Spiritual Church

Dangerous churches should be norm. Church leaders and church people alike shrink back from danger because we want safety. Jesus said that he's overcome the world and its troubles. Dangerous churches put everything on the line for the one thing that matters most: reaching lost people.It's dangerous not to be a dangerous church. The book is less about methods or even the message of God, but about a church that risks everything it has to reach lost people.

When it comes to sharing our faith, we can make things more complex than they need to be. Simple evangelism offers practical ways to connect people to Gods amazing love. With three decades of outreach leadership, Kevin Harney provides tools that free you to set fear aside and walk boldly into the adventure of evangelism.

In The Bible as Improv, author Ron Martoia helps you move beyond maxims and read the Bible so that its story shapes your own stories. In this new light, you will deepen your spiritual life and avoid the confusion about what is true for you today and what is “outdated.” Come take a look at the big picture of the Bible. The view is incredible.

Every week a terrorist attack, riot, or political scandal makes the headlines - and we feel the world around us shaking again. We struggle to separate truth from biased statements and hope from naïveté. We wonder how we got here and where these uncertain days will take us. One of the world’s top investigative reporters, John S. Dickerson, addresses this post-truth, post-Christian society in Hope of Nations. Hope of Nations shows us how and why the world is changing, where those changes will lead, and what it looks like to live like Christ in today’s society.

The Pew Report released a study showing the number of people switching churches and those with no church affiliation has grown considerably. This is a very important and issue that needs to be addressed. This book addresses the issue so that church or parachurch small groups can listen together and discuss the questions at the end of chapters. The book is designed to help listeners more deeply value church and what church ought to look like.

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.

Among the top 10 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. For many years, Dan Kimball would have agreed, until an encounter with a small group of Jesus followers started him on a journey that challenged him to rethink everything he had ever assumed about the church.

While "missions" used to be the territory of experts and missionary professionals, globalization has made the issues and needs of our world accessible to average Americans. Many American Christians feel overwhelmed by the scope of the brokenness in the world and conclude all they can do is go on with their lives. Others respond by giving and praying, and still others want to do more. What Can I Do shows that global mission is something we all can be part of in tangible ways.

This book captures the story of a widespread movement of churches that are expanding their ministries to include multiple formats, venues, and locations, using dozens of in-the-trenches examples, identifying the primary reasons churches succeed as well as how they overcome common snags on the route to "one church, many congregations".

An excellent resource for both individuals and arts ministry teams, the book includes slice-of-church-life scenarios, group discussion questions, and personal action steps.

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.

Many of us as women feel conflicted about Jesus’s calling on our lives because a woman trying to love God beyond her heart and soul, with her mind and strength, can be thought of as crossing some line or unspoken boundary. Bible teacher Kat Armstrong challenges us to ask, “Why am I allowing limitations on my pursuit of Jesus’s calling?”

We were created for community. So why do we want to be alone? The Bible tells the story of the immense power of human relationships and God's love for the church. Douglas Bursch presents a timely, insightful and practical theology of community. He examines the relational implications of human existence, sin, salvation, discipleship, evangelism, and other key biblical concepts. Doug also shares unfiltered stories concerning his personal weaknesses and the relational struggles he has faced as a pastor.

Many people today, especially among emerging generations, don't resonate with the church and organized Christianity. Some are leaving the church and others were never part of the church in the first place. Yet often they are still spiritually open and fascinated with Jesus. This is a ministry resource book exploring six of the most common objections and misunderstandings emerging generations have about the church and Christianity.

Embark on a transformative exploration into the profound relationship between Scripture, the Church, and our connection to the Divine in "Mediation and the Immediate God: Scriptures, the Church, and Knowing God" by Edith M. Humphrey.

Today we should obey God's marriage rules, more similar to God's marriage rules we see in the Old Testament, and have the sexual freedom God gave everyone at creation and that is reflected all over the Bible. These books explain all this in detail.

Who are you in Christ? When asked this question, most respond with terms like saved, a child of God, surrendered to Jesus, or just a Christian. While these are all good descriptors of our relationship with God, they are incomplete and misunderstood without the purchase of the soul called redemption. The apostles Jesus commissioned understood that they were slaves of Christ. They saw redemption as a literal purchase of their souls from the cruel master of sin.

After 30 years as a committed Christian, Pastor Bo Williams realized there were still theological knots to untie for him to gain greater levels of spiritual freedom. He shares his personal journey to understanding more deeply what Christ accomplished at the cross and how that impacts who we are as new creations. With vulnerability, Bo unpacks questions like, “Are we sinners saved by grace or saints who sometimes sin?” and, “Why do believers still struggle with sin?”

In Revival: When God Comes to Church, Pastor Steve Gaines analyzes how churches can look like the church of the first century. Infused with the Holy Spirit, they evangelized most of the civilized world within only three centuries.

Forty years as a 4th generation member of a conservative Presbyterian "church family" didn't count for much when this author's wife had an affair and he sought council from his church shepherds. Robinson tithed his time, his talents, and his money, and church young people ate at his table at least once a week, but when he and his teenaged daughter went to their pastor and board of elders for help, they were branded as despicable liars and turned away. Eventually, even after the truth came out, they were still shown the door.