Church Life
Showing 801–892 of 892 results
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Equipping Your Church To Minister To Ex Offenders
$8.95Add to cartPrison ministry does not end at the prison gates. In any area of the country where there is a prison or a jail, or where ex-offenders reside, there is a need to help incarcerated men and women make a successful transition from prison to society. These 104-page manual gives practical, Biblically-based instructions on starting such a ministry, whether through the local church, or as a separate ministry working with the local church. This manual includes the following topics:
WHO ARE EX-OFFENDERS, AND WHY SHOULD THE CHURCH REACH OUT TO THEM?
WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO GET THE CHURCH INVOLVED?
THE GOAL OF EX-OFFENDER MINISTRY
INITIAL PREPARATION FOR THE EX-OFFENDER MINISTRY
DEALING WITH RACIAL ISSUES AND CROSS-CULTURAL SITUATIONS
FINANCING THE EX-OFFENDER MINISTRY
PEDOPHILES AND SEX OFFENDERS
GODLY LOVE TOWARD THE EX-OFFENDER-WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
DISCIPLESHIP FOR THE EX-OFFENDER: LEAVING THE NETS
THE PRUNING PROCESS: HOW TO DEAL WITH SUFFERING
THE SCRIPTURAL BASIS FOR THE MINISTRY TO INMATES AND EX-OFFENDERS
SCRIPTURES RELATED TO PRISONERS
LEGAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF YOUR MINISTRY
STARTING AN AFTERCARE CENTER
BENEFITS FOR THE ELDERLY AND DISABLED
THE WORK OPPORTUNITY TAX CREDIT ACT
FEDERAL AND STATE BONDING FOR EX-OFFENDERS -
Spectacle Of Worship In A Wired World
$23.99Add to cartExamining the three central elements of electronic culture the author demonstrates that for those steeped in this culture, meaning arises from the convergence of these elements rather than from any one of them individually. He goes on to discuss how these are already present in Christian worship and how they might be made more evident. In adition, he explains that worship can serve as a corrective to electronic culture and concludes the book with suggestions on how to build worship around an awareness of this new kind of human perception.
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Revolution In Leadership
$25.99Add to cartEquipping God’s people for the ministry to which they are called can no longer be the responsibility solely of professional clergy. Increasingly we see that a new team of leaders, drawn from the membership of each congregation or its community, is arising to meet the challenges that ministry in the third millenium will present. Yet where, and how, will these leaders be trained?
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Snapshots Of The Kingdom
$11.99Add to cart24 Chapters
Additional Info
Picture perfect moments. The Gospels are full of them. Reading The Bible can be a lot like bringing out the family album. Because photographs help us remember. They bring to mind times and places important to us. They recapture people, relationships, and priorities. They help define us. Snapshots bring a piece of the past into the present. Have you ever thought of the Gospels as snapshots of Jesus’ life and ministry? Each episode, each story is a picture of His kingdom on earth. By reading them we learn what Kingdom life is like. Steve Rodeheaver is convinced that one of the primary purposes of the Church is to be a snapshot of God’s kingdom. When people see Christians in action, he says they should see wallet-size pictures of the coming Kingdom. Our lives and ministries are to reflect the model Jesus gave us so long ago. Snapshots of the Kingdom will challenge you to answer the call to Kingdom living. The opportunities are all around you. Right now. Where you are. It’s an adventure guaranteed to bring your life back into focus. -
Where The Nations Meet
$30.99Add to cartIVP Print on Demand Title
Peppered with inspiring and challenging stories from multicultural congregations, this book not only provides a theological basis for multicultural ministry but also suggests how such ministry can be successfully conducted in all churches. This book for all pastors and laypersons who want their church to be a place of unbounded celebration where the nations meet.
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Human Disability And The Service Of God
$34.99Add to cartHuman Disability and the Service of God is an important contribution to the growing literature on religion and disabilities. In this volume major Christian scholars across the biblical, historical, theological, and pastoral fields bring their areas of expertise to bear on the challenge of a holistic ministry that will no longer marginalize persons with disabilities.
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Masters Plan For Making Disciples (Reprinted)
$20.00Add to cart1. The Vision To Fulfill
2. The People To Win
3. The Fellowship To Cherish
4. The Ministry To Give
5. The Discipline To Keep
6. The Power To BecomeAdditional Info
Robert Coleman’s best-selling The Master Plan of Evangelism, which has sold over two million copies, told how Jesus made disciples. Now learn how the disciples did it in this companion volume. The Master Plan of Discipleship, now available in mass-market paperback, will help you discover a discipling lifestyle from the early church. -
Religious Experience In Earliest Christianity
$25.00Add to cartCombining trenchant criticism with careful analysis, Luke Johnson calls for a radically new direction in New Testament studies, one that can change the way we view the entire phenomenon of early Christianity. In three fasinating probes of early Christianity – examining baptism, speaking in tongues, and meals in common – Johnson illustrates how a more holistic approach opens up the works of healings and religious power, of ecstasy and spirit – in short, the religious experience of real persons. Early Christian texts, he finds, reflect lives caught up in and defined by a power not in their control but engendered instead by the crucified and raised Messiah Jesus.
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Rural Ministry : The Shape Of The Renewal To Come
$30.99Add to cartGrounded in social research, Rural Ministry evaluates the diminishing establishment of the church in rural America, which is linked to the fifty-year-old crisis in rural ministry. It names the primary issues for leaders of Protestant and Catholic churches to ponder: the graying of the population; the closing of schools, hospitals, and factories; and the corporate buyout of farms during the 1980s. In addition to retelling the history of this crisis, Shannon Jung and the other contributors to this volume offer a set of Christian principles that respond to social problems in rural life. The situation is so intense that the book offers examples from around the heartland of cooperative or collaborative parishes that blend denominational and theological differences across the Protestant and Catholic spectrum.
Key Benefits: Offers a vision of nationwide renewal in rural America; Advocates true ecumenical solutions to issues confronting the rural church in America; Sidebars feature examples and illustrations; Informs new rural ministers of the culture and issues about to confront them, allowing them to better handle the challenges and opportunities of the rural environment; Motivates congregations to activate ministries in new and provocative ways, insuring the spread of the gospel; Can help troubled churches survive.
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44 Questions For Congregational Self Appraisal
$23.99Add to cartChurches don’t sit still; they are either planning for the future or wishing for the past. Yet, even when setting about to discern the future into which the Spirit is leading, how does a congregation map its way? How does it understand its strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and limitations, gifts and graces? In 44 Questions for Congregational Self-Appraisal, Lyle E. Schaller directs the reader to the crucial questions a church must ask itself if it is to understand its mission and the course it must chart in order to achieve that mission. He helps pastors, congregational leaders, and strategic planning groups understand that the questions we ask and the data we gather tend to set our priorities, and for this reason it is crucial to seek the correct information from the outset. Schaller shows church leaders how not to become trapped by “means to an end” questions (real estate, staffing, money, and schedules) and focus instead on questions related to the congregation’s distinctive mission (identity, purpose, role, and God’s call) and message.
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Reshaping Religious Education
$39.00Add to cartCelebrated religious educators Harris and Moran challenge the religious education community to risk change. They identify a process of creative and imaginative education, moving beyond traditional solutions while incorporating ecumenical and international perspectives.
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Deeply Woven Roots
$25.00Add to cartImproving the quality of life in your community. Gunderson takes the eight major strengths of congregations and shows how they can be used to fill the gap between what a health care system will pay for and what it won’t in caring for their members. Help your church become a more imaginative, courageous, and effective enabler of healing and well-being in personal and societal life.
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Truly The Community A Print On Demand Title
$31.99Add to cartOriginally published in 1992 as The Hilarity of Community, this edition includes a new title, preface, and entirely new cover design. Truly the Community continues to be one of the best sources for understanding what it means to live together as the church of Christ.
Many writers, both secular and religious, have decried the lack of intimacy and community in our contemporary culture. Few of them, however, offer practical suggestions for counteracting the isolation and alienation felt by so many people today. But Marva Dawn does this–and more–in Truly the Community. Through an intensive study of Romans 12, Dawn offers specific guidance for building vital Christian community life.
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Starting Small Groups
$22.99Add to cartIn Starting Small Groups: Building Communities That Matter, Jeffrey Arnold discusses small groups and details step-by-step the method for designing a small-group ministry to fit a congregation’s unique situations. Adapted from a workbook format that allows each congregation to identify its own particular needs and character, this resource includes ways to plan, envision, and strategize for the formation of small groups.
The author looks at significant issues related to designing or revamping a small-group ministry, including group types; group structure; leadership training and support; marketing; recruiting people into groups; answering the why, when, how, and what of groups; and evaluating so that positive changes can be continually made. Ending each chapter is a series of workbook-style questions. The answers to these questions form the structure and content of each church’s unique ministry design. While individuals, committees, and churches work their way through the questions, they may consult the sample strategy contained in an appendix at the end of the book.
The writing style employed in this resource is simple, graphic, and easy to read. It is written so that both laypersons and pastors will be comfortable using it. Stories abound so that a process that may seem difficult comes to life in these pages.
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After Our Likeness
$37.99Add to cartIn this first volume in the Sacra Doctrina series, Miroslav Volf explores the relationship between persons and community in Christian theology. The focus is the community of grace, the Christian church. The point of departure is the thought of the first Baptist, John Smyth, and the notion of church as “gathered community” that he shared with Radical Reformers. Volf seeks to counter the tendencies toward individualism in Protestant ecclesiology and to suggest viable understanding of the church in which both person and community are given their proper due.
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End Of Christian Psychology
$13.00Add to cartEastgate Publishers Title
What can be wrong with “Christian psychology”? When it is comprised of the same confusion of contradictory theories and techniques as secular psychology. “Christian” psychologists have simply borrowed their theories and techniques from this world’s wisdom. Packed with biblical and scientific evidence, this book thoroughly demonstrates that professional psychotherapy with its underlying psychologies is questionable at best, detrimental at worst, and a spiritual counterfeit in any event.
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Another Days Journey
$19.00Add to cartAn analytical portrayal of the internal life of black churches and their many effective forms of social ministry. The author provides the reader with an excellent set of practical guidelines that churches will find useful as they strive to increase their resources for worthy projects.
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Crisis In The Church
$29.95Add to cartDrawing on his wealth of experience as both a seminary professor and minister, John Leith identifies and confronts the contemporary crisis in theological education. He argues that the crisis in the seminaries is interwoven with the crisis in the church, and that the secularization of educational institutions has led seminaries to move away from their primary responsibility – preparing pastors for ministry.
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Shoulder To Shoulder
$18.99Add to cartCONTENTS
Foreword
1. Thought My Pastor Was Supposed To Support Me’
2. Champion Your Pastor’s Humanity
3. Don’t Pick Up Your Marbles And Go Home
4. “I’m Not Sure I Even Like My Pastor”
5. Ten Keys To Connecting With Your Pastor
6. The Power Of Priorities
7. The ‘On Purpose” Prayer Partner
8. “But I Don’t Want To Teach The Four-Year-Olds”
9. God Loves A Cheerful Giver
10. For Eagles Only
Notes
About The Author P. 178Additional Info
In this book you are about to learn many life-changing principles, insights, and practical tips. Here are just a few highlights:* Thought-provoking insights on the life of a pastor
* The power of a partner
* The five components of a winning team
* The blessings of speaking the truth in love
* How to find your place on the ministry team
* Living with a spirit of generosity
* The essential role of leadership in the church -
Contemporary Worship : A Sourcebook For Spirited Traditional Praise And See
$31.99Add to cartThis handbook contains everything a congregation needs in order to plan, launch, and stabilize contemporary worship services. Three formats for contemporary worship are shown: spirited-traditional, contemporary praise, and contemporary seeker (or outreach-oriented) services. The resources include sample formats, sample messages that are appropriate for the format, sample skits, interviews, or dramas, and a database of worship choruses that are appropriate to each of the three contemporary formats.
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Life And Thought Of Kanzo Uchimura 1861-1930 A Print On Demand Title
$25.99Add to cartWhile staying in the United States in 1884 at the age of 23, Kanzo Uchimura (1861-1930) felt a sense of religious calling that led him to devote the rest of his life to Christian mission in Japan. His subsequent life and work earned him recognition as one of the most important Japanese thinkers, essayists, and theologians of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Uchimura claimed that Japan adopted Western civilization at the reopening of the country in the late nineteenth century but did not adopt Christianity itself – the very cause, spirit, and life of Western civilization. This was the origin of all the difficulties Japan had been experiencing. There is no question that Uchimura believed Christianity would save Japan and the Japanese; the real question was “What kind of Christianity?”
In his view Christian faith entails a radical dependence on the gospel; baptism, communion, and the other sacraments are not necessary. He also believed that God’s truth can be revealed directly to each individual, so that an intermediary between God and people, such as a minister, priest, or pope, is not required. This argument led Uchimura to start the Mukyokai-shugi (Non-churchism), a denial of the institutional church. Miura here explores in depth this theme in Uchimura’s thought as well as Uchimura’s particular vision of Japan’s mission to the world.
This study not only offers Western readers new information about Kanzo Uchimura and the Japanese Non- church Movement; it also provides important insights into the way Christianity can be indigenized in a new culture, such as that of modern Japan.
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Images Of The Church In Missions
$19.99Add to cartThe Bible shows that the very existence of the church is grounded in God’s saving mission. The church is a visible demonstration of the reign of God, his “experimental plot” in the midst of history, pointing toward the restoration of all things.
Driver offers studies of 12 biblical images for understanding the church. They steer us toward a church more in harmony with God’s missionary purpose for his people, and toward a mission solidly based in the biblical vision of peoplehood. These images communicate with power and clarity, reflecting the sense of identity in early Christian communities. In our own time, such images can inspire the church to live up to its reason for being. The images the church uses to understand itself will largely determine what the church will become.
Driver explores images of pilgrimage, of God’s new order, of peoplehood, and of transformation. By its calling, the church must be in mission. The church needs the vital sense of identity inspired by these biblical images to serve God’s saving purpose for all creation.
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Connecting To God
$23.00Add to cartAlthough spiritual growth occurs within an individual, Ware explains that it is the calling of the congregation to be a community of support and encouragement. Indeed, it is amidst the support of a group that an individual learns how to live out personal faith. Ware provides a very practical and accessible model of spiritual formation for self-directing groups that can be led by clergy or laity. Includes thorough guidelines, do’s and don’ts, and ground rules for the successful pursuit of spiritual growth in small groups. See also Ware’s helpful book on spiritual type on next page.
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Interventionist
$27.99Add to cartThe most effective way to influence both individual and institutional behavior is to ask questions. The Interventionist provides a conceptual framework for asking questions about congregations, and it classifies various syndromes that prevent a church from making the changes that are needed for new life. It will help church leaders find a good match between the needs of the congregations and the gifts, skills, experience, personality, leadership style, and priorities of the candidate. The book is also a productive guide for the trained, career interim minister who comes purposely for six to twenty-four months to sort out the issues and syndromes that plague a congregation.
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White Soul : Country Music The Church And Working Americans
$22.99Add to cartWhite Soul examines the social, political and religious foundations of country music as the soul music of the white, working-class Americans. Country music gives voice to an economically battered subculture of hard-living and hard-working people who find self-expression in the music of honky-tonks and heartaches. It celebrates the “wild side of life” as a form of populist anarchism and escapist festivity. This unusual medley of sociology, theology, and country music history is also a compelling critique of the elitism of “good taste” in the dominant culture. Tex Sample challenges the church to reach out to working-class people, who have often been ignored and demeaned by churches held captive to the tastes and lifestyles of the upper middle class.
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Spiritual Entrepreneurs : Six Principals For Risking Renewal
$21.99Add to cartThis book tells the story of an innovative pastor and leadership team who intentionally led their church to take spiritual risks. By using six principles, renewal can come to any church, asserts Slaughter. These six principles are focused on Jesus Christ, the Bible, new forms of worship, a commitment to membership, equipping lay people for ministry, and spiritual leadership.
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Diezmo Y Bendiciones – (Spanish)
$8.99Add to cartBased on the Bible and the experience of many who tithe regularly, the author of this book deals with topics such as main objections against tithing, the tithing and the second coming, tithing is contrary to human nature, we only return what came from God.
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Partners In Prayer
$14.99Add to cartForeword By Max Lucado.
1. Unleashing The Potential Of Prayer.
2. Getting To Know Your Father
3. Developing Practical Prayer Skiffs
4. Avoiding Personal Prayer Killers
5. Expanding Your Prayer Focus
6. Protecting And Partnering With Your Pastors
7. Praying Your Church To Its Potential
8. Organizing A Prayer Partner Team:
Afterword: Anticipating RevivalSpecial Section: Releasing God’s Power Through Fasting By Bill Bright
Appendices: How To Start A Prayer Partner Ministry In Your Home Church
A: Planning Your Prayer Partner Retreat
B: Preparing Prayer Partner Breakfasts
C: Creating Prayer Partner Guides And LettersAbout The Author P. 179
Additional Info
“John, I believe God has called me–a layrnan–to disciple, encourage, and pray for pastors. And the reason I came here today is so that I could pray for you.”With those words, respected leader, speaker, and author John Maxwell saw his agenda replaced by God’s agenda. The stranger who felt God’s calling to pray for this pastor fulfilled a need in Maxwell that he didn’t even know he had–and fourteen years later, the results are evident at the 3,500 member Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego, California.
Partners in Prayer, the first book in the John Maxwell Church Resources series, shows church leaders and lay people how to unleash the potential of prayer on behalf of themselves, one another, and the church. If your church–or private devotional life–is starving in the area of prayer and you want to tap into the power and protection prayer provides, Maxwell gives practical insight into
–the fundamentals of prayer
–improving personal prayer life
–praying for others, including church leaders
–building a prayer partners ministry in the local church
–encouraging prayer revival nationwide
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* Are you missing out on God’s gift and blessing of prayer? Is there someone you know who would benefit from your committed prayers on their behalf. Despite God’s promise of the power of prayer to change our world, many of us never experience it. John Maxwell shows you how to strengthen your prayer life and reap the benefits awaiting those who become Partners in Prayer. -
In Search Of The Unchurched
$23.00Add to cartWhat’s working and not working in your congregation? You’ll explore the factors that inspired and motivated changes to reverse decline as other congregations wrestled with the same issues you’re facing: ministry to current members, ministry to the unchurched, worship, changing neighborhoods, and more.
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Alabadle : Hispanic Christian Worship
$20.99Add to cartBy looking at the wide variety of Hispanic Christian worship that exists within the Hispanic community, Alabadle! highlights the cultural, generational, and denominational elements that comprise the spectrum of Hispanic worship.
Justo L. Gonzalez and seven other contributors provide an insightful look into the variety of worship styles that exist among numerous church traditions including Assemblies of God, United Methodist, Catholic, American Baptist, Presbyterian, and Disciples of Christ. And yet, in the midst of this variety, is a common thread of excitement – about worship and about the gospel!
Anyone interested in exploring worship, music, and liturgy styles from a particular Hispanic perspective will find Alabadle! a valuable learning tool.
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New Complete Server
$11.95Add to cartThis classic guide helps servers to perform with confidence and reverence, allowing the liturgy to unfold in a smooth and prayerful manner. A glossary of words and objects accompanies illustrations of vessels, linens, altar preparation, vestments, posture symbols, and examples of processions. Also contains easy-to-draw symbols that servers can use to make a diagram of their sanctuary’s layout for study and practice.
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Reclaiming The Urban Family
$22.99Add to cart17 Chapters
Additional Info
Hands-on answers to the crises of urban homes. The problems urban families face–low income, drug abuse, divorce, gang involvement, domestic violence, and more–are devastating. But solutions exist in the local church that can transform troubled homes into places of love, security, hope, and growth. In Reclaiming the Urban Family, Dr. Willie Richardson gives pastors and leaders methods that can make inner-city churches a powerful force for restoring, training, and strengthening families, single-parent homes, and individuals. Using the principles and strategies described, the family training ministry of Dr. Richardson’s own Christian Stronghold Baptist Church in Philadelphia has – Brought about a near-zero divorce rate – Produced strong marriages built on deep lovebonds between couples – Helped numerous low- and moderate-income families become debt-free – Trained men to be competent husbands and fathers–and raised adult male membership in church to as high as 48 percent – Lowered the number of teenage pregnancies – Helped win to Christ those who have seen transformation in their loved ones. Reclaiming the Urban Family covers concerns as diverse as lay biblical counseling, singles and youth ministry, marriage preparation, occupational enrichment, single-parent households, evangelizing families, and more. Complete with a section of resources for African-American family ministries, it shows how local churches can become dynamic agents for building thriving homes and individuals and for evangelizing the unsaved. -
Death Of The Church
$26.99Add to cart“Death of the Church is intended to provoke, although we have been careful to be accurate and responsible in our statement of the issues. We will have failed if you only yawn. You may not like what we say, but you must at least acknowledge the issues, for they are very real. The institutional church in America will look very different twenty-five years from now. Indeed, several denominations may no longer exist. We are sure that there will be hundreds of local congregations that won’t. The forces reshaping our culture are too many and too strong. We see signs of social fragmentation and collapse everywhere. But we also believe deeply in the hope of the Gospel and the security of the church. Both will survive. But how the church universal is expressed in and through the churches in America will look very different. This is the issue we write about.” — From the Introduction
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Church For The Unchurched
$22.99Add to cart6 Chapters
Additional Info
CHURCH FOR THE UNCHURCHED
A rebirth of the apostolic way.This work shows that there is an apostolic way for a congregation to live out the gospel. This book calls for revolution–the revolution that must take place if the churches in America are to thrive and to fulfill the Great Commission. Church for the Unchurched is about the “abolition” of the laity.
God’s dream for his church from the earliest time has been that we practice the priesthood of all believers, that we be a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:6). In its first 300 years of history, the church had no clergy. Rather, it was made up of believers who understood they were to be apostles, sent on mission by the living Christ. With the phenomenal growth of that early church, both numerically and in influence, two classes of Christians emerged, leaders and spectators. The spectators were supposed to learn sound doctrine, to pray, sing, listen to sermons, and pay the bills. But when the question is asked, as it often is, “Why doesn’t the church do something about…,” “the church” is synonymous with “the clergy.”
