Churchnext

Eddie Gibbs candidly analyzes new church models while proposing nine areas in which the church will need to transform to be biblically true to its message and mission.

Prayer is a primary way Christians fulfill the Great Commandment to love God, our neighbor, and ourselves, and it's the foundation of everything else we do to show that love. In prayer, we consciously devote time to cultivating our relationship with God, trusting that this relationship can transform our souls, our lives, and the world. Many of us who desire this closer relationship with God may feel unsure about where to start and how to pray. In Seek and You Will Find, Rhonda Mawhood Lee offers an accessible guide to prayer, exploring practices from the Lord's Prayer to praying with the psalms and in song, from the eucharist and the rosary to "moving" prayers offered when walking a labyrinth, doodling, baking, or devoting another activity to God. Scripture and tradition show us that when we seek God through prayer, we will find, by grace, the One who has already reached out to us in love. Seek and You Will Find is a comforting, challenging, and instructive companion in your quest to develop the relationship God deeply desires with you.

All local churches experience a predictable life cycle of growth and decline. But if a church is on a downward trend, how can it turn around? Taking Your Church to the Next Level explains the impact of age and size on churches and outlines the improvements that must be made at each point for a church to remain fruitful and faithful to its mission. McIntosh deftly describes the cycles of fruitfulness and the importance of continual improvement to diminish destructive forces that keep a congregation from its mission. Church leaders, pastors, and all who care about the church and desire to see it experience biblical growth will benefit from the sage wisdom offered in these pages.

Co-authored by an experienced ministry leader and a computer expert, this book provides a balanced look at the challenges of combining ministry with technology.

Seventeen year-old Jesse Walters made a decision that was going to change his life forever. It began as some of the happiest days of his life with love, romance, peace, faith and a true sense of fulfillment in life. But as time passed it led to guilt, anxiety, stress, distancing himself from family and friends, and losing all sense of satisfaction in his daily life. During this time he joined a local church, found his way to God, and developed a close relationship with a group of Christians to such an extent that he could call them "family." Dedicating one's life to Jesus Christ and experiencing an extreme state of depression? Those two statements shouldn't go together. Jesse joined a cult without realizing it. The dramatic and heartbreaking events that took place led him to push his family and friends out of his life. His family had to go to the extreme of locking him in a building for five days with a cult expert for an intervention that proved he had been living a lie. This book is the start of his mission to 1. Shine light on the massive, unrecognized issue of Christianity and other troubling organizations. 2. Prove that anyone can have a healthy relationship with God without having to make extreme sacrifices, and 3. Help people get themselves or loved ones out of cults.

Explores seismic shifts in American life and the opportunities and challenges each presents to the church today. And calls for a return to Episcopal basics and insist that faithfully engaging a changing world might be the most truly Anglican practice of all.

• An acolyte resource for the 21st-century Episcopal Church • Fully illustrated (black-and-white) with reproducible handouts Despite the changing landscape of the Episcopal Church, one ministry that continues but gets little attention is that of acolytes. Whether second graders or adults, the mentoring and training of acolytes is a formational experience. I Serve at God’s Altar offers a simplified theology of how God is met in worship and how it affects the lives of those most engaged in it, a visual exploration of the Episcopal liturgy and its history through extensive illustrations, how acolytes fit into the work of the church in worship, and how worship affects the acolyte’s discernment for ministry and Rule of Life. Illustrations include a visual exploration of church artifacts (crosses, candles, Eucharistic vessels, etc.), holds, and processes to set a standard of expectation and expertise in service according to Episcopal practice and tradition. There is a section of reproducible handouts for organizing an acolyte ministry at every size church, including scheduling, communications, installation liturgies, recruitment plans, and training outlines.

Prayer and praying takes a variety of forms, but in today’s secular world, many people aren’t sure what it is or how to do it. Donigian (re)introduces three prayers – the Lord's Prayer, the Serenity Prayer and Dag Hammarskjold's famous prayer from Markings – as gifts for those who are uncertain or unclear about prayer...and praying. Study guide included.

Phyllis surveys 2000 years of Western history, identifying the great upheavals that occur in Western culture and Christianity every 500 years. The last was the Great Reformation of the 1500's; the next is happening now. What are the implications of this "Great Emergence," both culturally and spiritually? What are the key questions and issues that need to be addressed? Where might we be headed next? --