Download or read book The Unstuck Church written by Tony Morgan and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2017-05-16 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Acclaimed church leader, blogger, founder and chief strategic officer of The Unstuck Group, Tony Morgan unpacks the lifecycle of a typical church, identifies characteristics of each phase, and provides practical next steps a church can take to move towards sustained health. Think about your church for a moment. Is it growing? Is it diminishing? Is it somewhere in between? Acclaimed church leader, blogger, and founder and chief strategic officer of The Unstuck Group, Tony Morgan has identified the seven stages of a church's lifecycle that range from the hopeful and optimistic days of launch, to the stagnating last stages of life support. Regardless of the stage in which you find your church, it carries with it the world's greatest mission—to "go and make disciples of all the nations . . ." With eternity at stake the Church should be doing most everything within its power to see lives changed forever. The Church should strive for the pinnacle of the lifecycle, where they are continually making new disciples and experiencing what Morgan refers to as "sustained health." In The Unstuck Church, Morgan unpacks each phase of the church lifecycle, and offers specific and strategic next steps the church leader can take to find it's way to sustained health . . . and finally become unstuck. The Unstuck Church is a call for honest an assessment of where your church sits on the lifecycle, and a challenge to move beyond it.

Download or read book Sacred Pathways written by Gary Thomas and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2009-09-17 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sacred Pathways reveals nine distinct spiritual temperaments--and their strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies--to help you improve your spiritual life and deepen your personal walk with God. It's time to strip away the frustration of a one-size-fits-all spirituality and discover a path of worship that frees you to be you. Experienced spiritual directors, pastors, and church leaders recognize that all of us engage with God differently, and it's about time we do too. In this updated and expanded edition of Sacred Pathways, Gary Thomas details nine spiritual temperaments and--like the Enneagram and other tools do with personality--encourages you to investigate the ways you most naturally express yourself in your relationship with God. He encourages you to dig into the traits, strengths, and pitfalls in your devotional approach so you can eliminate the barriers that keep you locked into rigid methods of worship and praise. Plus, as you begin to identify and understand your own temperament, you'll soon learn about the temperaments that aren’t necessarily "you" but that may help you understand the spiritual tendencies of friends, family, and others around you. Whatever temperament or blend of temperaments best describes you, rest assured it's not by accident. It's by the design of a Creator who knew what he was doing when he made you according to his own unique intentions. If your spiritual walk is not what you'd like it to be, you can change that, starting here. Sacred Pathways will show you the route you were made to travel, marked by growth and filled with the riches of a close walk with God.

Download or read book Sacred Pathways written by Gary Thomas and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2020-09-08 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sacred Pathways reveals nine distinct spiritual temperaments--and their strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies--to help you improve your spiritual life and deepen your personal walk with God. It's time to strip away the frustration of a one-size-fits-all spirituality and discover a path of worship that frees you to be you. Experienced spiritual directors, pastors, and church leaders recognize that all of us engage with God differently, and it's about time we do too. In this updated and expanded edition of Sacred Pathways, Gary Thomas details nine spiritual temperaments and--like the Enneagram and other tools do with personality--encourages you to investigate the ways you most naturally express yourself in your relationship with God. He encourages you to dig into the traits, strengths, and pitfalls in your devotional approach so you can eliminate the barriers that keep you locked into rigid methods of worship and praise. Plus, as you begin to identify and understand your own temperament, you'll soon learn about the temperaments that aren't necessarily "you" but that may help you understand the spiritual tendencies of friends, family, and others around you. Whatever temperament or blend of temperaments best describes you, rest assured it's not by accident. It's by the design of a Creator who knew what he was doing when he made you according to his own unique intentions. If your spiritual walk is not what you'd like it to be, you can change that, starting here. Sacred Pathways will show you the route you were made to travel, marked by growth and filled with the riches of a close walk with God. A Sacred Pathways video Bible study is also available for group or individual use, sold separately.

Download or read book Gospel Discipleship Congregation Guide written by Michelle J. Morris and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Each congregation has a unique mission field. Several tools for developing disciples and for engaging in discipleship are available to churches; however, the resources assume that the churches using them are similar to the church that created them. With Gospel Discipleship, individuals and churches learn how to engage in self-reflection, which then defines a path that fits their context. The discipleship path for each individual disciple is assessed and determined through the Gospel Discipleship Participant Guide while this Gospel Discipleship Congregation Guide guides the implemntation of the program and assesses the discipleship path for the congregation as a whole. Therefore, the program leader(s) needs the congregation guide while individual particpants need their own participant guide. With Gospel Discipleship, churches can identify a pathway for discipleship applied from one of the four Gospel storytellers: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Each had a distinct approach to discipleship which can be applied to a given church's identity, vision, and mission. As disciples are encouraged by the church to step beyond the door and engage the needs of people, they can be sent forth confidently with an awareness of personal, unique gifts, and insights into the actual mission field where they participate with God in changing the world.

Download or read book The Relationship Principles of Jesus written by Tom Holladay and published by HarperChristian + ORM. This book was released on 2009-01-06 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What would you give to radically improve, even transform, what matters most in your relationships? You can thrive in your career, acquire wealth, or build a great reputation. But if your relationships aren't thriving, nothing else matters. This 40-day journey will bring new depth and health to your marriage, your family, and your friendships. Saddleback Church teaching pastor Tom Holladay helps you explore and begin to practice six foundational principles including how to give your relationships the highest value, love as Jesus loves you, and communicate from the heart. You'll be equipped with insights and a practical path for fulfilling God’s intention for all your relationships--even the difficult ones. The Relationship Principles of Jesus walks you step by step through learning the foundational relationship truths taught by Jesus. Shaped after Rick Warren's monumental bestseller, The Purpose Driven Life, this book invites you to learn from the Master of relationships.

Download or read book Future Church written by Will Mancini and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2020-12-01 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Church growth models have often been long on promises and short on disciple-making. We continue to watch consistent church attendance shrink, and our desire to reach the lost is infected with a need for self-validation by growing our numbers at any cost. If we believe that God wants his church to grow, where do we go from here? What is the future of the church? Drawing from his 20 years and 15,000 hours of consulting, author Will Mancini shares with pastors and ministry leaders the single most important insight he has learned about church growth. With plenty of salient stories and based solidly on the disciple-making methods found in Scripture, Future Church exposes the church's greatest challenge today, and offers 7 transforming laws of real church growth so that we can faithfully and joyfully fulfill Jesus's Great Commission.

Download or read book Talk Thru the Bible written by Bruce Wilkinson and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2005-01-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Enjoy J. Vernon McGee's personable, yet scholarly, style in a 60-volume set of commentaries that takes you from Genesis to Revelation with new understanding and insight. A great choice for pastors, the average Bible reader, and students!

Download or read book Spiritual Formation as if the Church Mattered written by James C. Wilhoit and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2022-03-29 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most books on spiritual formation focus on the individual. But spiritual formation is at the heart of the church's whole purpose for existence. It must be a central task for the church to carry out Christ's mission in the world. This book offers an introduction to spiritual formation set squarely in the local church. The first edition has been well received and widely used as a textbook. The second edition has been updated throughout, incorporates findings from positive psychology, and reflects an Augustinian formation perspective. Foreword by Dallas Willard.

Download or read book Eight Virtues of Rapidly Growing Churches written by Matt Miofsky and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2018-10-16 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leaders who are interested in planting or revitalizing congregations often feel discouraged and defeated after leadership conferences, or after reading about the ‘heroes’ of church planting and church growth. “They are amazing,” they say. “I can’t be that amazing.” But Jesus’ load is easy and his burden is light. When we examine the practices and characteristics of those ‘heroes’, we see striking trends and commonalities. Aspiring church leaders can learn the practices and develop the characteristics that will lead to successful churches. Instead of feeling defeated, new leaders should have a hope-filled sense of what new thing they can do. Authors Matt Miofsky and Jason Byasse carefully researched, interviewed, and profiled successful church-growers across the U.S., and identified 8 characteristics these leaders and their congregations have in common. These pastors are still learning, still figuring out how to do this work and how to faithfully live into God’s call. But for now, how are they doing what they do? What mistakes have they made & learned from? Where have they paid the stupid tax that others should avoid? Each of these ‘heroes’ is painfully ordinary and up front about their flaws. And each can see slightly farther than the rest of us. What do they see that we can learn from? Discover the 8 characteristics, and learn how to adapt them for your own congregation and calling: Believe in miracles and act accordingly Integrate new people quickly Love the local Exist to reach the next person Elevate the practice of giving Work in teams Preach effectively to skeptics Make friends with the denomination

Download or read book Back to Acts written by James Cossey and published by . This book was released on 2021-05-15 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Natural Church Development 101 written by Christian Schwarz and published by . This book was released on 2019-08-15 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Revised introductory brochure for Natural Church Development

Download or read book Sacred Pathways Bible Study Guide written by Gary Thomas and published by HarperChristian Resources. This book was released on 2021-04-27 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover new ways of connecting with God by understanding how he uniquely created you to worship him. The Sacred Pathways video study will help you learn: How you naturally express yourself in your relationship with God How to develop new ways of drawing near to him Key biblical figures who share your spiritual temperament How to understand others who connect with the Creator differently As believers in Christ, many of us today fall into the trap of thinking we have to approach God in a certain way. But our Creator made us all unique, and he designed us to connect with him in our own ways. For some, this might look like quiet contemplation. Others express praise through caregiving or theological discussions. It's important to discover the particular pathway that will best help you to experience God's presence. Bestselling author and speaker Gary Thomas reveals nine distinct spiritual temperaments to give you insight into how you naturally worship and how your personal walk with God might look different from those around you. Unlike the Enneagram and other personality assessment tools, Sacred Pathways gives you tools to investigate how you naturally relate to God. You will discover the strengths and impulses in your devotional approach so that you can eliminate the barriers that keep you locked into scripted methods of worship and praise. There is one thing that each of us as Christians can do that nobody else can--give our personal love and affection to God. This Study Guide includes: Discussion questions, reflection questions, and a personal assessment test to discover your pathway Personal Bible study for between sessions A guide with best practices for leading groups Sessions include: The Journey of the Soul – Introduction to the Pathways Pathways of Wonder – the Naturalist, Sensate, and Traditionalist Pathways of Contemplation – the Intellectual, Ascetic, and Contemplative Pathways of Action – the Caregiver, Activist, and Enthusiast Tending the Garden of the Soul – How the Pathways Apply to Your Life Designed for use with the Sacred Pathways Video Study available on DVD or streaming video, sold separately.

