Author : Bruce Sanguin
Publisher : Wood Lake Publishing Inc.
Page : 233 pages
File Size : 30,29 MB
Release : 2014-08
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1770646795
In this newly revised and expanded edition of The Emerging Church, Bruce Sanguin continues his exploration of the characteristics of emerging, evolutionary-driven congregations and provides updated guidelines and advice to those seeking to effect evolutionary change in their own contexts.
Author : Eddie Gibbs
Publisher : Baker Academic
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 38,70 MB
Release : 2005-12
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0801027152
Provides a comprehensive examination of the emerging church phenomenon, considering emerging patterns in leadership, worship, mission, spiritual practices, and cultural engagement.
Author : Seton Hall University
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 376 pages
File Size : 47,33 MB
Release : 2002
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781580511223
In this revised edition of her groundbreaking original volume, Zeni Fox emphasizes the crucial relationship between lay ecclesial ministers and the Church's response to them in light of the many developments in recent years. Written in a clear, crisp style, the book is divided into three parts: Part one describes the present reality, both sociological research about who these new lay professionals are and a review of the ways in which theologians are reflecting upon this new phenomenon. The second part explores the new reality from the standpoint of tradition, including Scripture, the documents of Vatican II and the work of U.S. bishops. The final part assesses this reality in light of the tradition, and outlines steps needed to more fully integrate lay leaders into the fabric of the Church.
Author : Jim Tomberlin
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 277 pages
File Size : 29,28 MB
Release : 2012-04-24
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1118131304
Thousands of Protestant churches are perplexed by plateaued or declining attendance, while other congregations nearby thrive. Is there a way for them to combine forces, drawing on both their strengths, in ways that also increase their missional impact? Church merger consultant Jim Tomberlin, with co-writer Warren Bird, makes the case that mergers today work best not with two struggling churches but with a vital, momentum-filled lead church partnering with a joining church. In this new book, they provide a complete, practical, hands-on guide for church leaders of both struggling and vibrant churches so that they can understand the issues, develop strategies, and execute a variety of forms of merger for church expansion and renewal to reinvigorate declining churches and give them a "second life."
Author : Anthony B. Robinson
Publisher : Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Page : 308 pages
File Size : 22,17 MB
Release : 2006-02-15
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780802860651
Biblical scholar Robert Wall and pastoral leader Anthony Robinson here join forces to bring the Acts of the Apostles forward to our time as a resource for congregational renewal and transformation.Featuring both careful exegetical study and exciting contemporary exposition, the fifteen chapters of Called to Be Church each first interpret the text of Acts as Scripture and then engage Acts for today's church. The book dives into many of the most vexing issues faced by the church then and now -- such issues as conflict resolution, pluralism and multiculturalism, sexuality, money, church and state, the role of the Holy Spirit, and more.Enhanced by study questions at the end of each chapter, Called to Be Church will lend itself especially well to small-group study within congregations. Pastors, lay readers, students, and ordinary believers alike will find the book helpful and inspiring.
Author : Phyllis Tickle
Publisher : Baker Books
Page : 283 pages
File Size : 15,18 MB
Release : 2012-09-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1441239650
Whatever else one might say about Emergence Christianity, says Phyllis Tickle, one must agree it is shifting and re-configuring itself in such a prodigious way as to defy any final assessments or absolute pronouncements. Yet the insightful and well-read Tickle offers us a dispatch from the field to keep us informed of where Emergence Christianity now stands, where it may be going, and how it is aligning itself with other parts of God's church. Through her careful study and culture-watching, Tickle invites readers to join this investigation and conversation as open-minded explorers rather than fearful opponents. As readers join Tickle down the winding stream of Emergence Christianity, they will discover fascinating insights into concerns, organizational patterns, theology, and most pressing questions. Anyone involved in an emergence church or a traditional one will find here a thorough and well-written account of where things are--and where they are going.
Author : Steve Wohlberg
Publisher : Remnant Publications
Page : 56 pages
File Size : 26,81 MB
Release : 2015-03-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1629130346
Yet again, author Steve Wohlberg artfully tackles a huge subject in just a handful of words. He brings into focus the seemingly nebulous topic of the emerging church movement by joining Scripture with history. Jesus Himself firmly noted to His disciples: “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matthew 24:4&8211;5). The author makes Christ’s solemn warning personal in that “you” not only meant the disciples, but Christ was speaking directly to you, the reader. Emerging church proponents maintain that a change is needed in the church today; otherwise, many will be lost. They believe that changes need to be made in churches today to appeal to the electronically minded and to keep up with the times. Yet the God of the heavens exclaims, “I am the Lord, I do not change” (Malachi 3:6). The changes that emerging church advocates, such as Leonard Sweet, Brian McLaren, Richard Foster, and others, endorse are not really new. In fact, they are steeped in the Eastern mystic philosophies of Hinduism, Buddhism, and especially that of medieval Rome. “Eastern meditation is an attempt to empty the mind,” Richard Foster wrote in his book Celebration of Discipline. Those partisan to the emerging church doctrine look to Ignatius Loyola, who established the Society of Jesus or the Jesuits, as their founding father. “Inside a cave in Manresa, Spain, Ignatius emptied his mind. The otherworldly impressions did come from a ghostly entity claiming to be the Virgin Mary. That ghost gave directions. ‘Fine,’ Loyola decided. ‘I will obey’” (The Emerging Church Trap, page 24). Christ spoke directly to the danger of emptying our minds in the book of Matthew: “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.” (Matthew 12:43-45)
Author : Roland Allen
Publisher : Lutterworth Press
Page : 152 pages
File Size : 49,87 MB
Release : 2006-08-24
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0718840062
"If it were once believed that the freedom of churches should be restricted to bring greater control to missions, Roland Allen sets out to overturn this conception. Warning against the danger of imposing greater limits on churches, the Author advocates that all members of the church, 'natives' and foreigners alike, must take an active role in its establishment and daily life. The study divides itself into nine chapters; the first, introducing Allen's standpoint, the second as an opening into thenature and character of Spontaneous Expression. The third chapter deals with modern attempts by 'natives' towards the liberty of their churches. The fear of the doctrine becoming weakened by natives taking it into their own hands is addressed by chapter four and this fear is widened into the realm of the Christian standard of morals in chapter five. Civilisation and enlightenment form the central themes of the sixth chapter. Chapters seven and eight tackle the distinction between the Church andmissionary societies. It is in the final chapter that the future of Spontaneous Expansion is investigated and Allen puts forward his ideas which, as he rightly predicted, were broadly accepted fifty years and longer still after their original publication."
Author : Greg Johnson
Publisher : Zondervan
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 19,62 MB
Release : 2021-12-07
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0310116066
At the start of the gay rights movement in 1969, evangelicalism's leading voices cast a vision for gay people who turn to Jesus. It was C.S. Lewis, Billy Graham, Francis Schaeffer and John Stott who were among the most respected leaders within theologically orthodox Protestantism. We see with them a positive pastoral approach toward gay people, an approach that viewed homosexuality as a fallen condition experienced by some Christians who needed care more than cure. With the birth and rise of the ex-gay movement, the focus shifted from care to cure. As a result, there are an estimated 700,000 people alive today who underwent conversion therapy in the United States alone. Many of these patients were treated by faith-based, testimony-driven parachurch ministries centered on the ex-gay script. Despite the best of intentions, the movement ended with very troubling results. Yet the ex-gay movement died not because it had the wrong sex ethic. It died because it was founded on a practice that diminished the beauty of the gospel. Yet even after the closure of the ex-gay umbrella organization Exodus International in 2013, the ex-gay script continues to walk about as the undead among us, pressuring people like me to say, "I used to be gay, but I'm not gay anymore. Now I'm just same-sex attracted." For orthodox Christians, the way forward is a path back to where we were forty years ago. It is time again to focus with our Neo-Evangelical fathers on care--not cure--for our non-straight sisters and brothers who are living lives of costly obedience to Jesus. With warmth and humor as well as original research, Still Time to Care will chart the path forward for our churches and ministries in providing care. It will provide guidance for the gay person who hears the gospel and finds themselves smitten by the life-giving call of Jesus. Woven throughout the book will be Richard Lovelace’s 1978 call for a "double repentance" in which gay Christians repent of their homosexual sins and the church repents of its homophobia--putting on display for all the power of the gospel.
Author : Jim Belcher
Publisher : InterVarsity Press
Page : 235 pages
File Size : 44,11 MB
Release : 2009-09-25
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0830878149
If you feel caught between the traditional church and the emerging church, read Jim Belcher. He paints a picture of an alternate, "deep" church--a missional church committed to both tradition and contemporary culture, valuing innovation in worship, arts and community but also adhering to creeds and confessions.
