Empty Churches
Empty Churches

Author: James L. Heft S.M.

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021-01-22

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 0197529348

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Based in the idea that social phenomena are best studied through the lens of different disciplinary perspectives, Empty Churches studies the growing number of individuals who no longer affiliate with a religious tradition. Co-editors Jan Stets, a social psychologist, and James Heft, a historian of theology, bring together leading scholars in the fields of sociology, developmental psychology, gerontology, political science, history, philosophy, and pastoral theology. The scholars in this volume explore the phenomenon by drawing from each other's work to understand better the multi-faceted nature of non-affiliation today. They explore the complex impact that non-affiliation has on individuals and the wider society, and what the future looks like for religion in America. The book also features insightful perspectives from parents of young adults and interviews with pastors struggling with this issue who address how we might address this trend. Empty Churches provides a rich and thoughtful analysis on non- affiliation in American society from multiple scholarly perspectives. The increasing growth of non-affiliation threatens the vitality and long-term stability of religious institutions, and this book offers guidance on maintaining the commitment and community at the heart of these institutions.

The Empty Church
The Empty Church

Author: Thomas Reeves

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 1998-01-07

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 9780684836072

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At a time when Americans are searching for spiritual and moral renewal, millions of parishioners are abandoning the churches that once embodied the very values they seek. "The Empty Church" offers the first cogent explanation of why his has occurred--and tells what can be done about it.

The 'Empty' Church Revisited
The 'Empty' Church Revisited

Author: Robin Gill

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1351890727

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When did churches start to appear more empty than full - and why? The very physicality of largely empty churches and chapels in Britain plays a powerful role in popular perceptions of 'religion'. Empty churches are frequently cited in the media as evidence of large scale religious decline. The 'Empty' Church Revisited presents a systematic account of British churchgoing patterns over the last two hundred years, uncovering the factors and the statistics behind the considerable process of decline in church attendence. Dispelling as myth the commonly held views that the process of secularization in British culture has led to the decline in churchgoing and resulted in the predominantly empty churches of today, Gill points to physical factors, economics and issues of social space to shed new light on the origins of empty churches. This thoroughly updated edition of Robin Gill's earlier work, The Myth of the Empty Church, presents new data throughout to explore afresh the paradox of church building activity in a context of decline, the patterns of urbanisation followed by sub-urbanisation affecting churches, changes in patterns of worship, and changes within the sociology of religion in the last decade.

Simple Church
Simple Church

Author: Thom S. Rainer

Publisher: B&H Publishing Group

Published: 2011-06

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 0805447997

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Now in paperback, this multi-awarded national best seller shares a clear message from case studies of 400 North American congregations: church is done best when it's kept simple.

Leading on Empty
Leading on Empty

Author: Wayne Cordeiro

Publisher: Bethany House

Published: 2010-04-01

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 1441207422

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Wayne Cordeiro found himself paralyzed by burnout. He had been in ministry for 30 years, and 10 years after founding what is now the largest church in Hawaii, he found himself depleted. Wayne took a season out of his growing ministry to recharge and refocus on the truly important. He was able to get back in touch with his life, get back in proper balance, and re-energize his spirit through Christ in a way that propelled him forward to greater levels of service. Wayne first gave this message at a recent Willow Creek Leadership Summit, where it was the highest-rated presentation by those in attendance. Pulling no punches, Wayne talks about the walls leaders must break through and how to move on with integrity. Included are ways to care for oneself physically and emotionally as well as spiritually.

A New Model of the Authentic Church
A New Model of the Authentic Church

Author: Robert Fuggi

Publisher: WestBow Press

Published: 2018-02-08

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 1973610957

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In American church culture, worldly benchmarks of achievement have all but blinded us to the true purpose of the body of Christ. A New Model of the Authentic Church may be one of the most significant books written on the American church in decades. It not only offers a scholarly analysis of the current state of the church, but provides practical solutions. The book offers a brilliantly well-developed model for how to make church work more effectively. If implemented, it would provide a much needed paradigm shift in how we do church in America. The books main contribution is that it provides a workable framework not only on how to birth new missionally minded churches, but how to reform existing ones back to the Authentic Church of the gospels. If its principles are taken and applied, the book could alter the landscape of the American church, which will be a breath of fresh theological air to a church that has lost its way in the new millennium. The purpose of this book is not to just challenge and change the status quo; its goal is to bring a real, lasting transformation to how we do church. The aspiration in writing this book is for it to be seen and read not just as a critical assessment of the condition of the American church, but as a practical blueprint that will provide much renewed hope and purpose to the contemporary American church, the bride of Christ.

When the Lords House Closes
When the Lords House Closes

Author: Delgado

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2025-07

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 0197767885

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"This chapter sets the stage for the book and follows a conventional path, increasing the likelihood of reader engagement and that it will influence community practice, which quite frankly, is the bottom-line. I do not subscribe to the axiom of advancing knowledge for the sake of knowledge. I am much too practical! Some readers, however, may beg to differ. Books challenge readers to entertain new ways of thinking on a subject, supplying a rationale for the subject's importance. Books need major time, financial, and intellectual commitment to a subject, bringing heightened expectations and serving as a key motivator for action. Readers have a right to have lofty expectations from a book because of the time invested, and that must be confirmed and met by an author! It is impossible for an author to suspend their experiences and worldviews from the task of writing a 300 or so page document. The more an author uplifts their values, motivations, biases, limitations, and experiences (both good and bad), it allows readers to have a better grasp of why a topic is framed in a particular manner. This stance ascends in significance in this journey and more so when it covers religion. Readers may ask about my personal stands on religion, religious beliefs, and houses of worship. More specifically, although raised Catholic up to my late teenage years, I am a member of a Church of Christ congregation because of the values that this church embraces. This church, too, is facing its challenges with dwindling congregations and closures. Suffice it to say, I respect people's religious/spiritual beliefs that are different from mine, although I am not a "very" religious person by nature, it is fair to say"--

The Routledge Handbook of Megachurches
The Routledge Handbook of Megachurches

Author: Afe Adogame

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-05-07

Total Pages: 663

ISBN-13: 1003861105

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The Routledge Handbook of Megachurches provides a survey of global megachurch phenomena, with an international slate of authors introducing existing and emerging research on a wide variety of relevant topics. Over the past decade, the field of megachurch studies has matured and become global in its scope and orientation. The Handbook offers 33 chapters by top scholars in the field, focusing in particular on: The location, demographic nature, and transnational connections of megachurches. Megachurch worship, hermeneutics, and theology (in theory and practice). Megachurch institutional dynamics. The various ways that megachurches have both influenced and been influenced by their social contexts in terms of class, age, gender, sexuality, and pop culture. The Handbook's interdisciplinary orientation makes it essential reading for sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists, media specialists, pop culture observers, business strategists, leadership consultants, marketing analysts, scholars of religion, and Christian historians, theologians, and missiologists. Experienced scholars of megachurches will gain valuable insight into aspects of megachurch research beyond their own specializations. Scholars new to the field will find the chapters useful as signposts for where to begin their own academic exploration. Christian pastors and laypeople will learn more about this increasingly prominent and influential form of their faith.