Download or read book Church Planting in Post Christian Soil written by Christopher B. James and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Defying predictions of the inevitable decline of Christianity in the US, 'Church Planting in Post-Christian Soil' presents the untold story of new churches springing up in Seattle, one of the most post-Christian cities in the nation.
Download or read book Growing and Flourishing written by Stephen Spencer and published by SCM Press. This book was released on 2019-01-30 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is genuine church growth? Is it, at heart, the numerical growth of regular congregations or are there other dimensions and, if so, what are they? How can we learn from other contexts in order to properly inform our understanding of what we mean by church growth? Mara is one of the most marginalised regions in Tanzania, which in turn is a country in the most marginalised continent on the planet, and yet, Spencer argues, the church in the region has exhibited remarkable growth. Looking beyond the usual dimensions of church growth discourse, Stephen Spencer weaves in his own experience in Tanzania, finding in that wholly different context an approach to church growth which might entirely change the discourse in the global north.
Download or read book Church Planting in the Secular West written by Stefan Paas and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2016-11-03 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An expert study of church planting in the most secular part of contemporary Europe In this book Stefan Paas offers thoughtful analysis of reasons and motives for missionary church planting in Europe, and he explores successful and unsuccessful strategies in that post-Christian secularized context. Drawing in part on his own involvement with planting two churches in the Netherlands, Paas explores confessional motives, growth motives, and innovation motives for church planting in Europe, tracing them back to different traditions and reflecting on them from theological and empirical perspectives. He presents examples from the European context and offers sound advice for improving existing missional practices. Paas also draws out lessons for North America in a chapter coauthored with Darrell Guder and John Franke. Finally, Paas weaves together the various threads in the book with a theological defense of church planting. Presenting new research as it does, this critical missiological perspective will add significantly to a fuller understanding of church planting in our contemporary context.
Download or read book Church Planters written by Richard N. Pitt and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-11-05 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Starting a new organization is risky business. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, most startups fail; half of them do not reach the five-year mark. Protestant churches are not immune to these trends. Most new churches are not established with denominational support-more than 50% are actually non-denominational-and, therefore, have many of the same vulnerabilities other infant organizations must overcome. Research on both congregants and congregations has shown that millions of Americans are leaving churches, half of all churches do not add any new members, and thousands of churches shutter their doors each year. These numbers suggest that American religion is not a growth industry. Yet, more than 1000 new churches are started in any given year. What are the forces that move people who might otherwise be satisfied working for churches to the more risky role of starting one as a religion entrepreneur? In Church Planters, sociologist Richard Pitt uses more than 125 in-depth interviews with church planters to understand their motivations. First, he uncovers themes in their sometimes miraculous, sometimes mundane answers to the question: "why take on these risks?" Then he examines how they approach three common entrepreneurial challenges-recognizing opportunities, marshalling resources, and framing success-in ways that reduce uncertainty and lead them to believe they will be successful. The book combines their evocative stories with insights from research on commercial and social entrepreneurship to explain how these religion entrepreneurs come to believe their organizational goals must be accomplished, that they are capable of being accomplished, and that they would accomplish them over time"--
Download or read book God Gave the Growth written by Susan Brown Snook and published by Church Publishing, Inc.. This book was released on 2015-06-01 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Practical and theoretical instruction for mainline church planting. The Episcopal Church has recognized that planting new churches is a high priority through the Mission Enterprise Zones initiative, which provides grant funding for new worshiping communities, in partnership with dioceses. While there is significant literature and training available for church planters in evangelical contexts, very little is available for planters in the Episcopal/mainline context. This book addresses how to rise up and train leaders for the difficult task of planting new churches in the twenty-first century. It answers the essential questions, such as why should we plant churches, what models of church planting are most successful, what kinds of leaders are necessary, and what problems can be expected. Through the author’s personal experience and interviews with diocesan experts and leaders in mainline denominations, it provides strategies, approaches, and problem-solving techniques.
Download or read book Organic Church written by Neil Cole and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2007-06-15 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Churches have tried all kinds of ways to attract new and younger members - revised vision statements, hipper worship, contemporary music, livelier sermons, bigger and better auditoriums. But there are still so many people who aren't being reached, who don't want to come to church. And the truth is that attendance at church on Sundays does not necessarily transform lives; God's presence in our hearts is what changes us. Leaders and laypeople everywhere are realizing that they need new and more powerful ways to help them spread God's Word. According to international church starter and pastor Neil Cole, if we want to connect with young people and those who are not coming to church, we must go where people congregate. Cole shows readers how to plant the seeds of the Kingdom of God in the places where life happens and where culture is formed - restaurants, bars, coffeehouses, parks, locker rooms,and neighborhoods. Organic Church offers a hands-on guide for demystifying this new model of church and shows the practical aspects of implementing it.
