But Jesus showed the way to live faithfully before an unbelieving world.As the greatest evangelist, Jesus exemplified how to attract people to the gospel. He modeled how to initiate spiritual conversations full of grace and truth. Christian evangelism, then, both in theory and practice, must be shaped by his pattern.Seeking to articulate the passions and principles present in Christ's life and words, longtime L'Abri staff member Jerram Barrs has studied Jesus' diverse encounters with people throughout the Gospels. Each chapter of Learning Evangelism from Jesus recounts one of those stories, draws useful lessons for readers' lives and communication of the gospel, and concludes with questions for further reflection and application. This highly practical book will guide Christians in how to live before unbelievers and how to love them into the kingdom, just as Jesus did.

    He hasn't been there in years and is nervous about showing his face. Years ago he wished his father would drop dead, took his share of an inheritance, and lived a shameful life. With all the wealth squandered, his desperate poverty has driven him back to his father's house.At the same time, an elderly man, distinguished and handsomely dressed, sees a far-off silhouette. "Could it be?" he thinks to himself, not daring to let his hopes up, refusing to believe his son would ever come home. But what is a vague, repressed hope becomes the undeniable truth that his long-lost son draws near. He runs recklessly to meet him."Grace for You," taken from Dr. John MacArthur's best-selling book "A Tale of Two Sons," explains the hidden dynamics of Jesus' most well known parable, The Parable of the Prodigal Son. It gives you a brief but powerful look into the homecoming of the son, the unthinkable response of the father, and the often overlooked truth about the older brother who spurns his return. In these pages you will rediscover the depths of god's redemption.

    Building on the foundation laid by Frank Baker, Albert Outler, and other pioneers of the discipline, this handbook provides an overview of the best current scholarship in the field. The forty-two included essays are representative of the voices of a new generation of international scholars, summarising and expanding on topical research, and considering where their work may lead Methodist Studies in the future.Thematically ordered, the handbook provides new insights into the founders, history, structures, and theology of Methodism, and into ongoing developments in the practice and experience of the contemporary movement. Key themes explored include worship forms, mission, ecumenism, and engagement with contemporary ethical and political debate.

    Committed to bringing the Christian message to youth in his hometown of Manchester, England, Andy Hawthorne was shocked when a missions partner told him he shouldn't just preach the gospel but also engage in community projects. What has washing someone's car got to do with the gospel? The idea worked, and today Hawthorne's Message Trust has been praised internationally for bringing hope and change to the roughest, poorest neighborhoods of Manchester. Written in a warm, passionate, nonreligious style, "Hope Unleashed" is filled with moving true stories as well as practical ideas and strategies for Christian mission based on Word and deed.

    Written for undergraduate students, this collection of essays covers numerous issues including the Canadian oil sands, Naomi Klein's influential "Shock Doctrine, " entrepreneurship, and Islam, and spans a breadth of disciplinary approaches from literary production to economics, from technology to urban art, from theology to business. Together these articles demonstrate the importance of identifying and understanding the religious roots of globalization. The authors call their readers to live purposefully, analyse carefully, and dream of radical alternatives in the hope of God's better future.

    This easy-to-use leader’s guide will help you take your group step by step through their straightforward method of evangelism, made popular through their award winning show. Lead individuals to complete the course and they will have every tool they need to overcome their fear and talk about their faith with friends, neighbors, coworkers and even strangers! Four complete lessons can be presented in a one-day crash course or offered in four weekly sessions.

    Though he is dead (September 13, 1996), his words, lyrics, and life still live on as a symbol of hope for many in the urban community. Tupac was the irreverent Reverend for many, in the inner city as well as the suburbs. This book deals with the gospel and theological message of Tupac Amaru Shakur from a missiological perspective. The book investigates the lyrical, poetic, and spiritual message of Tupac in relation to understanding and engaging with Hip Hop youth. This book is not an ethnomusicological study, rather an urban cultural study with a stress on the ethnomusicological aspects of Tupac's music. Narrative is central to the book; the narrative Tupac wove connects his audience not only to life and the issues it brings in general, but also to the story of Christ and the struggles Christ faced. Ethnolifehistory is used to analyze Tupac's life. In addition to this, ethnohistory aids in dissecting Tupac's life into five major eras. Hip Hop and urban popular culture provide the context for the study, and urban postmodernism is discussed as a platform in which Tupac rose and preached from.

