Download or read book So You Don t Want to Go to Church Anymore written by Wayne Jacobsen and published by Windblown Media. This book was released on 2008-09-02 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jake Colsen, an overworked and disillusioned pastor, happens into a stranger who bears an uncanny resemblance (in manner) to the apostle John. A number of encounters with John as well as a family crisis lead Jake to a new understanding of what his life should be like: one filled with faith bolstered by a steady, close relationship with the God of the universe. Facing his own disappointment with Christianity, Jake must forsake the habits that have made his faith rote and rediscover the love that captured his heart when he first believed. Compelling and intensely personal, So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anything relates a man's rebirth from performance-based Christianity to a loving friendship with Christ that affects all he does, thinks, and says. As John tells Jake, "There is nothing the Father desires for you more than that you fall squarely in the lap of his love and never move from that place for the rest of your life."

Download or read book No Longer Church as Usual written by Tim Kurtz and published by . This book was released on 2013-10 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When you discover that Jesus never said He would build a church, how do you make the transition to what He intended. This booklet answers key questions that will help you to navigate successfully from church to ekklesia.

Download or read book No Longer Church as Usual Second Edition written by Tim Kurtz and published by . This book was released on 2014-01-01 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Church as we know it is changing. The church is not a brick and mortar building. The church is not choirs, ushers or dynamic preachers. The church is not programs, events, or fundraisers for noble causes. The church is more than just a weekly get together in a house or dedicated building. The church is life with purpose. It is life lived among the saints who see themselves as family. It is life among believers who understand they are one body, and that each member is significant to the purposes of God in the earth. This is the church demonstrated in the New Testament. No Longer Church As Usual Second Edition is a clear compelling road map that will position the church to fulfill the original plan of God by restoring the historical values and structure of the first century into the 21st century. You will learn how believers all over the world are being released to be fruitful, to multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it, as they go into the world making disciples of all nations

Download or read book Why Men Hate Going to Church written by David Murrow and published by HarperChristian + ORM. This book was released on 2011-10-31 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Church is boring.” “It’s irrelevant.” “It’s full of hypocrites.” You’ve heard the excuses—now learn the real reasons men and boys are fleeing churches of every kind, all over the world, and what we can do about it. Women comprise more than 60% of the adults in a typical worship service in America. Some overseas congregations report ten women for every man in attendance. Men are less likely to lead, volunteer, and give in the church. They pray less, share their faith less, and read the Bible less. In Why Men Hate Going to Church, David Murrow identifies the barriers keeping many men from going to church, explains why it’s so hard to motivate the men who do attend, and also takes you inside several fast-growing congregations that are winning the hearts of men and boys. In this completely revised, reorganized, and rewritten edition of the classic book, with more than 70 percent new content, explore topics like: The increase and decrease in male church attendance during the past 500 years Why Christian churches are more feminine even though men are often still the leaders The difference between the type of God men and women like to worship The lack of volunteering and ministry opportunities for men The benefits men get from attending church regularly Men need the church but, more importantly, the church needs men. The presence of enthusiastic men is one of the surest predictors of church health, growth, giving, and expansion. Why Men Hate Going to Church does not call men back to church—it calls the church back to men.

Download or read book At Your Best written by Carey Nieuwhof and published by WaterBrook. This book was released on 2021-09-14 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A perceptive and practical book about why our calendars so rarely reflect our priorities and what we can do to regain control.”—ADAM GRANT “Carey’s book will help you reorganize your life. And then you can share a copy with someone you care about.”—SETH GODIN You deserve to stop living at an unsustainable pace. An influential podcaster and thought leader shows you how. Overwhelmed. Overcommitted. Overworked. That’s the false script an inordinate number of people adopt to be successful. Does this sound familiar: ● Slammed is normal. ● Distractions are everywhere. ● Life gets reduced to going through the motions. Tired of living that way? At Your Best gives you the strategies you need to win at work and at home by living in a way today that will help you thrive tomorrow. Influential podcast host and thought leader Carey Nieuwhof understands the challenges of constant pressure. After a season of burnout almost took him out, he discovered how to get time, energy, and priorities working in his favor. This approach freed up more than one thousand productive hours a year for him and can do the same for you. At Your Best will help you ● replace chronic exhaustion with deep productivity ● break the pattern of overpromising and never accomplishing enough ● clarify what matters most by restructuring your day ● master the art of saying no, without losing friends or influence ● discover why vacations and sabbaticals don’t really solve your problems ● develop a personalized plan to recapture each day so you can break free from the trap of endless to-dos Start thriving at work and at home as you discover how to be at your best.