Download or read book Planting Watering Growing written by Daniel R. Hyde and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a response to the unique challenges facing the twenty-first-century American church, church planting has become a popular topic. But at a time when churches that spread the seed of the Word through preaching, the sacraments, and prayer are greatly needed, much of the focus has been on planting churches that adapt pop culture to meet "consumer demand." In Planting, Watering, Growing, the authors of this collection of essays weave together theological wisdom, personal experiences, and practical suggestions, guiding readers through the foundations and methods of planting confessional churches that uphold the Word of God.
Download or read book The Starfish and the Spirit written by Lance Ford and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2021-03-30 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagine an organizational model for church leadership that enables the entire team to unleash their full potential. The joy and vigor coming from a collective strength, intelligence, and skill in the community of leaders not only brings greater potency but better yields for your ministry. What would it be like to see this kind of healthy leadership reproduced into the second, third, and fourth generation, on multiple strands? Leveraging the metaphor Ori Brafman popularized in his NYT best-selling book, The Starfish and the Spider, Rob Wegner, Lance Ford, and Alan Hirsch show: How to take a close look at your church's organizational structure and how to adapt instead of simply adopt a certain kind of structural approach. How churches can function without a rigid central authority, making them nimbler in reacting to external forces. How seeding starfish networks inside today's churches will prepare the church of tomorrow to be agile while maintaining the accountability to be effective. The Starfish and the Spirit is about creating a culture where church leaders view themselves as curators of a community on a mission, not the source of certainty for every question and project. It's about creating a team of humble leaders "in the middle" of the church, not at the top--leaders who naturally reproduce multiple generations of leaders, from the middle out.
Download or read book Created and Led by the Spirit written by Mary Sue Dehmlow Dreier and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2013-07-07 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fifth Missional Church Series volume seeks to bring historical clarity, biblical and theological substance, and practical guidance to church planting. The nine contributors -- many of them experienced church-planting pastors -- offer diverse yet cohesive perspectives on the Spirit's missional church planting in our time. Section One presents three essays which address missional church planting as a theological practice, with particular attention given to the activity of the Holy Spirit within the context of God's Trinitarian life. Section Two grounds church planting initiatives in the generative soil of story. The two essays in this section narrate how specific congregations provide glimpses of the Holy Spirit in action, supplying the reader with hints for how history might lead to future expectations of the Holy Spirit's ongoing church planting activity. Three essays in Section Three focus on new frontiers appearing on the church planting horizon, and an epilogue provides a sermon which orients church planting efforts in witness that flows from the heart of God. In this book readers will find fresh insights into an exciting new future created and led by the Spirit. Contributors: Daniel Anderson Leith Anderson Paul Chung Mary Sue Dehmlow Dreier Todd Hobart Harvey Kwiyani Lois Malcolm Susan Tjornehoj Miroslav Volf
Download or read book Sent to Flourish written by Len Tang and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2019-10-22 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Church planting is hard work. Planters face a thousand pressures related to leadership, finances, identity, and more. Quick fixes don't produce sustainability. How can church planters and their congregations flourish for the long haul? Sent to Flourish is a unique guide to accompany current and prospective church planters as they respond to this essential but sometimes daunting call. Theologically grounded while remaining practically oriented, it combines biblical patterns and practice to equip men and women planters to develop their own holistic planting plans. Written by a diverse team of scholar-practitioners who have planted churches in a variety of contexts, cultures, and church traditions, this book provides a tested roadmap based on Fuller Theological Seminary's renowned church-planting program. In addition to coeditors Len Tang and Charlie Cotherman, contributors include: Carrie Boren Headington John Lo Tim Morey Johnny Ramírez-Johnson Scott W. Sunquist Nick Warnes JR Woodward Every church planter needs a healthy "root system" of three interwoven components: a biblical theology of church planting, personal spiritual formation, and robust intercultural competencies to navigate diverse ministry contexts. Each section of this book delves into these areas in turn, covering topics such as biblical, cultural, historical, and contemporary dimensions of church planting the missiology of Jesus' ministry and teaching on the kingdom of God resources to sustain the spiritual formation of church planters, leadership teams, and church members how to contextualize the gospel message and planting methods in different cultures and communities Filled with real-world insights, stories, and questions for reflection and discussion, Sent to Flourish gives church planters and their teams the tools to be theologically reflective, spiritually grounded, and missionally agile.
Download or read book Post Christendom written by Stuart Murray and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2018-01-10 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Western societies are experiencing a series of disorientating culture shifts. Uncertain where we are heading, observers use "post" words to signal that familiar landmarks are disappearing, but we cannot yet discern the shape of what is emerging. One of the most significant shifts, "post-Christendom," raises many questions about the mission and role of the church in this strange new world. What does it mean to be one of many minorities in a culture that the church no longer dominates? How do followers of Jesus engage in mission from the margins? What do we bring with us as precious resources from the fading Christendom era, and what do we lay down as baggage that will weigh us down on our journey into post-Christendom? Post-Christendom identifies the challenges and opportunities of this unsettling but exciting time. Stuart Murray presents an overview of the formation and development of the Christendom system, examines the legacies this has left, and highlights the questions that the Christian community needs to consider in this period of cultural transition.
