Download or read book Community That Is Christian written by Julie A. Gorman and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2002-06-01 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past thirty years there has been a boom in small groups, both in society at large and within the church. From Bible studies to MOPS to Alcoholics Anonymous, it is estimated that four out of ten Americans belong to a small group that meets regularly for the care and support of its members. But are these groups creating true, biblical community, or do they settle for self-focus and personal gain? Julie Gorman has studied small groups for decades and presents her analysis, insights, and suggestions in Community That Is Christian, an essential resource for building community in church-based small groups. This comprehensive book serves both as a text for those who equip leaders or lead small groups and as an interactive manual for small-group members, helping them transform their relationships into Christ-centered community. The book begins with biblical support for coming together, contrasting it with our often individualistic mind-set that undermines community. Gorman then sets forth the goals of community and describes the process of transformation. She draws from extensive research to address the why and the how of small-group ministry, giving special attention to gender and cultural distinctions. Community That Is Christian provides readers with charts, discussion questions, and inventories to further help them establish community within their small groups.

Download or read book Building Community written by Loughlan Sofield and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Insights from psychology, group theory, and theology are knit together to create a primer for Christian communities. Especially helpful are insights into conflict, forgiveness, decision-making, intimacy, and confrontation.

Download or read book Christian Community written by Rob Suggs and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2002-01-18 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this ten-session LifeGuide® Bible Study, Rob Suggs leads us to grow in community--in loving and nurturing one another, and in reflecting Christ's love to the world around us.

Download or read book Jesus and Community written by Gerhard Lohfink and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 1984-01-01 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author calls the present-day church to once again be the "contrast society," which attracts non-believers by living what it preaches and by being different without being narrowly sectarian.

Download or read book Making Neighborhoods Whole written by Wayne Gordon and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2013-08-26 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Already with decades of experience speaking prophetically into the charged racial climate of the American south, John Perkins began to see a need for organized thinking and collaborative imagination about how the church engages urban ministry. And so the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) was born, with Wayne Gordon an immediate and enthusiastic participant. Nearly thirty years later CCDA?s eight key components of community development still set the bar for how churches, parachurches and nonprofits engage cities with the whole gospel. Relocation Reconciliation Redistribution Leadership Development Listening to the Community Church-Based Development A Wholistic Approach to Ministry Empowerment In Making Neighborhoods Whole Perkins and Gordon revisit these eight commitments and how they've played out in real communities, even as they scan the horizon of urban ministry to set a new tone. With profiles of longstanding and emerging community development ministries, they guide a new conversation and empower disciples of Jesus to seek the welfare of their cities to the glory of God.

Download or read book Living in Christian Community written by Art Gish and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 1998-09-29 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a description of what the church ought to be. Gish purposes to deal with the concrete issues of what it really means to be a Christian community, the body of Christ.

Download or read book Life in Community written by Dustin Willis and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2015-07-16 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WHAT MAKES A COMMUNITY EXTRAORDINARY? When people live in community moved by the gospel and marked by the Spirit, great things happen. They commit to one another. They grieve together, sing together, eat, pray, and play together. They love, serve, honor, encourage, and provide for each other gladly. And they live on mission together. Hearts are healed, walls come down, and outsiders come in. No competition. No pretense. No vain conceit. Just full hearts breaking bread and giving freely. It is nothing short of amazing. Most of us live in a shadow of what God intended for us. Life in Community calls us into the light. Reclaiming Scripture’s stunning vision of gospel-centered community, it inspires us to live in love unbounded. Read it, live it, and join the movement: Help unleash the power of extraordinary community. 6-Week group study included.