Download or read book Coming Out of Form written by Veronica Bea and published by . This book was released on 2018-10-25 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Coming Out of Form" was written with you in mind! GOD has chosen to step out of the pages of this book right into your life for such a time as this! I sense you are one of the chosen ones and you have been crying out to GOD for change in your life! "Today is that day!" The wind of GOD has just started to blow through the pages of this book. Don't stop now! Take a deep breath and proceed!GOD is about to call you out of "form" and into a fruitful place! All through scripture GOD teaches us and demonstrates the necessity of coming out of "form." He no longer wants us to be a part of the "frozen chosen!" It is His desire that we catch fire and go higher! It's time for "No more church as usual!"GOD weeps about those who have settled for a "form" of godliness but deny the power thereof! No fire can be sustained without breath! No tree can grow without the rain! In the city streets, our youth have been crying out "I can't breathe!" Sadly, and strangely enough inside the four walls of the church many are crying out the exact same thing, "I can't breathe!" We have people coming in and out the doors of the church looking for "breath!" Some people stay longer than others because they can hold their breath longer! Some leave because they have grown weary and are gasping for the fresh breath of the Lord! Meanwhile the preacher slaves over his intellectual sermon, not realizing that GOD is calling him out of "form." It's better to say two or three words with the breath of the Lord than to preach a naked "format" and it releases no wind! Many saints sat in the pews, getting weaker by the minute because no life is being produced! No presence of GOD is on the scene! No glory!! No rain from heaven is being released! No wind is blowing! The sheep are greatly desiring God to breathe upon them! They are not aware that they too, have gotten caught up in "form." As we continue through the pages of this book we shall discover the power that is released into our life when we come out of "form!" Thank GOD, HE came out of "form!" HE stepped out of the unseen realm and breathed the breath of life into man! HE never meant for the church to get on a ventilator! "Can we talk...."John 10:10 Living Bible (TLB)10 The thief's purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.Is there a thief in the house who is going about undercover and stealing from the sheep, what they so desperately need! I sense God is about to uncover the plot of the enemy! There is a poisonous gas that's leaking with an undetected odor and it has one mission and that is to stifle the life of God's people!Much like carbon monoxide, it is odorless, can't be heard and colorless! It is known as the silent killer! People are now being alerted to the dangers and reaching for carbon monoxide detectors which gives out alerts to signal that all is not well in the house! Sadly, to say many are soundly sleeping when these fumes of religion are traveling through the airwaves.God is sending out signals as never before to alert his people to a "Place of awareness" that danger is sneaking around trying to contaminate the air supply? We hear the word from all directions, it time for God's people to "Rise!" What's coming down that dusty road "Demands that a strong united church be in place!" It's time to for the church to stand shoulder to shoulder "In GOD!" GOD is calling us to "Come out of form" and "Enter in!"

Download or read book Sex Dating and Relationships written by Gerald Hiestand and published by Crossway. This book was released on 2012-02-29 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Considering the pervasive immorality and high divorce rate of our contemporary Christian culture, we evidently need a biblically based, theologically compelling, practical understanding of sex, dating, and relationships. Pastors Gerald Hiestand and Jay Thomas counteract this problem with their paradigm-shifting view of purity and relationships—a view that challenges even the basic assumptions of evangelical subculture. Unlike most books on dating, this one cuts straight to the heart of dating relationships, asserting with confidence that the line must be drawn at "no sexual activity" whatever. Few have dared to define and apply the Bible's understanding of purity in premarital relationships to this degree, but Heistand and Thomas have done it. Furthermore, both authors are vocational pastors who communicate regularly with the target audience and have a proven ability to express biblical truth in a winsome and compelling manner. Sex, Dating, and Relationships adds a new, almost provocative voice to the conversation that, with straightforward theological insight, pleads with Christians to get serious about honoring Christ with their sexuality.

