Download or read book The Church Guide for Making Decisions Together written by Terence Corkin and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2017-05-02 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent political events in the USA indicate that ordinary people are weary of traditional politics and ways of doing business in the halls of power. A similar mood is present in churches around the world. Ordinary church members are tired of the fighting and politicking that seem to privilege the same people all the time. They want a new way of making decisions in their churches and in their representative meetings. This book shows them how such a hope can be realized. Robert’s Rules of Order, or the traditional parliamentary style of decision-making used in many churches, can work for simple decisions that are aggregated and passed by consent. For complex and divisive issues, churches need a decision process that does not result in a combative, winner-take-all approach to church life. A healthy church also tries to involve commitment from a wide range of stakeholders rather than privilege a few well-informed and capable speakers. A vital and healthy congregation yearns for a more collaborative, respectful, encouraging, engaging, and empowering process. This book on discernment in the church provides a step-by-step guide on how to create a new way of working together. Drawing on tried and tested processes, it advocates for a consensus building approach and showing people how it can work in their setting (local church or judicatory meetings). Readers will learn how to design a consensus building business process for their church meeting while still respecting the denominational and legal requirements under which they must operate. This book is for leaders, members of church boards and committees, and church members who know that there is something wrong with the present system but don’t know what to do about it. This guidebook is hopeful, inspiring, and practical.
Download or read book Fierce Marriage written by Ryan Frederick and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2018-04-17 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ryan and Selena Frederick were newlyweds when they landed in Switzerland to pursue Selena's dream of training horses. Neither of them knew at the time that Ryan was living out a death sentence brought on by a worsening genetic heart defect. Soon it became clear he needed major surgery that could either save his life--or result in his death on the operating table. The young couple prepared for the worst. When Ryan survived, they both realized that they still had a future together. But the near loss changed the way they saw all that would lie ahead. They would live and love fiercely, fighting for each other and for a Christ-centered marriage, every step of the way. Fierce Marriage is their story, but more than that, it is a call for married couples to put God first in their relationship, to measure everything they do and say to each other against what Christ did for them, and to see marriage not just as a relationship they should try to keep healthy but also as one worth fighting for in every situation. With the gospel as their foundation, Ryan and Selena offer hope and practical help for common struggles in marriage, including communication problems, sexual frustration, financial stress, family tension, screen-time disconnection, and unrealistic expectations.
Download or read book Discerning God s Will Together written by Danny E. Morris and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2012-08-15 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bible study, research, and fieldwork merge in this book of practical principles for decision making by spiritual discernment. The step-by-step approach can be used to help any size group learn a new way to make decisions--a way that is interactive, spiritual, and rooted in faith practices and community. Small groups, committees, church boards, church leaders at all levels, and seminary professors will find this book valuable. This is a revised and updated version of the book, originally published in 1997. This new version inclused revised and updated material, as well as a new introduction by Charles Olsen.
Download or read book Decision Making and the Will of God written by Garry Friesen and published by Multnomah. This book was released on 2009-10-07 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Does God Have a Perfect Will for Your Life? Does God have a perfect will for each Christian? Can you be absolutely certain of God’s specific will for your life? In this expanded twenty-fifth anniversary edition of his highly acclaimed work, Garry Friesen examines the prevalent view on God’s will today and provides a sound biblical alternative to the traditional teaching of how God guides us. This new edition includes these helpful resources: • Study guide for small groups • Responses to Frequently Asked Questions • Guide to painless Scripture memorization Friesen tackles the very practical issues of choosing a mate, picking a career, and giving in this fresh and liberating approach to decision making and the will of God. Story Behind the Book Most Christians have been taught how to find God’s will, yet many are still unsure whether they’ve found it. God does guide His people, but the question is, “How does He guide?” After “putting out a fleece” to decide which college to attend, Garry Friesen began pondering why it was so hard to find God’s will when he had so sincerely sought it. Was he the only one who did not have 100 percent clarity for every decision? Then a new possibility struck—perhaps his understanding of the nature of God’s will was biblically deficient. Maybe there was a better way to understand HOW God guides.
Download or read book Pursuing God s Will Together written by Ruth Haley Barton and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2012-04-25 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Church boards and other Christian leadership teams have long relied on models adapted from the business world. Ruth Haley Barton, president of the Transforming Center, helps teams transition to a much more fitting model—the spiritual community that practices discernment together.
Download or read book Future Faith written by Wesley Granberg-Michaelson and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2018-03-23 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Future Faith: Ten Challenges Reshaping the Practice of Christianity, author Wesley Granberg-Michaelson provides a lucid view of how the top ten winds of change blowing through global Christian faith are reshaping the practice of Christianity today. He is uniquely qualified to identify and interpret connection points between global Christian trends and the American church. Drawing on the stories, examples, and personalities of pastors and congregations from throughout the U.S. as well as those from Africa, Asia, Latin America, who are the faces of Christianity's future, Future Faith is designed to inform and empower followers of Jesus to seek new ways of becoming the face of Christ to a rapidly changing world. Leaders and practitioners in church growth, renewal, and planting will be a primary audience for this book. Students of religion from Catholic, evangelical, Pentecostal, and historic Protestant streams will find this book an informative and stimulating resource for pondering together the future of their faith. Small groups engaged in congregational nurture and growth will find in the author a welcome companion for guiding them through the multi-cultural landscape of contemporary faith.
