Church Life
Showing 651–700 of 830 results
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Spiritual Maturity : Preserving Congregational Health And Balance
$19.00Add to cartLike all human bodies, the body of Christ that we call “church” needs to attend to its health or it may become ill. Renowned pastor, preacher, and teacher Frank Thomas believes that many congregations exhibit a number of dysfunctional habits in conducting business that lead to rifts, divides, and even congregational splits. Often they are caused by leadership styles that are ineffective and controling. Thomas examines how poor congregational leadership is often the result of personality conflicts among leaders and how many key leaders–both clergy and lay–participate in keeping unhealthy methods alive. Thomas’s book will help lay and clergy leaders improve the health of their congreagation by taking a close look at the styles of church leadership, methods of information flow, and levels of participation that exist within the body. Thomas offers a holistic solution based on a model of spiritual maturity for creating and preserving a healthy comgregation.
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Christian Community : 10 Studies For Individuals Or Groups
$12.99Add to cartOne of the greatest gifts that Christ has given us is each other. Through Christ’s body, the church, we discover our unique gifts and experience worship, healing and power. In ten studies, Rob Suggs leads us to grow in community–loving and nurturing one another, and in reflecting Christ’s love to the world around us.
Now available in IVP’s revised LifeGuide Bible Study format, Christian Community features questions for starting group discussions and for personal reflection, as well as a new “Now or Later” section following each session.
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Lighting Of The Acolyte
$12.95Add to cartTo err is human. Fortunately, so is the ability to laugh at our mistakes. And this collection of actual bloopers and blunders from church newsletters, bulletins, and pulpits across the country will keep you laughing for a long time to come.
Thousands of church secretaries, pastors, and parishioners from several denominations in over thirty states were willing to share their most embarrassing typos, stories, and tongue-tied trip-ups. The author has chosen the very best of them all, included them here for your church secretary, pastor, parishioners — and you — to enjoy.
So, if you have ever said to yourself “only I could make a goof like that!” come share a laugh with Linda Jump and several of your fellow human beings.
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Firm Foundations
$19.95Add to carthis year, thousands of churches will build or renovate, and many will repeat common mistakes — some with disastrous results. Even experienced architects and pastors cannot guarantee success if they fail to communicate properly with building committees. Well-intentioned parishioners waste time and money with misplaced priorities or by unnecessarily “re-inventing the wheel.”
This book offers a common language for ministers, church boards, contractors, and designers. Point by point, start to finish, Mr. Dan Michal, an architect involved in a variety of church building projects, and the Rev. Dr. Lance Moore, a pastor and the son of a pastor, warn of common follies and guide you in sorting out the best choices for your church. A copy for all involved in planning or building your facility may be the best investment you make!
Written for all churches, regardless of size or denomination, this guidebook is highly readable (even humorous at times), easily understood, and most of all, helpful. It is a useful reference for pastors, building committees, architects, and contractors.
Includes a variety of reproducible forms and helps, plus diagrams … and cartoons!
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Case For Excellence
$17.95Add to cartHere are over 50 case studies of very real clergy/church situations: crises, problems, legal issues. Each one provides background to the situation, a description of the event, an analysis, and an evaluation by the person(s) involved suggesting how it might have been handled differently.
This fascinating collection of studies describes clergy life on the front lines. Pastors, seminary students, and even congregational staff and members will learn not only what those other churches have faced, but what they might encounter in the parish … and how they might best deal with it.
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Praise And Worship Team Instant Tune Up
$19.99Add to cartWritten for both volunteer and staff church worship leaders and musicians, this easy-to-understand resource provides straightforward, practical advice on ways to upgrade a music team’s sound and ministry. Many churches using contemporary Christian music formats in their worship services (the number of churches is growing every day) are led by highly motivated yet nonprofessional music leaders. They want to re-create the sound, feel, and flow they hear on popular Praise and Worship CDs, but they don’t know how to make that happen. They often feel frustrated with long, unfocused rehearsals that result in a thin, insubstantial sound.
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Stay Out Of Court And Stay In Ministry
$12.95Add to cartStay Out Of Court And Stay In Ministry is written to help pastors prevent costly and career-ending lawsuits. It sets forth the most common legal claims asserted against religious organizations, and the defenses churches have successfully raised.
… We describe real-life legal claims against churches and analyze the outcomes, pro or con. We focus on the claims most frequently asserted against churches. Some of the trends defy conventional wisdom. For example, there are few suits for clergy malpractice, but many successful suits for slippery sidewalks. (from the Introduction)
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Soul Of Wit
$20.99Add to cartA delicious collection of the very best of wit, satire and humorous quotations about the Church, its clergy,the people who put up with them – and vice versa. Spanning the centuries from Chaucer to the present day, it is a glorious send tip of the human foibles that so often ger in the way when the Church tries to live up to its calling. Many familiar figures from literature and letters arc inducted, but there arc endless surprises and novelties too, making The Soul of Wit not only a book to give great pleasure, but an essential resource for speakers, writers and preachers too.
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If Only That Horse Were A Member Of My Church
$12.95Add to cartEnter this provocative collection of inspirational and often amusing anecdotes, one-liners, poems, and parables, and share in the “Inspirations of Artichokes” and “The Strength of a Child,” learn to recognize “A Living Thief” and a “Burma Buddhist,” and experience the self-realization of “The Gossiping Preacher.”
These 201 gentle lessons in faith, love, and Christian living will touch your heart and tickle your funny bone.
The volume includes a handy topical index, and is perfect for pastors and laypersons who need a humorous or poignant anecdote, an illustration for a sermon or speech, a short message for a bulletin or newsletter — or a ray of sunshine on a rainy day.
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Journey To Jesus
$29.99Add to cartIn this book, Robert Webber proposes an alternative: a model of worship that emphasizes the fact that those who come to worship are at very different points in their spiritual lives. Rather than ignore these differences or gear all worship to those already established in the faith, Webber argues that churches should openly recognize the stages of faith through which their members are passing, structure their worship and ministry to celebrate these stages, and openly encourage Christians to move from spiriual infancy to maturity in Christ.
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Adopted By God
$16.99Add to cart192 Pages
Additional Info
In an age of family breakdown, loneliness, and insecurity, we need more than ever to grasp the meaning of being sons and daughters to our heavenly Father. Surprisingly, theologians have devoted little attention to the biblical teaching on adoption. This book views the many facets of God’s saving grace through the lens of the Bible’s family imagery. Combining careful exegesis with gripping personal stories of father-child relationships, Robert A. Peterson brings home the warmth and wonder of biblical adoption. -
Inside The Small Church
$30.00Add to cartEven as so-called megachurches capture the attention of many church watchers, small congregations continue to dominate America’s religious landscape in both rural and urban settings. Although sometimes obscured by their larger siblings, these small churches play a prominent role and hold a unique place in both local and national cultures. How can leaders help to keep these often at-risk churches alive and to meet their potential for ministry?
Small-church expert Tony Pappas has gathered a cornucopia of essays into an indispensable book for anyone interested in the rich life of these small but significant congregations. Drawing on classic and updated articles by a variety of writers from his own small-church newsletter The Five Stones; from Alban journals Action Information and Congregations; and adding new pieces developed especially for this volume, Pappas provides timeless ideas on learning to value, pastor, develop, and lead the small church.
In addition to time-honored articles by the editor, other contributors to this volume include Sherry and Douglas Alan Walrath, Gary Farley, Lawrence W. Farris, Loren Mead, Caroline Westerhoff, Steven Burt, Carl Dudley, David Ray, James Lowery, and a host of others known for their work-and love-for the small church. Readers of Inside the Small Church will come away with a renewed love and appreciation for these vital congregations as well as with new skills for ministry.
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Truths That Build
$17.99Add to cartTruths That Build provides 14 foundational principles that Dick Everson calls the “Truths That Build A Premier Church.” Each principle explains what every Christian should focus on and gives practical insight to Christian living. These Truths That Build will encourage the reader who puts them into practice and ultimately strengthen the local church.
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Equipping Church Guidebook
$29.99Add to cartThis is a hands-on ministry resource manual to help churches develop leaders and systems for lay mobilization. The approach is open-ended so that a variety of types and sizes of churches can use it. Charts and worksheets are included. The material has been tested through several years of use in churches that have received the privately distributed notebook format. Now updated and extensively revised, this volume serves as a practical companion to The Equipping Church. That book provides the philosophy and challenging vision for lay mobilization. This book provides the practical tools for implementation. Part 1 covers planning for lay mobilization. Part 2 covers building a lay ministry program. The markets include church staff members along with denominational leaders. It also is designed for use by lay leaders in churches who want hands-on help to mobilize the laity for ministry.
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Communion Of Saints
$19.99Add to cart240 pages
Additional Info
The contents of The Communion of Saints is as follows What is the Communion of Saints?, Union with Christ, Baptized into Communion, Members Only, United in Love, Assembly Rwquired, The Communion Table, Gifts and Graces, Relief in Outward Things, Mutual Edification, All in the Family, Worldwide Communion, For All the Saints, Appendix: Spiritual Gifts Questionaire, Notes, Leader’s Guide, Index of Scripture, Index of Names -
Churchless Christianity
$26.99Add to cartThe purpose of this book is to describe a fact and reflect upon it theologically. The fact is, there are thousands of people who believe solely in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior but who have no plans to be baptised or to join the local church. Churchless Christianity is based on research from the early 1980s among non-baptized believers in Christ in Tamil Nadu, India. This revised edition includes all the original text plus five additional chapters and a new foreword.
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Let The Whole Church Say Amen
$22.99Add to cartCrafting prayers for Sunday worship, weddings, or secular public events is not as easy as it looks. Stookey takes much of the mystery out of the process, reflects on the nature of prayer—its forms, mechanics, and vocabulary—then provides concrete exercises for editing your own prayers
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Kicking Habits : Welcome Relief For Addicted Churches
$26.99Add to cartHighly motivating reading for any congregation which has stagnated or is caught up in a seemingly irreversible decline. Offers 20 shocking truths that thriving congregations have discovered to help overcome self-destructive practices. Serves as a much-needed early warning system
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Excellent Protestant Congregations
$34.00Add to cart1. Lutheran Ministries Of Southwest Oklahoma
2. Seekers Church
3. Mountain Top Community Church
4. All Saints Episcopal Church
5. Riverside Baptist Church
6. First United Methodist Church
7. Chinese Christian Union Church
8. Full Gospel Church Of God In Christ
9. Warehouse 242Additional Info
Though it is popular for individuals to seek a variety of spiritual practices and approaches, the local congregation still remains the place where most Christians turn for religious education, nurture, ritual, and a sense of community. With the influx of new faces in the pews, many congregations are struggling to respond to their spiritual needs. In Excellent Protestant Congregations, respected religion journalist Paul Wilkes profiles nine dynamic, geographically and denominationally diverse congregations that have the ability to create a vibrant community of workshop. Wilkes draws out the “points of excellence” that lie beneath each congregation’s success and vitality. From hosting luncheons after funerals to organizing powerful life-changing retreats, from developing a capital campaign to getting volunteers to cheerfully do work for the church, Excellent Protestant Congregations provides real-world insights that are both inspiring and applicable in a local congregation. The geographic listing of over 300 excellent Protestant congregations and an index guiding readers to specific topics, such as stewardship, bereavement, and how to reach Gen Xers, make Excellent Protestant Congregations an invaluable resource for church life. -
Powers Weakness And The Tabernacling Of God
$24.99Add to cartAs we embark on a new millenium, uncharted challenges await the church. This volume by one of today’s most valued voices on modern church life offers a wealth of insight into the role of local churches in the twenty-first century. Rooted in solid biblical research and extensive experience, Marva Dawn’s newest book will help churches and their leaders avoid falling into the temptations of contemporary secular culture, including the popular “success” models of church management. Dawn offers ground-breaking scholarship – from the first significant critique of Walter Wink’s work on “the powers” to a relevant new translation of 2 Corinthians 12:9 – and challenges readers to rethink the goals and mission of the congregation, to develop practices that follow God’s “hidden” way of weakness, and to expand their sense of what it means to be a faithful church. Complete with discussion questions, this book provides the trustworthy theological and biblical foundations necessary for building strong churches – and keeping them strong – in today’s world.
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House Divided : Bridging The Generation Gaps In Your Church
$28.99Add to cartGenerational differences are nothing new in church. There have always been groups and subgroups within a congregation, divided along lines with age. Yet with the possible exception of their educational programs, congregations have generally practiced a “one size fits all” approach to ministry and worship. Whichever group is dominant, generally the older members, although it can be the younger generations as well-sets the tone for musical styles, preaching emphases, and outreach focus.
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Turn Your Church Inside Out
$16.00Add to cartWhile many mainline churches are encountering significant decline in attendance, some are being transformed into vibrant communities of faith! More than a church growth book, this insightful guide will help you reshape your church—with enthusiastic support from your congregation—into a mission center bringing Christian witness and practice into all areas of your community.
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Shape Of Practical Theology
$35.99Add to cartPastors, your belief system affects more than your congregational statement of faith—it shapes every aspect of your day-to-day ministry. In this lively, groundbreaking text, Professor Anderson uses case studies to inspire church leaders to integrate faith and practice, empowering their ministry through exploration of the shape, praxis, and pastoral aspects of practical theology.
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Undivided Soul : Helping Congregations Connect Body And Spirit
$25.99Add to cartIn The Undivided Soul: Helping Congregations Connect Body and Spirit, Cheryl Kirk-Duggan offers a worship, study, and sermon planning resource containing meditations, responsive readings, poems, and small-group leaders. This volume is designed as a year-long teaching/learning guide. Each chapter explores various aspects of faith, health, and spirituality. The book can be used as a worship resource for Sunday worship, retreats, or other gatherings; it can be used as a devotional resource for small groups; it can be a study guide for group study or retreats. This resource is designed to help persons and groups explore the relationship between the faith journey, physical bodies, and spiritual discipline.
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Congregations As Learning Communities
$20.00Add to cartIn our rapidly evolving religious scene, congregations that are open to continuous learning and willing to respond to external and internal change, will be the ones that achieve new vitality and health. Dennis Campbell describes what those congregations will look like and provides four tools to help a congregation shape its community into what God would have it be. Systems thinking, congregational culture, appreciative inquiry, and scenario planning are explained and illustrated, and readers will be shown how to apply the principles to their setting. Paperback.
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Lets Talk : Communication Skills And Conflict Transformation
$15.99Add to cartDesigned to start Christians thinking, talking, and living out effective skills in interpersonal communication, transforming conflict into personal growth. Let’s Talk includes a personal inventory on conflict management style, discussion guides, personal reflection exercises, and role plays for active listening and appropriate speaking. A leader’s guide is included at the back.
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Real Worship : Playground Battleground Or Holy Ground (Reprinted)
$17.00Add to cartWith 50,000 copies sold, the first edition of Real Worship helped many pastors and worship leaders make biblical sense in the controversy surrounding worship and worship styles. This second edition contains new chapters on taking worship seriously, planning balanced worship, and tradition in worship. A question-and-answer section, a bibliography, and a Scripture index have also been added.
While many books deal with how to worship, they fail to give a definition of true worship. Warren Wiersbe defines what worship is and the four elements it involves: wonder, witness, warfare, and wisdom. As he discusses such controversial issues as art, liturgy, worship styles, and music, Wiersbe keeps the focus on God and demonstrates the balance of worship for which every church should strive.
Real Worship is both biblically based and autobiographical, containing personal testimony, anecdotes, and illustrations from Wiersbe’s pastoral experience.
The first edition of this book was published by Thomas Nelson in 1986.
