Church Theology

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.

Among the traditional tenets of the Christian faith is the belief that God chooses or elects people for salvation. For some Christians, such an affirmation is an indication of God's sovereign and perfect will. For others, such a notion is troubling for it seems to downplay the significance of human agency and choice. Throughout the church's history, Christians have sought to understand the meaning of relevant biblical texts and debated this theological conundrum.

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.

In Thom Rainer's latest book, he sets out to discover how churches that were once healthy but had stagnated in growth have broken out to become great churches impacting lives and entire communities.

Among the top ten trends that are changing American life, Time magazine recently listed a rising dissatisfaction with organized religion. Though many people today like Jesus, they are growing tired of traditional religious institutions. Even those who follow Jesus aren't so sure they always like what Christianity and the church represent.

Self-identifying as 'evangelical' is risky business these days. What is Evangelicalism? Is it a historical artifact? A political philosophy? A set of doctrines? A litmus test for genuine faith? Perhaps more important, what will come to mind when future generations hear something described as 'evangelical'? Routes and Radishes invites you into a conversation about what the evangelical movement has been and what it is going to be.

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.

What if, suddenly, Jesus appeared on the streets of your city? That's the scenario of Jesus Is Here, Charles M. Sheldon's sequel to his classic novel In His Steps, the book that introduced the world to WWJW: "What would Jesus do?"

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.

An increasing number of Americans know a person that belongs to our faith. This leads them to ask themselves, "How could an intelligent person believe such things?" This book is an attempt to get you to understand the mind and heart of a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Using the Bible as the foundational source and guide, while also bringing contemporary sociological data to the conversation, seven biblical scholars and theologians construct a powerful dialogue about gun violence in America, concluding that guns are incompatible with the God of Christian Scripture.

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.

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.

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.

The Bible and the Ballot demonstrates the proper use of scripture in contemporary political discussions. Christians regularly invoke the Bible to support their positions on many controversial political topics - gay marriage, poverty, war, religious liberty, immigration, the environment, etc. - and this book will help facilitate those conversations. Tremper Longman provides a hermeneutical approach to using the Bible in this manner, then proceeds topic by topic, citing important scriptures to be taken into consideration in each case and offering an evangelical interpretation.

In this graphic, thought-provoking book, Ed Griffin-Nolan depicts the experiences of Witness for Peace (WFP), a group of Americans who bore witness to the war in Nicaragua - an event that resulted in the killing and wounding of many innocent Central American civilians. Griffin-Nolan explains how WFP participants spent weeks in the war zones in order to understand the impact of U.S. policy on simple people living, as one member of the group phrased it, "at the end of a gun barrel."

Il existe plusieurs livres pour nous aider avec l’étude de la Bible, la prière, le service ou l’évangélisation, mais peu pour nous aider à chanter. Ce domaine mérite de recevoir autant d’attention ; il est même lié à l’épanouissement de ces autres sphères de notre vie spirituelle. Keith et Kristyn Getty présentent le chant comme un aspect vital de notre communion avec Dieu. Ils nous donnent des conseils bibliques, pratiques et centrés sur l’Évangile pour promouvoir le chant et l’adoration dans l’Église ainsi que dans notre vie personnelle et familiale.

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.