Download or read book Replant written by Darrin Patrick and published by David C Cook. This book was released on 2014-05-01 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grow Where You’re Replanted Today’s spiritual landscape is littered with churches on their last legs, forcing us to reconsider how we keep the Body of Christ alive and strong. The solution, according to visionary pastors Darrin Patrick and Mark DeVine, is to infuse new blood into the body and by seeking God’s presence and guidance. Avoiding cookie-cutter steps or how-to formulas, Replant describes the story of a church resurrection, a story that offers a multitude of divinely inspired, and practical possibilities for church planters. The result is a harvest of inspiring ideas on how to inspire new church growth. Discover a new openness to churches merging with other congregations, changing leadership, and harvesting fresh spiritual fruit—inviting us all to re-think how churches not only survive, but thrive.

Download or read book Deliberate Simplicity written by Dave Browning and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2006-07 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Church growth in the 70's, 80's and 90's was defined by the corporate "mega-church". The corporate mega-church has been able to reach thousands with big budgets, sprawling campuses, large staffs and extensive programming. Large churches have demonstrated for the past three decades that "more" can be "more". Deliberate Simplicity demonstrates that "less" can also be "more" and in this way is a "new equation" for church development. Deliberate Simplicity is the philosophy of ministry in use at Christ the King Community Church, a church that has grown exponentially by keeping it simple. Deliberate Simplicity is how Less is More, and More is Better. The main ideas of Deliberate Simplicity are outlined in an equation: Each of the symbols represents a different factor of Deliberate Simplicity: Minimality Intentionality Reality Multility Velocity Scalability

Download or read book Move written by Greg L. Hawkins and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on surveys from more than 280,000 people in more than 1,200 diverse churches, "Move" presents the startling results of the latest REVEAL research. The text draws on compelling stories from people of varying spiritual maturity and pastors who talk candidly about the spiritual health of the American church.

Download or read book Church Ecology written by Ken Willard and published by . This book was released on 2020-01-13 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Church Ecology invites readers that God has in fact created us to be more than we have become. Called by Christ to discipleship, we are the true heirs of Christ. We are called to share the gifts that God has given to each of us on behalf of the whole community so that we can more effectively be the body of Christ in and for the world today. As a part of that call, we have a responsibility to discover, and sometimes re-discover, those whom God has gifted for leadership and invite them to prIn Church Ecology, the authors lay out a practical step-by-step approach to creating a leadership pathway that is grounded in scripture and prayer. Their creative, reflective process and practical suggestions invite all who participate to remember who they are in Christ. They invite us to be curious about current leadership development processes, curious about what those processes could be, curious about the journey - past, present, and future - and curious about past, present, and future capacity for fruitfulness. They invite us to ask questions and they ask us questions, coaching us to determine the next appropriate action step for our unique church situation. They also remind us that a leadership pathway for a community should not be built or created by one person, but a diverse small group of persons who are passionate about growing a healthy and generative church ministry, outreach, and witness.Church Ecology invites us to anticipate and prepare for future leadership in the church. Instead of leaving the development of church leadership up to happenstance, Ken and Kelly invite us to anticipate and to prepare for future leadership through an intentional process of creating a leadership pathway that empowers us to live a healthy, balanced life with Christ and one another as the church. Developing a leadership pathway serves to open up endless possibilities for us to be one with Christ, one with each other, and one in God's transforming ministry to all the world - not just for the moment but for the future.

Download or read book Stay the Course written by Brandon Guindon and published by Him Publications. This book was released on 2018-07-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Pastors and church leaders desperately want to make disciples, but they often find themselves veering off the road of discipleship—or even heading toward a cliff. The many challenges of ministry cause churches to stray from effectively making disciples. Stay the Course keeps leaders on the path, so they can help people follow Jesus until the end. Church consultant and lead pastor Brandon Guindon uses seven essential practices—or “guardrails”—to guide you along the road of disciple making in your local context. These core practices come from his experience in various church contexts—from church plants to churches in transition—and guard you from danger on your journey. Embrace these seven practices as Stay the Course challenges and inspires you. This resource helps you apply them to your personal life and implement them in your church, resulting in churches that faithfully make disciples and disciples who stay on track." -- Book cover.