Church Life
Showing 751–800 of 928 resultsSorted by latest
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Beyond The Worship Wars
$28.00Add to cartAlmost every congregation is experiencing tension over worship. Many congregations have been participating in a renaissance of worship known as the “liturgical movement” and have reclaimed worship forms that have served the church for centuries. Yet because the church today is operating in a radically changed cultural environment, many people in our society do not understand liturgical worship and thus we must find language, music, themes, and images that speak to the unchurched, spiritually seeking person.
In Beyond the Worship Wars, Thomas G. Long discusses the nine characteristics of vital and faithful worship practiced by a wide range of “third-way” congregations-all characteristics that make for vital and faithful worship.
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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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Secretos Del Crecimiento De La – (Spanish)
$15.99Add to cartThis is truly the age of church growth, not only small church growth, but great church growth. It’s the responsibility of the church to continue to grow, but this is only possible with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Estamos en la era del crecimiento de la iglesia, no solo pequenos crecimientos sino grandes crecimientos. La iglesia mundial tiene la responsabilidad de continuar con estos crecimientos, pero esto solo es posible con la ayuda del Espiritu Santo.
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Iglesia Celular – (Spanish)
$13.99Add to cartThe cell-church model is a powerful tool that can help any size church contain, nurture and pastor a large number of new believers. It’s a tool that equips the average Christian to do the work, rather than letting it all fall on the shoulders of the pastor.
La iglesia celular es un instrumento formidable que puede ayudar a cualquier iglesia a retener, alimentar y pastorear a un gran numero de nuevos creyentes.
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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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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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Transforming The Mainline Church
$22.00Add to cart1. New Beginnings: Facing The Challenge Of Change
2. Building And Battling
3. Transforming The Church For A New MillenniumAdditional Info
When Robert Chesnut became pastor in 1988, East Liberty Presbyterian Church was a declining and graying congregation. Over the next ten years, Chesnut sparked a remarkable – and often controversial – turnaround in membership, ministry, and finances. “Transforming The Mainline Church” gives the inside story of that renewal, and also provides valuable lessons for other beleaguered congragations. This dramatic account urges all congregations to be more open to diversity; to emphasize the arts and a broad range of music; to support aggressive, entrepreneurial leadership; and to move beyond narrow denominational concerns in favor of an approach that responds to the religious hungers of a new generation. -
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.
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Soul Of The Congregation
$23.99Add to cartThomas Edward Frank points out that the dominant paradigm of many comtemporary books about church administration reflects an underlying “theology of progress,” a distilling of the gospel into self-worth, a conflation of basilea with market growth. According to Frank, good fortune and blessing are confused; praise and good feeling are identified. The paradigm of success and progress, however, fails to account adequately for the vision of the believers’ presence in the world as ecclesia. “The soul of the congregation,” argues Frank, is a way of being and being-in-the-world, and not didactic or productive.
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Mainline To The Future
$24.00Add to cartWhile others lament the declining attendance of mainline churches and blame it on a stodgy and out of date tradition, Jackson W. Carroll offers a more hopeful perspective. According to Carroll, the key to the future health and vitality of mainline churches can be found in that same tradition. In Mainline to the Future: Congregations for the 21st Century, Carroll states that tension between change and tradition has always been part of the Protestant heritage. He believes that when older practices are challenged by change, tradition can no longer be accepted at face value and must be adapted. In this spirit, Carroll calls mainline churches to “go forward, remembering.”
Neither change nor tradition supercedes the other. Both are gifts of divine grace that enable churches to live faithfully in the world. When churches no longer accept tradition as unchangeable, they are free to engage in dialogue with the secular culture and are able to retrieve and reinterpret selective aspects of their tradition in ways that are meaningful for today’s congregations. True to the Protestant tradition itself, the ability to adapt allows the authority of tradition to shift from being “out there” to being “in here.” Thus does the church reclaim its interpretive power to make the Gospel relevant to every time and place.
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True Worship : Reclaiming The Wonder And Majesty
$15.99Add to cartWorship is one of the most divisive Issues in churches today. Donald Hustad responds to the cataclysmic changes in worship styles over the last fifty years, examining the biblical elements of worship and offering a model for richer, God-honoring services. This provocative book is must reading for all pastors, church music leaders and educators, worship committees, and all Christians interested in worship.
