Spiritual Church

For many Christians, "church" is defined by attending an occasional Sunday service mired in an audience mentality. Virtually ineffective and having no impact, we have become a cultural Christianity that creates passive believers. Yet the Church is meant for so much more!

Is gospel Christianity dead? Pundits are writing the obituary of historic, orthodox Christianity, but pastor and author J. D. Greear (Gospel, Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart) believes the postmortems are premature. Jesus promised to build his church. He said that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. The church is not going away. Along with this promise, Jesus gave clear instructions for how the church would prevail. He promised to build it on the rock of the gospel.

In Be Light, Samuel Rodriguez - described by Fox News and CNN as "America's most influential Latino Evangelical leader" - provides a blueprint for confronting darkness in every realm of our lives. He issues a clarion call for individual believers and the church to rise up and once again be that bright city on a hill that doesn't simply expose the invading darkness but overcomes it with God's blazing light.

Scott Hahn has inspired millions of readers with his perceptive and unique view of Catholic theology and worship, becoming one of the most looked-to contemporary authorities in these areas. In Letter and Spirit, Hahn extends the message he began in The Lamb's Supper, offering far-reaching and profound insights into what the Bible teaches us about living the spiritual life.

Embark on a transformative journey where love becomes the bridge, faith lights the path, and mentoring shapes the future. In Reachable, discover the seven keys to building a church that reaches the next generations.

Many people today find that their prayers don't work. And like a broken cell phone, DVD player, or TV remote, they throw prayer out as unnecessary clutter in their busy lives. Anne Graham Lotz has found that while prayer does work, sometimes the pray-ers don't. So she has turned to the prophet Daniel for help. The Daniel Prayer is born deep within your soul, erupts through your heart, and pours out on your lips, words created by and infused with the Spirit of God, quivering with spiritual electricity.

Change in our lives is inevitable whether it is a change we desire, like a new job or a new city, or one thrust upon us, like the loss of a loved one or a challenge to our health. Either way, we get to choose who we become as a result of these changes in our lives. Change is a powerful teacher, shaping and molding us more into the likeness of Christ as we let it do its work. Combining biblical wisdom with inspiring personal stories, Braving Change helps you make sense of the change you're experiencing so that you can grow through it and be prepared for the next change that comes your way.

When the people of Israel, those who had witnessed the most abundant and inexplicable acts of God, grew tired of waiting for Moses to come off the mountain, they made a calf of gold. It was easier for them to make a new god than to continue serving a God that didn’t conform to their schedule and expectations. Just like the Israelites in the desert, we are all fundamentally longing for God… but who and what are we actually reaching for and serving? Disobedient God addresses the things we do when we feel ignored, inconvenienced and frustrated by God

Our goal as Christians is never simply to build our own tribe. Instead, we seek the peace and prosperity of the city or community in which we live through a gospel movement led by the Holy Spirit, a movement united by the gospel of Jesus Christ, a common mission to reach and serve others, and a commitment to be gracious and generous to those who disagree with you. In Serving a Movement, best-selling author and pastor Timothy Keller looks at the nature of the church’s mission and its relationship to the work of individual Christians in the world.

While many churches talk about discerning calling and engaging in mission, very few are structured to make this their ministry focus. Underground Church is a new vision for the church rooted in its biblical mission to share the love of God and serve the poor. Sanders explores how to make structural changes, how to think about leadership, how to fund ministries, and how to truly engage people in God's mission. Filled with creative insights, he explains what it means to center the mission of the church around the callings of individuals to outward ministry.

In today's frenetic society, people rarely develop intimate friendships. Instead, they spend their lives essentially disconnected from others, rushing through life content with brief visits and casual conversations. But what if one were to develop a community, a spiritual community, of people who walked with and supported each other through life's journey? A community of real friends who listened to each other's personal tragedies without merely trying to fix the problems, who encouraged and nurtured each other's strengths, and who accepted people for who they really are.

There is a church not too far from us that recently added a $25 million addition to their building. Our local newspaper ran a front-page story not too long ago about a study revealing that one in five people in our city lives in poverty. This is a book about those two numbers. It's a book about faith and fear, wealth and war, poverty, power, safety, terror, Bibles, bombs, and homeland insecurity, It's about what happens when Christians support, animate, and participate in the very things Jesus came to set people free from.

Este libro de historias bíblicas con más de cinco millones de ejemplares vendidos enseña a los niños las historias y los personajes de la Biblia. Ahora, las historias bíblicas favoritas cobran vida con historias cautivadoras, haciendo de este libro el punto de partida perfecto para que los niños aprendan de la Biblia. Disfrutarán de las historias divertidas de Noé ayudando al elefante a subir al arca, Jonás orando dentro del pez, y mucho más, a medida que descubran el tesoro contenido en estas páginas al igual que ya lo han hecho millones de niños.

From the man who became Pope Francis: Jorge Mario Bergoglio shares his thoughts on religion, reason, and the challenges the world faces in the 21st century with Abraham Skorka, a rabbi and biophysicist. This book brings together a series of these conversations, in which both men talked about various theological and worldly issues, including God, fundamentalism, atheism, abortion, homosexuality, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, and globalization.

Religious freedom is a bitterly contested issue that spills over into political, public, and online spheres. It's an issue that's becoming ever more heated, and neither of the global political polarities is interested in protecting it. While the political left is openly hostile toward traditional religion, the political right seeks to weaponize it. How can we ensure that "religious freedom" is truly about freedom of one's religion rather than serving an ethno-nationalist agenda?

Churches have split and denominations have formed over the issue of church government. While many Christians can explain their church's form of rule or defend it because of its "tried and true" traditions, few people understand their church's administrative customs from a biblical perspective.

Arguing from Scripture and history, Dr. Boyd makes a compelling case that whenever the church gets too close to any political or national ideology, it is disastrous for the church and harmful to society. Dr. Boyd contends that the American Evangelical Church has allowed itself to be co-opted by the political right (and some by the political left), and exposes how this is harming the church's unique calling to build the kingdom of God.

Casey Sabella invested 15 years of his life serving a dynamic church that blossomed to several satellite locations throughout his state. Many people came to Christ, experiencing an extraordinary life change. His church acquired land and built a center for boys while publishing a national newspaper to invite people to well-attended seminars featuring popular authors and teachers. For two years, the church sponsored four days of meetings in the civic center in the capitol city.

When political division shows up not only on the campaign trail but also at our dinner tables, we wonder: Can we be part of a better way? The Spirit of Our Politics says "yes," offering a distinctly Christian approach to politics that results in healing rather than division, kindness rather than hatred, and hope rather than despair.

We must contend earnestly for the faith for the glory and honor of our savior, the sanctity of his church, and the eternal destinies of those who are being misled.