Download or read book Slow Church written by C. Christopher Smith and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2014-05-06 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In today's fast-food world, Christianity can seem outdated or archaic. The temptation becomes to pick up the pace and play the game. But Chris Smith and John Pattison invites us to leave franchise faith behind and enter the kingdom of God, where people know each other well and love one another as Christ loves the church.

Download or read book Strong Towns written by Charles L. Marohn, Jr. and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new way forward for sustainable quality of life in cities of all sizes Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Build American Prosperity is a book of forward-thinking ideas that breaks with modern wisdom to present a new vision of urban development in the United States. Presenting the foundational ideas of the Strong Towns movement he co-founded, Charles Marohn explains why cities of all sizes continue to struggle to meet their basic needs, and reveals the new paradigm that can solve this longstanding problem. Inside, you’ll learn why inducing growth and development has been the conventional response to urban financial struggles—and why it just doesn’t work. New development and high-risk investing don’t generate enough wealth to support itself, and cities continue to struggle. Read this book to find out how cities large and small can focus on bottom-up investments to minimize risk and maximize their ability to strengthen the community financially and improve citizens’ quality of life. Develop in-depth knowledge of the underlying logic behind the “traditional” search for never-ending urban growth Learn practical solutions for ameliorating financial struggles through low-risk investment and a grassroots focus Gain insights and tools that can stop the vicious cycle of budget shortfalls and unexpected downturns Become a part of the Strong Towns revolution by shifting the focus away from top-down growth toward rebuilding American prosperity Strong Towns acknowledges that there is a problem with the American approach to growth and shows community leaders a new way forward. The Strong Towns response is a revolution in how we assemble the places we live.

Download or read book Soultsunami written by Leonard Sweet and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2009-10-14 with total page 598 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Road rage, animal rights, cyberporn, crystal healing, doctor-assisted suicide — everywhere we look, the signs all tell us we’re living in a post-Christian culture. Or are we? Leonard Sweet -- cultural historian, preacher, futurist, creatologist, and preeminent thinker -- firmly believes we live today in a pre-Christian society, fraught with challenges, dangers, critical choices, and above all, tremendous potential for the church. The outcome will depend on our response to today’s flood of religious pluralism that threatens to sweep us away. What will we do? Deny the reality of the incoming surge? "Hunker in the bunker," hermetically sealing ourselves in an increasingly out-of-touch church counterculture? Or will we boldly hoist our sails, and -- looking to God for guidance and strength -- move with confidence and purpose over the waves. SoulTsunami is a fascinating, even mind-numbing look at the implications of our changing world for the church in the 21st century. With uncanny wisdom and trademark wit, Leonard Sweet explores ten key "futuribles" (precision guesses that fall short of predictions), expanding on and relating topics ranging from the reentry of theism and spiritual longing in contemporary society, to the impact of modern technology, to the global renaissance, to models for the church to reach people caught in the cultural maelstrom. Here are eye-opening perspectives on the church from within and from without — from its surrounding society.Lively, well-written, and provocative, SoulTsunami is a clarion call for Christians to remove their tunnel-vision glasses and take a good look at the swelling postmodern flood. It also is a voice of encouragement, affirming the church in its role as God’s lifeboat. And it is a passionate, prophetic guide, pointing the way to reach a world swept out to sea.

Download or read book The Beautiful Community written by Irwyn L. Ince and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2020-08-04 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The church is at its best when it pursues the biblical value of unity in diversity. Pastor and theologian Irwyn Ince boldly unpacks the reasons for our divisions while gently guiding us toward our true hope for wholeness and reconciliation. To heal our fractured humanity, we must cultivate spiritual practices that help us pursue beautiful community.

Download or read book Being Church Becoming Community written by John M. Buchanan and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Buchanan, pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, challenges the church to have an impact on the community at large. Drawing from his experience at Fourth Presbyterian, he explores the specific ways the church intersects the life of the community. He vigorously affirms the Reformed tradition's unique strengths and heritage, as well as its ongoing relevance in today's world. To Buchanan, mainline churches have an obligation to be in the world, and their effectiveness requires that they not abandon their traditions. Churches need to steer a course that allows them both the ability to maintain a singular way in the world and a creative response to questions of meaning, hope, vocation, and values.

Download or read book To Transform a City written by Eric Swanson and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2010-09-07 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To Transform a City is a timely, compelling book that helps readers understand how to think about cities, their own city, and the broad strategies needed for kingdom impact. The book begins with an overview of the importance of cities in the new day in which we live. The authors address the process of transformation along with examples of where and how communities have been transformed throughout history. After writing a persuasive chapter on kingdom thinking the authors unfold the meaning of the whole church, the whole gospel, and the whole city. The book ends with the need for people of good faith to work together in the city with people of good will for the welfare of the city.

Download or read book Ex Auditu Volume 29 written by Klyne Snodgrass and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2014-06-05 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contents Announcement of the 2014 Symposium Abbreviations Introduction Klyne Snodgrass Visions of Horror, Visions of Hope: An Orientation for Urban Ministry from the Book of Amos M. Daniel Carroll R. Response to Carroll Nathan Bills Early Christian Communities in the Greco-Roman City: Perspectives on Urban Ministry from the New Testament Paul Trebilco Response to Trebilco Stephen Chester The Necessity of Lament for Ministry in the Urban Context Soong-Chan Rah Response to Rah Jessica Rivera Good Citizenship: A Study of Philippians 1:27 and Its Implications for Contemporary Urban Ministry Dennis R. Edwards Response to Edwards Kurt N. Fredrickson Love Yourself: Urban Ministry and the Challenge of Self-Love Chanequa Walker-Barnes Prophet, Pagan, Prayer: Urban Theology of Reversal in the Story of Jonah David Leong Response to Leong Daniel White Hodge The Ministerial Significance of Early Syriac Theology Vince L. Bantu Response to Bantu Armida Belmonte Stephens "No Shortcut to the Promised Land": The Fosdick Brothers and Muscular Christianity Amy Laura Hall Response to Hall Reggie Williams The Lord of the Rings Isaias Mercado Annotated Bibliography on Urban Ministry Presenters and Respondents Ex Auditu - Volumes Available

Download or read book The Collected Works of Witness Lee 1957 volume 1 written by Witness Lee and published by Living Stream Ministry. This book was released on with total page 453 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: According to the available records, Brother Witness Lee ministered in the Philippines until near the end of January 1957. After Brother Lee returned to Taipei, Taiwan, Brother T. Austin-Sparks visited Taiwan in February for the second time (his first visit was in 1955). After visiting Taiwan, Austin-Sparks went to Hong Kong in March for a short visit. Brother Lee accompanied him during the entire time. The result of these visits caused much confusion concerning the practice of the church, in particular concerning the truth of the ground of the church. After Austin-Sparks left the Far East, Brother Lee spent about six months in Taiwan, where he conducted conferences and trainings on the truth concerning the church. Near the end of September he went to the Philippines and spent about a month there. At the end of October he traveled to Hong Kong again and stayed until the end of December, conducting various conferences and fellowships, many of which were to clarify the confusion concerning the truth of the church. In January 1958 he again visited the Philippines and remained there about a month before returning to Taipei via Hong Kong. In the 1957 set, volume 1 comprises Brother Lee's messages and personal notes given during his travels in Taiwan and throughout Southeast Asia, including fellowship and messages given during the visit of T. Austin-Sparks to Taiwan and Hong Kong in February and March. Volume 2 continues with Brother Lee's speaking in Taiwan on topics related to the church. Volume 3 is composed of his speaking in Manila, Philippines, and in Hong Kong from the end of September through December. The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1957, volume 1, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee in January 1957 through January 1958. Historical information concerning Brother Lee's travels and the content of his ministry in 1957 can be found in the general preface that appears at the beginning of this volume. The contents of this volume are divided into ten sections, as follows: 1. Eighty-seven personal notes written by Brother Lee during his travels in the Philippines, Taiwan, and Hong Kong from January 1957 through January 1958. These notes are divided into seven chapters and are included in this volume under the title Witness Lee's Personal Notes. 2. Seven messages given in 1957. The place and time of the speaking of the first three messages are unknown. The last four messages were spoken in Taipei, Taiwan, in January 1957. These messages were originally published in The Ministry of the Word in February through August 1957 and were previously published in a book entitled God's Need and God's Goal. They are included in this volume under the same title. 3. Eight messages and private talks given in Taiwan and Hong Kong in February and March 1957. These messages and talks are included in this volume under the title Fellowship Given during the Visit of T. Austin-Sparks. 4. Two messages given in Hong Kong on March 31 and April 4, 1957. These messages are included in this volume under the title Messages Given during the Visit of T. Austin-Sparks. 5. A letter written probably in Taiwan on April 25, 1957. This letter is included in this volume under the title A Letter concerning the Ground of the Church. 6. An article written in 1957 and published in the periodical The Ministry of the Word. This article is included in this volume under the title The Ministry of the Word, Miscellaneous Messages, 1957. 7. Five messages given in 1957. The place and time of the first three messages are unknown. The last two messages were given in Taipei, Taiwan, in April. The five messages were published in 1957 in the periodical The Ministry of the Word and were also published in a book entitled God's Plan concerning the Church. These messages are included in this volume under the same title. Portions of the last two messages are included later in this volume in chapter 2 of The Ground of the Church and the Service of the Body. 8. Seven messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, in May 1957. These messages were originally published in the periodical The Ministry of the Word in 1958 and were also previously published in a book entitled The Faith, Testimony, and Ground of the Church. They are included in this volume under the same title. 9. Eleven messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, in May 1957. These messages were originally published in the periodical The Ministry of the Word in 1958 and are included in this volume under the title The Recovery and Practice of the Testimony of the Church. 10. Nine messages given in the Philippines and in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1957. These messages were previously published in a book entitled The Ground of the Church and the Service of the Body and are included in this volume under the same title.

Download or read book Renewal written by Mark Wild and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2019-03-21 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the decades following World War II, a movement of clergy and laity sought to restore liberal Protestantism to the center of American urban life. Chastened by their failure to avert war and the Holocaust, and troubled by missionaries’ complicity with colonial regimes, they redirected their energies back home. Renewal explores the rise and fall of this movement, which began as an effort to restore the church’s standing but wound up as nothing less than an openhearted crusade to remake our nation’s cities. These campaigns reached beyond church walls to build or lend a hand to scores of organizations fighting for welfare, social justice, and community empowerment among the increasingly nonwhite urban working class. Church leaders extended their efforts far beyond traditional evangelicalism, often dovetailing with many of the contemporaneous social currents coursing through the nation, including black freedom movements and the War on Poverty. Renewal illuminates the overlooked story of how religious institutions both shaped and were shaped by postwar urban America.

Download or read book Civic Innovation in America written by Carmen Sirianni and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2001-07-01 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, two leading experts on community action provide the first scholarly examination of the civic renewal movement that has emerged in the United States in recent decades. Sirianni Friedland examine civic innovation since the 1960s as social learning in four arenas (community organizing/development, civic environmentalism, community health, and public journalism), and they link local efforts to broader networks and to the development of "public policy for democracy." They also explore the emergence of a movement for civic renewal that builds upon the civic movements in these four arenas. In contrast to some recent studies that stress broad indicators of civic decline, this study analyzes innovation as a long process of social learning within specific institutional and policy domains with complex challenges and cross-currents. It draws upon analytical frameworks of social capital, policy learning, organizational learning, regulatory culture, democratic theory, and social movement theory. The study is based upon interviews with more than 400 innovative practitioners, as well as extensive field observation, case study, action research, and historical analysis.

Download or read book Living Grace written by Dr. Manfred Marquardt and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2002-01-01 with total page 860 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Living Grace is the most comprehensive expression of systematic theology for United Methodism to appear in the 1990's. Its authors, Bishop Walter Klaiber and Dr. Manfred Marquardt, are leading theologians of continental European United Methodism. Their work meets the long-felt need to provide partners in ecumenical dialog a clearer exposition of Methodism's theology, as founded upon biblical witness, apostolic heritage, the Protestant Reformation, and the Wesleyan Revival. The authors concede that Methodists are often regarded more as specialists in evangelization, ecclesial organization, or social engagement, than as representatives of a cogently articulated theology. Further, United Methodists today are frequently at the forefront of facilitating interchurch cooperation in worship and social outreach. It is the authors' hope that a clearer exposition of our common understanding could offer a foundation upon which the "vital Wesleyan accent" could better direct the Christian witness we are offering in the world. Their response to the challenge has produced a thoughtful attempt to find a solid theological basis for our identity as a church that will not only accent our distinctiveness but will also assist other faith communities to articulate their profiles of faith. In this first English edition, the work has been adapted for the American historical and social milieu. As such, it becomes a pathbreaking effort to articulate for our American constituency the global dimensions of a United Methodist theology, in which the American church is increasingly called to participate. Four emphases of the book are: Responsible Proclamation, Basics of a UMC theology; Universal Salvation; Personal Faith; and, Fullness of Christian Life and the Reality of Love.

Download or read book To Live in Peace written by Mark R. Gornik and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2002-09-17 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Building on both the perspective of God's new creation and the view from the neighborhood, "To Live in Peace" shows how the life of the church, the strategies of community development, and the practices of peacemaking can make a transformational difference.

Download or read book Souls of the City written by Etan Diamond and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2003-06-24 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who has time for community in the modern metropolis? The answer may surprise you: apparently lots of us. As this book discusses, religious communities have long been an important way for people in all parts of the modern city to come together. Whether in new suburban subdivisions, in rural areas undergoing change, or in inner-city neighborhoods, people of all social backgrounds, races, and economic means have used their congregations as a way to set down new roots and to hold on to old ones. Focusing on Indianapolis, Indiana, a city in America's geographical and cultural heartland, Souls of the City describes the range of changes to America's cities and American religion during the last decades of the 20th century. In showing the historical ability of religious congregations to become "places" of worship, this book challenges those who lament the soulless nature of modern metropolitan life.

Download or read book An Ex colored Church written by Raymond R. Sommerville and published by Mercer University Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church was an important part of the historic freedom struggles of African Americans from Reconstruction to the Civil Rights movement. This fight for equality and freedom can be seen clearly in the denomination's evolving social and ecumenical consciousness. The denomination's very name changed from "Colored" to "Christian" in 1954, but the denomination did not join the struggle late. Rather, the CME was a critical participant from the days following the Civil War. At times, the Church was at odds with their white Methodist counterparts and in solidarity with other African-American denominations on issues of racial desegregation and the role of social protest in religion.Raymond Sommerville's important book discusses the relationship between Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the CME. While King and others received most of the headlines during the Civil Rights Era, the CME proved to be involved at all levels and equally important in all they did. With its strategic location in the South and its long history of ecumenical involvement, the CME Church emerged as a leading advocate of ecumenical civil rights activism. Previous interpretations asserted that the CME was apolitical and accomodationist or that it was more progressive than it was. Sommerville presents a more nuanced account of how a church of largely former slaves emancipated itself from the constraints of white Methodist paternalism and Jim Crow racism to emerge as a progressive force of racial justice and ecumenism in the South and beyond. Sommerville examines major centers of the CME -- Nashville, Birmingham, Memphis, Atlanta -- and selected leaders inthe South in charting the gradual metamorphosis of the former CME as a largely nonpolitical body of former slaves in 1870 to a more politically active denomination at the apex of the modern Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.

Download or read book The Collected Works of Witness Lee 1960 volume 2 written by Witness Lee and published by Living Stream Ministry. This book was released on with total page 648 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1960, volume 2, contains messages given and articles and personal notes written by Brother Witness Lee in April through December 1960. Historical information concerning Brother Lee's travels and the content of his ministry in 1960 can be found in the general preface that appears at the beginning of volume 1 in this set. The contents of this volume are divided into ten sections, as follows: 1. Nine messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, in April through August. Chapters 1 through 5 contain messages given in July and August, and chapters 8 and 9 contain messages given on April 1 and 2. The dates of the messages that constitute chapters 6 and 7 are unknown. All nine messages were previously published in a book entitled The Sufficiency, Pursuit, and Learning of the Lord's Serving Ones and are included in this volume under the same title. 2. Four messages given in a training for young people in Taipei, Taiwan, in April. These messages are included in this volume under the title God's Plan and Christ's Redemption. 3. Three sets of personal notes written in 1960, probably beginning on April 26. These notes are included in this volume under the title Witness Lee's Personal Notes. 4. Fifteen messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1960; the exact dates are unknown. These messages were previously published in a book entitled The Elders' Management of the Church and are included in this volume under the same title. 5. A message given in Taipei, Taiwan, probably after the messages contained in the previous section on the elders' management of the church. This message is included in this volume under the title Concerning the Arrangement of Church Meetings. 6. A message given in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1960. This message was originally published in the periodical The Ministry of the Word in September. It is included in this volume under the title Balancing the Church Service and the Goals of the Church Service. 7. Five messages given in Taipei, Taiwan. These messages were originally published in the periodical The Ministry of the Word in October 1960 through January 1961. They were previously published in a book entitled The Law of Revival and are included in this volume under the same title. 8. Ten messages given in New York City on October 14 through November 20. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Nature and Building Up of the Church. 9. Four messages given in New York City on November 24 through 27. These messages are included in this volume under the title Practicing the Building Up of the Church on the Proper Ground. 10. A letter and two sets of questions and answers given in Los Angeles, California, on December 5 through 7. This section is included in this volume under the title Fellowship in Los Angeles concerning the Ground of the Church.

Download or read book Hopeful Realism in Urban Ministry written by Barry K. Morris and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2016-05-20 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What, pray tell, does a faithful urban ministry require if not a triadic relationship of prayer, justice, and hope? Could such a theologically conjunctive relationship of prayer, justice, and hope fortify urban ministry and challenge students and practitioners to ponder and practice beyond the box? Frequently, justice is collapsed to charity, hope into wishful thinking or temporarily arrested despair, and prayer a grasp at quick-fix interventions. An urban ministry's steadfast public and prophetic witness longs for the depth and width of this triad. Via three countries' decades of endeavors, one chapter brainstorms urban ministry practices while another's literature survey signals crucial convictions. Amid many, seminal theologians are summoned to ground urban ministry intimations and implications: Niebuhr on justice, Moltmann on hope, and Merton on contemplative prayer. Evident is passion that fuels compassion in the service of justice, hope that engages despair, and prayer that draws from the contemplative center of it all--thankful resources for long haul ministry. The triad presses to illumine a concrete ministry's engagement of relentless, forced option issues yet with significant networks resourcing. Contrast-awareness animates endurance. The summary exegetes the original grace-based serenity prayer. Hence, hope vitally balances realism's temptation to cynicism. Realism saves hope from irrelevancy.

Download or read book Cities written by Roger S. Greenway and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2000-06-01 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As cities continue to expand, Christ calls the church to bring the gospel to these centers of population, culture, and political power.