them more negatively than men actually are, and vice versaWhy choices of language can actually affect unity With a personal touch and the trained eye of a sociologist, Cleveland brings to bear the latest studies and research on the unseen dynamics at work that tend to separate us from others. Learn why Christians who have a heart for unity have such a hard time actually uniting. The author provides real insight for ministry leaders who have attempted to build bridges across boundaries. Here are the tools we need to understand how we can overcome the hidden forces that divide us.
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God Me And Being Very Old
$35.99Add to cartDeath and dying are a constant presence in the life and work of care homes. Residents stay, on average, around 20 months (nursing homes) or 36 months(residential/social care homes/assisted living) and die there. The care home is therefore the setting for the last major event of each residents life. Yet these experiences of the very old at the close of their lives have received remarkably little attention either in practice or in research. Nor have churches and theologians given their oldest members anything like the concern for their spiritual wellbeing that they give to the young. The heart of this book will aim to give voice to something similar from some of the oldest old as they reflect on their pilgrimage of faith from the perspective of extreme old age (over 90). In particular the authors explore what this perspective has to say to the other members of their faith communities, particularly in terms of the things that are seen as being of importance and value. The particular significance of reflections arising from the experience of approaching death will be explored. This is one area where religious thinking is often out of step with contemporary imagery and language.
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Making Disciples In The 21st Century Church
$14.95Add to cartMore than a decade ago, Bill Hull wrote The Disciple Making Pastor. Hull criticized America’s Sunday attendance strategies as being totally inadequate and emphasized the need to make disciples. I resisted Hull’s teaching, thinking he lacked church growth insight. At that time, I primarily judged church growth success by how many were seated in a church in the worship service.
Yet now I applaud the concept of growing a church from the inside out and measuring success by disciples made and sent forth. The only command, in fact, of Christ’s great commission was to make disciples. The rest of the verbs in Matthew 28:18-20 are not in the command form but are actually participles. Jesus literally said, “having gone, make disciples.” (Matt. 28:18).
We know that the goal of the Christian life is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. While this is God’s ultimate plan, does he have a particular purpose for the cell-based church? I’ve been wrestling with this question for the past twenty-two years. This question confronts me every time I coach a pastor or pastors. In preparation for coaching, I ask myself, “What is my principal objective in helping this pastor?” “Where am I guiding this church?” “What am I trying to do?”
This book answers these questions.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the primary goal of cell ministry is to make disciples who make disciples. Christ’s last command to his disciples was for them to repeat the process and to reproduce new disciples. But how were they supposed to do that?
We in North America and the Western world often project our own cultural bias into Christ’s great commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Most discipleship books, in fact, assume that discipleship is an individualistic endeavor–between me and God. And yes, there is an important individual aspect (e.g., personal devotions, etc.). Yet in Matthew 28, Jesus was talking to a group of disciples. He wanted them to follow his example by making disciples in a group. Jesus molded twelve disciples in a group and then sent them house to house.
The early church followed Christ’s pattern by making disciples through the house churches that periodically celebrated together in public worship. In 2 Timothy 2:1-2, Paul tells Timothy to continue the discipleship process by passing on the pure gospel message to faithful men and women. Even though the term “disciple” is later replaced by words such as “brothers/sisters,” “Christians,” and “saints,” the concept remain
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Global Member Care 2
$28.99Add to cartGlobal Member Care: Crossing Sectors for Serving Humanity, the latest book from the O’Donnells, is part of
an ongoing effort to help a diversity of colleagues keep current with a globalizing world and the global field
of member care. This second volume in the Global Member Care series encourages readers to connect and
contribute to various international sectors on behalf of mission/aid workers and humanity. The book’s 35
chapters include a wealth of practical resources: guidelines, codes, resolutions, perspectives, principles,
case examples, videos links, human rights instruments, and more. Get ready to venture into the heart of
global issues and opportunities-from the trenches to the towers and everything in between! -
Doing Member Care Well
$45.99Add to cartThis book explores how member care is being practiced around the world to equip sending organizations as they intentionally support their mission/aid personnel. The information provided includes personal accounts, guidelines, case studies, worksheets, and practical advice from all over the globe.
