Download or read book Improvising Church written by Mark Glanville and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2024-02-13 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though the post-Christian cultural turn can be disconcerting, it is also a uniquely exciting time to reimagine churches. Building on the dynamic traditions of jazz music and Christian community, biblical scholar and jazz musician Mark Glanville unfolds a biblical, practical, and inventive vision for building the churches we long for.

Download or read book Improvisation written by Samuel Wells and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2018-11-06 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This introductory textbook establishes theatrical improvisation as a model for Christian ethics, helping Christians embody their faith in the practices of discipleship. Clearly, accessibly, and creatively written, it has been well received as a text for courses in Christian ethics. The repackaged edition has updated language and recent relevant resources, and it includes a new afterword by Wesley Vander Lugt and Benjamin D. Wayman that explores the reception and ongoing significance of the text.

Download or read book The Gospel According to Improv written by Les Carpenter and published by Church Publishing, Inc.. This book was released on 2022-03-22 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Life and faith are improvisational theater, and finding meaning is a work in progress. From first breath to the first day of school, from first dates to last rites, most of us struggle with the overwhelming desire to find meaning. How do we love well, stay authentic, build community, enjoy life, and live justly all at the same time? No one knows. God may have a plan, but God never gave us the script. This book will teach strategies to escape the oppressive voice of self-doubt, foster compassionate creativity, transform Christian faith into a meaningful life practice, and organize communities of faith based on the the principles of improvisational theater. Each chapter will focus on a skill or practice of improv, made relevant through autobiographical stories of and grounded in the Christian tradition. The end of each chapter will include brain exercises the average reader can do to strengthen the creative neural pathways required to master the improv skill for living.

Download or read book The Unlikely Disciple written by Kevin Roose and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2009-03-26 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The hilarious and heartwarming, respectful and thought-provoking memoir of a college student's semester at Liberty University, the "Bible Boot Camp" for young evangelicals, that will inspire believers and nonbelievers alike. No drinking. No smoking. No cursing. No dancing. No R-rated movies. Kevin Roose wasn't used to rules like these. As a sophomore at Brown University, he spent his days fitting right in with Brown's free-spirited, ultra-liberal student body. But when Roose leaves his Ivy League confines to spend a semester at Liberty University, a conservative Baptist school in Lynchburg, Virginia, obedience is no longer optional. Liberty is the late Reverend Jerry Falwell's "Bible Boot Camp" for young evangelicals, his training ground for the next generation of America's Religious Right. Liberty's ten thousand undergraduates take courses like Evangelism 101 and follow a forty-six-page code of conduct that regulates every aspect of their social lives. Hoping to connect with his evangelical peers, Roose decides to enroll at Liberty as a new transfer student, chronicling his adventures in this daring report from the front lines of America's culture war. His journey takes him from an evangelical hip-hop concert to a spring break mission trip to Daytona Beach (where he learns to preach the gospel to partying coeds). He meets pastors' kids, closet doubters, Christian rebels, and conducts what would be the last print interview of Rev. Falwell's life.

Download or read book Refuge Reimagined written by Mark R. Glanville and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2021-02-16 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mark R. Glanville and Luke Glanville offer a new approach to compassion for displaced people: a biblical ethic of kinship. Challenging the fear-based ethic that often motivates Christian approaches, they demonstrate how this ethic is consistently conveyed throughout the Bible and can be practically embodied today.

Download or read book Jazz and Christian Freedom written by Bradley K. Broadhead and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2018-12-21 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contemporary Western society has a strange relationship with freedom. Unbridled subjective liberty and narrow fundamentalism pull away from each other in mutual loathing while sociological forces seek to manipulate both sides. The church needs to recover and reconstruct a theology of freedom to navigate between the perils of both extremes and to avoid being manipulated by these forces. Just as biblical figures are taught through parables and metaphors, this book uses jazz improvisation as an analogy for Christian freedom. Just as jazz improvisation relies on successfully navigating constraints such as the history and traditions of jazz, jazz theory, and musical instruments, so Christian freedom also relies on constraints such as the biblical canon, church history, theology, and the church itself. Through understanding the freedom jazz musicians enjoy in making music together, we can better understand how Christian freedom might be enacted in daily life. If Western churches discover and enact Christian freedom in a meaningful way, the songs that they improvise will be as siren calls to people in chains.

