Church on the Edge of Somewhere

Church on the Edge of Somewhere PDF Author: George B. Thompson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1566994853
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 149

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Book Description
Most congregations today exist in what George Thompson calls the "middle of anywhere." They live comfortably with their surrounding culture, focusing their energies on serving the needs of their current members. These congregations have many strengths and gifts that they can exercise without changing a thing. But Thompson envisions a deeper, more prophetic call for congregations to explore the meaning of being in the world but not of it--a church on the "edge of somewhere." Thompson sees a church that is deeply engaged in ministering to the community while calling on others to commit to doing the same. By analyzing the interaction between a congregation's focus of identity and their stance with the world, Thompson has created a helpful grid for congregations to place themselves on today's cultural map. A congregation that sees itself as existing on the margins of society will look different than one that sees itself as embedded in society. A congregation that hears a call to serve the surrounding community will look different from one that focuses on its internal needs. Knowing where they stand now is the key for congregations to discover where they must go in the future to fully live out their call to be God's people in the world.

Church on the Edge of Somewhere

Church on the Edge of Somewhere PDF Author: George B. Thompson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1566994853
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 149

Get Book Here

Book Description
Most congregations today exist in what George Thompson calls the "middle of anywhere." They live comfortably with their surrounding culture, focusing their energies on serving the needs of their current members. These congregations have many strengths and gifts that they can exercise without changing a thing. But Thompson envisions a deeper, more prophetic call for congregations to explore the meaning of being in the world but not of it--a church on the "edge of somewhere." Thompson sees a church that is deeply engaged in ministering to the community while calling on others to commit to doing the same. By analyzing the interaction between a congregation's focus of identity and their stance with the world, Thompson has created a helpful grid for congregations to place themselves on today's cultural map. A congregation that sees itself as existing on the margins of society will look different than one that sees itself as embedded in society. A congregation that hears a call to serve the surrounding community will look different from one that focuses on its internal needs. Knowing where they stand now is the key for congregations to discover where they must go in the future to fully live out their call to be God's people in the world.

Church of the Wild

Church of the Wild PDF Author: Victoria Loorz
Publisher: Broadleaf Books
ISBN: 1506469655
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
2024 Nautilus Book Awards Silver Winner in "Religion / Spirituality of Western Thought" CategoryWinner of the Living Now Book Award, Church of the Wild reminds us that once upon a time, humans lived in an intimate relationship with nature. Whether disillusioned by the dominant church or unfulfilled by traditional expressions of faith, many of us long for a deeper spirituality. Victoria Loorz certainly did. Coping with an unraveling vocation, identity, and planet, Loorz turned to the wanderings of spiritual leaders and the sanctuary of the natural world, eventually cofounding the Wild Church Network and Seminary of the Wild. With an ecospiritual lens on biblical narratives and a fresh look at a community larger than our own species, Church of the Wild uncovers the wild roots of faith and helps us deepen our commitment to a suffering earth by falling in love with it--and calling it church. Through mystical encounters with wild deer, whispers from a scrubby oak tree, wordless conversation with a cougar, and more, Loorz helps us connect to a love that literally holds the world together--a love that calls us into communion with all creatures.

Discipleship on the Edge

Discipleship on the Edge PDF Author: Darrell W. Johnson
Publisher: Regent College Publishing
ISBN: 9781573832120
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
Revelation is probably the most read, but least understood book of the Bible. History is replete with examples of how not to interpret it, and books featuring end-of-world prophecy claims based on Revelation consistently top the bestseller lists. But how can the message of such an enigmatic book be applied to our lives today? In Discipleship on the Edge, Darrell W. Johnson drives home the challenging and practical message of Revelation in thirty carefully crafted sermons. Paying careful attention to the original context of Revelation and the circumstances surrounding its composition, Johnson shows that the book is not a "crystal ball" but rather a "discipleship manual." Thoroughly researched and yet accessible, this collection of sermons is a helpful resource for pastors and small group leaders who are looking for models to help them preach and teach the message of Revelation in a time when there is much confusion about the end times. Darrell W. Johnson serves as Scholar-in-Residence at The Way Church and Canadian Church Leaders Network in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. A popular conference and retreat speaker, he has also served as the preaching pastor for a number of congregations in North America and the Philippines, as well as serving as Adjunct Professor of Preaching for the Doctor of Ministry program at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, and a Teaching Fellow at Regent College. His other books include Experiencing the Trinity and Fifty-Seven Words That Change The World.

