New Church

The last time I spoke was eight years ago when my best friend tried to kill me. I never dreamed my silence would break with a scream. Being sent to Chapel Crest after my new stepfather deemed me a heathen seemed like a blessing compared to staying with him and my mom. I was a mute demon in his eyes, and when the rod didn’t beat the evil out of me, he prayed Chapel Crest could. I envisioned the religious academy would become my sanctuary. I was wrong. So very wrong. Chapel Crest was an asylum moonlighting as a religious school.

Paul Sparks, Tim Soerens, and Dwight J. Friesen have seen—in cities, suburbs, and small towns all over North America—how powerful the gospel can be when it takes root in the context of a place, at the intersection of geography, demography, economy, and culture. This is not a new idea—the concept of a parish is as old as Paul's letters to the various communities of the ancient church. But in an age of dislocation and disengagement, the notion of a church that knows its place and gives itself to where it finds itself is like a breath of fresh air, like a sign of new life.

Church planting has become a cottage industry. National conferences, hip planting organizations, and all-in-one resource kits celebrate the thrill of pioneering a church and inspire visions of glorious victories. Yet few who respond to the call are warned what they’ll actually encounter: the...

In this short, accessible account of the Eastern Orthodox Church, John McGuckin begins by tackling the question "What is the Church?" His answer is a clear, historically and theologically rooted portrait of what the Church is for Orthodox Christianity and how it differs from Western Christians' expectations.

Sex and money scandals. An exploding divorce rate. Drug-addicted youths. And an ever-growing worldliness. Today's evangelical church is fighting battles on all fronts. And we seem to be losing these battles to the relentlessly encroaching world. Perhaps the answers to our problems are not in the present, but in the past. Because there was time when Christians were able to stand up to world.

In the fifth and final installment of his best-selling Jesus series, David Limbaugh digs into the New Testament epistles with passion and imagination, showing that the testimony of Jesus’ earliest followers provides irrefutable proof of his resurrection.

Discover how every member of the body of Christ is affected and empowered for ministry when elders give healthy oversight to the church. This biblical model communicates the family character of the church as teams of servant-leaders equip, protect, and love the local church. Complete with evaluation questionnaires, sabbatical guidelines, sample church by-laws, keys to developing a vision statement, biblical steps to make godly decisions, maintaining a leader’s health, and much more.

This volume of short essays and other pieces by C.S. Lewis is part of a larger collection: C.S. Lewis: Essay Collection and Other Short Pieces. In addition to his many books, letters, and poems,C.S. Lewis wrote a great number of essays and shorter pieces on various subjects. He wrote extensively on Christian theology and the defense of faith but also on ethical issues and the nature of literature and storytelling. Within these pages is a treasure trove of Lewis' reflections on diverse topics.

The Domestic Church: Room by Room is so much more than a mother's study guide for women who want to deepen their understanding of their vocations. It is an exploration of Catholic teaching as it relates to our roles as women, wives, mothers, and citizens of the world at large. Referring back to Scripture, papal encyclicals, apostolic letters, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the words of the great saints, Donna weaves together the life story of every Catholic woman, regardless of her age, background, family situation, or career choice.

St Symeon's theology is a summation of a lifelong study of the Scriptures and fathers, of an immersion in the liturgical life of the Church and of lived experience. The treatises on the mystical life, usually rendered as The Ethical Discourses, comprise St Symeon's most extensive treatment of the experience of God. Volume I selects those treatises devoted to the Church, the sacraments and the last things. The SVS Press audiobook program is sponsored by St. Symeon Illumination Fund.

The Multiplying Church is a primer for pastors and lay leaders involved in, or wanting to learn about, the church multiplication groundswell in North America. It shows how multiplying churches should be a natural, regular function of every church to reach the 70 percent of Americans who have no...

The reason for this book: to bring to us a totally new beginning for the body of Christ. Gene Edwards challenges the long-held evangelical ideal of restoring a so-called "New Testament church" by reconstructing its biblical elements. Edwards argues that the early churches described in the New Testament were not institutional models to replicate but organic, living expressions of Christ—unique, Spirit-led communities that emerged naturally within their cultural contexts.

'Tender and revelatory, Blythe Spirit gives us both the patron saint of the English countryside and a frank portrait of a complex figure' MARK COCKER, COUNTRY LIFE BOOKS OF THE YEAR 'Moving, candid, vivid, it is all that we could hope for in a memoir of this unique and treasured writer' ROWAN...

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?”

A new church model is emerging to effectively reach this generation Micro churches, as a fresh expression of the bride of Christ living in community, are flourishing in many parts of the world. In Micro Church Networks, Larry Kreider explains from decades of first-hand experience how these networks fit the needs, call, and passion of believers from many generations. God is always ready to do a new thing. Larry helps us perceive this new move of God and recognize the significant role of micro church networks in the advancement of God’s kingdom in our present time.

Michael McGarry explores the foundation of youth ministry in the Old and New Testaments and brings that together with Church history in a compelling way. This contemplative and well-researched book provides a careful critique of youth ministry along with practical guidance for those serving in ministry.

Christians and other people of good will are longing for a response that can lead the way out of the divisiveness and vitriol of our times. I wrote this book to provide some assistance to listeners to discern a way out of the toxicity in which we live.

Meticulously Researched. Rigorously Reviewed. Faithfully Accurate. With modern scholarship applied to ancient texts, the NRSVue is designed to help listeners explore the meanings of ancient texts in light of the cultures that produced them with unprecedented listenability, accessibility, and inclusivity.

Jesus is real. He is with you. He is for you. He is your pastor. And he wants to be the pastor of your church. These statements might seem obvious, but what if we all took them seriously? Aaron Gerrard did just that in his journey to plant a church in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada. In a new book, Quit Pastoring Your Church, he tells the story of a small church making Jesus their pastor. Gerrard candidly shares his journey to start a new kind of church by allowing Jesus to be the guide, and it radically impacted the story of this new congregation.

The Church's Best-Kept Secret is a short primer which lays out the basics of Catholic social teaching in a way accessible to the ordinary Catholic as well as to any other person of good will attempting to grasp this often profoundly misunderstood area of Church doctrine and practice. Writing in everyday language for the non-scholar, award-winning writer Mark Shea concisely describes the roots of Catholic social teaching in Scripture and tradition and gives simple, practical examples of how it works in ordinary life.