Download or read book Political Church written by Jonathan Leeman and published by SPCK. This book was released on 2016-03-17 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The church is political. Theologians have been debating this claim for years. Liberationists, Anabaptists, Augustinians, neo-Calvinists, Radical Orthodox and others continue to discuss the matter. What do we mean by politics and the political? What are the limits of the church’s political reach? What is the nature of the church as an institution? How do we establish these claims theologically? Jonathan Leeman sets out to address these questions in this significant work. Drawing on covenantal theology and the ‘new institutionalism’ in political science, Leeman critiques political liberalism and explores how the biblical canon informs an account of the local church as an embassy of Christ’s kingdom. Political Church heralds a new era in political theology.

Download or read book Hymnprovisation written by Christopher Dortignac and published by . This book was released on 2017-10-12 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A handbook for the church pianist. Effective improvisational techniques for presenting hymns, gospel songs, and sacred music. 1st edition.

Download or read book The Deconstructed Church written by Gerardo Marti and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-22 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Distinguished Book Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion The Emerging Church Movement (ECM) is a creative, entrepreneurial religious movement that strives to achieve social legitimacy and spiritual vitality by actively disassociating from its roots in conservative, evangelical Christianity and "deconstructing" contemporary expressions of Christianity. Emerging Christians see themselves as overturning outdated interpretations of the Bible, transforming hierarchical religious institutions, and re-orienting Christianity to step outside the walls of church buildings toward working among and serving others in the "real world." Drawing on ethnographic observation of emerging congregations, pub churches, neo-monastic communities, conferences, online networks, in-depth interviews, and congregational surveys in the US, UK, and Ireland, Gerardo Marti and Gladys Ganiel provide a comprehensive social-scientific analysis of the development and significance of the ECM. Emerging Christians, they find, are shaping a distinct religious orientation that encourages individualism, deep relationships with others, new ideas about the nature of truth, doubt, and God, and innovations in preaching, worship, Eucharist, and leadership.

Download or read book The Art of Disruption written by Paul Fromberg and published by Seabury Books. This book was released on 2021-04-16 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the Church considers prayer book revisions, discover new ways of bringing prayer to life. In many liturgical churches, it seems that the prayer book confines—more than frees—the transformational potential of worship. Drawing on his experience at St. Gregory of Nyssa, Paul Fromberg encourages us to question the assumption that there is a “right way” and a “wrong way” of using prayer books. Instead, he encourages readers to pay attention to doing worship well and engaging worshippers’ desire to be transformed. This book is for those who plan and lead worship, as well as those who are curious about the ways that worship is transformative in people’s experience. Additionally, fans of St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church will discover more about the ways in which this ground-breaking congregation has engaged the work of liturgical disruption and trusted in the transformative potential of the liturgy for more than forty years.

Download or read book Resurrection City written by Peter Goodwin Heltzel and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2012-11-23 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Resurrection City Peter Heltzel paints a prophetic picture of an evangelical Christianity that eschews a majority mentality and instead fights against racism, inequality, and injustice, embracing the concerns of the poor and marginalized, just as Jesus did. Placing society's needs front and center, Heltzel calls for radical change and collective activism modeled on God's love and justice. In particular, Heltzel explores the social forms that love and justice can take as religious communities join together to build "beloved cities." He proclaims the importance of "improvising for justice" -- likening the church's prophetic ministry to jazz music -- and develops a biblical theology of shalom justice. His vision draws inspiration from the black freedom struggle and the lives of Sojourner Truth, Howard Thurman, and Martin Luther King Jr. Pulsing with hope and beauty, Resurrection City compels evangelical Christians to begin "a global movement for love and justice" that truly embodies the kingdom of God.