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Apostles And Prophets
$13.00Add to cartJesus revealed Himself to be the cornerstone of the church. But He has built His church, and continues to build it, through apostles and prophets, people who are empowered by the Holy Spirit. Now a leader of the New Apostolic Reformation gives us new insights into how the people called to crucial roles in the church–apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor and teachers–must work together to fulfill their divine purpose. For the first time since the Early Church, God is harnessing apostles and prophets to fulfill the promises of His divine plan. Prepare to play your part!
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More Than Dates And Dead People
$10.95Add to cartMost students hate history classes and this is odd when one considers that people today seem to be more interested in history than ever. People travel to historical sites during family vacations, and best-seller lists are filled with books on history and historical fiction. Furthermore, some of the most popular films of recent years have been about history: Titanic, Braveheart, Saving Private Ryan. More Than Dates and Dead People is an upbeat, edgy look at history as something exciting rather than a boring list of dates to memorise. It views history as something fun to study because it is about people: how they live, what they believe, what they do, ideas that uplift and others that enslave. According to Stephen Mansfield, the difference is in the world-view of the beholder. Materialism, which essentially is the philosophy behind how history is viewed today in many educational settings, believes that the future is blank and that man is pushed forward by the past. Theism, on the other hand, believes that God first decided what the end – the destiny of history – would be.Thus, having decided the future first, beginning with creation, He began to draw manking through the ages to a final destiny. It is God’s future that gives history its driving force and its meaning. The difference between these two world-views is everything, and in More Than Dates and Dead People the author works out what this means and why in a biblical world-view. History is no more the story of blind men groping toward a dark and fearful future. Instead, it becomes the unfolding of a future that God decided before creation, providing hope for all and making history a wild ride that never gets out of God’s control.
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Making The Church Work (Revised)
$12.00Add to cartIn the first edition of Making the Church Work, Hammett wrote that the church is not only in need of change, but also in need of a conversion. Now his conviction is stronger than ever. In this second edition, he addresses the issues of changing values–values about what leaders and their congregations are doing as a church and the effectiveness of their techniques. Hammett is convinced that until church leaders change their values, healthy, relevant, and effective churches are not likely to appear.
Unique features of this book include:* Overview of trends and issues impacting the church’s ineffectiveness
* Opportunities for individual readers and small groups, and congregations to reflect on their journey in light of these trends and issues
Practical guidance for addressing some problems and for equipping the church for more effective ministry in the 21st century
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Congregational Fitness : Healthy Practices For Layfolk
$23.00Add to cartWhen serious conflict surfaces in a congregation, lay people are usually stunned. They feel frightened, angry, and helpless. Congregational Fitness explores why congregations are prone to conflict and describes healthy behaviors lay people can practice to manage conflict constructively. Goodman argues that since it is members of the congregation who carry on from one pastor to another, it is important for them to know and practice positive behaviors continually, rather than reacting out of emotion and anxiety to an unexpected situation. Designed for use by individuals, study groups, and retreat participants. Foreword by Hugh F. Halverstadt.
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When Not To Build (Expanded)
$20.00Add to cartYour congregation is growing and you’re running out of room. Time to build a bigger facility? “Not necessarily!” caution architects Bowman and Hall. Featuring four new chapters, this updated edition of their commonsense guide helps you survey the motivation, needs, and financial status of your church so you can determine whether building is the next logical step.
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Worlds Within A Congregation
$30.99Add to cartIn Worlds Within a Congregation, W. Paul Jones follows up on his previous work, Theological Worlds, in a most practical way. He argues that many congregations are composed of sub- congregations, not in a divisive way, but simply as a congregant’s preferred way of worshiping, interacting, being engaged in service projects, and so forth. Jones suggests that this struggle with theological diversity in congregations is something to be understood and embraced, rather than fled from as a grounds of division, and show how, by understanding the different variations in a congregation, one can better minister with and to the congregation.
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Power Surge : Six Marks Of Discipleship For A Changing Church
$26.00Add to cartDrawing on his experience at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Foss makes the case for transforming congregations from a membership model to a discipleship model of church affiliation. The book begins with a careful analysis of recent patterns in church membership/demographics which argue for this paradigm shift. Subsequent chapters detail the unique leadership and organizational needs of a discipleship model; explore the building and maintaining of fundamental trust–in God and in His people–as the cornerstone of the model; and provide practical helps for assessing the present and strategies for moving into the future.
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Other Six Days
$33.99Add to cartA provocative look at ministry! Arguing that all Christians are called to do God’s work in the church and the world, Stevens draws on the New Testament to show that the traditional clergy-laity division has no scriptural basis. His theological, structural, and cultural analysis will challenge you to rethink clericalism—and equip every believer for ministry.
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Leading From The Inside Out
$27.00Add to cart1. Why Self-Leadership?
2. Articulating And Embracing Our Life’s Values
3. Connecting With Our Life’s Calling
4. Laying Out Our Life’s Goals
5. Measuring Our Life’s Motivation
6. Exercising Spiritual Self-Leadership: Personal Soul Care
7. Exercising Physical Self-Leadership: Personal Resource Management
8. Emotional Self-Leadership: Mastering Our Moods
9. Intellectual Self-Leadership: Personal Life-Long Learning256 Pages
Additional Info
Too many stories have been told of successful leaders who fail in their private lives and consequently neutralize their vocational achievements. Leadership expert Sam Rima believes the time has come for leaders to exercise the same skill and degree of leadership in their personal lives as they do in their organizations.Despite strong advances in organizational leadership, a key growth area is still lacking for many: self-leadership. Addressing this evident need, Rima offers practical implementation of essential leadership principles and discusses the emotional, intellectual, physical, and spiritual aspects of self-leadership.
Pastors, church leaders, and all Christians who serve in positions of leadership or authority will benefit from Rima’s insights. Leading from the Inside Out is also a useful tool for leadership classes, as well as church boards and denominational leaders who want to help those they oversee prevent personal failures. The book includes a study guide and a Self-Leadership Workshop at the end of each chapter.
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Very Large Church
$27.99Add to cartAmerican institutions such as schools and businesses have all become larger—what does this mean for our congregations? Schaller believes the organizational structure of the church must change, too, in order to minister effectively—and here’s where the transformation begins. Let this organizational expert help turn your body into a megachurch, while retaining Christian integrity!
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Church Planting
$19.99Add to cart1. Church Planting: Listening To The Critics
2. Church Planting: A Theological Framework
3. Church Planting: A New Testament Practice
4. Church Planting: A Historical Perspective
5. Church Planting And The Task Of The Church
6. Church Planting And The Shape Of The Church
7. Church Planting And The Ethos Of The Church
8. Church Planting And The Structures Of The Church
9. Church Planting And The Leadership Of The Church
10. Church Planting: Models And Methods288 Pages
Additional Info
Describing his church planting ministry, the apostle Paul writes,“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. . .For we are God’s fellow-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no-one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
Mixing his metaphors, Paul speaks of the church in Corinth as both a field and a building. Church planters are co-workers with God, planting seeds from which churches grow and larying foundations on which they are built. God is the life source of these churches. Jesus Christ is their foundation. Other workers, like Apollos, water the seed which has been planted and build on the foundations which have been laid. The role of the church planter is to ensure that good seed has been sown and firm foundations laid.
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Ordinary Ministry Extraordinary Challenge
$25.99Add to cartIn Ordinary Calling Extraordinary Challenge, Norma Cook Everist brings together several women clergy to demonstrate what parish ministry is like in women’s experience. Drawing on years of parish experience, they examine such a wide range of topics as the ministry of preaching, the ministry of stewardship, the ministry of justice, the ministry of outreach, and many more. Written for women and men, this volume will provide support, encouragement, and guidence for performing the many tasks and assuming the many roles of parish minister.
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New Creation : A Liturgical Worldview
$18.00Add to cartFrank Senn, one of today’s most knowledgeable liturgical theologians and historians, contemplates the furture shape of liturgy. He believes that ritual systems-liturgy- express and inculcate a worldview, and implicit theology; and fears that “lest the community of faith gain the whole world and lose its soul.” New Creation proposes the lines of a “Christian culture” or worldview or way of life that can inform liturgical renewal.