Download or read book Church Planting Movements written by V. David Garrison and published by WIGTake Resources. This book was released on 2007 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: David Garrison, PhD University of Chicago, defines Church Planting Movements as rapidly multiplying indigenous churches planting churches that sweep across a people group or population segment. Garrison's Church Planting Movements: How God Is Redeeming a Lost World signaled a breakthrough in missionary church planting. After the publication of Garrison's book in 2004 it became impossible to talk about missions without referencing Church Planting Movements. Church Planting Movements examines more than two-dozen movements of multiplying churches on five continents. After presenting these case studies, Garrison identifies ten universal elements present in each movement. He then broadens the circle of examination to identify a further ten common characteristics, factors identified in most, but not all, of the movements. He concludes his examination with a list of "Seven Deadly Sins," i.e. harmful practices that stifle or impede Church Planting Movements. Important for evangelical readers, the author returns to his findings to see how they stand up to the light of Scripture. What he discovers is that Church Planting Movements are much more consistent with the New Testament lay-led house-church movements that swept rapidly through the Mediterranean world in the face of hostile opposition than today's more sedentary professional institutionalized Christianity. Learn more about Church Planting Movements from the book's website: www.ChurchPlantingMovements.com.
Download or read book Deep Discipleship written by J.T. English and published by B&H Publishing Group. This book was released on 2020-09-29 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everyone is being discipled. The question is: what is discipling us? The majority of Christians today are being discipled by popular media, flashy events, and folk theology because churches have neglected their responsibility to make disciples. But the church is not a secondary platform in the mission of God; it is the primary platform God uses to grow people into the image of Jesus. Therefore, as church leaders, it is our primary responsibility to establish environments and relationships where people can be trained, grow, and be sent as disciples. There are three indispensable elements of discipleship: Learning to participate in the biblical story (the Bible) Growing in our confession of who God is and who we are (theology) Regularly participating in private and corporate intentional action (spiritual disciplines) Deep Discipleship equips churches to reclaim the responsibility of discipling people at any point on their journey.
Download or read book Church Planting from the Ground Up written by Tom Jones and published by College Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Church Planting from the Ground Up is a visionary guide for the critical task of new church multiplication. Share in the wisdom of these field-tested veterans as you gain insight from their stories, practical ideas, and real-world experiences. Book jacket.
Download or read book Christian Caregiving a Way of Life written by Kenneth C. Haugk and published by Augsburg Books. This book was released on 1994 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This complete leader's guide makes it easy to use Dr. Haugk's practical book to build community and train church members in distinctively Christian caring and relating skills.
Download or read book Radical written by David Platt and published by Multnomah. This book was released on 2010-05-04 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times bestseller What is Jesus worth to you? It's easy for American Christians to forget how Jesus said his followers would actually live, what their new lifestyle would actually look like. They would, he said, leave behind security, money, convenience, even family for him. They would abandon everything for the gospel. They would take up their crosses daily... But who do you know who lives like that? Do you? In Radical, David Platt challenges you to consider with an open heart how we have manipulated the gospel to fit our cultural preferences. He shows what Jesus actually said about being his disciple--then invites you to believe and obey what you have heard. And he tells the dramatic story of what is happening as a "successful" suburban church decides to get serious about the gospel according to Jesus. Finally, he urges you to join in The Radical Experiment -- a one-year journey in authentic discipleship that will transform how you live in a world that desperately needs the Good News Jesus came to bring.
Download or read book Reading While Black written by Esau McCaulley and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2020-09-01 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Growing up in the American South, Esau McCaulley knew firsthand the ongoing struggle between despair and hope that marks the lives of some in the African American context. A key element in the fight for hope, he discovered, has long been the practice of Bible reading and interpretation that comes out of traditional Black churches. This ecclesial tradition is often disregarded or viewed with suspicion by much of the wider church and academy, but it has something vital to say. Reading While Black is a personal and scholarly testament to the power and hope of Black biblical interpretation. At a time in which some within the African American community are questioning the place of the Christian faith in the struggle for justice, New Testament scholar McCaulley argues that reading Scripture from the perspective of Black church tradition is invaluable for connecting with a rich faith history and addressing the urgent issues of our times. He advocates for a model of interpretation that involves an ongoing conversation between the collective Black experience and the Bible, in which the particular questions coming out of Black communities are given pride of place and the Bible is given space to respond by affirming, challenging, and, at times, reshaping Black concerns. McCaulley demonstrates this model with studies on how Scripture speaks to topics often overlooked by white interpreters, such as ethnicity, political protest, policing, and slavery. Ultimately McCaulley calls the church to a dynamic theological engagement with Scripture, in which Christians of diverse backgrounds dialogue with their own social location as well as the cultures of others. Reading While Black moves the conversation forward.