Download or read book Life Together written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 1978-10-25 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After his martyrdom at the hands of the Gestapo in 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer continued his witness in the hearts of Christians around the world. His Letters and Papers from Prison became a prized testimony to Christian faith and courage, read by thousands. Now in Life Together we have Pastor Bonhoeffer's experience of Christian community. This story of a unique fellowship in an underground seminary during the Nazi years reads like one of Paul's letters. It gives practical advice on how life together in Christ can be sustained in families and groups. The role of personal prayer, worship in common, everyday work, and Christian service is treated in simple, almost biblical, words. Life Together is bread for all who are hungry for the real life of Christian fellowship.

Download or read book Beyond Charity written by John M. Perkins and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 1993-07-01 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A powerful call to action to bring reconciliation and restoration to broken communities.

Download or read book Called to Community written by Eberhard Arnold and published by . This book was released on 2024-01-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fifty-two readings on living in intentional Christian community to spark group discussion. Gold Medal Winner, 2017 Illumination Book Awards, Christian Living Silver Medal Winner, 2017 Benjamin Franklin Award in Religion, Independent Book Publishers Association Why, in an age of connectivity, are our lives more isolated and fragmented than ever? And what can be done about it? The answer lies in the hands of God's people. Increasingly, today's Christians want to be the church, to follow Christ together in daily life. From every corner of society, they are daring to step away from the status quo and respond to Christ's call to share their lives more fully with one another and with others. As they take the plunge, they are discovering the rich, meaningful life that Jesus has in mind for all people, and pointing the church back to its original calling: to be a gathered, united community that demonstrates the transforming love of God. Of course, such a life together with others isn't easy. The selections in this volume are, by and large, written by practitioners--people who have pioneered life in intentional community and have discovered in the nitty-gritty of daily life what it takes to establish, nurture, and sustain a Christian community over the long haul. Whether you have just begun thinking about communal living, are already embarking on sharing life with others, or have been part of a community for many years, the pieces in this collection will encourage, challenge, and strengthen you. The book's fifty-two chapters can be read one a week to ignite meaningful group discussion. Contributors include: John F. Alexander, Eberhard Arnold, J. Heinrich Arnold, Johann Christoph Arnold, Alden Bass, Benedict of Nursia, Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt, Leonardo Boff, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Joan Chittister, Stephen B. Clark, Andy Crouch, Dorothy Day, Anthony de Mello, Elizabeth Dede, Catherine de Hueck Doherty, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Jenny Duckworth, Friedrich Foerster, Richard J. Foster, Jodi Garbison, Arthur G. Gish, Helmut Gollwitzer, Adele J Gonzalez, Stanley Hauerwas, Joseph H. Hellerman, Roy Hession, David Janzen, Rufus Jones, Emmanuel Katongole, Arthur Katz, Søren Kierkegaard, C. Norman Kraus, C.S. Lewis, Gerhard Lohfink, Ed Loring, Chiara Lubich, George MacDonald, Thomas Merton, Hal Miller, José P. Miranda, Jürgen Moltmann, Charles E. Moore, Henri J. M. Nouwen, Elizabeth O'Connor, John M. Perkins, Eugene H.Peterson, Christine D. Pohl, Chris Rice, Basilea Schlink, Howard A. Snyder, Mother Teresa, Thomas à Kempis, Elton Trueblood, and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove.

Download or read book Uncomfortable written by Brett McCracken and published by Crossway. This book was released on 2017-09-15 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does your church make you uncomfortable? It’s easy to dream about the “perfect” church—a church that sings just the right songs set to just the right music before the pastor preaches just the right sermon to a room filled with just the right mix of people who happen to agree with you on just about everything. Chances are your church doesn’t quite look like that. But what if instead of searching for a church that makes us comfortable, we learned to love our church, even when it’s challenging? What if some of the discomfort that we often experience is actually good for us? This book is a call to embrace the uncomfortable aspects of Christian community, whether that means believing difficult truths, pursuing difficult holiness, or loving difficult people—all for the sake of the gospel, God’s glory, and our joy.

Download or read book Christian Community in History Volume 1 written by Roger Haight and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2004-09-16 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing upon the methodology developed in his Dynamics of Theology (1990) and exemplified in Jesus Symbol of God (1999), Roger Haight, in this magisterial work, achieves what he calls an historical ecclesiology, or ecclesiology from below. In contrast to traditional ecclesiology from above, which is abstract, idealist, and ahistorical, ecclesiology from below is concrete, realist, and historically conscious. In this first of two volumes, Haight charts the history of the church's self-understandings from the origins of the church in the Jesus movement to the late Middle Ages. In volume 2 Haight develops a comparative ecclesiology based on the history and diverse theologies of the worldwide Christian movement from the Reformation to the present. While the ultimate focus of the work falls on the structure of the church and its theological self-understanding, it tries to be faithful to the historical, social, and political reality of the church in each period.

Download or read book Created for Community written by Stanley J. Grenz and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2015-01-13 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This revised edition of a classic college-level introduction to theology presents the core doctrines of the Christian faith, encouraging readers to connect belief with everyday life. Stanley Grenz, one of the leading evangelical scholars of his era, and Jay Smith, an expert on Grenz's theological legacy, construct a helpful theology that is biblical, historical, and contemporary. The third edition includes a foreword by John Franke, a new preface and afterword, resources for further study, and updated footnotes. The book's easy-to-use format includes end-of-chapter discussion questions and connects theological concepts with current cultural examples.

Download or read book The Other Half of Church written by Jim Wilder and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2020-08-04 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Could brain science be the key to spiritual formation? Why does true Christian transformation seem fleeting? And why does church often feel lonely, Christian community shallow, and leaders untrustworthy? For many Christians, the delight of encountering Christ eventually dwindles—and disappointment sets in. Is lasting joy possible? These are some of the questions Michel Hendricks has considered both in his experience as a spiritual formation pastor and in his lifetime as a Christian. He began to find answers when he met Jim Wilder—a neurotheologian. Using brain science, Wilder identified that there are two halves of the church: the rational half and the relational half. And when Christians only embrace the rational half, churches become unhealthy places where transformation doesn’t last and narcissistic leaders flourish. In The Other Half of Church, join Michel and Jim's journey as they couple brain science with the Bible to identify how to overcome spiritual stagnation by living a full-brained faith. You'll also learn the four ingredients necessary to develop and maintain a vibrant transformational community where spiritual formation occurs, relationships flourish, and the toxic spread of narcissism is eradicated.

Download or read book From Isolation to Community written by Myles Werntz and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2022-04-12 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is no secret that isolation is one of the key ailments of our age. But less explored is the way the church as it is frequently practiced contributes to this isolation instead of offering an alternative. With the help of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, this book argues for a renewed vision of the church community as a theological therapy to cultural, moral, and sociological isolation. It offers an account of how familiar church practices, such as Scripture reading, worship, prayer, and eating, contribute to community formation in the body of Christ.

Download or read book Created for Community written by Stanley J. Grenz and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 1998-08 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Makes theology accessible to a wider audience, introducing readers to the core doctrines of the Christian faith and encouraging them to connect belief with everyday life.

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: Outreach Resource of the Year The Gospel Coalition Book Award The church is at its best when it pursues the biblical value of unity in diversity. Our world has been torn asunder by racial, ethnic, and ideological differences. It is seen in our politics, felt in our families, and ingrained in our theology. Sadly, the church has often reinforced these ethnic and racial divides. To cast off the ugliness of disunity and heal our fractured humanity, we must cultivate spiritual practices that help us pursue beautiful community. In The Beautiful Community, pastor and theologian Irwyn Ince boldly unpacks the reasons for our divisions while gently guiding us toward our true hope for wholeness and reconciliation. God reveals himself to us in his trinitarian life as the perfection of beauty, and essential to this beauty is his work as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The gospel imperative to pursue the beautiful community—unity in diversity across lines of difference—is rooted in reflecting the beautiful community of our triune God. This book calls us into and provides tools for that pursuit.