This book studies a number of apostolic congregations from various traditions and assorted geographical locations that are successfully reaching the unchurched. It is full of recipes that any serious congregation could copy and use. Reading this book could result in a Copernican revolution in the church-the empowerment of the laity.
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Church Growth Handbook
$20.99Add to cartHere are twenty tested church-growth strategies that have been implemented by church consultant William Easum with more than 4,000 chuch leaders across the United States and Canada. The handbook provides diagnostic tools, which now can be used with the Complete Ministry Adult.
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Sacred Cows Make Gourmet Burgers
$20.99Add to cart11 Chapters
Additional Info
William Easurn shows how an atmosphere of permission-giving, which signals the end of permission-giving, which signals the end of leaders as enablers, will help church leaders transcend bureaucracy and gratuitous regulations, and will enhance spiritual gifts rather than assign them. The sacred cows of control and regulation can be devoured, as leaders and people are converted to a new style of ministry. -
Team Ministry : Putting Together A Team That Makes Churches Grow
$16.99Add to cartUsing a step by step approach, Dick Iverson explains the biblical pattern for local chruch admisistration – a plurality of elders led by God’s “set man”. He provides a method for establishing a team ministry within any local chruch that includes 12 principles on how to maintain the leadership team once it is put into place. He concludes the text with information on how to discover and train young leaders within the church.
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Effective Keys To Successful Leadership
$14.99Add to cartLearn, from this dynamic model, what it takes to build an effective leadership team and healthy local church. Common ministry temptations and tensions are candidly discussed, emphasizing the need for personal vision and mission in your ministry.
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Evangelicals And Catholics Together
$19.99Add to cartCan evangelicals and Roman Catholics be allies in the culture wars now being waged against Christian beliefs and values?
This courageous book seeks a way to allow sectarian strife between the two groups to give way to a decision to work together to mend the fabric of values that has been relentlessly rent in the last thirty-five years. Here, both evangelicals and Roman Catholic authors ask whether the time has come to present a united front against the onslaught of publicly sanctioned unbelief in the land.
Growing out of a historic seminar in the spring of 1994, this bold statement with its probing questions admits the deep differences in Roman Catholic and evangelical attitudes toward the Church, Papal authority, and the sacraments. But it also holds that with more openness, and more clarity about continuing doctrinal differences, enough common ground can be found to engage the larger enemy of skepticism that threatens the country’s foundations.
Several of the contributors to this book have been criticized for daring to suggest cooperation between evangelicals and Roman Catholics. They respond with careful concern for their detractors but affirm courageously with Martin Luther: “Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise.”
All thinking Christians owe it to themselves to see whether this conviction is based on God’s Word – and to consider the shared spiritual commitment proposed by these authors.
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Help For The Small Church Pastor
$12.99Add to cartChurches of less than 150 remain the rule rather than the exception in American Christianity. However, seminaries don’t equip their students in every way that’s necessary to effectively lead smaller congregations — despite the fact that most seminary graduates will becomes small-church pastors. Help for the Small-Church Pastor offers pastors of small churches the guidance and encouragement they need. In this common-sense book, Steve Bierly draws from his eleven years in ministry to show what makes smaller congregations tick. Help for the Small-Church Pastor provides practical insights on uniquely “small-church” issues, such as– The characteristics of small churches – How to work effectively as an “insider” within the small church – How God is at work in powerful ways in smaller assemblies – How to motivate your church toward positive change and true growth – How to invest your own time and energy in the right directions – How your church can reach out to the community in ways that are practical and productive — “There are many ways for even the smallest congregation to be true to the church’s calling,” says Steve Bierly. Help for the Small-Church Pastor will steer you through the strengths and weaknesses of your small church to unearth its true riches.
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Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down
$33.99Add to cartBoomers vs. busters, clergy vs. laypeople, organists vs. guitarists—“worship wars” are tearing our churches apart! In this provocative book, Dawn calls us to more God-centered worship and away from the “entertain me” attitude. You’ll learn practical ways to determine the best methods for deepening worship life, nurturing new and mature believers, and strengthening your ministry in the church and the world.
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Gifts Of Many Cultures
$28.00Add to cartThis collection of liturgical resources from the global community includes original prayers, poetry, stories and readings for sermons, invocations, calls to worship, liturgies for Holy Communion and baptism, guided meditations, songs, drawings, and other resources designed around the seasons of the church year.
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Faithquakes
$26.99Add to cartIn this book Leonard Sweet invites the church to take more than a stand, but to begin to take an active role in compliance with the time we live in. With up-to-the-minute monitoring of changes and trends that affect our lives, Sweet provides refreshingly unconventional glimpses into the future that must be grasped by church leaders. We learn: how to pursue a more effective, “go and tell” evangelism that reaches the “cocooning” culture; how to rekindle Christian imagination through sensuality, virtual reality, and energized prayer, music, or spiritual experience; how the church can open house for all of God’s people, and more!
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Como Hablar En Publico Sin Tem – (Spanish)
$12.99Add to cartThe Christian needs preachers that are not afraid to present their ideas to clients, colleagues and bosses at work, and when they talk about their faith and values to friend and family members at church and in any other situation. Speaking with confidence in public would help you to not be afraid to talk in a group, and to have a style that is natural and dynamic so you can inform, inspire or persuade others.
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Economic Empowerment Through The Church
$24.99Add to cartThe Kingdom of God is not only spiritual — it is intensely practical. The church today must move beyond its traditional role if it is to truly fulfill its mission. It can no longer respond only to spiritual needs and speak only to people’s hearts. The church is called to be a force for change in the world, especially where the needs are greatest: the inner-city neighborhoods where crime, violence, and unemployment are the order of the day. Economic Empowerment Through the Church is a practical book that shows churches how to become a force for revitalization in their community by means of “economic empowerment”– by becoming involved in the everyday, economic life of their communities. It shows churches how to structure themselves, how to avoid tax problems, what businesses they can operate without jeopardizing their tax-exempt status, and step-by-step guidelines for implementing ancillary operations such as real estate, day care centers, drug abuse rehabilitation centers, housing projects, and others. The book includes checklists that help churches avoid missing crucial steps, as well as sample documents and forms.
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African American Church Growth
$20.99Add to cartAfrican American Church Growth offers 12 principles for prophetic ministry. Stewart contends that it is precisely the prophetic consciousness which appeals to many blacks of the post-civil rights era, and that emphasis on the prophetic will help bring the black church out of the disillusionment of a “post-civil rights malaise.”
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Sunday Morning Readers Theater Cycle B
$15.95Add to cartA fresh look at scripture, a new presentation of the gospel, a deeper communication for God’s truths — this is what church drama has to offer.
“Sunday Morning Readers’ Theater, B,” offers nineteen skits for use during the church year. Each skit’s performance falls between five and 10 minutes with the exception of readings for major church days.
“What I hope to do is to help people see the gospels, Jesus and the other scripture passages with new vision, unclouded by familiarity,” writes Pamela Urfer of these readings.
This series provides one more form of worship designed to unfold the meaning of the lectionary readings, either as a replacement or a supplement to the sermon. The style varies from comic to tragic and the skits are set in both biblical and modern times.
Readings include the Sundays of Advent and Lent, Christmas Eve/Day, Martin Luther King Sunday, Ash Wednesday, Holy Week selections, Pentecost Sunday, All Saints’ Sunday, and Reformation Sunday.
This is a three-book series. It closely follows the Revised Common, Lutheran, Episcopal, and Roman Catholic lectionaries. -
Moral Fragments And Moral Community
$18.00Add to cartFrom the publisher: Western society today lives from community fragments and moral fragments alone, and these fragments are being destroyed more quickly than they are being replenished. Larry Rasmussen assesses the long-term reasons for this situation and then proposes the forms and tasks that churches can undertake to help mend and improve civil society. This book, which had its origin in the Hein/Fry Lectures in 1991–92, functions both as an assessment of the moral climate in America today and also as a proposal for the church in contemporary society
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Unleashing The Scripture
$23.99Add to cartThis provocative critique of the uses and abuses of Scripture in the American church shows how liberal (historical-critical) and fundamentalist (literal) approaches to biblical scholarship have corrupted our use of the Bible. Hauerwas argues that the Bible can only be understood in the midst of a disciplined community of people, where the story is actually lived out by dedicated practitioners.
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Inside The Mind Of Unchurched Harry And Mary
$22.99Add to cartInside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary isn’t a book of theory. It’s an action plan to help Christians relate the message of Christ to the people they work around, live with, and call their friends.
Using personal experiences, humor, compelling stories, biblical illustrations, and the latest research, Lee Strobel helps Christians understand unbelievers and what motivates them.
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Hard Living People And Mainstream Christians
$22.99Add to cartIf you can’t stand four-letter words, you shouldn’t read this book. This book contains expletive language used by hard living people, so that readers will better understand the hard living culture and discover ways to minister within it. “Through stories of hard-living people and pastors who minister with them, Tex Sample challenges mainline churches to break the yoke of middle-class captivity and join with the Christ who lives among the poor and marginalized. The book is inspirational, analytical, and practical in its treatment of an issue too long ignored by contemporary church leadership.” – Kenneth L. Carder, Resident Bishop, Nashville Area, The United Methodist Church
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Energizing The Congregation
$25.00Add to cartENERGIZING THE CONGREGATION, images that shape your church’s ministry. This study suggests that there are many appropriate ways for congregations to be in mission. The authors conclude that churches are revitalized by claiming the symbols that best articulate self-identity. Thus, churches gain the knowledge to build on their strengths and address their weaknesses. Dudley and Johnson describe five images of churches relationships to their communities over time: the survivor, prophet, pillar, pilgrim and servant styles, which are found in a wide variety of congregations and situations.
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Church Confident
$21.99Add to cartKeck shows how the church is suffering from malaise brought on by oversecularization in aspects of church life including worship, theology, ethos, and communication.
This penetrating clarion call to renewal cuts through the conventional ideological labels of “liberal” and “conservative.” Keck argues with passion that mainline churches today must neither pretend to be culturally triumphant nor whimper in fear. Rather, the church has grounds to be confident about its proper nature and mission.
Keck envisions a renewed church that has recovered a sense of what is basic to its nature and purpose–restoring the praise of God to the center of worship.
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How To Attract And Keep Active Church Members
$28.00Add to cartThis book is a study of church growth and membership retention. The author argues that if a church is to survive, it must concentrate on keeping its current members as well as attracting new ones. He interviews people from six hundred churches of various sizes and reviews the causes of membership decline and retention in those churches. Smith addresses the assimilation of new members, congregational vitality and church growth, and conflict management and its impact on membership retention.
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After Christendom : How The Church Is To Behave If Freedom Justice, And A C
$23.99Add to cartLiberal/conservative and modern/postmodern concepts define contemporary theological debate. Yet what if these categories are grounded in a set of assumptions about what it means to be the church in the world, presuming we must live as though God’s existence does not matter? What if our theological discussion distracts us from the fact that the church is no longer able to shape the desires and habits of Christians? Hauerwas wrestles with these and similar questions constructing a theological politics necessary for the church to be the church in the world. In so doing, he challenges liberal notions of justice and freedom.
