Defining the Church for Our Time

Defining the Church for Our Time PDF Author: Peter Schmiechen
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1621893766
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
The church is broken and we cannot fix it. Faith in God is disconnected from churches. Mainline churches are deeply divided, and their budgets and congregations have diminished, with no agreement for recovery. So what shall we do? It is time to stop talking about the problems and to consider a new vision of the church for our time. This book is a celebration of the church as the community of new life in Christ. It assumes Christ intended to create a community on earth embodying grace and holiness. It begins with a new and inclusive definition of the church as a community enduring in time. It affirms the great variety of churches, all as valid expressions of the new life, and explains how and why churches are formed in different ways. The goal is for churches to celebrate the saving power of Christ and to see the glory of God revealed in the world in our time.

Defining the Church for Our Time

Defining the Church for Our Time PDF Author: Peter Schmiechen
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1621893766
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 175

Get Book Here

Book Description
The church is broken and we cannot fix it. Faith in God is disconnected from churches. Mainline churches are deeply divided, and their budgets and congregations have diminished, with no agreement for recovery. So what shall we do? It is time to stop talking about the problems and to consider a new vision of the church for our time. This book is a celebration of the church as the community of new life in Christ. It assumes Christ intended to create a community on earth embodying grace and holiness. It begins with a new and inclusive definition of the church as a community enduring in time. It affirms the great variety of churches, all as valid expressions of the new life, and explains how and why churches are formed in different ways. The goal is for churches to celebrate the saving power of Christ and to see the glory of God revealed in the world in our time.

The Disciple-Making Pastor

The Disciple-Making Pastor PDF Author: Bill Hull
Publisher: Baker Books
ISBN: 1441201033
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Christ commanded the church to make disciples, to produce people who love and obey God, bear fruit, and live with joy. The crisis at the heart of the church is that we often pay lip service to making disciples, but we seldom put much effort behind doing it. For the pastor who is ready to put words into action, The Disciple-Making Pastor offers the inspiration and practical know-how to do so. Bill Hull shows pastors the obstacles they will face, what disciples really look like, the pastor's role in producing them, and the practices that lead to positive change. He also offers a six-step coaching process to help new disciples grow in commitment and obedience and practical ideas to integrate disciple making into the fabric of the church.

Churchless Christianity

Churchless Christianity PDF Author: Herbert E. Hoefer
Publisher: William Carey Library
ISBN: 9780878084449
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
The purpose of this book is to describe a fact and reflect upon it theologically. The fact is, there are thousands of people who believe solely in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior but who have no plans to be baptized or to join the local church. Churchless Christianity is based on research from the early 1980s among non-baptized believers in Christ in Tamil Nadu, India. This revised edition includes all the original text plus five additional chapters and a new foreword.

Boundaries

Boundaries PDF Author: Henry Cloud
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0310247454
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
When to say yes, when to say no to take control of your life.

Models of the Church

Models of the Church PDF Author: Avery Dulles
Publisher: Image
ISBN: 0385505450
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
There is today a dramatic reexamination of structure, authority, dogma -- indeed, every aspect of the life of the Church is held up to scrutiny. Welcoming this as a sign of vitality, Avery Dulles has carefully studied the writings of contemporary Protestant and Catholic ecclesiologists and sifted out six major approaches, or "models," through which the Church's character can be understood: as Institution, Mystical Communion, Sacrament, Herald, Servant, and, in a recent addition to the book, as Community of Disciples. A balanced theology, he concludes, must incorporate the major affirmations of each. "The method of models or types," observes Cardinal Dulles, "can have great value in helping people to get beyond the limitations of their own particular outlook and to enter into fruitful conversation with others... Such conversation is obviously essential if ecumenism is to get beyond its present impasses." This new edition includes a new Appendix and Preface by the author.