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More Screams Different Deserts
$19.99Add to cartMore Screams, Different Deserts is another invitation to join Sue on her adventures in cross-cultural living and biblical studies that have helped her along the way. With twenty-seven years of experience in cross cultural ministry, Sue realizes that joy and perseverance are essential for thriving in life and ministry. Her stories and insights encourage women to look to Jesus, our only hope wherever we live. Stories, ranging from one corner of the world to another, include discovering a forgotten museum,
protecting her children from chocolate, visiting a camel market, and meeting wild pigs on a nighttime walk. God has been her refuge, and his Word held her steady when all she really wanted to do was run away and hide. Questions and resources at the end of each chapter will help readers think through personal application and find additional help. -
Missional Quest : Becoming A Church Of The Long Run
$17.99Add to cartIntroduction: Before The First Step
Part I: Fostering A Missional Mindset
1. The Starting LinePart II: Fostering A Missional Posture
2. Stop And Go
3. AD 30 All Over Again
4. Won’t You Be My Neighbor
5. Home, Work And God’s Mission
6. Where Everybody Knows Your Name
7. Launching Pads
8. Follow The Follower
9. Have A Great Trip
Appendix
EndnotesAdditional Info
When Christ calls people, he invites them on a journey-a journey taken together in community. We have reached a point in history, however, when we think of the church as a fixed place where isolated individuals show up, consume a Christian message, drink some coffee, and get on with their lives. The times demand, and the gospel proclaims, that we recover our identity as a church that is a people on a quest for the kingdom of heaven, formed intimately by a loving God and called onto a long journey for the sake of our neighbors and our world. In The Missional Quest you’ll learn how to take your church on a long run, and how to sustain yourselves and one another along the way, through the power of God for the sake of the world. -
Environmental Missions : Planting Churches And Trees
$24.99Add to cartEnvironmental Missions defines an emerging category in missions, one that takes seriously
both the mandate to evangelize the world and the responsibility of caring for God’s good earth.Lowell Bliss was a traditional church planting missionary in India when his best Hindu friend there died of malaria. This was just one of the events that led him to reexamine the politically charged term “environment,” understanding it now as simply “that which surrounds those we love, those for whom Jesus died.” In other words, the church is called to reach not only vulnerable people but the space in which they live and breathe.
Pointing to the narrative of Scripture and the history of missions, Bliss shows us that the gospel of Jesus Christ is good news for the whole creation, that we must unite two traditionally separate endeavors to fulfill the entirety of God’s commission, and that the challenge of the environmental crises of our day is also one of our greatest opportunities to reach the least reached with the love of Christ.
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No Continuing City
$52.99Add to cartAlan Tippett’s publications played a significant role in the development of missiology. The volumes in this series augment his distinguished reputation by bringing to light his many unpublished materials and hard-tolocate
printed articles. These books-encompassing theology, anthropology, history, area studies, religion, and ethnohistory-broaden the contours of the discipline.As a gift to Edna and the children on the occasion of their golden wedding anniversary, Tippett completed his autobiography, ironically just months prior to his death. Containing personal reflections on his childhood and later
mission experiences in the South Pacific, relationship with Donald McGavran and the founding of the School of World Mission, and retirement years in Australia, No Continuing City is the inside story. These are Tippett’s Personal reflections that can be found in no other publication. -
Dying To Grow
$14.99Add to cartNever before have we seen the church degenerate at such a rapid pace. This is largely due to the church pursuing congregational growth instead of kingdom growth. The church is dying because our growth isn’t based on strategies to reach the lost with the gospel. The time to change is now, we can’t wait any longer. People’s eternities are at stake.
What is your church’s priority? Are you more concerned with filling your building or furthering the Kingdom? This book will challenge you to evaluate just how important gospel-based evangelism is to you and your church, and call on you to restore an intentional evangelism strategy within the body. Hell will tremble when churches once again make evangelism the central theme of their strategy.
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Encounters With Orthodoxy
$30.00Add to cartWhen author and theologian John P. Burgess first travelled to Russia, he was hoping to expand his theological horizons and explore the rebirth of the Orthodox Church since the fall of Communism. But what he found changed some fundamental assumptions about his own tradition of North American Protestantism. In this book, Burgess asks how an encounter with Orthodoxy can help Protestants better see both strengths and weaknesses of their own tradition. In a time in which North American Protestantism is in decline-membership has now fallen to below 50% of the population-Russian Orthodoxy can help Protestants rethink the ways in which they worship, teach, and spread the gospel. Burgess considers Orthodox rituals, icons, saints and miracles, monastic life, and Eucharistic theology and practice. He then explores whether and how Protestants can use elements of Orthodoxy to reform church life.
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Balkars Of Southern Russia And Their Deportation 1944 57
$16.99Add to cartThe deportation of entire ethnic groups of the North Caucasus region of southern Russia was an immense operation of the Soviet government during World War II. The Balkarians, or Balkars, were forcibly taken from their native homelands and deported to distant lands within the Soviet Union. They remained in exile for thirteen years. The third generation of Balkars since that horrible experience continues to live in the shadow of the atrocities committed against their people. This book applies comprehensive research to the facts of the deportation. More importantly, it examines lingering resentments and current sentiments of the Balkarians through extensive personal interviews with those who experienced the deportation.
Indelible events are often stamped into the consciousness of a nation. These events shape individuals, and often entire societies, in the way they view social, cultural, political, ethical, and especially spiritual realities.
In Karen’s many interviews woven throughout the book, we learn of several Balkarians who come to faith because of the Deportation, such as Ibrahim Gelastanov. Ibrahim recounts his memories about the deportation years. He cried as he recalled the details of his mother’s death within twenty-four hours of arriving in a special settlement where she died of starvation. Ibrahim tells of the horrors of his capture, the fifteen-day train ride, the forty-eight-hour boat ride, the twenty-four-hour walk to an unknown destination, and the starvation and indignities that he suffered. But Ibrahim always attributes his deportation as the means to his salvation into God’s family. He was the first Balkarian Christian, and he remained the lone Balkar Christian for thirty-six years.
The tiny region of Balkaria is tucked into the largest mountain range of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains, in southern Russia. The Balkarians live in the shadow of unthinkable cruelty by the Stalin regime, the deportation of their entire people group. The deportation was concealed until the late twentieth century due to the secrecy of communism. It was also hidden behind the terrors that occurred in Europe during World War II. The Balkars have suffered greatly in the last century, and they desperately need the peace of God in their hearts. This book will bring awareness to the Caucasus peoples and bring more involvement in promoting the work of the Gospel in this unstable area to the unreached peoples.
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My Mothers Sons
$21.99Add to cartMy Mother’s Sons provides a thoughtful model for how Western Christian workers can respectfully negotiate sexual boundaries and norms in Muslim contexts. Westerners are inclined to impose their own culturally shaped notions of gender equality and justice on non-egalitarian communities, alienating the very people they are seeking to serve. The author draws on his own research among Pakistani Pashtuns, intercultural theory, and exegesis of Christian and Islamic sacred texts to show that it is possible to work for transformational change without offending those who live within a patriarchal system.
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Developing Indigenous Leaders
$21.99Add to cartEvery movement is only one generation from dying out. Leadership development remains the critical issue for mission endeavors around the world. How are leaders developed from the local context for the local context? What is the role of the expatriate in this process? What models of hope are available for those seeking further direction in this area, particularly in mission to the Buddhist world of Asia? To answer these and several other questions, SEANET proudly presents the tenth volume in its series on practical missiology, Developing Indigenous Leaders: Lessons in Mission from Buddhist Asia.
Each chapter in this volume is written by a practitioner and a mission scholar. The ten authors come from a wide range of ecclesial and national backgrounds and represent service in ten different Buddhist contexts of Asia. With biblical integrity and cultural sensitivity, these chapters provide honest reflection, insight, and guidance.There is perhaps no more crucial issue than the development of dedicated indigenous leaders who will remain long after missionaries have returned home. If you are concerned about raising up leaders in your ministry in whatever cultural context it may be, this volume will be an important addition to your library.
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Worship And Mission For The Global Church
$45.99Add to cartThis book offers theological reflection, case studies, practical tools, and audiovisual resources to help the global church appreciate and generate culturally appropriate arts in worship and witness. Drawing on the expertise and experience of over one hundred writers from twenty countries, the volume integrates insights from the fields of ethnomusicology, biblical research, worship studies, missiology and the arts.
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Writing Exceptional Missionary Newsletters
$16.99Add to cartWriting Exceptional Missionary Newsletters shows anyone who writes personal ministry newsletters how to captivate readers. This revised edition offers more ideas for better online communication like e-mail and Facebook. It shows how to increase your letter’s impact and provides tips for how often to send your newsletters, e-newsletters, and posts. It is for seasoned and new missionaries, church leaders, mission organizations, mission boards, and any person encouraging missionaries to communicate well.
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Faith Seeking Understanding
$17.99Add to cartHow does the Christian faith help us see into the true nature of life more clearly? Why do people suffer? Where do we come from? What does Jesus have to say to a changing world? What can we learn from great mission pioneers about seeking truth at the cutting edges of human knowledge? Faith Seeking Understanding explores such questions. Notable Christian thinkers such as Philip Yancey, Alvin Plantinga, Rodney Stark, Allan Chapman, Don Richardson, Yuan Zhiming, and more, share powerful insights that help answer the deepest questions people face in the twenty-first century from the perspective of Christian faith. Inspired by the lives and accomplishments of Ralph D. Winter and Paul Brand, this book seeks to apply the curious, open-minded, and compassionate spirit these Christian leaders exhibited to key contemporary questions in science, history, philosophy, theology, and comparative religion. The reader will gain a fresh appreciation for the intellectual challenges of the Christian faith, and some of most fascinating and sometimes controversial ways in which those challenges are being met.
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Christianity And Animism In Melanesia
$18.99Add to cartFour approaches to gospel and culture. In this book, Kenneth Nehrbass examines the interaction between traditional or animistic religion (called kastom) and Christianity in Vanuatu. First, he briefly outlines major anthropological theories of animism, then he examines eight aspects of animism on Tanna Island and shows how they present a challenge to Christianity. He traces the history of Christianity on Tanna from 1839 to the present, showing which missiological theories the various missionaries were implementing. Nehrbass wanted to find out what experiences in the lives of the islanders distinguished those who left traditional religion behind from those who held on to it. In the end, he contends that there are twenty factors of gospel response and cultural integration that determine whether an animistic background believer will be a mixer, separator, transplanter, or contextualizer.
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Frontline Women : Negotiating Cross Cultural Issues In Ministry
$21.99Add to cartFrontline Women is a collection of writings on women’s issues from those who have had mission field experience. Each author has special interest and expertise in the area in which he or she has written.
In the past we have failed to understand the significance of gender in mission work. Though women have historically been the majority in mission service, they have not been allowed much say in policies or strategizing. This book deals with gender differences in many areas of life and how that affects service to God in mission work. Women’s God-given gifting is meant to complement that of men and needs to be recognized, appreciated, and made use of in the day-by-day functioning of missions. In some mission agencies changes are being made in regard to women’s role and care. In this edition the authors have updated and added new information from their research and experience. -
Creating Local Arts Together
$39.99Add to cartThis book is a manual designed to guide an individual or group into a local community’s efforts at integrating its arts with the values and purposes of god’s kingdom. The practical, playful text reduces experience-based scholarly insights gained from multiple decades of incarnational ministry around the world into a flexible seven-step process.
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Why We Belong
$25.00Add to cartDenominations. The mention of the word is often enough to spark strong reactions, regardless of whether one is for or against them. This hopeful new volume, made up of contributions from 8 prominent evangelical leaders, argues for the importance of denominations, highlighting their significant strengths while acknowledging potential weaknesses. Contributors from a variety of backgrounds (Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist, Pentecostal, Lutheran, and Methodist) share their own personal stories related to why they identify with a particular tradition and yet still maintain a robust sense of Christian unity across denominational lines. Far from merely highlighting differences, this book celebrates the unity that believers enjoy in the gospel for the purpose of fostering productive dialogue and increased understanding within the fragmented landscape of modern evangelicalism.
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Wide Welcome : How The Unsettling Presence Of Newcomers Can Save The Church
$22.00Add to cartWhile most churches offer ‘new member classes’ and genuinely seek to welcome visitors, too often the end result is a rush to assimilate the newcomer into formal membership and all of the invitations to participation in committees, choirs, or fellowship groups that go along with it.
In Wide Welcome, Jessicah Krey Duckworth presents the stark differences between the established congregation, which cares for current members and congregational identity, and the disestablished one, intentionally equipped to facilitate the encounter between new and established members. By intentionally extending the time of newcomer inquiry and allowing their questions, insights, and experiences to reverberate through the entire congregation both they and the church are changed. Wide Welcome does far more than point out the faults and weaknesses in current practice. Duckworth intentionally lays out possible designs for newcomer welcome that are local and particular.
At a time when only nine percent of North American Mainline congregations actively and intentionally facilitate newcomer faith formation, Wide Welcome is an essential and timely book.
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People For His Name
$19.99Add to cartIn world missions, the author proposes, the local church is the biblical sending body through which missionaries serve. The author places emphasis upon the practical outworking of the mission responsibilities of the local church as well as its relationship to mission agencies, missionary personnel, and Christian schools.
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Come And See
$17.99Add to cartThe mission of the Church is to introduce the person of Christ to individual human beings who by faith enter into communion with God. This does not involve adapting information to a particular context, but rather establishing the context prescribed by God for the presence of Christ wherever we happen to be among the peoples of the world. Contextualization, then, creates a new invitational core context which is host to the presence of the divine person. This is defined with the help of the gifts of ecclesial Tradition, which enables conditions that facilitate communion, and which thus helps us engage the world.
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Expectations And Burnout
$16.99Add to cartMissionary women have high expectations when they respond to God’s call; of themselves, their mission agencies, host cultures, churches, co-workers, and even of God. These expectations are often times impossible to fulfill and can lead to mental and physical exhaustion. Eighty percent of missionary women feel they have come close to burnout, whether they were married or single, traditional or tent making, new or experienced. In Expectations and Burnout: Women Surviving the Great Commission, Sue provides research and surveys from the field while Robynn lends her own personal experiences to demonstrate how burnout can happen and how God can bring life from ashes. Join them as they explore how to develop realistic expectations and yet maintain faith in our sovereign God who continues to accomplish the impossible.
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Rethinking Hindu Ministry
$13.99Add to cartHindu traditions are diverse and complex. Simple summaries of Hindu beliefs and practices lack appreciation for the allure which captivates Hindus themselves. This collection of papers from seasoned practitioners observes Hindu traditions and Hindu ministry from new angles, introducing new perspectives on ministry in Christ’s name that are relevant far beyond the Hindu world. Broad conceptual pictures are presented along with detailed practical advice and introductions to remarkable Hindus who surrendered to Christ and wrestled with the meaning of following Him in their Hindu families. This is the first book to turn to for pointers on sharing Christ with Hindus.
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Profiles Of African American Missionaries
$29.99Add to cartIn 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau shows that there are 42 million people who identify themselves as African-Americans. Of the 42 million, there are an estimated 20million who self-identify as Christians. Of this number, very few leave the United States and go to other countries as missionaries. The reasons for the absence of African-American missionaries are varied and in some respects understandable, yet we are all called to be engaged in the Great Commission.
Profiles of African-American Missionaries features the few who have answered the call. This collection of stories shares the lives and contributions of several African-American missionary pioneers dedicated to reaching the lost for the sake of Christ. Readers will be inspired by the commitment of these missionaries who devoted their lives to the foreign fields, with the full knowledge that God would be with them always as Christ promised. You will be challenged to take a look at your own life and consider a response to our Lord’s command to make disciples. -
5 Things You Can Do To Understand The Bible Better
$8.99Add to cartThe Bible may be the best-selling book of all time, but for all its sales, its content remains widely unknown. According to polls only about half of adults in the United States can name one of the four
Gospels, or knew that Genesis was the first book of the Bible.
Many people feel intimidated by the idea of reading the Bible with understanding that feeds and stregthens faith. Zach McIntosh provides basic knowledge of the purposes and themes of the Bible, and reminds us that the easiest way to understand the Bible better is to read it.
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Get Their Name Workbook
$15.99Add to cartPower-boost your team’s capacity to share faith without anxiety!
Most churches and Christians target the wrong people with “evangelism” efforts. The model we use no longer works because it is passive, too polite, and focused in the wrong direction. We are not making new disciples, not adding significantly to Christ’s transformation of the world. But there is hope and practical help for churches who are ready to take a new approach. Get Their Name by Bob Farr, Kay Kotan, and Doug Anderson outlines that hope and help.The Get Their Name Workbook provides the critical next step. Church leaders can use this resource with their teams, small groups, and staff to power-boost the book’s ideas in their own church context. The workbook is formatted to function as an individual study, too.
The Get Their Name Workbook:
-Creates conversation starters for group discussion or personal reflection
-Poses powerful questions, which can lead to honest and authentic reflection and evaluation
-Encourages group participants to process the information together, increasing understanding and commitment
-Stimulates calls to action, increasing the likelihood of real and sustainable change in the congregation -
Elephant In The Church
$19.99Add to cartA church can be a dangerous place. The perils may be so obvious, they become “elephants” standing in the fellowship hall, lurking in the sanctuary, ready to spring into the pastor’s study, and tromp out of the choir room. The word “elephant” stands for an obvious truth or issue that is ignored or unnamed-a blind spot. Yet we allow elephants to occupy a large amount of space in the minds and hearts of those that tiptoe around them. Discussing common blind-spots of congregations and church leaders, the authors provide examples and illustrations for how to stop these “elephants” from ruining a ministry.
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Literacy Bible Reading And Church Growth
$18.99Add to cartThe story of Christianity from apostolic times to the present reveals that in virtually every country of the world a Bible-reading laity was an important factor in the growth of the church, both numerically and spiritually. The importance of the Bible in actual history is a challenge to the church today.
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I Am A Church Member
$12.99Add to cartBest-selling author and ministry leader Thom S. Rainer drew an exceptional response when he posted a 500-word declaration about church membership to his daily blog. “I Am a Church Member” started a conversation about the attitudes and responsibilities of church members — rather than the functional and theological issues — that previous new member primers all but ignored.
Thoughtfully expanded to book form, I Am a Church Member begins to remedy the outbreak of inactive or barely committed church members, addressing without apology what is expected of those who join a body of believers. When a person’s attitude is consistently biblical and healthy, matters of giving, serving, and so forth will fall into place more naturally.
