This staple of liturgical history is used widely in Protestant seminaries and is read by clergy and laity alike as an accurate, informative, and accessible introduction to all aspects of Christian worship. This revision keeps pace with the latest scholarship and includes more maps, tables, woodcuts, and photographs.

    Clergy and church leaders will find the evidence and answers in this book provocative, eye-opening and actionable.What if members of your congregation were 13 times more likely to have invited someone to participate in your church in the past month? Three times as satisfied with their lives? Spent more than two hours per week serving and helping others in their community? And tripled their giving to your church? What would your church — your parish — look like? And how would you go about creating this kind of change? One thing is certain: Church leaders are never going to inspire more people to be actively and passionately involved in their congregations by doing the same things over and over again. Pastors and lay leaders need something fresh. Something new. The last thing they need is “just another program” or to set up a laundry list of new activities for members. In this compelling and insightful book, Al Winseman — who has led thriving churches, including one he built from the ground up — explores how churches and parishes can dramatically increase members’ participation, service to the community, giving and even life satisfaction. But the solutions Winseman offers are not the “magic pill” many leaders have come to expect. Rather, he shows leaders how to reach and inspire the hearts, minds and imaginations of their people. Based on solid research by Gallup, Growing an Engaged Church will appeal to Protestant and Catholic clergy and lay leaders who are looking for a way to be the Church instead of just “doing church.”

    And this particular volume, one of the few books the author would see in print before his untimely death, reveals his gifts of insight and analysis. If you've ever tried to reconcile the yawning gulf between faith and a world full of anger and fear, this book will answer your most pressing questions.

    The question is: what is discipling us?    The majority of Christians today are being discipled by popular media, flashy events, and folk theology because churches have neglected their responsibility to make disciples. But the church is not a secondary platform in the mission of God; it is the primary platform God uses to grow people into the image of Jesus. Therefore, as church leaders, it is our primary responsibility to establish environments and relationships where people can be trained, grow, and be sent as disciples.    There are three indispensable elements of discipleship:Learning to participate in the biblical story (the Bible)Growing in our confession of who God is and who we are (theology)Regularly participating in private and corporate intentional action (spiritual disciplines)Deep Discipleship equips churches to reclaim the responsibility of discipling people at any point on their journey.

    Classic book views prayer not as drudgery or a way to win favor with God, but as a means of communing with the Creator--and seeing lives changed.

    Yet, while we hear these pleas, we're already functioning with existing beliefs—even if they are beliefs by default. So how do we choose what to believe—especially in the area of faith? Do we need to choose? In "Choosing Your Faith, " Mark Mittelberg encourages us, as Socrates does, not to lead an unexamined life. He invites us to examine why we believe what we believe. This examination will resonate with Christians and seekers alike.

    Official website with supplements http://www.ReimaginingChurch.org

    But believing that all good people go to heaven raises major problems, Stanley reveals. Is goodness not rewarded, then? Is Christianity not fair? Maybe not, he says. Readers will find out why Jesus taught that goodness is not even a requirement to enter heaven - and why Christianity is beyond fair. Andy Stanley leads believers and skeptics alike to a grateful awareness of God's enormous grace and mercy.Good People Go to Heaven...Don’t They? Sure they do. It only makes sense. Actually, it doesn’t really make any sense at all. Smart, educated, accomplished men and women everywhere are banking their eternities on a theory that doesn’t hold water. Chances are, you’ve never really thought it through. But you owe it to yourself to do so. Find out now what’s wrong with the most popular theory about heaven—and what it really takes to get there.From the Hardcover edition.

    Countless men and women are in the middle of a shifting faith—and aren’t sure where to turn.    What if you discovered that losing beliefs doesn’t mean you have to lose your faith?   Pastor, friend, and spiritual director Kathy Escobar has journeyed with many who have experienced significant shifts in the faith they once considered unchangeable. Through their stories and her own, Kathy has discovered that growth and change are natural parts of life in our relationship with God.Filled with honest stories and practical insights, Faith Shift gives language to what many experience as their faith evolves. With an inviting blend of vulnerability and hope, it addresses the losses that come with spiritual shifts and offers tangible practices for rebuilding a free and authentic faith after it unravels.   What feels like an ending can become a new beginning.   Includes personal reflection and group discussion questions at the end of each chapter.

    The student had a positive church experience. He was grateful for his youth leader. But he had serious objections to Christianity. Why? He had begun studying the Bible and found he could no longer accept what it taught. Reading the Bible had led him to become an atheist.In How Not to Read the Bible, pastor and bestselling author Dan Kimball tackles one of the most pressing apologetic challenges of the twenty-first-century church--how do we read and interpret the Bible? Kimball introduces several critical principles to utilize when you open a Bible or read a verse. Then, he looks at five of the most common challenges that arise when people read the Bible today, including: the relationship between science and the Bible, the violence we find in the Bible, the treatment of women in the Bible, the odd and strange commands we find in the Bible, and the Bible's controversial claim that there is only one way to know God. Kimball highlights several of the most common passages people find objectionable and shows readers how to correctly interpret them.This is an ideal book for those exploring Christianity or new to the faith, as well as Christians who are wrestling with questions about these difficult issues and the challenges of interpreting the Bible. Filled with stories and examples, as well as visual illustrations and memes reflecting popular cultural objections, How Not to Read the Bible will motivate readers who are confused or discouraged by questions they have about the Bible and guides them--step-by-step--to a clear understanding of what the Bible is saying in context. The book can also be taught as a six-week sermon series or used in small groups for study and discussion.

    How God pursues people. How we pursue him. And how he uses us to pursue others.God pursued us when Jesus came into this ruined world as an agent of redemption, asking us to follow him and to become his disciples. Yet, what does Jesus actually mean by disciple? And as his disciples, what is our mission?Pastor Bill Clem masterfully answers these questions, explaining what Jesus meant when he called his followers "disciples," and what he intended when he told us to then make disciples. This helpful guide weaves together Scripture and real-life stories to illustrate the essential elements of Christian discipleship.Whether you've just become a follower of Jesus or you've been one for years, Disciple will help you see that Jesus invites his people to freedom rather than mere rule keeping, and it will give you a relational framework--instead of behavioral prescriptions--for pursuing God.

    So where should full-time ministry begin?In The Path to Being a Pastor, Bobby Jamieson explains why it's better to emphasize "aspiration" over "calling" as men pursue the office of elder and encourages readers to make sure they are pastorally gifted before considering the role. He shares from his own eleven-year experience preparing to be a pastor by walking potential leaders through different stages of ministry training, from practical steps--such as cultivating godly ambition and leadership, observing healthy churches, and mastering Scripture--to personal advice on building a strong family and succeeding in seminary. Emphasizing the importance of prayer, godly counsel, and immersion in the local church, Jamieson encourages men to ask Am I qualified? instead of Am I called? when considering a life in ministry.

    Nor is it sufficient merely to critique culture or to copy culture. Most of the time, we just consume culture. But the only way to change culture is to create culture. Andy Crouch unleashes a stirring manifesto calling Christians to be culture makers. For too long, Christians have had an insufficient view of culture and have waged misguided "culture wars." But we must reclaim the cultural mandate to be the creative cultivators that God designed us to be. Culture is what we make of the world, both in creating cultural artifacts as well as in making sense of the world around us. By making chairs and omelets, languages and laws, we participate in the good work of culture making. Crouch unpacks the complexities of how culture works and gives us tools for cultivating and creating culture. He navigates the dynamics of cultural change and probes the role and efficacy of our various cultural gestures and postures. Keen biblical exposition demonstrates that creating culture is central to the whole scriptural narrative, the ministry of Jesus and the call to the church. He guards against naive assumptions about "changing the world," but points us to hopeful examples from church history and contemporary society of how culture is made and shaped. Ultimately, our culture making is done in partnership with God's own making and transforming of culture. A model of his premise, this landmark book is sure to be a rallying cry for a new generation of culturally creative Christians. Discover your calling and join the culture makers.

    It's time to rethink normal.Suffering and exclusion are normal in a believer's life. At least they should be. This was certainly Jesus' experience. An it's the experience of countless Christians around the world today.No matter your social location or set of experiences, the biblical letter of 1 Peter wants to redefine your expectations and reinvigorate your hope.Drawing on years of ministry in a Muslim-majority nation, Elliot Clark guides us through Peter's letter striking insights for today. Whether we're in positions of power or weakness, influence or marginalization, all of us are called to live and witness as exiles, in a world that's not our home. This our job description. This is our mission. This our opportunity.A church in exile doesn't have to be a church in retreat.©2019 The Gospel Coalition (P)2019 eChristian

    She recounts the stories of people who have been dramatically changed by the power of prayer and worship, her own story of her life and ministry, and her approach to leading music so that every believer can experience God in authentic worship.