Church Life
Showing 61–72 of 528 results
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Disruptive Witness : Speaking Truth In A Distracted Age
$17.00Add to cartIntroduction
Part One: A Distracted, Secular Age
1. The Barrier Of Endless Distraction
2. The Barrier Of The Buffered Self
3. Searching For Visions Of FullnessPart Two: Bearing A Disruptive Witness
4. Disruptive Personal Habits
5. Disruptive Church Practices
6. Disruptive Cultural Participation
Conclusion: Large And Startling Figures
NotesAdditional Info
We live in a distracted, secular age.These two trends define life in Western society today. We are increasingly addicted to habits-and devices-that distract and “buffer” us from substantive reflection and deep engagement with the world. And we live in what Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor calls “a secular age”-an age in which all beliefs are equally viable and real transcendence is less and less plausible. Drawing on Taylor’s work, Alan Noble describes how these realities shape our thinking and affect our daily lives. Too often Christians have acquiesced to these trends, and the result has been a church that struggles to disrupt the ingrained patterns of people’s lives. But the gospel of Jesus is inherently disruptive: like a plow, it breaks up the hardened surface to expose the fertile earth below. In this book Noble lays out individual, ecclesial, and cultural practices that disrupt our society’s deep-rooted assumptions and point beyond them to the transcendent grace and beauty of Jesus.Disruptive Witness casts a new vision for the evangelical imagination, calling us away from abstraction and cliche to a more faithful embodiment of the gospel for our day. -
Free At Last
$10.99Add to cartGods Life Publishing
What is one of the most stubborn problems permeating America churches today? Racism! It divides Christian’s brothers and sisters and hinders the spreading of the gospel. Free at Last! Is a concise, in-depth study that reveals the malignancy hampering the Body and gives a biblical antidote to address this spiritual hindrance.
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Serving God In A Migrant Crisis
$19.00Add to cart“God has used migration for millennia to achieve his purposes for his people,” writes Patrick Johnstone. “He is doing so again in our time.”
Millions are on the move, driven by war, drought, terrorism, poverty, failed states, environmental catastrophes, disease, revolutions, and the desire for a better life. Christians have a unique perspective on the migrant crisis: after all, Jesus was a refugee. So were Abraham, Joseph, and Moses.
Today, some turn their backs on refugees. In Serving God in a Migrant Crisis, Patrick Johnstone and Dean Merrill help us understand what’s causing today’s refugee crisis, explore Christian theology and tradition on migration, and show us how Christian workers around the globe are opening their hearts to embrace these modern outcasts.
“The world has literally come to our doorstep,” they write. “Will we open the door?”
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Quit Church : Because Your Life Would Be Better If You Did (Reprinted)
$18.00Add to cartBased on research among congregations across the country, seasoned church coach and pastor Chris Sonksen reveals habits we need to simply let go, along with spiritual practices we need to relearn in order to thrive as individuals and produce growth in our churches.
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Who Is My Neighbour
$15.99Add to cartFollowing Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, and with increasing division, xenophobia, and confusion over future national and international relationships, this thought- and action-provoking book considers the crucial question: Who is my neighbor?
What does the Christian injunction to “love your neighbor as yourself” actually mean in practice today? Contributions by renowned theologians and practitioners reflect on this subject in relation to issues of poverty, ecology, immigration, fear, and discrimination, and the recent political upheavals both in Europe and the United States.
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Life Tastes Better
$3.99Add to cartIt’s easy to think that following Jesus would make life less fun and more limited. Drawing on his decades of introducing the real Jesus to people, founder of NewFrontiers Terry Virgo reveals the surprising truth that the Jesus who turned water into wine is ready to make every life taste better, both now and eternally. Easy-to-read, short, clear, faithful and conversational, this is a perfect book to give to an interested friend.
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Building Credibility In Leadership
$19.99Add to cartToday there is a lack of trust in leaders, notably those leading the church, potentially leading to a lack of trust in God Himself – the Leader. As secondary leaders we must help to build credibility in leadership by remembering that our service is “unto the Lord.” This book giving sound instructions on how to become the type of leader God has destined you to be.
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We Want You Here
$14.99Add to cartThe message is basic but profound. We want guests to know they are welcome to the church. This book is a gift to guests to communicate that very message.
