Religion Community

Segundo Villanueva was born in 1927 in a tiny farming village perched in the Andes; when he was seventeen, his father was murdered and Segundo was left with little more than a Bible as his inheritance. This Bible launched Segundo on a lifelong obsession to find the true message of God contained in its pages. He found himself looking for answers outside the Catholic Church, whose hierarchy and colonial roots embodied the gaping social and racial inequities of Peruvian society.

The Rule of St. Benedict arose from an era when a great civilization was threatened by violence, economic forces that favored the wealthy, political leaders that lacked the trust of the public, and rampant xenophobia. In How to Live, Judith Valente explores the key elements of the rule and clearly demonstrates how incorporating this ancient wisdom can change the quality and texture of our lives offering a way forward from the divisions gripping our country.

God is good, all the time. Jim Wilson was born in 1927 and raised in a Depression-era farming family. At the age of 16, at the height of World War II, he became the primary breadwinner for his parents and four younger siblings. At age 17, eager to fight for his country, he enlisted in the Navy. Germany surrendered while he was in the recruiting office, and the war was over by the time he entered boot camp. But God had a plan for Jim Wilson in the US Navy.

You may be a new believer and wonder what it means to belong to a church; you may be reluctant to commit to your church because of past experiences; you may have recently relocated and want to find a church where you feel at home; or you may love your church and desire to commit to it more deeply and serve it more fully. Whatever the case, this book will help you to see that belonging to a church is a good gift from God, the outworking of our identity as brothers and sisters in Christ, and worth your time, love, and commitment.

In this audiobook, Megan Hill answers a common question of churchgoers: What's so great about the church? With rich theology and practical direction, Hill encourages and equips both first-time visitors and regular members to delight in being a part of the local church - no matter how messy and ordinary it seems today. It is only when God's people begin to see one another as the Lord sees them that they will truly find a place to belong.

For every person who has felt lonely or isolated, The Sacred Us explores a new way of living through the practice of biblical community. In a world that celebrates individuality and autonomy, too many of us struggle to form deep, meaningful relationships. Loneliness is the norm, rich friendships are rare, and the church is no exception. We long for real community but often don’t know how to get there. What will it take to develop healthy friendships?

Fast cars. Fast and furious. Fast forward. Fast...church? The church is often idealized (or demonized) as the last bastion of a bygone era, dragging our feet as we're pulled into new moralities and new spiritualities. We guard our doctrine and our piety with great vigilance. But we often fail to notice how quickly we're capitulating, in the structures and practices of our churches, to a culture of unreflective speed, dehumanizing efficiency, and disintegrating isolationism.

This book seeks to provide a guided examination of what unites and divides the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic communities. With over 25 years of experience teaching in the subject area, Dr. Fritz Wenisch begins to unravel this complex and often contentious topic by first discussing the legal injunctions applying to religious studies courses at secular U.S. universities. He investigates the type of monotheism each religion shares before providing an in-depth overview of each religion, one by one.

We are ready to rise up. But how, exactly, do we do this? How does one reconcile? What we need is a clear sense of direction. Based on her extensive consulting experience with churches, colleges and organizations, Rev. Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil has created a roadmap to show us the way. She guides us through the common topics of discussion and past the bumpy social terrain and political boundaries that will arise. In this revised and expanded edition, McNeil has updated her signature roadmap to incorporate insights from her more recent work.

I’m surrounded by people at church...so why do I feel so alone? You show up at church every Sunday. You see people you know. You listen to a sermon together. And then you go home feeling just as isolated as you did before. What’s going on? We all know that a church is supposed to be a community. The trick is to actually make it one. Communities don’t happen by chance - certainly not in our Lone Ranger culture that values independence and individualism.

In this work, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, explains that Islam is a living religion that is not based on tales of the past, but possesses the power to endow its followers the ability to manifest miracles and signs even today. A tree is recognized by its fruit he states, and the fruits of Islam can be tasted by all even today.

In Sticky Church, author and pastor Larry Osborne makes the case that closing the back door of your church is even more important than opening the front door wider. He offers a time-tested strategy for doing so: sermon-based small groups that dig deeper into the weekend message and tightly velcro members to the ministry. It’s a strategy that enabled Osborne’s congregation to grow from a handful of people to one of the larger churches in the nation - without any marketing or special programming.

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.

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.

Activist Terence Lester knows it's hard to change the world. But mobilizing and acting together empowers us to do what we can't do as isolated individuals. Lester looks at the obstacles that prevent us from getting involved, and he offers practical ways that we can accomplish things together as groups, families, churches, and communities. He helps us find our place in the larger picture, discerning the unique ways we can contribute and make a difference. By connecting with our neighbors and discovering our own paths of service, we can drastically change how we follow Christ.

Leadership in Community is a spiritual formation curriculum designed to provide a theological and practical foundation for Christian leaders committed to the mission of God in a vastly changing world. It engages new or seasoned missional leaders in the foundations of missiology, leadership theory, and leadership practices and tools. The curriculum explores three interrelated themes that build effective missional leadership: the missiology, community, and ethics of missional leadership.

When it comes to Christ-centered recovery, we, the church, have work to do. Our legalistic, box-checking, one-size-fits-all programs produce astonishingly high failure rates—which means far too many people are left to fight addiction, mental health problems, and suicidal thoughts on their own. The goal of The Uncovery is to help the church—and the world—see recovery through a grace-laced, gospel lens. Every single one of us has some trauma or issue from our past that may still be affecting our life today. This book offers listeners nudge to go deeper in the recovery space.

Are you consumed with a busy life but unsure how to slow down? Do you desire connection within your community and think, Absolutely, but I don't have time for that or I can't create that? What if there was another way through it all, a way to find those moments of peace and to create a time for honest, comfortable connection? What if meeting neighbors and connecting with friends was as simple as showing up and being available?

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.

Estamos diante de um clássico da literatura cristã. Nele, o príncipe dos pregadores se revela como um homem que ora e que prega o valor inestimável da oração comunitária. Nesta coletânea com 40 sermões, aprendemos como a oração dos crentes reunidos é transformadora. A obra foi dividida em quatro seções: