Mosaic in southern California is one of the largest and most innovative multiethnic congregations in America. Gerardo Marti shows us how this unusual church has achieved multiethnicity, not by targeting specific groups, but by providing multiple havens of inclusion that play down ethnic differences. He reveals a congregation aiming to reconstruct evangelical theology, personal identity, member involvement, and church governance to create an institution with greater relevance to the social reality of a new generation.
In this second edition of Roger E. Olson's classic work, he thematically traces the contours of Christian belief down through the ages, revealing a pattern of both unity and diversity. He finds a consensus of teaching that is both unitive and able to incorporate a faithful diversity when not forced into the molds of false either-or alternatives.
A #1 BESTSELLER IN KINDLE HISTORICAL THRILLERS Ancient scrolls hold the key to the origins of Christianity--but some will stop at nothing to hide the truth A suspicious death in Istanbul leaves one ancient scroll and clues to finding another in the hands of Drew Korchula, a thirty-two-year-old American expat, a Turkish dwarf named Kadir, and Zafer, a Special Forces washout. Drew is desperate to turn everything over to the academic community, and in the process redeem himself in the eyes of his estranged wife, but Kadir and Zafer are only interested in what they can get for the scrolls on the black market. Not everyone wants to see the scrolls go public, however, and some will stop at nothing to protect the Church and believers around the world from the revelations embodied in the priceless manuscripts. An action-packed intellectual thriller unraveling the mystery of a theological cold case more than two thousand years old, The Christos Mosaic is a monumental work of biblical research wrapped in a story of love, faith, human frailty, friendship, and forgiveness. Author Vincent Czyz takes the reader through the backstreets of Istanbul, Antakya (ancient Antioch), and Cairo, to clandestine negotiations with wealthy antiquities smugglers and ruthless soldiers of fortune, to dusty Egyptian monasteries, on a nautical skirmish off the coast of Alexandria, and finally to the ruins of Constantine's palace buried deep beneath the streets of present-day Istanbul.
In this Leadership Network Innovation series book, Ethnic Blends, Mark DeYmaz will help you navigate seven common challenges in building a healthy multi-ethnic church. The rise of multi-ethnic churches could become the new Reformation in this century. Yet the movement is in a pioneer stage, and there have been few road maps ... until now.
For long time believers, non-believers, and those somewhere in-between, this book is a must read as you discover the faithful lives of those who laid the path for Christianity. God uses each one of us to build His story. Meet faithful Christians throughout time and witness the way their lives have created the mosaic that is our Christian story in him.
This volume addresses the theological issues which arose when different ancient religious groups within three Abrahamic religions attempted to understand or define their opinion on the Mosaic Torah. The twelve chapters explore various instances of accepting, modifying, ignoring, criticizing, and vilifying the Mosaic Torah.
William Lobdell's journey of faith—and doubt—may be the most compelling spiritual memoir of our time. Lobdell became a born-again Christian in his late 20s when personal problems—including a failed marriage—drove him to his knees in prayer. As a newly minted evangelical, Lobdell—a veteran journalist—noticed that religion wasn't covered well in the mainstream media, and he prayed for the Lord to put him on the religion beat at a major newspaper. In 1998, his prayers were answered when the Los Angeles Times asked him to write about faith. Yet what happened over the next eight years was a roller-coaster of inspiration, confusion, doubt, and soul-searching as his reporting and experiences slowly chipped away at his faith. While reporting on hundreds of stories, he witnessed a disturbing gap between the tenets of various religions and the behaviors of the faithful and their leaders. He investigated religious institutions that acted less ethically than corrupt Wall St. firms. He found few differences between the morals of Christians and atheists. As this evidence piled up, he started to fear that God didn't exist. He explored every doubt, every question—until, finally, his faith collapsed. After the paper agreed to reassign him, he wrote a personal essay in the summer of 2007 that became an international sensation for its honest exploration of doubt. Losing My Religion is a book about life's deepest questions that speaks to everyone: Lobdell understands the longings and satisfactions of the faithful, as well as the unrelenting power of doubt. How he faced that power, and wrestled with it, is must reading for people of faith and nonbelievers alike.
The landscape of U.S. immigration has changed dramatically since Herberg first published his theory. Most of today's immigrants are Asian or Latino, and are thus unable to shed their racial and ethnic identities as rapidly as earlier European immigrants. And rather than a flexible, labor-based economy allows little in the way of class mobility for some immigrants and rapid mobility for others.
Multicultural churches help us understand God's will for us to become one in this multicultural world and experience a heavenly gathering in advance. This book, based on case studies of four multicultural churches, provides insights and knowledge regarding minority-dominant multicultural churches in the United States. Many multicultural churches in America are mainly concerned about racial reconciliation between the white and the black. On the other hand, resources concerning minority-dominant multicultural churches are scant. With the special attention on Korean immigrant churches, this book contributes to the body of knowledge regarding minority-dominant multicultural churches. Specifically, this book provides a model transition process, called the Windmill T-process, to facilitate the movement of monocultural/monoethnic churches in taking steps towards acquiring the characteristics of multicultural churches. In addition, this book touches on the issue of evangelism in the multicultural church. Although there is limited insight, the book describes what factors first draw different racial/ethnic people to a church and what factors cause them to stay there. All in all, this book will guide you to a deeper understanding on multicultural churches and its practices for all nations beyond ethnic/racial identities.
Through personal stories, proven experience, and a thorough analysis of the biblical text, Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church illustrates both the biblical mandate for the multi-ethnic church and the seven core commitments required to bring it about. Mark DeYmaz, pastor of one of the most proven multi-ethnic churches in the country, writes from both his experience and his extensive study of how to plant, grow, and encourage more ethnically diverse churches. He argues that the "homogenous unit principle" will soon become irrelevant and that the most effective way to spread the gospel in an increasingly diverse world is through strong and vital multi-ethnic churches. Apart from ethnically and economically diverse relationships, we cannot understand others different from ourselves, develop trust for others who are different than us, and/or love others different than ourselves. Apart from understanding, trust, and love, we are less likely to get involved in the plight of others different than ourselves. Without involvement, nothing changes, and the disparaging consequences of systemic racism remain entrenched in our culture. Surely, it breaks the heart of God to see so many churches segregated ethnically or economically from one another, and that little has changed in the many years since it was first observed that eleven o'clock on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in the land.