Download or read book Where the Light Fell written by Philip Yancey and published by Convergent Books. This book was released on 2023-03-14 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this searing meditation on the bonds of family and the allure of extremist faith, one of today’s most celebrated Christian writers recounts his unexpected journey from a strict fundamentalist upbringing to a life of compassion and grace—a revelatory memoir that “invites comparison to Hillbilly Elegy” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). “Searing, heartrending . . . This stunning tale reminds us that the only way to keep living is to ask God for the impossible: love, forgiveness, and hope.”—Kate Bowler, New York Times bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason Raised by an impoverished widow who earned room and board as a Bible teacher in 1950s Atlanta, Philip Yancey and his brother, Marshall, found ways to venture out beyond the confines of their eight-foot-wide trailer. But when Yancey was in college, he uncovered a shocking secret about his father’s death—a secret that began to illuminate the motivations that drove his mother to extreme, often hostile religious convictions and a belief that her sons had been ordained for a divine cause. Searching for answers, Yancey dives into his family origins, taking us on an evocative journey from the backwoods of the Bible Belt to the bustling streets of Philadelphia; from trailer parks to church sanctuaries; from family oddballs to fire-and-brimstone preachers and childhood awakenings through nature, music, and literature. In time, the weight of religious and family pressure sent both sons on opposite paths—one toward healing from the impact of what he calls a “toxic faith,” the other into a self-destructive spiral. Where the Light Fell is a gripping family narrative set against a turbulent time in post–World War II America, shaped by the collision of Southern fundamentalism with the mounting pressures of the civil rights movement and Sixties-era forces of social change. In piecing together his fragmented personal history and his search for redemption, Yancey gives testament to the enduring power of our hunger for truth and the possibility of faith rooted in grace instead of fear. “I truly believe this is the one book I was put on earth to write,” says Yancey. “So many of the strands from my childhood—racial hostility, political division, culture wars—have resurfaced in modern form. Looking back points me forward.”

Download or read book Church Planting Is for Wimps Redesign written by Mike McKinley and published by Crossway. This book was released on 2017-03-20 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book tells the story of the revitalization of Guilford Baptist Church in northern Virginia. Weaving together scripture and biblical principles with humor and personal anecdotes, author Michael McKinley asserts that a pastor's faithful exposition of God's Word, passion for sharing the gospel, and care in the training of other godly leaders are more important than the size of his church. McKinley honestly shares his own fears and rookie mistakes, along with encouraging stories of how God moved at Guilford Baptist. We are reminded that God uses weak and fearful pastors in plants and revitalizations; church planting is indeed for "wimps." For pastors and seminarians considering a church plant and those already struggling in their own fledgling congregations, this book is a thoughtful and encouraging resource.

Download or read book No Ordinary Men written by Fritz Stern and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2013-09-17 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fascinating story of two courageous opponents in Hitler’s Germany who both bravely resisted the Nazis—for World War II history buffs and fans of little-known histories. “A story that needs to be heard.” —Library Journal During the twelve years of Hitler’s Third Reich, very few Germans took the risk of actively opposing his tyranny and terror, and fewer still did so to protect the sanctity of law and faith. In No Ordinary Men, Elisabeth Sifton and Fritz Stern focus on two remarkable, courageous men who did—the pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his close friend and brother-in-law Hans von Dohnanyi—and offer new insights into the fearsome difficulties that resistance entailed. (Not forgotten is Christine Bonhoeffer Dohnanyi, Hans’s wife and Dietrich’s sister, who was indispensable to them both.) From the start Bonhoeffer opposed the Nazi efforts to bend Germany’s Protestant churches to Hitler’s will, while Dohnanyi, a lawyer in the Justice Ministry and then in the Wehrmacht’s counterintelligence section, helped victims, kept records of Nazi crimes to be used as evidence once the regime fell, and was an important figure in the various conspiracies to assassinate Hitler. The strength of their shared commitment to these undertakings—and to the people they were helping—endured even after their arrest in April 1943 and until, after great suffering, they were executed on Hitler’s express orders in April 1945, just weeks before the Third Reich collapsed. Bonhoeffer’s posthumously published Letters and Papers from Prison and other writings found a wide international audience, but Dohnanyi’s work is scarcely known, though it was crucial to the resistance and he was the one who drew Bonhoeffer into the anti-Hitler plots. Sifton and Stern offer dramatic new details and interpretations in their account of the extraordinary efforts in which the two jointly engaged. No Ordinary Men honors both Bonhoeffer’s human decency and his theological legacy, as well as Dohnanyi’s preservation of the highest standard of civic virtue in an utterly corrupted state.

Download or read book Church Why Bother written by Philip Yancey and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2010-08-03 with total page 111 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Insights from Philip Yancey's personal pilgrimage away from and back to the church—what made him walk away, and what drew him back. Why are there so many more professing Christians than churchgoing Christians? Is it because something is wrong with the church? In his candid, thought-provoking manner, award-winning author Philip Yancey reveals the reasons behind his own journey back from skepticism to wholehearted participation in the church. This book: Weighs the church's human failings against its compelling worth as the body of Christ. Looks into what God may have in mind for His church. Discusses how the church can reach beyond its walls and into the communities and lives around it to be more than just “Sunday worship.” Yancey does not whitewash the church's faults. He sets them against the overwhelming balance of its strengths: its heart for God, its care for the hurting, its outreach to the lost, and its value as family and community. This book is for anyone who’s ever wondered: Why bother with church?

Download or read book A Multi Site Church Roadtrip written by Geoff Surratt and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2009-09-22 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the rapidly expanding multi-site church movement all about? Experience the revolution for yourself and see why it has become the “new normal” for growing churches. A Multi-Site Church Roadtrip takes pastors, church leaders, and anyone who is interested on a tour of multi-site churches across America to see how those churches are handling the opportunities and challenges raised by this dynamic organizational model. Travel with tour guides Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, and Warren Bird, authors of The Multi-Site Church Revolution, and enjoy engaging and humorous on-site narratives that show you the creative ways churches of all kinds are expanding their impact through multiple locations. Hear the inside stories and learn about the latest developments. Find out firsthand how the churches in this book are broadening their options for evangelism, service, and outreach—while making better use of their ministry funds. Since each church on this tour is unique, you won’t find a cookie-cutter approach to ministry. Instead, you’ll gain some practical tools you can use to explore a multi-site direction at your own church.

Download or read book A Stranger in the House of God written by John Koessler and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2009-08-30 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Growing up the son of agnostics, John Koessler saw a Catholic church on one end of the street and a Baptist on the other. In the no-man’s land between the two, this curious outside wondered about the God they worshipped—and began a lifelong search to comprehend the grace and mystery of God. A Stranger in the House of God addresses fundamental questions and struggles faced by spiritual seekers and mature believers. Like a contemporary Pilgrim’s Progress, it traces the author’s journey and explores his experiences with both charismatic and evangelical Christianity. It also describes his transformation from religious outsider to ordained pastor. John Koessler provides a poignant and often humorous window into the interior of the soul as he describes his journey from doubt and struggle with the church to personal faith

Download or read book Change Your Church for Good written by Brad Powell and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2007-02-04 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The church is the hope of the world when it's working right...and therein lies the problem. Most aren't. This has led both Christians and non-Christians to give up on the church entirely; it has led many others to give up on all existing churches-and maybe even start new ones. But all church can and should be transitioned to a new life. A church is never beyond hope. This book will provide principles and practices that can lead to a resurrection of any church, in any setting. It will provide the inspiration and information needed to lead a church successfully through the necessary changes of tradition and culture without compromising God's timeless truth. When this happens, the church will once again be what God intended...the hope of the world.