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David Wilkerson Exhorta A La I – (Spanish)
$15.99Add to cartIn this book the well-known speaker and writer David Wilkerson exposes the diverse aspects of the church. This is a call to search for the presence of God, for forgiveness and for humility. This is a message for all believers that find themselves in a dying church to seek new pastures and stop following false pastors.
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Manual For Acolytes
$14.95Add to cartThis manual is designed to describe those duties expected of one as the server. Server means one who assists-the terms acolyte, crucifer, and thurifer (as used in this manual) apply to specific responsibilities. No manual can be complete, inasmuch as the custom or use of each parish church varies.
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Shaped By The Bible
$15.99Add to cartShaped by the Bible offers sound information about the ways congregations are formed and reformed by the biblical message and the living Word. William Willimondiscusses the ways Scripture can form us, reform us, and challenge us, as well as the ways we hide from, close our ears to, and evade the Bible’s claims on us.
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Prewrath Rapture Of The Church
$26.99Add to cartCONTENTS
PART 1: JESUS IS COMING
1. The Tension And Anguish Surrounding A Consideration Of The Timing Of The Rapture
2. The Ultimate Absolute Of History
3. The Options Of “When” Laid Out
4. The Conflict That Makes It Necessary
5. But First The Counterfeit
6. The Background That Must Be Understood
7. The Question That Had To Be Answered
8. And What Of The Tribulation Period?
9. And Then The Day Of The Lord
PART 11: THE DAY OF THE LORD
10. Cosmic Disturbance
11. Elijah Must Appear First
12. The Day Of His Wrath
13. The 144,000 And A Great Multitude No Man Could Number
14. The Last Trump
15. The Apostasy And The Man Of Sin
PART III: THE PREWRATH RAPTURE
16. The Coming And The End
17. Kept From The Hour
18. Are Pretribulation Rapture Arguments Really Unanswerable?
19. The Prewrath Rapture: Why This View Now?
20. The Prewrath Rapture: Catalyst For Holy Living
Benediction
Notes
Scripture Index
About The AuthorAdditional Info
For thirty years a confirmed pretribulationist, he now believes that the Church will have to endure the persecution of the Antichrist: “God never promised Hs children immunity from the trials of this godless world or the assault of the Antichrist. He did promise, ‘greater is he [the Holy Spirit] that is in you, than he that is in the world’ (1 John 4:4). ” In view of the fact that Christians will not escape all of the oppression of the “Tribulation” period, Rosenthal urges godly living in light of a clear understanding of the last days so that we will be prepared for Satan’s intense opposition. Rosenthal does, however, believe that the Church win escape the wrath of God, which will be poured out beginning with the opening of Revelation’s seventh seal sometime during the second half of the “Tribulation” period. “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:9). -
Justification The Article By Which The Church Stands Or Falls
$15.00Add to cartIn Part I, Braaten assesses Luther’s view of justification and its subsequent interpretation by orthodoxy, by Calvin, by Ritschl and Harnack, by Tillich, and by Barth. In Part II, the discussion turns to ecumenical dialogues on justification and the relation of the doctrine to evangelization, to the distinction between law and gospel, to pastoral care, and to the church’s involvment in secular issues.
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People In The Presence Of God
$26.99Add to cartIs there one correct way for the people of God to worship him? It turns out that Scripture offers many models and forms for worship, all of which are acceptable but not necessarily appropriate or functional in a particular setting. Barry Liesch, a professor of music at Biola University, helps his readers to grasp that fact and it’s implications for worship in the church today. This is a one-of-a-kind book for many kinds of readers in all kinds of churches. It offers biblical perspective, historical awareness, musical and artistic sensitivity, authentic reverence, and creative stimulation for worship leaders, church musicians, study groups, pastors, worship committees, and a host of others who are interested in appreciating and renewing worship according to biblical models. Within each of the twenty chapters the author shares many suggestions for enhancing and transforming worship in the church today. Not only does he present the various biblical models and offer a wealth of suggestions, he takes up some of the major concerns of worship leaders, planners, and participants — concerns such as the role of music, uses of symbolism, the appropriateness of dance, modes of celebration, expressions of reverence, and many others.
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Church Leadership : Following The Example Of Christ
$32.99Add to cartAs the body of Christ, the church is basically an organism, not an organization. This fact is full of implications for the way the church organizes itself and the way leadership functions in the church. No book on church leadership has become as controversial as this one. Nor is there a book that spells out so clearly the scriptural implications of the present rule of Christ in the church and the calling of church leaders to be, first of all, servants. This is must reading for pastors, elders, church staff members, and students preparing for ministry in the church.
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44 Ways To Increase Church Attendance
$21.99Add to cartAre you still suffering over the sight of empty pews? Have your efforts been more than exhaustive in expanding your congregation? Have you maximized your brainstorming potential for bringing in new members?
If you have reached what appears to be your limit, then no longer fret, 44 Ways To Increase Church Attendance can open the doors of both your church and mind. With proven techniques for building a body for Christ, church leaders can increase their membership and then free themselves to focus on other important missions for God. Schaller’s suggestions will energize leaders and put their churches on the road of abundance.
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Congregation Stories And Structures
$22.00Add to cartThe power of narrative or story in shaping Scripture, proclamation, and the individual Christian has been studied extensively in recent years. This ground-breaking volume shows the power of narrative at work in the congregation and equips church leaders to discover the unique language and shared stories of their own community of faith. Dr. James Hopewell, who died in 1984, had learned as a missionary in Africa to analyze story as a formative element in community life. This posthumously published study applies the methods of a cultural antropologist to American church life. Unlike some who are cynical and despairing about congregational life in this country, the author finds it a “thick gathering” – a complex but hopeful blend of myths and meaning that give significance to every activity, regardless of how trivial it may seem. He affirms that “even a plain church on a pale day catches one in a deep current of narrative interpretation and representation by which people give sense and order to their lives”.