    

    Many of those who join in the excitement have at least some idea that this particular date is called Christmas Day because it celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ about 2000 years ago - yet have no idea why for millions of people worldwide it has become the greatest highlight of the year. It is time to ask some questions. Who was this Jesus? Do we actually know when he was born? Was there a special purpose in his birth? Is there anything that marks him out as being different from the other 60 billion people in human history? How can the few years he spent here have any possible relevance for people living in the 21st first century? Why should we bother to find out? In this lively booklet John Blanchard strips away the myths and tells it like it is. Here is the real story, the dynamic truth that over the centuries has revolutionised countless lives. Read it carefully. If you get the message, no Christmas Day will ever be the same for you again - nor will any other day!

    Originally a New Yorker, Harry Lehotsky confronts drug dealers, pawn shop owners, government agencies, politicians and others while facing personal death threats and his own doubts about bringing real change to the neighbourhood. Armed with the small group of people forming the beginnings of his church efforts and the support of the community, Harry Lehotsky seeks to help addicts, prostitutes, homeless people, the abused and downtrodden of the city's West End to show them that everyone can change and that a new life is possible.

    These reformers are lovers of God, mystics whose lives are utterly given to the divine vision. Yet as Jesus noted, a prophet is often without honor among her own people. In the case of Phoebe Palmer (1807-1874), honor was lost posthumously, for within a few decades after her death her name all but disappeared. Palmer's sanctification theology was separated from its apophatic spiritual moorings, even as her memory was lost. Throughout most of the twentieth century her name was virtually unknown among Methodists. To this day the Mother of the Holiness Movement still awaits her place of recognition as a Christian mystic equal to Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila, or Therese of Lisieux. This book locates Palmer's life and thought within the great Christian mystical traditions, identifying her importance within Methodism and the church universal. It also presents a Wesleyan theological framework for understanding and valuing Christian mysticism, while connecting it with the larger mystical traditions in Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox communions. While Palmer was a powerful revivalist in her own day, in many ways she could be the patron saint for contemporary Methodists who are drawn to the new monasticism and who long for the renewal of the church. Saint Phoebe is precisely the one who can help Methodists envision new forms of Christian community, mission, and witness in a postmodern world. Endorsements: ""Through her perceptive and balanced retrieval of the Christian mystical tradition, Elaine Heath challenges us all with a superbly argued and persuasive presentation of Phoebe Palmer as a major mystical theologian within the Methodist and Wesleyan traditions, one who is a rich gift to the church catholic as a whole."" --William Thompson-Uberuaga, Duquesne University ""Heath's giftedness as a scholar and teacher of Christian faith and practice are clear in this work. The recovery of Phoebe Palmer as mystic and prophet within a Wesleyan theological frame offers an important contribution to both scholars within theological education and the church. This text is remarkably multi-faceted in the accessible way it complicates previous categories allowing the past to inform faithful Christian witness in the twenty-first century."" --Laceye Warner, Duke University Divinity School ""Elaine Heath herself says it best: 'Saint Phoebe is precisely the one who can help Methodists envision new forms of Christian community, mission, and witness in a postmodern world.' Indeed, Phoebe Palmer can also help Methodists recover ancient forms of Christian community, mission, and witness. This book is about more than Phoebe Palmer. Heath restores to us our apophatic and mystical theological foundations, carried by Palmer's theology, as the fertile soil for growing new faith-forms that can bear much fruit."" --Amy G. Oden, Wesley Theological Seminary About the Contributor(s): Elaine A. Heath is Assistant Professor of Evangelism in the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. She is the author of The Mystic Way of Evangelism (2008).