Six intentional chapters with study questions guide this rising discussion:
1. I Will Be a Unifying Church Member
2. I Will Not Let the Church Be About My Preferences and Desires
3. I Will Pray for My Church Leaders
4. I Will Lead My Family to Be Healthy Church Members
5. I Will Be a Functioning Member
6. I Will Treasure Church Membership as a Gift -
Life Changing Leadership (Reprinted)
$15.99Add to cartDiscover the keys to unlocking success in life and ministry. Everyone is looking for that edge, the key that will unlock success in life and ministry. The “edge” is Christ and he has given us keys that will open doors to divine encounters and strategies leading to successful leadership. Amply supported by Scripture and lessons from other successful leaders, this book closely outlines what it takes to be a successful leader in a lukewarm, confused, compromising, religious atmosphere. It defines the functions and responsibilities of leadership teams and offers insight into different leadership styles, as well as the unique temptations and challenges that face a ministry leader. Leaders will discover how Scriptures establish the necessity of God as the head of church government. They will learn how to choose qualified leaders and learn practical ways to train them. Life-Changing Leadership will help strengthen leaders and give them strategies for building and motivating teams by setting and executing team goals that support creativity and faithfulness.
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Who Is The Church
$26.00Add to cartMany congregations today are beset by fears, whether over loss of members and money, or of irrelevancy in an increasingly pluralistic society. To counter this, many congregations focus on strategy and purpose-what churches “do”-but Cheryl Peterson submits that mainline churches need to focus instead on “what” or “who” they are-to reclaim a theological, rather than sociological, understanding of themselves.
To do this, she places the questions of the church’s identity and mission into a conversation with the primary ecclesiological paradigms of the past century: the neo-Reformation concept of the church as a “word event” and the ecumenical paradigms of the church as “communion.” She argues that these two paradigms assume a context of cultural Christendom that no longer exists-focused on the church that is gathered-rather than the missional church that is sent out.
Peterson suggests instead that we understand the church as a people created by the Spirit to be a community, and that we must claim a narrative method to explore the church’s identity-specifically, the story of the church’s origin in the Acts of the Apostles. Finally, here is a way of thinking of church that reconciles the best of competing models of church for the future of mainline Protestant theology.
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Dear Children : A Letter From God To The Church Through The Scriptures
$24.95Add to cartWhat is the “best” church? And which contemporary church leader is the most correct? If God’s Word does not change, does this mean that our faith should also remain unchanged from generation to generation? How should Christians feel about non-believers and-more importantly-how should we respond to the world’s direction when it appears to be against Scripture? Does God even talk to the church anymore? This book is a letter from God. It is addressed to His people-God’s Church-and it is not founded on “traditional” Christianity. It is founded upon God’s Word, the Scriptures. We know that judgment begins at the house of God, and this letter is written for the purpose of allowing God’s people to begin preparing for the judgment that is coming, and for the new age, an age that has already begun.
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Troubled Minds : Mental Illness And The Churchs Mission
$22.99Add to cart1. My Family’s Story
2. Mental Illness Is Mainstream
3. Suffering People
4. Coping
5. Church Life
6. Ministry Life
7. Persistent Stigma
8. What Churches Can Do
9. What God Does
Resources For Ministry To The Mentally IllAdditional Info
Mental illness is the sort of thing we dont like to talk about. It doesnt reduce nicely to simple solutions and happy outcomes. So instead, too often we reduce people who are mentally ill to caricatures and ghosts, and simply pretend they dont exist. They do exist, howeverstatistics suggest that one in four people suffer from some kind of mental illness. And then theres their friends and family members, who bear their own scars and anxious thoughts, and who see no safe place to talk about the impact of mental illness on their lives and their loved ones. Many of these people are sitting in churches week after week, suffering in stigmatized silence. In Troubled Minds Amy Simpson, whose family knows the trauma and bewilderment of mental abuse, reminds us that people with mental illness are our neighbors and our brothers and sisters in Christ, and she shows us the path to loving them well and becoming a church that loves God with whole hearts and whole souls, with the strength we have and with minds that are whole as well as minds that are troubled.
