Uncomfortable
Uncomfortable

Author: Brett McCracken

Publisher: Crossway

Published: 2017-09-15

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 1433554283

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Does your church make you uncomfortable? It’s easy to dream about the “perfect” church—a church that sings just the right songs set to just the right music before the pastor preaches just the right sermon to a room filled with just the right mix of people who happen to agree with you on just about everything. Chances are your church doesn’t quite look like that. But what if instead of searching for a church that makes us comfortable, we learned to love our church, even when it’s challenging? What if some of the discomfort that we often experience is actually good for us? This book is a call to embrace the uncomfortable aspects of Christian community, whether that means believing difficult truths, pursuing difficult holiness, or loving difficult people—all for the sake of the gospel, God’s glory, and our joy.

Christian Community
Christian Community

Author: Rob Suggs

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2002-01-18

Total Pages: 68

ISBN-13: 9780830830718

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In this ten-session LifeGuide® Bible Study, Rob Suggs leads us to grow in community--in loving and nurturing one another, and in reflecting Christ's love to the world around us.

Community That Is Christian
Community That Is Christian

Author: Julie A. Gorman

Publisher: Baker Books

Published: 2002-06-01

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 158558553X

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Over the past thirty years there has been a boom in small groups, both in society at large and within the church. From Bible studies to MOPS to Alcoholics Anonymous, it is estimated that four out of ten Americans belong to a small group that meets regularly for the care and support of its members. But are these groups creating true, biblical community, or do they settle for self-focus and personal gain? Julie Gorman has studied small groups for decades and presents her analysis, insights, and suggestions in Community That Is Christian, an essential resource for building community in church-based small groups. This comprehensive book serves both as a text for those who equip leaders or lead small groups and as an interactive manual for small-group members, helping them transform their relationships into Christ-centered community. The book begins with biblical support for coming together, contrasting it with our often individualistic mind-set that undermines community. Gorman then sets forth the goals of community and describes the process of transformation. She draws from extensive research to address the why and the how of small-group ministry, giving special attention to gender and cultural distinctions. Community That Is Christian provides readers with charts, discussion questions, and inventories to further help them establish community within their small groups.

Making Neighborhoods Whole
Making Neighborhoods Whole

Author: Wayne Gordon

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2013-08-26

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 0830895779

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Civil rights leader John Perkins and CCDA president Wayne Gordon revisit the founding principles of the Christian Community Development Association, seeking to provide the terms for a new discussion around the emerging priorities of Christian community development today. Includes profiles of thriving urban ministries.

Christian Community in History Volume 1
Christian Community in History Volume 1

Author: Roger Haight

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2004-09-16

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 0826416306

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Drawing upon the methodology developed in his Dynamics of Theology (1990) and exemplified in Jesus Symbol of God (1999), Roger Haight, in this magisterial work, achieves what he calls an historical ecclesiology, or ecclesiology from below. In contrast to traditional ecclesiology from above, which is abstract, idealist, and ahistorical, ecclesiology from below is concrete, realist, and historically conscious. In this first of two volumes, Haight charts the history of the church's self-understandings from the origins of the church in the Jesus movement to the late Middle Ages. In volume 2 Haight develops a comparative ecclesiology based on the history and diverse theologies of the worldwide Christian movement from the Reformation to the present. While the ultimate focus of the work falls on the structure of the church and its theological self-understanding, it tries to be faithful to the historical, social, and political reality of the church in each period.

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.

Emerging Churches
Emerging Churches

Author: Eddie Gibbs

Publisher: Baker Academic

Published: 2005-12

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 0801027152

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Provides a comprehensive examination of the emerging church phenomenon, considering emerging patterns in leadership, worship, mission, spiritual practices, and cultural engagement.

Beyond Charity
Beyond Charity

Author: John M. Perkins

Publisher: Baker Books

Published: 1993-07-01

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1585582115

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A powerful call to action to bring reconciliation and restoration to broken communities.

An Introduction to the Reformed Tradition
An Introduction to the Reformed Tradition

Author: John H. Leith

Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press

Published: 1981-01-01

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 9780804204798

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A concise and readable study for laypersons and clergy alike, this book is indispensable for all informed people in many different confessional communities. With the passion of one who not only observes but believes, John Leith touches on all aspects of Reformed history, theology, polity, liturgy, and Christian culture with a balance of enthusiasm and critical judgment that always rings true.

Homosexuality and Christian Community
Homosexuality and Christian Community

Author: Choon Leong Seow

Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press

Published: 1996-01-01

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 9780664256647

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Contributors to this volume, all members of the Princeton Theological Seminary faculty, address the various exegetical, interpretive, and practical issues pertaining to the issue of homosexuality in the church. These include the ordination of homosexuals and the blessing of homosexual unions, as well as broader issues dealing with liturgical and theological language about God and the role of the church in a pluralistic society. The contributors speak of these various issues as theological educators, ministers, and committed Christians. They ask, What do the scriptures say about homosexuality and related issues? How should the scriptures inform our theological reflection? and How do we live faithfully in regard to this matter? And like the Christian community at large, the contributors are not of one mind on any of these issues; many times they are in considerable disagreement. Homosexuality and Christian Community will help to guide churches and individuals engaged in theological reflection about the place of homosexuals in the church.