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Handbook Of Church Discipline
$14.99Add to cart11 Chapters
Additional Info
This is a handbook for pastors, elders, and all Christians who want to see how Scripture presents the process of discipline that should operate in the Christian community. It was written in response to an urgent need. In order to help church leaders deal with the sorts of problems that require the church to respond with discipline, the author has developed the book around the five steps of corrective discipline found especially in Matthew 18:15 — 17. Because there is not merely one kind or one stage of discipline, church leaders must learn how to discern. And once the right discernment has been made, then the right action can follow. This is a simple and very readable little handbook. The influence it can and should have on the church is, however, quite profound -
Outgrowing The Ingrown Church
$12.99Add to cart1. The Ingrown Church Leader: God’s Call To Faith And Repentance
2. The Ingrown Church: God’s Call To Faith And Repentance
3. The Local Church: Its Missionary Character
4. The Local Church: Its Missionary Authority
5. The Local Church: God’s Glory Its Missionary Motive
6. The Welcoming Local Church
7. The Praying Local Church
8. The Pastor As A Pacesetter
9. Preaching By Faith: God’s Missionary Fire
10. Equipping For The Harvest Field
11. Opening A Window Of Opportunity: Diaconal Witness
12. Small Groups For Outreach176 Pages
Additional Info
This is a book for pacesetters — church leaders who desire to help their churches break free of the things that turn them in on themselves and keep them from being outward-looking and outward-moving communities of Jesus Christ. The ingrown church is a common phenomenon. It is the “norm” for contemporary evangelical and Protestant churches. But ingrownness is a pathology. It can destroy the vital spiritual health of a church. It must, therefore, be combated with the norms of Scripture. And that is why this book was written. Outgrowing the Ingrown Church is a masterful mix of biblical principle, objective analysis, and personal experience. It traces the author’s own growing awareness of the problem of ingrownness in his calling as a pastor, seminary professor, and evangelist/missionary. In his own discovery of the power and presence of God he discovered the tendency of the church to live by its own power and resources. This is a book written to help change churches by changing the individuals who read it. It offers one an unparalleled challenge to be evaluated, revitalized, and then used by God for the work of ministry. Thus it is a book not merely for pastors, but for the whole body of Christ. “I have never been as excited about any book concerning church growth as when I read this book . . . . (His biblical) principles, if followed, transform individual lives and then lead to a movement within a church to change the whole congregation,” writes John Guest in the foreword. -
Survey Of Israels History (Revised)
$44.99Add to cartSince its first publication in 1970, A Survey of Israel’s History has established itself as a popular and useful text in Bible colleges and seminaries. This revision by David O’Brien, which brings A Survey of Israel’s History up to date, is certain to add to its value and continue its popularity. A chapter on the Intertestamental Period has been added. Numerous line-maps, charts, and diagrams help to clarity details. An extensive chronological chart provides an overall summary of names and dates. Authoritative, thoroughly biblical, factually sound, and movingly human — A Survey of Israel’s History will prove enormously helpful to the student of the Bible, and to anyone in search of a definitive history of the chosen people.
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How To Mobilize Church Volunteers
$14.99Add to cartThis insightul, practical book by Marlene Wilson , and international authority on volunteerism, will help you answer questions about volunteers in the church. This new book for all churches points out common problems, establishes management principles, answers questions, and offers a plan to turn the volunteer challenge into a reality.
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Tithing : Call To Serious Biblical Giving
$19.99Add to cartR. T. Kendall believes that all Christians are called to tithe. What is more, he is convinced that the church would be revitalized and the world transformed if all Christians did begin to tithe. Dr. Kendall combines this bold claim with biblical, theological, and practical implications of tithing. Tithing is sometimes regarded as threatening, but it emerges in this book as both challenging and inspiring. Numerous exciting testimonies are told, all demonstrating in individual lives the principle that underlies tithing. “You cannot outgive to the Lord.”
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Grupos Familiares Y El Crecimi – (Spanish)
$9.99Add to cartThe lesson of this very interesting project will provide you with all the materials you need to accomplish what the Holy Spirit has already accomplished in Seoul and many other parts of the world including through the author, David Yonggi Cho.
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Christian Church : Biblical Origin Historical Transformation And Potential
$26.00Add to cartWith thoroughness and clarity, Hans Schwarz presents a historical and systematic understanding of the church its worship and piety, its traditions and doctrines, its forms and structures. This skilled assessment outlines the impact of the church today and analyzes its prospects for the future.
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Multiple Staff And The Larger Church
$22.99Add to cartLarger churches are different – in expectations, in performance, in staffing, and in use of lay volunteers. Their unique differences require special handling. And that’s what this first-of-its-kind book is all about. The author helps the leaders of larger churches understand the special characteristics of larger churches, and helps members of multiple staffs see their rle and the context of that role more clearly. Special emphasis is given to the role of the senior minister, the role of the associate minister, and to their relationship with one another.
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Active Spirituality : A Guide For Seekers And Ministers
$26.00Add to cartA practical guidebook for the inquiring layperson seeking a holistic, intelligent look at the spiritual life, and for the pastor or religious professional seeking a systematic framework and spiritual practices to re-ignite the flame of faith. Groff explains what it means to believe and what to do after you say you believe-through a unique integration of spirituality and service, heart and mind, and various faith traditions. Explore five spiritual disciplines: community, solitude, learning, service, and vocation. Great for study groups.