Cultivating a Cutting-Edge Children's Church

Cultivating a Cutting-Edge Children's Church PDF Author: Dick Gruber
Publisher: Morning Joy Media
ISBN: 1937107167
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
In 1992 Dick Gruber's Children's Church: Turning Your Circus into a Service hit the market, challenging children's leaders worldwide. Gruber's experience and insight have provided godly direction for the children's church service to generations of children's leaders. The practical application of that work is still being realized in churches today. In Cultivating a Cutting-Edge Children's Church, Gruber has reviewed and updated the core of his first book, adding more insights, more information, and more inspiration for children's leaders of today and for those of the future. This book will help the children's church leader develop a life-changing service in which boys and girls will be inspired to worship, develop ministry gifts, and respond to the work of God's Holy Spirit. Gruber's heart for children and those who serve them is evident on every page of this writing.

The Church Playbook

The Church Playbook PDF Author: Todd Tolson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781725107199
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 68

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Book Description
An all-in-one notebook created to coach Pastors on how to jumpstart growth in their Church & break the toughest barriers they face!

Life on the Edge

Life on the Edge PDF Author: Brother John of Taize
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1532617933
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Is the Christian faith something that can peacefully exist alongside all the other aspects of an ordinary human life, or does it by its very nature turn that life into something else? The author of this book, a member of a monastic community for over forty years, obviously has a vested interest in the answer. But even for believers caught up in the day-to-day life of society, work, and family, the question is an important one, at least if they are seeking a measure of consistency in the life they are living. And does not the very fact that the question of the importance and urgency of faith needs to be asked witness to the eclipse of an eschatological outlook among Christians, at any rate in the mainstream Churches? Could this oversight not explain why an eschatological understanding of faith, one which sees it as a radical, world-changing reality, has been forced to take refuge, often deformed to the point of being unrecognizable, in small “fanatical” groups on the margins of the Christian world?

Treasures in Clay Jars

Treasures in Clay Jars PDF Author: George B. Thompson Jr.
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1725231115
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
Thompson, a prolific author of church leadership resources, believes the continuing decline in membership of mainline denominations and the increasing number of multicultural and multiracial churches call for a new way of thinking: ministers must begin to see their ministry differently in order to do their ministry differently. Treasures in Clay Jars is designed to provide persons in training for ministry with a paradigm-shifting framework to interpret and work effectively with the complex dynamics of local faith communities. Thompson takes an innovative approach by utilizing explicit and relevant conceptual and theoretical tools from the social sciences--sociology, economics, and cultural anthropology--to engage future pastors to minister effectively to twenty-first-century congregations. The book discusses congregations in five different ways: as social group, as bearer of meaning, as locus of exchange, as collective capacity, and as complex organization. A study guide is included for church leaders who would like to engage their congregations in this new paradigm of ministry.

Voices from the Edge

Voices from the Edge PDF Author: Michelle Panchuk
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192588664
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Over the past several decades, scholars working in biblical, theological, and religious studies have increasingly attended to the substantive ways that our experiences and understanding of God and God's relation to the world are structured by our experiences and concepts of race, gender, disability, and sexuality. These personal and social identities and their intersections serve as a hermeneutical lens for our interpretations of God, self, the other, and our religious texts and traditions. However, they have not received nearly the same level of attention from analytic theologians and philosophers of religion, and so a wide range of important issues remain ripe for analytic treatment. The papers in this volume address the various ways in which the aforementioned social identities intersect with, shape, and might be shaped by the questions with which analytic theology and philosophy of religion have typically been concerned, as well as what new questions they suggest to the discipline. We focus on three central areas of analytic theology: methodological principles, the intersection of social identities with religious epistemology, and the connections among eschatology, ante-mortem suffering, and ante-mortem social perceptions of bodies.

On the Edge of the East

On the Edge of the East PDF Author: Frederick Horace Vincent Rose
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Africa
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description


Reimagining Ministry

Reimagining Ministry PDF Author: David Heywood
Publisher: Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd
ISBN: 0334043670
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Reimagining Ministry offers an overview of mission and ministry in Britain for ordinands and practising clergy. It is intended as a contribution to thinking about ministry, in particular ordained ministry in the context of the social and cultural setting of the twenty-first century, several significant theological developments and a perception of the way God through the Holy Spirit is leading the church in Britain.Following an analysis of the situation in which ministry takes place, the author then invites his readers to consider a new and different paradigm of ministry for the church of the future. The groundwork for a new paradigm of ministry needs to include an account of the kingdom of God, which is the goal of mission; the role of the church in the mission of God; and, for reasons that will be developed briefly in the synopsis, individual discipleship and transformation.