Community Ministry

An appeal to Church Ministers and leaders to consider equipping Christians for work of ministry in the workplace with community transformation as a goal. Time has come for the Church to act on the fact that the transformation of our community may not take place if we expect the community to come into church buildings. This audiobook is a call to the Church that our community will be transformed as all Christians bring Jesus into their work lives and are adequately supported by the Church to do so.

It’s time to go beyond saying “I’m not racist.” It’s time to take action. It’s time to become a color-courageous Christian and stand up to racism wherever you see it—in your school, in your community, and in your own heart and mind. In Color-Courageous Discipleship Student Edition, Michelle T. Sanchez shows you how racial righteousness was God’s idea in the first place.

Michelle Sanchez has discovered through her own journey that it’s impossible to separate racial discipleship from our relationship with God. In fact, deeper racial discipleship catalyzes a deeper relationship with God. Whenever we choose to courageously resist racism, we will discover new opportunities to encounter Christ in fresh and exciting ways. Color-Courageous Discipleship is our guidebook to a deeper connection with God through the adventure of racial discipleship.

The premise of serving as a small group leader sounds simple: Invite people to join you in studying the Bible. But the real-world implications of that role are incredibly complex. Today's small group leaders are asked to function as semi-experts in theology, psychology, evangelism, worship, apologetics, counseling, education, and nutrition—all in service to God and His church. The Field Guide for Small Group Leaders provides basic training and support to help small group leaders succeed in the critical mission of leading others toward spiritual growth and transformation.

Do you want to love your neighbor as yourself but don’t know where to start? This practical, accessible guide to bridging the dividing lines of politics, race, and economics, both individually and as the church, will help you amplify Jesus in your community and build God’s kingdom.

Discipleship can feel like a meandering journey - we don’t know what we want, and none of the programs offered seem to get us anywhere. We need something to orient ourselves and something to direct our steps toward a clear destination. Simple Discipleship, with its companion assessment tool, offers a plan for discipleship that is tailored to your real life and your personality and clearly pointed in the way of Jesus.

With all the hostility boiling just under the surface of our world, we need a renewed vision of Jesus as the Lamb of God who can lead us in the peaceable ways of the Kingdom. When we fail to keep Jesus at the center of our lives, we lean into the desires of our hearts more than the desires God has for us. As a result, our entire spirituality becomes driven by the self and for the self. We need renewed practices of centering Jesus in our hearts and minds. Derek Vreeland invites you to imagine what it looks like to keep Jesus as the Lamb of God at the center of three key areas of our lives.

Indispensable Church provides you and your church real-world, hands-on steps to create a revolution of service to your local community in the name of Christ. By exploring the life of Jesus and the strategic ways he modeled serving the people around him, pastor Chris Sonksen shows you how to put love into action in your neighborhood and your city. The step-by-step instructions, biblical challenges, and teaching resources will help you take love to the streets and make an impact right where you live.

In Build Neighbors, Jimmy tells his story of discovering a life of community. What began as a simple effort to serve people in need led to relationships that not only changed his perspective of others, but also challenged his own inner brokenness. This collection of story-based lessons is aimed at helping anyone who wants to live more fully in community with friends and neighbors. Relational serving focuses on meeting physical needs but also sharing the love God holds for us.

We all have "weeping years", seasons where the trials seem to come one after another. For Ashleigh and her husband, their weeping years included miscarriage, multiple job losses, feelings of betrayal, panic attacks, anti-depressants, cross-country moves, and even suicidal thoughts. Loss is a constant of life, but the intensity of those years changed Ashleigh, altering how she understood and responded to grief. This book tells her story.

This is a powerful collection of poems, calling out to contemplatives and interfaith grandmothers, church members, artists, athletes, patients, and all manner of humans desiring to sense the sacred in the many textures of life.

First-century Christians knew what it meant to live in vital community with one another, relating with a depth and commitment that made "the body of Christ" a perfect metaphor for the church. What would it take to reclaim that kind of love, joy, support, and dynamic spiritual growth? Listen to this book and find out.

Doug Ruffle writes A Missionary Mindset using the timeless principles of E. Stanley Jones and transfers them for use today. Teaching us to approach the mission field as if we were from a different country and learning a new culture, a new way of communicating, and a new way to connect people to the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

For those who declare that Sunday school doesn't work anymore, here is a book that can revitalize this often neglected ministry. Steve Parr encourages churches to re-energize traditional Sunday school by making it intentionally evangelistic, using proven methods and strategies already implemented in hundreds of growing churches. He guides churches through the process of analyzing their present programs and moving in a new direction to fulfill the Great Commission.

A Christianity Today survey identified the most common self-described leadership weaknesses to be in strategizing, visioning, and entrepreneurial skills. But there is a tension that exists between dreaming, vision-casting, and being able to actually pull it off. What is from God, what is from our own imaginations, how do we recognize the difference, and then what do we do with it? In Pastorpreneur, pastor and speaker John Jackson equips pastors to employ businesslike strategic planning and innovation skills to enhance their congregational leadership.

The Church of Facebook will move listeners toward understanding God's work in the body of Christ, the church, by introducing thought-provoking questions through observation, humor, and heartfelt storytelling. It will also do this by challenging readers to consider new perspectives in regard to their social networking habits and how those habits may point to deeper heart issues and, ultimately, our hunger for Jesus.

Jesus cared the most for people - especially vulnerable people - and he calls us to do the same. Because relationships change lives, You Can Mentor will help you build positive, lasting, and life-changing relationships with the kids who need it the most. With stories of how his life was turned around by mentors, executive director of Forerunner Mentoring and podcast host Zach Garza shares practical tips for cultivating a godly mentoring mindset, engaging and sustaining a healthy mentoring relationship, and the tools to overcome difficult mentoring obstacles.

This revolutionary yet practical book addresses the causes of burnout many Christians face and empowers them to join God in a joy-fueled movement of Jesus! Vibrancy and joy are what Christians are promised. Yet, many have experienced the opposite: a guilt-ridden, duty-based, judgmental culture that has left them still searching for the life Jesus promised.

How can the people of God develop churches in ways that help and don't hurt poor neighborhoods? Pastors and church planters interested in Christian community development will find here practical insights into the power of the local church, which is often underrated. Churches can serve their communities and improve the quality of life of every facet of the neighborhood.

The rules of Benedict and Basil show us how to live in community with one another. Though written for monasteries over 1500 years ago, these rules contain timeless wisdom about Christian community. Greg Peters has combined and reorganized the rule of Benedict and the rule of Basil for modern listeners so that we too can meditate on, enjoy, and apply the insights of two of the most influential Christians ever to have lived.