Church Ministry

The inspiring story of evangelicals in Cincinnati struggling to bridge racial divides in their own church, their community, and across the nation.

Many pastors and ministry leaders are constantly on the lookout for resources that can provide fresh insights and effective strategies for helping their flock grow spiritually and numerically. The Christian DISC® is a spiritual personality assessment tool designed specifically for Christian work and ministry. Based on the widely used DISC personality system, the Christian DISC® integrates insights from scripture and emotional intelligence, and is used by churches, ministries, organizations, and professionals across the country.

In Loving the City, bestselling author and pastor Timothy Keller looks at the biblical foundations for contextualizing the gospel as we communicate to the culture in a way that is both respectful and challenging. He articulates the key characteristics of a city vision, showing how the city develops as a theme throughout Scripture, from its anti-God origins, to its strategic importance for mission, to its culmination and redemption in glory.

For more than 25 years John Thavis held one of the most fascinating journalistic jobs in the world: reporting on the inner workings of the Vatican. His daily exposure to the power, politics, and personalities in the seat of Roman Catholicism gave him a unique, behind-the-scenes perspective on an institution that is far less monolithic and unified than it first appears. Thavis reveals Vatican City as a place where Curia cardinals fight private wars, scandals threaten to undermine papal authority, and reverence for the past is continually upended by the practical considerations of modern life.

Luca Lewis is done with church. It killed his father, and now he wants nothing to do with the whole thing. Yet, he can’t seem to shake the unwanted conviction his father planted deep in his soul: that maybe something else is possible–something much more important.

In The Church Awakening, Dr. Charles Swindoll discusses the challenges, struggles, and priorities of the church in the 21st century. He reveals the problems inherent in the entertainment-based postmodern church and shows how a return to biblical teaching will restore its strength and impact. Swindoll exposes the problems of - and solutions for - the postmodern evangelical church.

The Heart of the Artist will give you a better understanding of yourself and your unique place in the body of Christ. You'll find wisdom and encouragement that can help you survive the challenges and reap the rich joys of a ministry in the creative arts. Each chapter includes provocative questions for group discussion and personal action steps for individual application. Somewhere between pride and self-abasement lies true humility - just one aspect of the balanced character God wants to instill in you as a creative person involved in ministry.

The second in Joe Thorn's series on the confession, nature, and expression of the church, The Character of the Church explores what the church is fundamentally like. Useful for training in membership classes, discipleship groups, and elder boards, The Character of the Church is at once theological, practical, and experiential. Listeners will be not simply informed but led to a deeper appreciation of the church of God.

Bob Roberts Jr. shows how present-day disciples of Jesus can find in their daily work the resources they need to transform the world for Christ. Roberts explains how ordinary Christians can embrace a kingdom perspective and watch their global connections become opportunities for fulfilling Jesus' Great Commission.

According to international church starter and pastor Neil Cole, if we want to connect with young people and those who are not coming to church, we must go where people congregate. Cole tells listeners how to plant the seeds of the Kingdom of God in the places where life happens and where culture is formed: restaurants, bars, coffeehouses, parks, locker rooms, and neighborhoods.

It’s time to break free from our Sunday-centric, formulaic versions of church and instead architect fresh kingdom ecosystems as an ancient yet new frontier for sustainable mission. The temptation for many church leaders is to take what’s worked elsewhere and use it as a paint-by-number. Yet Jesus showed us a different way. Every word he spoke and everything he did utterly broke the molds, rules, and laws that people had created to confine God and his kingdom.

The church has an image problem. It is widely viewed in the world at large as being outdated, boring, irrelevant and filled with backbiting hypocrites. How different that picture is to how the Bible talks about the new family that Jesus has gathered. In this brief accessible but thorough guide to church, Sam outlines what church is and why we need it. And how, when we have got it wrong, we can move closer to what a true church should be.

The world is a very different place from what it was just a few years ago. Today’s post-everything world is arguably more divisive, political, indifferent, and impatient than ever. While many believe that the best course of action is to find a way back to how things used to be, is that actually the best way forward? Given the many ways that our world has changed, it’s time for Christian leadership strategies to change, and for churches to approach making disciples, evangelism, and preaching differently than yesterday.

While we can't determine how God will act, we can be expectant and anticipate his work. And revivals are not just experienced-they can be led. James Choung and Ryan Pfeiffer have seen revival in their own ministries, with remarkable transformation in both individuals and communities. They unpack what revival looks like, how Christians can anticipate it, and how they can experience it in their own lives and in larger movements. They provide a model of revival leadership for Christians who want to facilitate and spread revival in their contexts.

It's not your imagination: civilized human society is collapsing. Communities no longer work toward a common good; children are no longer our first priority; businesses no longer value hard work; arts and skills have been lost; and gender is decided by the individual, not biology. We cannot reverse national and global trends, says professor Anthony Esolen, but we can build communities that live up to humanity's promise and responsibility.

Your church's sermons often include a call to evangelize. You've held evangelism training events. You give out invites to your Christmas and Easter services. So… where are all the new Christians? Is your church actually reaching the lost with the gospel? For many of us, despite having the best intentions our churches struggle to reach out with the gospel effectively. J.A. Medders and Doug Logan, Jr. have decades of experience in leading churches and mentoring pastors, and here they outline six principles for cultivating a genuine evangelistic culture throughout your church.

In C. S. Lewis and the Catholic Church, Joseph Pearce delves into Lewis's life, writings, and spiritual influences to shed light on the matter. Although C. S. Lewis's conversion to Christianity was greatly influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien, a Catholic, and although Lewis embraced many distinctively Catholic teachings, such as purgatory and the sacrament of Confession, he never formally entered the Church.

In his four decades of urban ministry, Robert D. Lupton has experienced firsthand how our good intentions can have unintended, dire consequences. We fly off on mission trips to poverty-stricken villages, hearts full of pity and suitcases bulging with giveaways - trips that one Nicaraguan leader describes as effective only in "turning my people into beggars." In Toxic Charity, Lupton urges individuals, churches, and organizations to step away from these spontaneous, often destructive acts of compassion and toward thoughtful paths to community development.

Philip Yancey, whose explorations of faith have made him a guide for millions, feels no need to defend the church. Yancey acknowledges that many spiritual seekers find few answers and little solace in the institutional church. How did Yancey manage to survive spiritually despite early encounters with a racist, legalistic church that he now views as almost cultic? In this, his most soul-searching book yet, he probes that very question.

Pressure is rising. The global atmosphere is morphing as never before. It's time to pay attention to the warnings around us that point to inevitable catastrophes to come. Bible prophecy expert Ron Rhodes surveys 15 current trends that affect us on a worldwide, national, and personal scale - suggesting some inescapable consequences to our safety, rights, and way of life. You will see how the stage is being set for the end times.