Download or read book Preaching for the Contemporary Service written by Prof. Joseph M. Webb and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2010-09-01 with total page 95 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Preaching for the Contemporary Service is a guide to releasing the energy and creativity of the contemporary worship service within the sermon. Is the traditional sermon still relevant in contemporary worship settings or is it hopelessly out of place? Joseph Webb shows how improvisational preaching taps into the spontaneity of today's worship to engage audiences with the good news of Jesus Christ.To read a sample from the book click here"Joe Webb grieves that much contemporary worship yawns at traditional preaching and pleads for a new kind of improvisational preaching that does justice to the biblical story and connects emotionally with today's listeners. Carefully explaining both strengths and dangers of improvisation, he draws on insights from theater and movie-making with much practical advice for planning improvisation. A lively and stimulating book to be taken seriously by any who would preach in contemporary services." --Michael J. Quicke, Professor of Preaching, Northern Seminary, and author of 360-Degree Preaching "Joseph Webb has devoted his lifetime to the craft and mission of preaching. He brings fresh and cutting-edge insight with the wisdom of a sage and the foresight of a prophet to a whole new emerging generation of communicators." --Gene Appel, Lead Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church "Bull's-eye! Joe Webb's theory of improvisational preaching hits the target for effective communication in the digital age. And here's why I love it: Lots of people will tell me what to do; Joe shows me how!" --Tommy Kiedis, Teaching Pastor, Memorial Presbyterian Church, and Director of Leadership Development, Reformed Theological Seminary “This book shows us how to improvise our preaching without compromising the Scripture, a welcome help to those of us working to revitalize the worship of the church.”--Kenton C. Anderson, ACTS Seminaries of Trinity Western University Joseph M. Webb is Dean of the School of Communication & Media and Professor of Global Media and Communications at Palm Beach Atlantic University. He has taught seminary courses in homiletics, and speech and communication classes at colleges and universities. He is the author of Preaching Without Notes, also published by Abingdon Press.

Download or read book The Innovative Church written by Scott Cormode and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The church as we know it is calibrated for a world that no longer exists. It needs to recalibrate in order to address the questions that animate today's congregants. Leading congregational researcher Scott Cormode explores the role of Christian practices in recalibrating the church for the twenty-first century, offering church leaders innovative ways to express the never-changing gospel to their ever-changing congregations. The book has been road-tested with over one hundred churches through the Fuller Youth Institute and includes five questions that guide Christian leaders who wish to innovate.

Download or read book Improv Leadership written by Stan Endicott and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2020-06-09 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You already know that there's no script for effective leadership... That's why Improv Leadership reveals five skills that will help you unleash your own leadership potential on every unexpected challenge and status quo. Anyone can read books and apply lessons, but only the best can develop what they know to bring out the best in any person or circumstance. These natural leaders understand the key principles of connecting, coaching, and communicating and use these ideas to build strong teams. In Improv Leadership, Stan Endicott and David Miller share five leadership competencies that all great, improvisational leaders have: Story Mining--how to uncover a person's story and let it shape the way you lead them Precision Praising--how to craft praise to inspire, motivate, and even course-correct your team Metaphor Cementing--how to create concrete illustrations to "cement" an idea in someone's mind Lobbing Forward--how to challenge people to look beyond today to what might be in the future Going North--how to use indirect influence to redirect a person's perspective IMPROV leaders apply these five competencies to initiate powerful conversations, create memorable moments with forward momentum, and craft personal coaching strategies that help people, and teams, grow. The five competencies of IMPROV Leadership are not rigid steps to follow. They are fluid and can be applied to any industry of field. You can't predict every challenge you'll face. There's no playbook that covers every decision. But you can cultivate teams of people who love their work (and each other) and who perform at a high level. And you can lead well in any situation.

Download or read book Instant Skits written by The Skit Guys and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2009-08-30 with total page 179 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using Improv to Create Memorable Moments in MinistryThe Skit Guys bring you more than 200 skits to use in your youth group. Indexed by topic and Scripture reference, you can illustrate just about any lesson you want. Plus, each skit is ready to go and will allow all your students to participate in the teaching, whether or not they can act. They’ll laugh, they might cry, and in the end, they’ll learn something important.

Download or read book Luke Acts Improv Biblical Narratives That Get You Into the Act written by Jamie Greene and published by Harmon Press. This book was released on 2010-12 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Mr Rushworth s historical collections abridg d and improv d written by John Rushworth and published by . This book was released on 1706 with total page 616 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: