Gaining By Losing

Gaining By Losing

Author: J.D. Greear

Publisher: Zondervan

Published: 2015-07-28

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 0310515254

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People are leaving the church J.D. Greear pastors. Big givers. Key volunteers. Some of his best leaders and friends. And that’s exactly how he wants it to be. When Jesus gave his disciples the Great Commission, he revealed that the key for reaching the world with the gospel is found in sending, not gathering. Though many churches focus time and energy on attracting people and counting numbers, the real mission of the church isn’t how many people you can gather. It’s about training up disciples and then sending them out. The true measure of success for a church should be its sending capacity, not its seating capacity. But there is a cost to this. To see ministry multiply, we must release the seeds God has placed in our hands. And to do that, we must ask ourselves whether we are concerned more with building our kingdom or God’s. In Gaining By Losing, J.D. Greear unpacks ten plumb lines that you can use to reorient your church’s priorities around God’s mission to reach a lost world. The good news is that you don’t need to choose between gathering or sending. Effective churches can, and must, do both.


African American Church Leadership

African American Church Leadership

Author: Paul Cannings

Publisher: Kregel Publications

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 0825442737

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How can African American church leaders maximize their leadership potential? What are current models for effective leadership in the African American Christian community? This book answers those questions and more with up-to-date research and current best practices regarding leadership principles and strategies. African American church communities and those who interact with and work with these communities will find this book particularly useful. ParkerBooks are written to equip and encourage African American ministry leaders.


Making A Good Church Great

Making A Good Church Great

Author: Steve Sjogren

Publisher: Gospel Light Publications

Published: 2010-02-25

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 9780830746620

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Bestselling author Steve Sjogren untangles the complex jumble commonly known as greatness in today’s mega church, mega everything world. As a successful pastor, he launched the servant evangelism movement, but along the way he discovered that significance was not where or what he thought it would be. Now, in a very practical book, he focuses on genuine greatness. Is it the size of the sanctuary? The number of new believers baptized each year? The youth attendance? The quantity of best selling books the pastor has written? The list of television shows, radio shows or podcasts the pastors appears on? Or is it something more? What is the buzz on good churches that become great in God’s eyes? Sjogren argues that greatness is not a point at which you arrive; rather, it is an ongoing process of worshipping, serving and living in God’s presence. It not a slick program; rather, it is a family, a hospital, an army and a school. When God is a present, His people are empowered. When God empowers His people, a good church becomes great.


Churches That Make a Difference

Churches That Make a Difference

Author: Ronald J. Sider

Publisher: Baker Books

Published: 2002-04-01

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1585582190

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Churches over the past generations have been weakened by a failure to meet both the physical and spiritual needs of their communities. Many have adopted a narrow vision, focusing on only one aspect of ministry. But in today's environment of faith-based opportunities many Christians are eager to start reaching out to their world with both Good News and good works, and therefore they are searching for appropriate ways to integrate both into their ministry. In Churches That Make a Difference, best-selling author Ron Sider and his coauthors give those involved in community outreach a comprehensive resource for developing holistic ministry--a balance of evangelism and social outreach. Illustrations and helpful organizational tips detail the how-to's of an effective holistic ministry. Case studies that show how different churches across the United States reach out to their communities provide a variety of ideas and practical applications. User-friendly tools are included as well for congregational studies, surveys, evaluations, and community assessments. The authors draw on extensive experience with church ministries and faith-based organizations as they share the life-changing vision and biblical mandate for living the whole gospel. Church leaders will be encouraged in their process of developing and maintaining a holistic ministry, and local churches will rediscover a passion for loving the whole person the way Jesus did.


Good News and Good Works

Good News and Good Works

Author: Ronald J. Sider

Publisher: Baker Books

Published: 1999-03

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 0801058457

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Concerned to promote an authentic, biblical faith, this book suggests ways to combine evangelism with social action for effective witness in today's world.


A Heart for the City

A Heart for the City

Author: John Fuder

Publisher: Moody Publishers

Published: 2005-11-01

Total Pages: 526

ISBN-13: 1575676648

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Jesus is still the answer for urban ministries, for ministries to the downtrodden, poor, and distressed in our cities. A Heart for the City is a rich compendium of valuable information on city ministries written by people who are currently ministering in the city, including pastors, Christian school administrators, and directors of homeless missions. It includes many illustrations and case studies that will prove valuable to any who work in the city or who want to understand how to more effectively help in the city. There are 29 chapters, divided into the following seven parts: - Context and History - Biblical and Philosophical Foundations - Education and Training - Local Church Models - Ethnic Communities - Disenfranchised Subcultures - Children and Youth A Heart For the City is a unique treasure of encouragement for those serving in or those with a heart for the inner city. You will surely be blessed!


Why Cities Matter

Why Cities Matter

Author: Stephen T. Um

Publisher: Crossway

Published: 2013-03-31

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 1433532921

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We live in a unique moment in history. Right now, more people live in urban centers than ever before. This means that we have an unprecedented opportunity to influence the majority of the world through the church in the city. Helping us to make the most of this moment, urban pastors Justin Buzzard and Stephen Um lay out a compelling vision for cultural engagement and church planting in our world’s cities. If you’re looking for motivation to maintain a commitment to the city or for guidance as you consider going all in, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of urban life that informs, instructs, inspires, and answers questions including: Why cities are so important What the Bible says about cities How to overcome common issues and develop a plan for living missionally in the city Instead of retreating from or taking from our cities, here is a call to make the cities our home, to take good care of them, and to participate in God’s kingdom-building work in the urban centers of our world.


The Effective Church Board

The Effective Church Board

Author: Michael J. Anthony

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2000-10-11

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 1725205238

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Are you a recently elected church board member who hasn't received training for your new position? Are you a current board member disillusioned by negative experiences and interpersonal conflicts? Education specialist Michael Anthony asked a cross-section of almost a hundred pastors and church officers, in addition to staff members and denominational officials, to give their input about what is happening in church boards across America. The results of the survey were compiled into a comprehensive handbook that addresses topics such as: -Developing a vision statement -Writing job descriptions -Setting long- and short-range goals -Facing financial storms -Resolving interpersonal conflicts -Reviving a declining church This unique, multi-denominational training resource emphasizes developing a team structure. It can be used for individual instruction, group discussions, and orientation sessions. The case studies clearly identify situations and leadership experiences common to many church boards.


Renewal

Renewal

Author: Mark Wild

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2019-03-21

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 022660523X

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In the decades following World War II, a movement of clergy and laity sought to restore liberal Protestantism to the center of American urban life. Chastened by their failure to avert war and the Holocaust, and troubled by missionaries’ complicity with colonial regimes, they redirected their energies back home. Renewal explores the rise and fall of this movement, which began as an effort to restore the church’s standing but wound up as nothing less than an openhearted crusade to remake our nation’s cities. These campaigns reached beyond church walls to build or lend a hand to scores of organizations fighting for welfare, social justice, and community empowerment among the increasingly nonwhite urban working class. Church leaders extended their efforts far beyond traditional evangelicalism, often dovetailing with many of the contemporaneous social currents coursing through the nation, including black freedom movements and the War on Poverty. Renewal illuminates the overlooked story of how religious institutions both shaped and were shaped by postwar urban America.


Patterns and Portraits

Patterns and Portraits

Author: Renée House

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 9780802847058

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Volume 31 in the HSRCA series explores the important -- and largely unknowledged -- contribution of women to the history of the Reformed Church in America. Much more than an expose of untold stories, this significant foray into women studies discusses the church's continuing struggle to define the role of women in ministry and begins, at last, to rewrite the whole story of this significant North American demonination.