English Church

Early Christianity was subversive and dangerous - dangerous for Christians, and a threat to the keepers of the old order. Most of all Christianity was countercultural. But what about contemporary American Christianity? Is it the countercultural way of Jesus or merely a religious endorsement of Americanism? In his provocative audiobook, Postcards From Babylon, Brian Zahnd challenges the listener to see and embrace a daring Jesus-centered Christianity that can again turn the world upside down.

Leaders in the church are called to be shepherds, not a board of directors. This requires involvement in a personal shepherding ministry among the people. The Shepherd Leader unpacks the four primary ministries of shepherds - knowing, feeding, leading, and protecting - on macro (churchwide) and micro (personal) levels, providing seven elements to be incorporated into an effective shepherding plan.

The world hates the Church that Jesus founded, just as He said it would (John 15:18). It reviles her doctrines, mocks her moral teachings and invents lies about her history. In every age, but especially in our modern day, historians and political powers have distorted the facts about her past (or just made up novel falsehoods from scratch) to make the Church, and the civilization it fostered, seem corrupt, backward, or simply evil.

Stephen Smith is the boy who did not exist. Born out of wedlock in the early 1960s, Steve's parents - both devout Catholics - had felt so 'shamed' by their son's illegitimate birth that they hid him away from the world by locking him in the cellar...for 13 years. Apart from a few admissions to hospital as a result of his 'imprisonment', Steve remained in the coal cellar of the family home where he was deprived of daylight, his childhood, school and human contact until he'd reached his teenage years.

The Church Who Hears God's Voice provides church leaders and Christian thinkers with the theological framework and pastoral strategies needed to build churches where everyone can hear the Spirit’s voice for themselves. After experiencing the transforming power of hearing God’s voice in her own life, Rev Dr Tania Harris set out to unlock the questions Christians have debated for centuries: How does God speak? How do you know it’s God? and What difference does it make to the church?

“Don’t ask too many questions. Just go with the flow.” This is the mantra of legalistic religion. It leaves many of us wallowing in confusion as we still have burning questions about our faith. Sometimes, these questions almost seem off-limits: Is there actually an unforgivable sin? Can we lose our salvation? Is masturbation always a sin? Am I really supposed to give 10 percent of my income to the church? Is divorce and remarriage wrong for a Christian?

My wedding was the perfect whirlwind of a day. The happiest I’d ever been. That was until I discovered my beloved husband, Ryan, tucked away in a compromising summer house clinch with Liza, his best friend’s wife. Reeling with this ultimate betrayal, my world in freefall, with nowhere to turn, I flee my own wedding unable to face anyone, not even my family. I just want to escape this nightmare. With our flight, to our luxury honeymoon leaving in a matter of hours, could ten blissful days of Cretan Island life, minus my cheating husband help me figure out my future?

In our quest to renew the church, Christians have walked through seeker-friendly, emergent, missional, and other movements to develop new expressions of the body of Christ. Now, in the post-Christian world in North America, we're asking the question again: Is there a way to be the church that engages the world, not by judgment nor accommodation but by becoming the good news in our culture?

With his creation of the infamous Church of Satan in 1966 and his bestselling book The Satanic Bible in 1969, Anton Szandor LaVey (1930-1997) became a controversial celebrity who basked in the attention and even made a successful career out of it. But who was Anton LaVey behind the public persona that so easily provoked Christians and others intolerant of his views?

Banished is an eye-opening, deeply personal account of life inside the cult known as the Westboro Baptist Church, as well as a fascinating story of adaptation and perseverance. Since no organized religion will claim affiliation with the WBC, it's perhaps more accurate to think of them as a cult. Lauren Drain was thrust into that cult at the age of 15, and then spat back out again seven years later. Banished is the story of Lauren's fight to find herself amidst dramatic changes in a world of extremists and a life in exile.

Scripture warns believers of hypocrisy—called the "leaven of the Pharisees"—and its potential to spread quickly in the church. Outwardly appearing as devout religion, this legalism hides destructive pride, idolatry, and even apostasy. Unfortunately, pharisaism is still a problem among evangelicals today. How does Jesus instruct the church to recognize and defeat one of its deepest theological issues? In this clear, compelling call to spiritual reformation, Michael Reeves helps believers reject pharisaism and embrace gospel integrity.

By shedding light on what lies in the dark corners of history, this book reveals the spiritual landscape of the roots of the Federal Reserve. We embark on a journey through time where we trace deceptions across cultures and generations. Our voyage takes us back to the Days of Noah when the Nephilim roamed the earth.

Spoken word artist and best-selling author Hosanna Wong unveils a no-fluff, fresh approach to spiritual disciplines as the practical ways we can stay connected to Jesus and to who we truly are, every day. Using the rhythms of life from Jesus, find a practical and fresh way to live—unlocking who you really are no matter what.

As faith-filled Catholics, we are called to go out and spread the good news of the Gospel, build up the Church, and fuel its mission. We are supernaturally empowered by God to do this through the charisms we receive at baptism. Learn about each charism, what they are, and how discipleship unleashes these powerful gifts to produce fruit that lasts.

Congregations often seek to combat the crisis of decline by using innovation to produce new resources. But leading practical theologian Andrew Root shows that the church's crisis is not in the loss of resources; it's in the loss of life—and that life can only return when we remain open to God's encountering presence. This new book, related to Root's critically acclaimed Ministry in a Secular Age project, addresses the practical form the church must take in a secular age.

Jim Cymbala—New York Times best-selling author and long-time pastor of The Brooklyn Tabernacle—has been watching the pressing need for back-to-the-basics spiritual leadership among Christians, and he's seen so many churches come to defeat because so many leaders forget this one truth: Your church is not your church. It's Christ's church. In order for his church to flourish, we have to minister his way.

Is your organization in danger of Mission Drift? Without careful attention, faith-based organizations drift from their founding mission. It's that simple. It will happen. Slowly, silently, and with little fanfare, organizations routinely drift from their purpose, and many never return to their original intent. Harvard and the YMCA are among those that no longer embrace the Christian principles on which they were founded. But they didn't drift off course overnight. Drift often happens in small and subtle ways.

Marcellino D'Ambrosio dusts off what might have been just dry theology to bring you the exciting stories of great heroes such as Ambrose, Augustine, Basil, Athanasius, John Chrysostom, and Jerome. These brilliant, embattled, and sometimes eccentric men defined the biblical canon, hammered out the Creed, and gave us our understanding of sacraments and salvation. It is they who preserved the rich legacy of the early Church for us.

As a “good Christian,” Karla Kamstra attended church every Sunday, listened to the pastor, and committed to functions and activities. But no amount of participation could shake her growing sense of spiritual unrest. As time went on, she realized that she was doing Christianity on autopilot—going through the motions, but spiritually checked out. She finally understood that the rules of the church were keeping God inside a too-small box, and it was time to let "Him" out. And so Karla embarked upon her sacred journey of deconstruction: healing her religious trauma and reclaiming her spirituality.

Hollywood Park is a remarkable memoir of a tumultuous life. Mikel Jollett was born into one of the country’s most infamous cults and subjected to a childhood filled with poverty, addiction, and emotional abuse. Yet, ultimately, his is a story of fierce love and family loyalty told in a raw, poetic voice that signals the emergence of a uniquely gifted writer.