Church Theology

Bob and Penny Lord highlight 12 men - official saints and others - whose determination to be living signs of the love of Jesus has significance for Christians in our age. Includes Saint Paul, Saint Augustine, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Anthony, and many others.

Down through the ages, men and women have given their lives to carry out the command of Jesus. Bob and Penny Lord have tracked the lives of 12 men who have said "Yes!" to Jesus, and dedicated their lives to that yes, some at the cost of their lives. Their biographies parallel the times of crisis in our church. Bob and Penny have set their sights on the man and the time in which he lived. They have started at the beginning of our infant church, with one of the greatest adventurers our faith has ever known, Paul the Apostle, and continued to our present day.

Ralph Neighbour repeatedly says, “Theology must breed methodology.”Joel Comiskey has arrived at the same conclusion. Biblical truth is the only firm foundation for anything we do. Without a biblical base, we don’t have a strong under-pinning upon which we can hang our ministry and philosophy. We can plod through most anything when we know that God is stirring us to behave biblically.

The Sunday collection in every Catholic church throughout the world is as familiar a part of the Mass as the homily and even Communion. There is no doubt that historically the Catholic Church has been one of the great engines of charity in history. But once a dollar is dropped in that basket, where does it go? How are weekly cash contributions that can amount to tens of thousands of dollars accounted for? Where does the money go when a diocese sells a church property for tens of millions of dollars?

Charles E. Curran explores the social mission of the U.S. Catholic Church from a theological perspective, analyzing and assessing four aspects: the importance of social mission, who carries it out, how it is carried out, and the roles that the Church and individual Catholics play in supporting these efforts. In the early and mid-twentieth century the Catholic Church in the United States tended to focus its social mission on its own charities, hospitals, and schools.

Jesus promised, “Where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them" (Matthew 18:20). Writing in a positive, friendly, engaging style, the author encourages you to claim that promise and experience that presence, and walks you through it with practical how-to advice.

There's got to be more to church than this. People around the world are seeking a community that focuses more on others than on themselves. Yet most don't know where to start. Drawing from his own journey, Brandon Hatmaker reminds us that serving the least is not a trendy act of benevolence but a lifestyle of authentic community and spiritual transformation. In Barefoot Church, Brandon offers practical ideas for creating service-based, missional communities and explains how the organizational structure of a church can be created or restructured for mission in any context.

There is a movement that is misleading hundreds of millions of Christians and seekers. Today's Church is being sapped of its influence, vitality, and sustainability. It is sinking, submerging like a leaky boat taking on water. This report reveals that to destroy true Christian faith, one must simply compromise or ignore the first few chapters about creation in Genesis. Here we expose the depth to which compromises with secular opinions have embedded themselves into the submerging Church.

Many Catholics don't believe that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist. Rather, they see the bread and wine of Holy Communion as mere symbols of Christ's body and blood. Is that disbelief just a misunderstanding or is it a blatant rejection of one of the central beliefs of the faith? In Real Presence, University of Notre Dame theologian Timothy P. O'Malley clears up the confusion and shows you how to learn to love God and neighbor through a deeper understanding of the doctrine of real presence.

The viral upswing of the "spiritual but not religious" trend has cast religion as going rapidly out of style. Yet even in his own desert of deconstruction, Zach couldn't shake his desire for a spiritual home. His search ultimately led him to look behind the statistics, where Zach found an astonishing undercurrent subversively at work.

Ben Lindsay offers eye-opening insights into the black religious experience, challenging the status quo in white majority churches. Filled with examples from real-life stories, including his own, and insightful questions, this book offers a comprehensive analysis of race relations in the Church in the UK and shows us how we can work together to create a truly inclusive church community.

Whether you read the open chapters of Genesis, or reflect on the discipline of therapy, or simply listen deeply to someone in deep pain, you will discover that when your world seems to be in deep chaos, the capturing that chaos in words can enable you to discover meaning and hope. A Star and a Tear is a fictional attempt to tell the story of racism in our country. In listening to the story and sharing your thoughts with others, you can discover meaningful ways to respond in a way that offers healing and hope.

Outreach to those who struggle with same-sex attraction is severely lacking in most churches. As a result, most Christians learn more about homosexuality from movies, the internet, television, and so-called diversity training than they learn in their own congregations. Many people who struggle with same-sex attraction are torn by the debate while yearning to hear the redemptive truth of the Bible and be touched by the unyielding love of Christ. Author Bill Campbell believes that Christians can have a significant positive influence on how the larger culture frames the issue of same-sex attraction. He combines twenty years of study with current surveys and research by national leaders of ministries to homosexuals.

The Roman Curia is the central body for the administration of the Roman Catholic Church. Its structure and organization is governed by Praedicate Evangelium, a new law issued by Pope Francis in 2022. The nature of the Curia is both confusing to many and vitally important for the administration of the Church and the Vatican.

Ministry Makeover examines the decline within the church, especially the United Methodist Church (UMC), and some causes for this decline. It calls for a reforming of United Methodist structure and polity by drawing more attention to the value of the bi-vocational model of ministry and a re-visitation of the Wesleyan/United Brethren view and historical perspective.

This is a book about the kingdom of God. Ever since Jesus came to Earth, this kingdom with its power and supply has been powerfully working through those who have understood it. It has not only transformed whole nations and continents, but has changed the lives and futures of millions of people who have dared to believe and fully enter it.

Bad Guys of the Bible examines how anger, bitterness, greed, pride, an unforgiving spirit, and a desire for vengeance led these men down dark paths that ultimately shipwrecked their lives. As a remedy for such errant emotions, the book explains how we can apply the Gospel to critical times in our lives when our feelings tend to lead us away from the Lord.

Find out what the Church is as Byron Goines gives an exposition on the Biblical definition of the word Church. Many have a false concept of the Church based upon man's concept of the Church, which is not scriptural when analyzed in accordance with the New Testament. So-called preachers have utilized the false concept of the Church to become wealthy off the backs of hardworking people whom they have locked into a mindset that is built on deception. Find out what the Church is as Byron Goines gives an exposition on the Biblical definition of the word Church.

Politics Reformed makes a provocative contribution to understanding foundational questions in an era of rising fundamentalism and emboldened secularism, inspiring listeners to rethink the importance of religion in political theory and practice, and the role of the covenant tradition in particular.

The Church Evangelizing! describes how Jesus made friends with the disciples: by speaking their language, joining in their activities, sharing meals, taking long walks with them, being in their homes, listening to their worries, praying with them, and by being a friend.