Pastors and church leaders often assert that we can save our society and our churches if we restore family values in our culture. Think again! In this provacative book, Janet Fishburn challenges the church’s conventional practice of idolizing and revolving around the needs of the family unit. Fishburn asserts that the ‘family’ is not the […]
Pray as you can – don’t try to pray as you can’t. These wise words form the basis of this book, which aims to set you free to express yourself in prayer – in the way that best suits your personality and outlook. God has chosen to create us different from one another. And yet, […]
In this practical and insightful guide, one of the nation’s most respected preachers shows how to use the structure of Jesus’ parables to preach highly effective sermons. During the past decade, New Testament scholars have done fresh and exciting work on the style and function of Jesus’ stories. Now Eugene L. Lowry – in clear, […]
Kicking Habits: Upgrade Edition is the groundbreaking book on systemic change that has literally birthed new congregations, rejuvenated tired leaders, and transformed declining churches. It tells the story of thriving church life through the experiences of the institutionally alienated, spiritually yearning public. It provides the big picture of thriving church life in the postmodern world. […]
Coming Clean is a study guide that explores the issues of church transformation described in the groundbreaking book, Kicking Habits. Using a series of Bible studies, group discussions, and group exercises, participants can customize and apply the insights on thriving church life to their own congregational context. – Coming Clean means honest discernment of the […]
Prepares Christian congregations to fulfill their basic function – to make disciples who make disciples for Jesus Christ. This book is about helping ‘stuck’ and ‘unstuck’ churches either become unstuck or constantly improve their ministry of making disciples. This book is designed to help church leaders make profound changes in the way they do ministry […]
The result of going public with the church’s ministry is entertainment evangelism. One of the best examples of this kind of innovative, public church is Community Church of Joy, a Lutheran congregation that has five different kinds of worship services. Walt Kallestad explains how worship is integrated with evangelism and how the result of this […]
In Can Homophobia Be Cured? Bruce Hilton focuses on the difficult questions Christians raise about the deeply divisive issue of homosexuality: – What if the real sin is not homosexuality but homophobia – fear and hatred of lesbians and gay men? – What will the church do with the growing scientific evidence that same-sex orientation […]
Thomas Bandy continues his exploration of congregational life by arguing that the organization of a congregation – its boards and committees – constitutes a crucial ingredient in its vitality and mission. The way in which a church is organized will make all the difference in whether it becomes what Bandy has named elsewhere a thriving […]
Is your congregation concerned primarily with health and stability, or mission and outreach? Does it always or usually seek a pleasant sense of harmony and fellowship, or does it vibrate with an edgy energy? Are the members risk averse, or risk takers? In this innovative book Tom Bandy explains how harmony-the desire to minimize conflict […]