Download or read book The Myth of the 200 Barrier written by Rev. Canon Canon Canon Canon Kevin E. Martin and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2010-09-01 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This is the best book I have ever read on congregational development! I wish I had written it." (Lyle E. Schaller, Parish Consultant) The common experience of large congregations getting larger and small congregations getting smaller has given rise to the belief that growing congregations tend to hit a barrier at the 150-200 attendance mark. The dividing line in American Church attendance is 150 people on an average Sunday. Churches below this seem to have a harder time growing. Above this, churches seem to have an easier time growing. Trying to grow a smaller church can feel like trying to break through what Martin calls the “200 barrier.” Martin explains that there is no barrier; there are just two different ways of being a church—the “Pastoral Size” church and the “Program” church. The “Transitional Church” is really a hybrid of these two cultures, and this dual nature produces stress and tension where the idea of a 200 barrier often becomes a self-fulfilling expectation. How does the Pastor Size church culture really work? What are the key elements of the larger American Church? How does this create a large church culture that becomes self-supporting? Martin looks at these elements and shows how the Transitional Church can avoid mistakes in their effort to grow “beyond the barrier,” and why transformation and change is so difficult. Drawing on sociological and anthropological studies about the significance of numbers in human organizations, Martin proposes practical steps that leaders of Transitional Churches will want to take.

Download or read book Taking Your Church to the Next Level written by Gary L. McIntosh and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2009-09-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All local churches experience a predictable life cycle of growth and decline. But if a church is on a downward trend, how can it turn around? Taking Your Church to the Next Level explains the impact of age and size on churches and outlines the improvements that must be made at each point for a church to remain fruitful and faithful to its mission. McIntosh deftly describes the cycles of fruitfulness and the importance of continual improvement to diminish destructive forces that keep a congregation from its mission. Church leaders, pastors, and all who care about the church and desire to see it experience biblical growth will benefit from the sage wisdom offered in these pages.

Download or read book ReMission written by Gary Comer and published by Whitaker House. This book was released on 2018-01-09 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A systemic disease is lurking inside the church that is derailing it from what God intended it to be, to know, and to do. That disease manifests in practical ignorance and isolation. If the church is to be healthy and thriving, its members must gain the needed know-how and skill sets to meaningfully engage with their increasingly difficult-to-reach unsaved neighbors, communities, and cultures in productive conversations about the good news of Jesus Christ. In other words, there must be a re-missioning of the body of Christ. ReMission practically equips leaders with tried-and-tested solutions that can outwardly mobilize a congregation, small group, or nonprofit ministry, and substantially increase the spiritual vitality of the body of Christ, both locally and globally. .

Download or read book Curacy Express written by Robert M. Lewis and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2016-06-17 with total page 117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The twenty-first-century church is increasingly placing recently trained seminary or locally trained clergy in smaller churches where they must stand alone without the training under a senior pastor. Since leadership in a church and academic preparation in seminary are two very different things, the church historically developed a history of offering "curacies," or training assistantships, to help blend the two disciplines and merge classroom knowledge into practical application. Today, these formal assistantships are mostly a thing of the past. Curacy Express: A Training Resource for New Clergy reconfigures this training into a current model. New clergy serving in their own church and mentor clergy serving in another church work together over a course of thirty-three self-paced learning modules. In each module, the newly ordained person gains valuable skills, mentor's observations and reflections, new confidence, and leadership formation. The result is clergy trained to be competent and confident in their roles as clergy-in-charge.

Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Evolutionary Approaches to Religion written by Yair Lior and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-11-30 with total page 756 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The past two decades have seen a growing interest in evolutionary and scientific approaches to religion. The Routledge Handbook of Evolutionary Approaches to Religion is an outstanding reference source to the key topics, problems and debates in this exciting and emerging field. Comprising over thirty chapters by a team of international contributors the handbook pulls together scholarship in the following areas: evolutionary psychology and the cognitive science of religion (CSR) cultural evolution the complementarity of evolutionary psychology, cognitive science and cultural evolution Within these sections central issues, debates and problems are examined, including: Cliodynamics, cultural group selection, costly signaling, dual inheritance theory, literacy, transmitting narratives, prosociality, supernatural punishment, cognition and ritual, meme theory, fusion theory, sexual selection, agency detection, evoked culture, social brain hypothesis, theory of mind, developmental psychology, emergence theory, social learning, cultural cybernetics, cultural epidemiology, evolutionary and cultural psychology, memetics, by-product and adaptationist theories of religion, systems and information theory, and computer modeling. This Handbook is essential reading for students and researchers in religious studies and anthropology. It will also be very useful to those in related fields, such as psychology, sociology of religion, cognitive biology, and evolutionary biology.

Download or read book Humble and Strong written by Gerald W. Keucher and published by Church Publishing, Inc.. This book was released on 2010-10 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To be effective, leadership must be humble and strong. The leadership we often see in churches and not-for-profits, as well as in corporations, can be neither. The purpose of this book is to analyze these assertions, then to discuss how those who are preparing to be leaders and those who wish to be more effective leaders can recognize and avoid the pitfalls that lead to weak and arrogant leadership by adopting certain habits of life.

Download or read book Transforming Vocation written by Sam Portaro and published by Church Publishing, Inc.. This book was released on 2008-03-01 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At once “travel guide” and vision for the future, the Transformation series is good news for the Episcopal Church at a time of fast and furious demographic and social change. Series contributors - recognized experts in their fields - analyze our present plight, point to the seeds of change already at work transforming the church, and outline a positive new way forward. What kinds of churches are most ready for transformation? What are the essential tools? What will give us strength, direction, and purpose to the journey? Each volume of the series will: Explain why a changed vision is essential Give robust theological and biblical foundations Offer a guide to best practices and positive trends in churches large and small. Describe the necessary tools for change Imagine how transformation will look In the Episcopal Church, it seems the only real purpose and end of Christian discernment is professional ordination, either to the priesthood or to the vocational diaconate. This book deals with such questions as, How can both communities and individuals discern a call from God within the vocations and tasks in which they find themselves? How can the Church deal creatively with its confusion about the differing roles and authority of ordained and lay ministers?

Download or read book Sunday School That Really Excels written by Steve Parr and published by Kregel Ministry. This book was released on 2013-06-13 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adult Sunday school can effectively increase the health of a church, and foster community and spiritual formation among its participants. Sunday School That Really Excels is a revealing look at actual churches with adult fellowships that not only survive but thrive. No matter the setting or challenges facing your church, this book is highly encouraging and practical. Various authors contribute chapters that blend an illustration of an excellent existing Sunday school ministry with scriptural support and leadership principles to enhance your own church's ministry. Chapters are devoted to particular situations faced by many churches, such as Sunday school in a rural setting; on the heels of a crisis; in a multicultural community; among transition to small groups; revitalizing a long-established ministry; and many others. Sunday school expert Steve Parr brings together lessons from the best of the best so that all Sunday school ministries can excel!

Download or read book Sunday School That Really Works Responds and Excels written by Steve R. Parr and published by Kregel Ministry. This book was released on 2013-12-10 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Product contains Sunday School That Really Works, Sunday School That Really Responds, and Sunday School That Really Excels by Steve R. Parr.

Download or read book New Perspectives on Breaking the 200 Barrier written by Bill M. Sullivan and published by Beacon Hill Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New Perspectives on Breaking the 200 Barrier offers pastors and church leaders insight and strategies that will help their church move beyond the average and into the extraordinary. Based on current church trends and new research, seasoned speaker and strategist, Dr. Bill Sullivan, author of Ten Steps to Breaking the 200 Barrier - 1988, revisits the need for churches to strive to grow beyond a membership of 200, focusing this time on the congregation and their decisions that effect the church as a whole. Sullivan stresses the need for church leaders to understand the value of training the people, not just the pastors, to understand and accept the changes that come with growth and the Church's desire to expand Christ's kingdom.See www.200barrier.org for Free 'Choice Points' Leader's Guide and Free Teaching Power Point Presentation.

Download or read book Cormac McCarthy and the Myth of American Exceptionalism written by John Cant and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-01-11 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This overview of McCarthy’s published work to date, including: the short stories he published as a student, his novels, stage play and TV film script, locates him as a icocolastic writer, engaged in deconstructing America’s vision of itself as a nation with an exceptionalist role in the world. Introductory chapters outline his personal background and the influences on his early years in Tennessee whilst each of his works is dealt with in a separate chapter listed in chronological order of publication.

Download or read book Combating Violence Abuse of People with Disabilities written by Nancy M. Fitzsimons and published by Brookes Publishing Company. This book was released on 2009 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Accessible book tackling the issue of violence and abuse of people with disabilities, educating and empowering both professionals and self-advocates.

Download or read book How to Break Growth Barriers written by Carl F. George and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2017-04-04 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some churches grow rapidly, only to hit a ceiling. Other churches have experienced declining or static attendance--many of them for decades. Frustrated pastors and church leaders want growth methods that work, but without adding to pastoral fatigue. How to Break Growth Barriers argues that growth comes when effective leadership and lay-empowerment skills work hand in hand. This requires a shift of focus from the shepherd as the primary caregiver to shepherd as developer and coach of many caregivers. The authors show pastors how to communicate a vision for the future and then how to lead the congregation into the paradigms necessary for potentially limitless growth. The strategies found in this book are not only tried and true, and taken from a biblical perspective of a "harvest" vision. They're also newly updated to reflect our changing culture, including helpful charts and checklists for self-evaluation.

Download or read book Promise and Peril written by David Brubaker and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2009-02-28 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Congregations cannot exist without finances, priorities, leadership, worship, and decision making, yet these five aspects breed the most conflict between church members and clergy. These conflicts unfortunately tend to bring about the most negative consequences: drops in giving, resignation of leaders, and, perhaps most pointedly, loss of members. The importance of congregations and their effect on our lives is clear, yet what is less clear is what makes conflicts in faith communities inevitable. In Promise and Peril: Understanding and Managing Change and Conflict in Congregations, David Brubaker brings the tools of organizational theory and research to the task of understanding the deeper dynamics of congregational conflict. With a doctorate in sociology and more than twenty years working with congregational conflicts, Brubaker helps to explore the causes and effects of conflicts on a wide range of congregations. This book will help congregations avoid the pitfalls of conflict and instead head toward a healthy relationship between and among church staff and members.

Download or read book The Myth of Human Races written by Alain F. Corcos and published by Wheatmark, Inc.. This book was released on 2016-07-25 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The idea that there are different human races is false. It is a socially constructed myth that has no grounding in science. Protagonists of race theory have tried to prove that human races exist with flawed research. The Myth of Human Races unravels these flaws and exposes the theory's underlying prejudice of race superiority.

Download or read book A Vision for London 1889 1914 written by Susan D. Pennybacker and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-11-08 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The London County Council was a the world's largest municipal government and a laboratory for social experimentation before the Great War. It sought to master the problems of metropolitan amelioration, political economy and public culture. Pennybacker's social history tests the vision of London Progressivism against its practitioners' accomplishments. She argues that the historical memory of the hopes inspired by LCC achievement and the disillusions spawned by failure, are potent forces in today's deeply ambivalent responses to metropolitan politics in London. The `new women', bohemian London, scandal in the building industry, midwifery, lodging houses, children's provision and the music hall were all provocative issues in LCC work. Their story richly evokes life in the turn-of-the-century metropolis and illustrates the complexities of `municipal socialism'.

Download or read book The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child Volumes 1 25 written by Ruth S. Eissler and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1975-01-01 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The completeness and excellence of the abstracts make this volume a valuable guide and reference book for all students and scholars who do not own the complete set. For those who do own the first twenty-five volumes, the index will facilitate quick location of important topics and bring ease in tracing the development of psychoanalytic concepts.