Life Together
Life Together

Author: Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 1978-10-25

Total Pages: 134

ISBN-13: 0060608528

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After his martyrdom at the hands of the Gestapo in 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer continued his witness in the hearts of Christians around the world. His Letters and Papers from Prison became a prized testimony to Christian faith and courage, read by thousands. Now in Life Together we have Pastor Bonhoeffer's experience of Christian community. This story of a unique fellowship in an underground seminary during the Nazi years reads like one of Paul's letters. It gives practical advice on how life together in Christ can be sustained in families and groups. The role of personal prayer, worship in common, everyday work, and Christian service is treated in simple, almost biblical, words. Life Together is bread for all who are hungry for the real life of Christian fellowship.

Your Best Life Now
Your Best Life Now

Author: Joel Osteen

Publisher: FaithWords

Published: 2007-09-03

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 0446510939

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In this remarkable New York Times bestseller, Joel Osteen offers unique insights and encouragement that will help readers overcome every obstacle in their lives.

The Slow Fade
The Slow Fade

Author: Reggie Joiner

Publisher: David C Cook

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781434764799

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Many churches and families have programmed a youth ministry finish line at twelfth grade. We walk out seniors out the door, breathe a sigh of relief, and left them disappear for a few years. We assume they'll return to church to church later, probably as adult with young families in tow. The problem is if we let them go, we may never see them again. Too old for youth group and uncomfortable with labels, college-aged and twentysomething Christians become disconnected from faith. Almost imperceptibly, they become less and less involved in church and faith and, eventually, absent altogether-in what we call the slow fade. Yet as these young people face critical decisions that affect the rest of their lives, they need their faith communities more than even. Book jacket.

Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites
Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites

Author: Donald B. Kraybill

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2010-11-01

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 0801899117

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Donald B. Kraybill has spent his career among Anabaptist groups, gaining an unparalleled understanding of these traditionally private people. Kraybill shares that deep knowledge in this succinct overview of the beliefs and cultural practices of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites in North America. Found throughout Canada, Central America, Mexico, and the United States, these religious communities include more than 200 different groups with 800,000 members in 17 countries. Through 340 short entries, Kraybill offers readers information on a wide range of topics related to religious views and social practices. With thoughtful consideration of how these diverse communities are related, this compact reference provides a brief and accurate synopsis of these groups in the twenty-first century. No other single volume provides such a broad overview of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites in North America. Organized for ease of searching—with a list of entries, a topic finder, an index of names, and ample cross-references—the volume also includes abundant resources for accessing additional information. Wide in scope, succinct in content, and with directional markers along the way, the Concise Encyclopedia of Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites is a must-have reference for anyone interested in Anabaptist groups.

They Knew They Were Pilgrims
They Knew They Were Pilgrims

Author: John G. Turner

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2020-04-07

Total Pages: 460

ISBN-13: 0300252307

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An ambitious new history of the Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony, published for the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s landing In 1620, separatists from the Church of England set sail across the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower. Understanding themselves as spiritual pilgrims, they left to preserve their liberty to worship God in accordance with their understanding of the Bible. There exists, however, an alternative, more dispiriting version of their story. In it, the Pilgrims are religious zealots who persecuted dissenters and decimated the Native peoples through warfare and by stealing their land. The Pilgrims’ definition of liberty was, in practice, very narrow. Drawing on original research using underutilized sources, John G. Turner moves beyond these familiar narratives in his sweeping and authoritative new history of Plymouth Colony. Instead of depicting the Pilgrims as otherworldly saints or extraordinary sinners, he tells how a variety of English settlers and Native peoples engaged in a contest for the meaning of American liberty.

The Great Omission
The Great Omission

Author: Dallas Willard

Publisher: Zondervan

Published: 2006-06-13

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 0060882433

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The last command Jesus gave the church before he ascended to heaven was the Great Commission, the call for Christians to "make disciples of all the nations." But Christians have responded by making "Christians," not "disciples." This, according to brilliant scholar and renowned Christian thinker Dallas Willard, has been the church's Great Omission. "The word disciple occurs 269 times in the New Testament," writes Willard. "Christian is found three times and was first introduced to refer precisely to disciples of Jesus. . . . The New Testament is a book about disciples, by disciples, and for disciples of Jesus Christ. But the point is not merely verbal. What is more important is that the kind of life we see in the earliest church is that of a special type of person. All of the assurances and benefits offered to humankind in the gospel evidently presuppose such a life and do not make realistic sense apart from it. The disciple of Jesus is not the deluxe or heavy-duty model of the Christian -- especially padded, textured, streamlined, and empowered for the fast lane on the straight and narrow way. He or she stands on the pages of the New Testament as the first level of basic transportation in the Kingdom of God." Willard boldly challenges the thought that we can be Christians without being disciples, or call ourselves Christians without applying this understanding of life in the Kingdom of God to every aspect of life on earth. He calls on believers to restore what should be the heart of Christianity -- being active disciples of Jesus Christ. Willard shows us that in the school of life, we are apprentices of the Teacher whose brilliance encourages us to rise above traditional church understanding and embrace the true meaning of discipleship -- an active, concrete, 24/7 life with Jesus.

Holy People
Holy People

Author: Gordon W. Lathrop

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published:

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 9781451408959

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This sequel to Gordon Lathrop's highly successful Holy Things is an exercise in liturgical theology, viewing the activities of worship as a means of defining and discussing the concept ?church.? It centers on community and assembly to discuss the sacraments. It focuses on ecumenism and inculturation as central test cases for a liturgically derived idea of church. In hopes of invigorating the local church, Lathrop explores the meaning of the term ?church, ? the relationship of the local liturgical assembly and other Christian assemblies (catholicity); the personal and communal character of liturgical assembly; the unity of the churches; the critical principles of liturgy and culture; openness to what is radically other; and liturgical evangelization. Lathrop's work grounds a notion of church that is personal yet communal, universal, but not triumphalistic.

Brethren Society
Brethren Society

Author: Carl F. Bowman

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 1995-03

Total Pages: 516

ISBN-13: 9780801849053

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In the first book ever written on the subject, Carl Bowman examines how and why members of the Church of the Brethren—historically known as "Dunkers" after their method of baptism—were assimilated faster and earlier than their Amish, Mennonite, or even Hutterite cousins.

The Doctrines of Grace in an Unexpected Place
The Doctrines of Grace in an Unexpected Place

Author: Mark R. Stevenson

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2017-03-10

Total Pages: 335

ISBN-13: 1498281109

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Does God sovereignly elect some individuals for salvation while passing others by? Do human beings possess free will to embrace or reject the gospel? Did Christ die equally for all people or only for some? These questions have long been debated in the history of the Christian church. Answers typically fall into one of two main categories, popularly known as Calvinism and Arminianism. The focus of this book is to establish how one nineteenth-century evangelical group, the Brethren, responded to these and other related questions. The Brethren produced a number of colorful leaders whose influence was felt throughout the evangelical world. Although many critics have assumed the movement's theology was Arminian, this book argues that the Brethren, with few exceptions, advocated Calvinistic positions. Yet there were some twists along the way! The movement's radical biblicism, passionate evangelism, and strong aversion to systematic theology and creeds meant they refused to label themselves as Calvinists even though they affirmed Calvinism's soteriological principles--the so-called doctrines of grace.