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Serve The Community Of The Church A Print On Demand Title
$37.99Add to cartServe the Community of the Church, the second volume in the First-Century Christians in the Graeco- Roman World series, explores the nature of organization and leadership roles in the first-century Christian community, especially as they were variously taught by Paul and practiced in the earliest congregations.
Drawing from ancient source material as well as from the New Testament, Andrew Clarke describes the theories and practices of organization and leadership in key areas of first-century Graeco-Roman society – the city, the colony, voluntary associations, Jewish synagogues, the family – and discusses the extent to which these models influenced the first Christians in defining their own communities. Clarke then turns to the Christian community itself, discussing how Paul, through correspondence with a number of congregations, laid out important parameters for leadership that he considered appropriate to the new Christian context. Some of these parameters, Clarke shows, were defined in express contrast to the patterns of leadership widely practiced in Graeco-Roman society and occasionally also in the early Christian communities.
Providing a fascinating look at the social and historical background of the New Testament, this volume is also important for its discussion of a subject that has implications for the organization of church life in our own time.
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1 Body One Spirit (Student/Study Guide)
$9.99Add to cart1. That All Of Them May Be One – John 17
2. The Do-ers And The Don’t-ers – Romans 14:1-4
3. Can We Judge Another’s Motives? – Romans 14:5-12
4. What If We See A Christian Sinning? – 1 Corinthians 5; 2 Corinthians 2:5-11
5. Can’t I Do What I Want To Do? – Romans 14:13-18
6. What Does Stumbling Mean? – Romans 14:19-23
7. Following Jesus’ Example – Romans 15:1-7
8. But Don’t I Know Best? – 1 Corinthians 8:1-8
9. When Do I Give In? – 1 Corinthians 8:9-13
10. Why Do Eyes Need Ears? – 1 Corinthians 12:12-26
11. What Happens If I Don’t Forgive? – Ephesians 4:25-32
12. Is Tension Healthy? – Galatians 5:13-26Additional Info
Unity among Christians? Does that mean merging into one super church? Celebrating communion exactly the same way? Singing the same kind of music? Never differing on points of theology? No! Unity conformity – it’s oneness. Discover what unity in Christ means through the Larsen’s dynamic studies. And then put it into practice in relationships with other believers. -
Suffering Divine Things
$31.50Add to cartUsing “pathos”-“suffering” God’s saving activity-as a powerful theological motif, Hutter offers fresh insight into the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the church, between doctrine and theology, and between beliefs and practices. In addition, Hutter shows how reclaiming “pathos” as a central motif for theology challenges modern and postmodern views focused on human identity, agency, and creativity as definitive of theology’s character and task. Throughout, Hutter remains acutely aware of recent trends in theological discourse and develops his argument in conversation not only with the Christian tradition but with leading contemporary theologians from North America and Europe. The result is a pioneering work that promises to reclaim theology’s crucial role in the life and mission of the church.
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Healing Spiritual Abuse
$22.99Add to cartContents
1. An Invitation To Freedom
2. The Seat Of Moses-The Power To Abuse
3. Sniffing Cut The Yeast Of The Pharisees
4. Heavy Loads
5. They Do It For Show
6. Majoring On Minors And Missing The Point
7. Who Gets Hooked And Why
8. Healed By Grace
9. Healthy Church Leadership
10. Healthy Church Discipline
Notes P. 163Additional Info
* Are you discouraged from questioning the decisions or teachings church leaders make?
* If you do little or no volunteer work for the church, do you feel like a second-class Christian?
* Does your pastor insist on being addressed by a title such as “Dr.” or “Pastor”?
* Do you hear many broad, vague appeals to “surrender fully,” yield completely” or “lay it all on the altar”?
* Are public reports about various ministry activities sometimes exaggerated?
* Do church members feel safe talking only about past victories, not present struggles?If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may he a victim of spiritual abuse. Many of us have gone through bad church experiences that have left us feeling like failures. Blaming ourselves, we asked for God’s forgiveness, but still felt distant from the church and sometimes from God too.
Often, however, the fault is not ours but that of Christian leaders who abuse spiritually. How can we recognize the signs of spiritual abuse? What can we do to gain healing from the wounds we have experienced? With clarity and refreshing honesty, Ken Blue answers these questions and offers hope
and healing to the victims of spiritual abuse. In addition he shows Christian leaders how to avoid abusive patterns and instead offer Christ’s gospel of grace to every casualty of bad church experiences. -
Llamado Final – (Spanish)
$12.99Add to cartThis book is a last call for America to repent. A majority of Americans have concluded, “Morals do not count. Let our leaders do as they please; just give us a booming economy. All that matters is prosperity.” God is about to crush this abominable American mindset. And like the prophet Jeremiah, those who believe in the holy, righteous judgements of God will say, “The Lord has done what he planned; he has fulfilled his word, which he decreed long ago” (Lam. 2:17 New International Version).
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Teaching Like Jesus
$24.99Add to cartAs a teacher, you long to help others do more than understand the Bible. You want them to experience its relevance and power for their lives. Teaching like Jesus is the answer! This commonsense guide offers examples of Jesus’ teaching style from the Gospels, then shows how you can make these principles work for you — regardless of what age group or ethnic background you’re dealing with. Using a proven, four-step plan, Teaching Like Jesus gives you action steps, summaries, and other practical resources that will make your classroom a lively place to learn and apply the lessons so vitally important for transforming lives and nurturing disciples. You’ll learn to think in terms of “see, hear, and do” in your lesson plans. And you’ll find sample plans for age groups and cultures ranging from African-American preschoolers to Chinese married couples.
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Women In The Church
$35.99Add to cartThis painstaking work will enlighten people on all sides of the issue, though Stanley Grenz makes no secret of his bold conclusion. Historical, bibical, and theoological considerations, he writes, converge not only in allowing, but also in insisting, that women serve as full partners with men in the work of the church.
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Meditations For Vestry Members
$12.95Add to cartWho is this God who seeks us in so many ways, who calls us from our familiar and comfortable places and moves us into new roles? Part of the answer can be found within the Church. We come to know God better by serving as church members and in church ministries. God is present with us and in others all around us as we worship and serve.
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Following Jesus In The Real World
$19.99Add to cartIn this guidebook for the post-college generation, Richard Lamb deftly blends scriptural insights, stories of recent graduates and his own life experience to offer sound advice and practical encouragement for a confusing time. From jobs to relationships to the ministry, he shows how spiritual growth can continue after you leave the college community.
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Visually Speaking
$36.00Add to cartWhat can preachers learn from the art of radio broadcasting? How can preachers develop more imaginative patterns of speaking?
Visually speaking is a brilliant book about radio preaching in Britain and America, but also an alert, deeply thoughtful book. It is an important and pioneering book, grounded in the realities of the pulpit and the broadcasting studio.
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Eros Defiled : The Christian And Sexual Sin
$23.99Add to cartIVP Print On Demand Title
With tough-minded compassion, seasoned wisdom, and an awareness of sin’s destructiveness, White offers forgiveness and a way out for Christians struggling with premarital and extramarital sex, homosexuality, and masturbation. He concludes with a telling chapter on how your church can help strugglers in a context of love and forgiveness.
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Revisioning Evangelical Theology
$28.99Add to cart1. Revisioning Evangelical Identity
2. Revisioning Evangelical Spirituality
3. Revisioning The Theological Task
4. Revisioning The Sources For Theology
5. Revisioning Biblical Authority
6. Revisioning Theologys Integrative Motif
7. Revisioning The ChurchAdditional Info
IVP Print On Demand TitleRecent decades have witnessed new gains in respectability and influence for evangelical theology. To strengthen that influence evangelicals can no longer simply maintain a defensive posture. The postmodern era calls for a fresh articulation, a renewed vision for theology that will address the gospel to new concerns.
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What They Dont Always Teach You At A Christian College
$15.99Add to cartIVP Print On Demand Title
Prepare your high-school graduates for the challenges that await them as they enter college life! From time management to dating to living for Christ, this relevant resource will help them make faith-full decisions as they face the complex issues of life.
