The shape of the church to come
Author: Karl Rahner
Publisher:
Published: 1977
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13:
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When Missions Shapes the Mission
Author: David A. Horner
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Published: 2011-05-02
Total Pages: 278
ISBN-13: 1433673592
DOWNLOAD EBOOK"Why are more churches not engaged in practical, substantial ways of taking the gospel to the nations?" When Missions Shape the Mission unpacks a statistical study of traditionally evangelical churches that reveals their anemic level of commitment to the biblical mandate of making Christ known around the world. Veteran pastor David Horner makes the data easy to understand, challenging other pastors to radically assign their best leadership and resources to missions as he looks at where the church is today, how it got there, and where we must go from here: "Let's dream a godly dream. What if you committed to step up and lead your church in the pursuit of becoming a mission-focused church? Then, what if you invited ten of your pastor friends to join you in the effort—and each of them did the same? What would happen to the available missions force beginning right here in the West?"
The Shape of Christian History
Author: Scott W. Sunquist
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2022-06-28
Total Pages: 127
ISBN-13: 151400223X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKHow should thoughtful Christians—especially historians and missiologists—make sense of global Christianity as an unfolding historical movement? Highlighting both the continuity and the diversity within the Christian movement over the centuries, this comprehensive resource from Scott Sunquist offers a framework for how to read and write church history.
The Shape of the Church
Author: Ephrem Arcement
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Published: 2024-10-03
Total Pages: 195
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis is a book to help further the ecumenical cause. By providing a new paradigm for growth in ecclesial wholeness, The Shape of the Church charts a pathway that is at once biblically and theologically grounded and pastorally applicable. Seven interdependent dimensions are identified (evangelical, pentecostal, sacramental, intellectual, mystical, pastoral, prophetic) which constitute the church’s wholeness and safeguard its integrity. Throughout church history, these seven dimensions have struggled to maintain a life-giving balance and have often isolated themselves from one another, distorting the church’s catholicity and wholeness. Reform movements have repeatedly arisen to help revive dimensions being neglected but have often over-emphasized these dimensions to the neglect of others and further distorted the church’s shape. The Shape of the Church seeks to offer a vision of the church that values the full dimensionality of the church and insists upon the giftedness of all its dimensions, arguing that the path forward to greater ecclesial maturity and wholeness is only through the nurturing and integration of all its seven dimensions.
Look Before You Lead
Author: Aubrey Malphurs
Publisher: Baker Books
Published: 2013-02-15
Total Pages: 245
ISBN-13: 1441240357
DOWNLOAD EBOOKPastoral ministry is challenging work, especially when a pastor ignores the church's "congregational culture" when seeking to minister to church members or implement changes. Just as a pastor studies to interpret the Scriptures in order to understand and preach the Bible, he or she must interpret the local church culture to better understand and move it toward accomplishing its mission and vision. In Look Before You Lead, trusted church leadership expert Aubrey Malphurs shows pastors how to read their church's unique local culture, how to change or revitalize it, and even how to combine two cultures when one church adopts another. This unique resource approaches leadership and discernment from a solid, biblical perspective and includes a number of helpful appendixes, such as a behavior, belief, and a values audit, that are key to reading and understanding the culture.
The Shape of Sola Scriptura
Author: Keith A. Mathison
Publisher: Canon Press & Book Service
Published: 2001
Total Pages: 370
ISBN-13: 1885767749
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn what shape do we find the doctrine of sola Scriptura today? Many modern Evangelicals see it as a license to ignore history and the creeds in favor of a more splintered approach to the Christian living. In the past two decades, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox apologists have strongly tried to undermine sola Scriptura as unbiblical, unhistorical, and impractical. But these groups rest their cases on a recent, false take on sola Scriptura. The ancient, medieval, and classical Protestant view of sola Scriptura actually has a quite different shape than most opponents and defenders maintain. Therein lies the goal of this book-an intriguing defense of the ancient (and classical Protestant) doctrine of sola Scriptura against the claims of Rome, the East, and modern Evangelicalism. "The issue of sola Scriptura is not an abstract problem relevant only to the sixteenth-century Reformation, but one that poses increasingly more serious consequences for contemporary Christianity. This work by Keith Mathison is the finest and most comprehensive treatment of the matter I've seen. I highly recommend it to all who embrace the authority of sacred Scripture." -R.C. Sproul, Ligonier Ministries
Ministry in the Image of God
Author: Stephen Seamands
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2009-09-20
Total Pages: 190
ISBN-13: 0830876359
DOWNLOAD EBOOKMerit winner in the 2006 Christianity Today Book Awards! "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." Those of us called to Christian ministry are commissioned and sent by Jesus, just as he himself was called and sent by the Father. Thus we naturally pattern our ministries after Christ's example. But distinctively Christian service involves the Spirit as well, just as Jesus himself accomplished his ministry in the power of the Spirit. Thus the whole Trinity--Father, Son and Holy Spirit--gives shape to truly authentic Christian ministry. Though as Christians we all affirm the doctrine of the Trinity, many of us might struggle to explain how understanding the Trinity could actually shape our ministry. Stephen Seamands demonstrates how a fully orbed theology of the Trinity transforms our perception and practice of vocational ministry. Theological concepts like relationality and perichoresis have direct relevance to pastoral life and work, especially in unfolding a trinitarian approach to relationships, service and mission. A thoroughly trinitarian outlook provides the fuel for our ministry "of Jesus Christ, to the Father, through the Holy Spirit, on behalf of the church and the world." Essential reading for pastors, parachurch workers, counselors, missionaries, youth ministers and all who are called to any vocation of Christian ministry.
The Sacred Secular
Author: Dottie Escobedo-Frank
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Published: 2016-10-18
Total Pages: 94
ISBN-13: 1501810456
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Sacred Secular examines cultural spaces where people are experiencing something sacred. These places are not in the church. They’re in yoga studios, neighborhood potlucks, and TED Talks. Dottie Escobedo-Frank and Rob Rynders see lessons for the church in these spaces. They see new ways we can convey to people that the church is uniquely sacred and significant and that Jesus is for them. These glimpses into the sacred-secular will inspire creative church leaders to set aside their assumptions about what church looks like. The Sacred Secular nurtures empowerment, creativity, spiritual movement, and the courage to embody the sacredness and substance of our faith. “Many of us in the church (including clergy) feel we have more in common with the ‘spiritual but not religious’ than we have with lots of church folks these days. We are just as spiritually hungry and thirsty as ever, but we’re open to finding God in surprising places and spaces . . . including ‘secular’ ones. This beautifully written book is all about that phenomenon. I think you’re going to love it.” —Brian D. McLaren, author/speaker, brianmclaren.net “Be prepared to hear contemporary stories akin to the Apostle Peter discovering God in an ‘outsider’—Cornelius—in twenty-first–century urban America. This book is a jewel from two missional church practitioners in The United Methodist Church. It offers wisdom, vision, creativity, and humility that will mark the gospel-bearing church of the future. I highly recommend The Sacred Secular to pastors, church planters, and laity who want their congregations to know how to develop culturally connected faith communities in our rapidly changing world.” —Elaine A. Heath, Dean, Duke Divinity School, Duke University, Durham, NC
The Prodigal Church
Author: Jared C. Wilson
Publisher: Crossway
Published: 2015-04-16
Total Pages: 225
ISBN-13: 1433544644
DOWNLOAD EBOOKPastors want to reach the lost with the good news of Jesus. However, we've too often assumed this requires loud music, flashy lights, and skinny jeans. In this gentle manifesto, Jared Wilson—a pastor who knows what it's like to serve in a large attractional church—challenges pastors to reconsider their priorities when it comes to how they "do church" and reach people in their communities. Writing with the grace and kindness of a trusted friend, Wilson encourages pastors to reexamine the Bible's teaching, not simply return to a traditional model for tradition's sake. He then sets forth an alternative to both the attractional and the traditional models: an explicitly biblical approach that is gospel focused, grace based, and fruit oriented.
The Shape of the Church
Author: Ephrem Arcement
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Published: 2024-10-03
Total Pages: 175
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis is a book to help further the ecumenical cause. By providing a new paradigm for growth in ecclesial wholeness, The Shape of the Church charts a pathway that is at once biblically and theologically grounded and pastorally applicable. Seven interdependent dimensions are identified (evangelical, pentecostal, sacramental, intellectual, mystical, pastoral, prophetic) which constitute the church's wholeness and safeguard its integrity. Throughout church history, these seven dimensions have struggled to maintain a life-giving balance and have often isolated themselves from one another, distorting the church's catholicity and wholeness. Reform movements have repeatedly arisen to help revive dimensions being neglected but have often over-emphasized these dimensions to the neglect of others and further distorted the church's shape. The Shape of the Church seeks to offer a vision of the church that values the full dimensionality of the church and insists upon the giftedness of all its dimensions, arguing that the path forward to greater ecclesial maturity and wholeness is only through the nurturing and integration of all its seven dimensions.