Download or read book 10 Great Ideas from Church History written by Mark R. Shaw and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2013-09-07 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mark Shaw offers ideas from the most significant Christian leaders of the last five hundred years, including Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, William Carey, John Wesley, Richard Baxter and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Download or read book Demystifying Decision Making written by Aimee Joseph and published by Crossway. This book was released on 2021-12-22 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing Closer to God One Decision at a Time On an average day, people makes countless decisions: Should I get out of bed or hit the snooze button? What should I have for breakfast? Where should we go for this year's vacation? While some decisions are easy to make, others can leave individuals paralyzed and full of anxiety. As Christians living in an increasingly individualistic society, what's the best strategy for making decisions that honor God while becoming more like him in the process? Writing from her own experience and pointing to biblical examples, Aimee Joseph offers a biblical and theological framework for decision-making. She explains God's design for humans as decision-makers, the biblical model for making choices, common wrong approaches, practical tips, and what to do when you've made a poor decision. With the philosophy that "as we shape our decisions, our decisions shape us," Joseph teaches readers how to worship and draw closer to Christ through their daily decisions. Practical: Equips Christians to make decisions as God's image bearers Applicable: Features study questions and helpful resources, including "The Dashboard of Decisions" and a decision-making flowchart Published in Partnership with the Gospel Coalition (TGC)
Download or read book Doing Justice Together written by Michael Adam Beck and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2024-02-20 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transform your church with grace. Doing Justice Together introduces a process using Scripture as a souce of inspiration and instruction for pastors and church people to move through together, to re-envision and reorient themselves away from old, harmful habits. Beck and Hand show pastors how they can, over time, lead the congregation to become a place where racial harmony, justice, and liberation are intrinsic to the structure and life of the church. The authors lay out four pathways for discerning and correcting the unjust patterns that often sneak into church life unnoticed. They also share other leaders’ stories from a variety of settings where this process has led to healing, revival, and hope. Following the pathways, pastors and congregants will be equipped to thoughtfully transform their church. They’ll make changes with grace and care, honoring and including longtime members. And they’ll begin new ministries—perhaps reaching people they could never have imagined reaching before--becoming a fresh expression of church in their community.
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 Together at the Table written by Karen Oliveto and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 2018-07-31 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Together at the Table is the personal story and public message of Bishop Karen Oliveto, the first openly LGBTQ person to be elected a bishop in The United Methodist Church. Her election was and is controversial, with opponents seeking to have her removed and some even threatening violence against her. The denomination has been debating the inclusion of LGBTQ people for decades and will be gathering in February 2019 to determine whether it can agree to let conferences within the church ordain as they see fit and let congregations decide what weddings to hold or whether conservative and liberal factions will break off from the denominational body. Bishop Oliveto believes that the church can stay togetherthat people of different convictions can remain in communion with one another. Woven together with her own story of coming out and following God's call to ordained ministry is her guidance for how to live together despite differencesby practicing empathy, living with ambiguity, appreciating the diversity of creation, and embracing unity without uniformity.
Download or read book Better Together written by Jim Tomberlin and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2012-04-24 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thousands of Protestant churches are perplexed by plateaued or declining attendance, while other congregations nearby thrive. Is there a way for them to combine forces, drawing on both their strengths, in ways that also increase their missional impact? Church merger consultant Jim Tomberlin, with co-writer Warren Bird, makes the case that mergers today work best not with two struggling churches but with a vital, momentum-filled lead church partnering with a joining church. In this new book, they provide a complete, practical, hands-on guide for church leaders of both struggling and vibrant churches so that they can understand the issues, develop strategies, and execute a variety of forms of merger for church expansion and renewal to reinvigorate declining churches and give them a "second life."
Download or read book Discerning the Will of God written by Timothy M. Gallagher and published by Crossroad Publishing. This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing from the timeless methods of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, this thoughtful meditation is enriched with examples and stories that offer practical and profound wisdom for aligning personal desires and goals with God's will.
Download or read book Trust by Design written by Amy Valdez Barker and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2017-09-19 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Trust is a bankable asset for leaders who direct, shape, and guide faith communities. Trust is a form of equity that fuels attitudes, behaviors, and actions in faith communities who aim to transform the world. Through a process of self-examination into the behaviors and actions that help build or break trust, leaders can step boldly into ministry where God is sending them. This guide to building trust as an asset is practical and analytical. The concepts are supported by anecdotes and stories, so that the reader is invited to share or journal with their own experiences. The book will level the playing field, so that a small group of church leaders can engage together as peers (lay and clergy) within their particular faith community. This book is useful for pastors and staff teams, the personnel committee, the administrative board or church council, and youth leaders.
Download or read book Scripture Discernment written by Luke Timothy Johnson and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Yet it is not enough for a congregation simply to turn to the Bible when a decision must be reached, for Scripture does not directly address all issues which face the church today, and those it does often reflect greatly differing historical and social contexts than our own. Thus, added to the authority of Scripture in the church's decision making is a process of discernment, in which the members of the community--under the guidance of the Holy Spirit--recall how God has worked in their lives as individuals and as a community and discern together God's direction for the future. Johnson argues that this very pattern of decision making can be found in Scripture itself, notably in one of the central events of the book of Acts.
Download or read book Manresa written by Saint Ignatius (of Loyola) and published by . This book was released on 1881 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
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 205 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.