Download or read book The Normal Christian Life written by Watchman Nee and published by Bibliotech Press. This book was released on 2023-01-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Normal Christian Life is a book by Watchman Nee first delivered as a series of addresses to Christian workers who were gathered in Denmark for special meetings in 1938 and 1939. The messages were first published chapter by chapter in the magazine A Witness and A Testimony published by Theodore Austin-Sparks. The first chapter was published in the November-December 1940 issue. This first publication of the book can be viewed in the original magazines on Austin-Sparks.Net. The messages were later compiled into a book by Angus Kinnear in 1957 in Bombay, India. In The Normal Christian Life, Watchman Nee presents foundational principles for the Christian life and walk drawing primarily from the book of Romans. The book is generally regarded by many as the first introduction of Watchman Nee to the Western world. As of 2009, this book has sold over 1 million copies and is available in many editions and languages. Watchman Nee based his speaking on the first eight chapters of the New Testament book of Romans. Nee takes the first eight chapters of Romans as a "self-contained unit" and divides these chapters into two parts: Romans 1:1 to 5:11 as part one and Romans 5:12 to 8:39 as part two. In the first part of Romans "sins" is given prominent attention and deals with the question of the sins man has committed before God. However, the second section deals with "sin," that is the inward nature, or inward working principle, within man that causes man to commit sin. Thus there is a difference between the acts of a sinner, sins, and the inward nature of a sinner, sin. Nee reveals that God's dual remedy is the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Cross of Christ. The Blood "deals with what we have done, whereas the Cross deals with what we are. The Blood disposes of our sins, while the Cross strikes at the root of our capacity for sin". As Nee progressively moves along in his book, he first touches upon the Blood and then focuses upon the Cross for the remainder of the book. Watchman Nee gave four steps in which a Christian lives the Christian life. Basing from Romans 6:6, there is the need for the knowledge of the cross of Christ as a fact in our experience. The second step is the matter of reckoning. Reckoning is the stating and considering of facts and promises that God has revealed to be true. The third step is the matter of presenting to God. Coming to Romans 6:13, Watchman Nee says that Christians consecrate that which passed through death and resurrection in the new creation. In this way, Christians would no longer live to themselves but to Christ because He has the full authority over their lives. The fourth step is the matter of Walking after the Spirit. Firstly, walking after the Spirit does not refer to our "working" but of dependence on God's working and operation. Secondly, it refers to subjection. This means that the Christian life is the yielding of all the dictates of our flesh and be of subjection to the Spirit. The Normal Christian Life is one of Nee's most well known books. It is considered by many to be a spiritual classic of Christianity. It has been reprinted and reissued in many editions and in many languages. The book's enduring appeal is not only due to Nee's exposition of Romans but also to the many illustrations, personal accounts, and anecdotes that Nee used. The Normal Christian Life has impacted millions of Christians since Nee spoke it and is a major contributor to the local churches movement today. Nee was recognized in the United States House of Representatives by Christopher H. Smith of New Jersey in 2009. He recognized Nee as having been one of the most influential Chinese Christians of his era. In the Congressional record, The Normal Christian Life is highlighted by Smith as being among his most popular and influential books. (wikipedia.org)

Download or read book Everybody s Normal Till You Get to Know Them written by John Ortberg and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2009-05-18 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Normal? Who's normal? Not you, that's for sure! No one you've ever met, either. None of us are normal according to God's definition, and the closer we get to each other, the plainer that becomes. Yet for all our quirks, sins, and jagged edges, we need each other. Community is more than just a word--it is one of our most fundamental requirements. So how do flawed, abnormal people such as ourselves master the forces that can drive us apart and come together in the life-changing relationships God designed us for? In Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them, teacher and bestselling author John Ortberg zooms in on the things that make community tick. You'll get a thought-provoking look at God's heart, at others, and at yourself. Even better, you'll gain wisdom and tools for drawing closer to others in powerful, impactful ways. With humor, insight, and a gift for storytelling, Ortberg shows how community pays tremendous dividends in happiness, health, support, and growth. It's where all of us weird, unwieldy people encounter God's love in tangible ways and discover the transforming power of being loved, accepted, and valued just the way we are.

Download or read book What s So Amazing About Grace Revised and Updated written by Philip Yancey and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2023-10-03 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: OVER TWO MILLION COPIES SOLD! It's the most powerful force in the universe, our only hope for love and forgiveness, and a foretaste of eternal life: amazing, radical, life-changing grace. Millions of lives have been changed by award-winning author Philip Yancey's startling exploration of grace at street level. Grace is the one thing the world can't duplicate, the healing force we need, and the key to transforming a broken world. In this revised and updated edition of his personal and provocative book, Yancey offers true portraits of grace's life-changing power. These stories, set in the midst of life's stark realities, evoke such questions as: If grace is God's love for the undeserving, how do I get it? How well are we dispensing grace to a world that knows far more of strife and unforgiveness than it does of mercy? Can grace make a difference in the midst of such atrocities as the Nazi holocaust, and how can it withstand the brutality of hate? With powerful stories, rich theology, and practical suggestions, Yancey challenges us to become living answers to a world that desperately needs to know, What's So Amazing About Grace?