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church PDF Author: Catholic Church. Pontificium Consilium de Iustitia et Pace
Publisher: Veritas Co. Ltd.
ISBN: 1853908398
Category : Christian sociology
Languages : en
Pages : 13

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Book Description


The Faith of Our Fathers

The Faith of Our Fathers PDF Author: James Gibbons
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description


What Is the Mission of the Church?

What Is the Mission of the Church? PDF Author: Kevin DeYoung
Publisher: Crossway
ISBN: 143352693X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Social justice and mission are hot topics today: there's a wonderful resurgence of motivated Christians passionate about spreading the gospel and caring for the needs of others. But in our zeal to get sharing and serving, many are unclear on gospel and mission. Yes, we are called to spend ourselves for the sake of others, but what is the church's unique priority as it engages the world? DeYoung and Gilbert write to help Christians "articulate and live out their views on the mission of the church in ways that are theologically faithful, exegetically careful, and personally sustainable." Looking at the Bible's teaching on evangelism, social justice, and shalom, they explore the what, why, and how of the church's mission. From defining "mission", to examining key passages on social justice and their application, to setting our efforts in the context of God's rule, DeYoung and Gilbert bring a wise, studied perspective to the missional conversation. Readers in all spheres of ministry will grow in their understanding of the mission of the church and gain a renewed sense of urgency for Jesus' call to preach the Word and make disciples.

Pagan Christianity?

Pagan Christianity? PDF Author: Frank Viola
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
ISBN: 1414341652
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
Have you ever wondered why we Christians do what we do for church every Sunday morning? Why do we “dress up” for church? Why does the pastor preach a sermon each week? Why do we have pews, steeples, and choirs? This ground-breaking book, now in affordable softcover, makes an unsettling proposal: most of what Christians do in present-day churches is rooted, not in the New Testament, but in pagan culture and rituals developed long after the death of the apostles. Coauthors Frank Viola and George Barna support their thesis with compelling historical evidence and extensive footnotes that document the origins of modern Christian church practices. In the process, the authors uncover the problems that emerge when the church functions more like a business organization than the living organism it was created to be. As you reconsider Christ's revolutionary plan for his church—to be the head of a fully functioning body in which all believers play an active role—you'll be challenged to decide whether you can ever do church the same way again.

Francis: A Pope for Our Time

Francis: A Pope for Our Time PDF Author: Luis Rosales
Publisher: Humanix Books
ISBN: 1630060054
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
The Catholic Church has been undoubtedly going through a period of profound crisis. Endless scandals and conspiracies have plagued the Church in recent years, and with resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in February 2013, the Catholic community was left in dire need of direction and spiritual renewal. Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio, elected to Saint Peter’s Throne on March 13, 2013, in one of the briefest conclaves in history, represents a rekindled sense of hope for the Church’s 1.2 billion followers. The first Jesuit to occupy the papacy, Pope Francis I is also the first pope ever to hail from the Americas, and has inspired an enormous sense of pride, especially among Latin Americans and his native Argentina. Francis: A Pope for Our Time, The Definitive Biography incisively chronicles Pope Francis’ ancestry, youth, call to faith, humble beginnings with the Society of Jesus, and rise through Argentina’s ecclesiastical ranks, all the way to the Vatican. The book emphasizes His Holiness’ Jesuit background of humility, poverty, and service that stands to reform the Vatican’s long history of lavish excess and removed otherworldly style of leadership. This concise biography also details Jorge Bergoglio’s coming of age during the Peronist years, the challenges he faced throughout Argentina’s brutal military dictatorship, as well as his political stance against the progressive policies of the Kirchners. Known as the “Black Pope” (for his Jesuit garb), the “Pope of the Poor,” and the “Third World Pope,” such monikers exemplify Pope Francis’ original and primary mandate: his pastoral commitment to society’s most underprivileged and disenfranchised. His dedication to interreligious dialogue, accessibility to his community, and rejection of pomp in favor of simplicity promises to bring real-world leadership to a modern Church desperate to emerge from old-world precepts.