Bestselling author Thom Rainer (I Am a Church Member, Autopsy of a Deceased Church) has created a tool for churches to become more hospitable through a brief, welcoming book that introduces the ministry of the local church to guests. We Want You Here is a clear and instructive message to be given to church guests. Rainer facilitates the follow up conversation that every pastor would have, if they had the opportunity. By giving away the book to guests, they are encouraged, in a non-intrusive manner, to continue to reflect on the decision to visit their church.
Those churches who share We Want You Here will be able to tell their guests:
* We Really Want You Here
* This is Not a Place for Perfect People
* We Would Like to Get to Know You
* This is Where Families Grow Strong
* We Will Getting to Know the One Who Made Us
* Come Make a Difference with Us
* Thank You for Being Here -
From Jerusalem To Timbuktu
$22.00Add to cartChristianity started in Jerusalem. For many centuries it was concentrated in the West, in Europe and North America. But in the past century the church expanded rapidly across Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Thus Christianity’s geographic center of density is now in the West African country of Mali-in Timbuktu.
What led to the church’s vibrant growth throughout the Global South? Brian Stiller identifies five key factors that have shaped the church, from a renewed openness to the move of the Holy Spirit to the empowerment of indigenous leadership. While in some areas Christianity is embattled and threatened, in many places it is flourishing as never before.
Discover the surprising story of the global advance of the gospel. And be encouraged that Jesus’ witness continues to the ends of the earth.
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Pentecost Paradigm : Ten Strategies For Becoming A Multiracial Congregation
$18.00Add to cartHow do churches build immunity from racial and ethnic tensions that threaten to divide rather than unite congregations? Jacqui Lewis and John Janka believe that the answer lies in the development of multiracial, multicultural communities of faith.
Born of the authors’ work with The Middle Project, an institute that prepares ethical leaders for a more just society, Paradigm is a collection of wisdom and best practices. Here you will find lessons, questions for conversation, and spaces for journaling. Use the workbook with your planning team, board members, lay leaders, and staff.
Ten essential strategies are presented to help build communities that celebrate racial/ethnic and cultural diversity:
* Embracing Call and Commitment* Casting the vision * Managing Change and Resistance * Creating Congregational Identity * Building Capacity * Cultivating Community * Celebrating in Worship * Understanding Congregational Conflict * Communicating and Organizing * Collaborating in the Public SquareIn welcoming communities of faith where everyone is accepted just as they are, we can lead the way toward racial reconciliation and dismantle the prejudices that segregate our houses of worship.
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People Are The Mission
$17.99Add to cartWhen it comes to interacting with guests, churches typically gravitate towards one of two camps: over-the-top, shock-and-awe, let-us-entertain-you or oh-man,-some-people-just-showed-up, underwhelming experience. Each extreme has drawbacks: on one end, people become the center of the universe. On the other, hospitality is effectively ignored in deference to the “serious business” of worship.
People Are the Mission proposes a healthy middle, one where guests are esteemed but the gospel is the goal. Danny Franks, Connections Pastor at Summit Church, shows churches how to take a more balanced approach – a “third way” that is both guest-friendly and gospel-centric. He shows why honoring the stranger doesn’t stand in opposition to honoring the Savior. People are the mission that Christ has called us to, and if we focus on people we can better assist people to focus on the gospel.
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Dangers Of American Christianity
$15.99Add to cartThe message of the gospel should be the lens through which our world view is formed.
The author believes that instead our culture has made us water down the true message to fit contemporary American Culture.The dangers he identifies include:
-Getting too mixed up in our culture
-Isolating ourselves too much from contemporary culture
-Safe and easy believism without proper life changing repentance
-Making it all about what God can do for me
-Entitlement
-The prosperity gospel
-Not being busy with the things of GodThe Church needs to rediscover what made it the powerful force it is supposed to be in a culture that wants to adapt the Church to fit its own values.
We cannot water down or dilute the gospel message in any way and remain effective in a world of secular humanistic values.
The Church has to get back to biblical values and not compromise with the world’s values and culture.Each chapter has questions for reflection, if you’re reading on your own, or discussion in groups.