Surviving The Church

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Surviving the Church

Author : Amy Walker
Publisher : Amy Walker
ISBN 13 : 9781432791902
Total Pages : 212 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (919 download)

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Book Synopsis Surviving the Church by : Amy Walker

Download or read book Surviving the Church written by Amy Walker and published by Amy Walker. This book was released on 2012-04 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To a person of faith, the Church is the body of Christ created to extend God's love and grace here on earth. What can seekers and believers do when life inside the Church habitually drives them to seek sanctuary in the arms of the world instead? Countless people have experienced burnout and been subject to guilt trips and methods of manipulation in the name of ministry while their relationship with God suffers the consequences. What can you do when you become disenchanted with God's people? How can the Church win back the countless souls who have walked away in a desperate act of self-preservation? Is there a way to restore hope to your faith? Believers, seekers, pastors, leaders, the burned-out and the passionate are all invited to join the discussion. If you have not suffered the soul-crushing blows to your faith that can happen within the Church then chances are you know someone who has. It is a life-altering experience with eternal consequences. Together we can learn to recognize the pitfalls that subtly creep into our congregations enabling us to intervene BEFORE it%u2019s too late. Those who have already left the Church will see that all is not lost when their hope is in Jesus Christ. As the disenchanted endeavor to rebuild their faith, God will reveal a path to restoration and reconciliation. Inside this book you will find, among other things, topics like: -Personal, real-life stories about faith changing experiences -Insight about the descent into the cycle of burnout -Exposure of common pitfalls within the Church such as guilt trips and manipulation tactics -Biblical and practical steps the Church can take to help stem the tide of believers leaving the church over neglect, abuse, and offense -Realistic suggestions for the disenchanted believer for moving forward in healing and restoration -How the Church can recapture the hearts of the disenchanted

Surviving Religion 101

Author : Michael J. Kruger
Publisher : Crossway
ISBN 13 : 1433572109
Total Pages : 251 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (335 download)

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Book Synopsis Surviving Religion 101 by : Michael J. Kruger

Download or read book Surviving Religion 101 written by Michael J. Kruger and published by Crossway. This book was released on 2021-03-22 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "I can't imagine a college student—skeptic, doubter, Christian, struggler—who wouldn't benefit from this book." —Kevin DeYoung For many young adults, the college years are an exciting period of selfdiscovery full of new relationships, new independence, and new experiences. Yet college can also be a time of personal testing and intense questioning— especially for Christian students confronted with various challenges to Christianity and the Bible for the first time. Drawing on years of experience as a biblical scholar, Michael Kruger addresses common objections to the Christian faith—the exclusivity of Christianity, Christian intolerance, homosexuality, hell, the problem of evil, science, miracles, and the reliability of the Bible. If you're a student dealing with doubt or wrestling with objections to Christianity from fellow students and professors alike, this book will equip you to engage secular challenges with intellectual honesty, compassion, and confidence—and ultimately graduate college with your faith intact.

Banished

Author : Lauren Drain
Publisher : Grand Central Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1455512435
Total Pages : 211 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (555 download)

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Book Synopsis Banished by : Lauren Drain

Download or read book Banished written by Lauren Drain and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Banished is an eye-opening, deeply personal account of life inside the cult known as the Westboro Baptist Church, as well as a fascinating story of adaptation and perseverance. You've likely heard of the Westboro Baptist Church. Perhaps you've seen their pickets on the news, the members holding signs with messages that are too offensive to copy here, protesting at events such as the funerals of soldiers, the 9-year old victim of the recent Tucson shooting, and Elizabeth Edwards, all in front of their grieving families. The WBC is fervently anti-gay, anti-Semitic, and anti- practically everything and everyone. And they aren't going anywhere: in March, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the WBC's right to picket funerals. Since no organized religion will claim affiliation with the WBC, it's perhaps more accurate to think of them as a cult. Lauren Drain was thrust into that cult at the age of 15, and then spat back out again seven years later. Lauren spent her early years enjoying a normal life with her family in Florida. But when her formerly liberal and secular father set out to produce a documentary about the WBC, his detached interest gradually evolved into fascination, and he moved the entire family to Kansas to join the church and live on their compound. Over the next seven years, Lauren fully assimilated their extreme beliefs, and became a member of the church and an active and vocal picketer. But as she matured and began to challenge some of the church's tenets, she was unceremoniously cast out from the church and permanently cut off from her family and from everyone else she knew and loved. Banished is the story of Lauren's fight to find herself amidst dramatic changes in a world of extremists and a life in exile.

Soul Survivor

Author : Philip Yancey
Publisher : Image
ISBN 13 : 0385504969
Total Pages : 295 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (855 download)

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Book Synopsis Soul Survivor by : Philip Yancey

Download or read book Soul Survivor written by Philip Yancey and published by Image. This book was released on 2002-01-29 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of America's leading Christian thinkers interweaves the story of his own struggle to reclaim his beliefs with inspiring portraits of people who have succeeded in the pursuit of an authentic faith. In Soul Survivor, Philip Yancey charts his spiritual pilgrimage through the influence of key individuals: "These are the people who ushered me into the Kingdom. In many ways, they are why I remain a Christian today, and I want to introduce them to other spiritual seekers." Yancey interweaves his own journey with fascinating stories of those who modeled for him a life-enhancing rather than a life-constricting faith: Dr. Paul Brand, G. K. Chesterton, Annie Dillard, Frederick Buechner, C. Everett Koop, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Henri Nouwen, John Donne, Mahatma Gandi, Shusaku Endo, Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert COles. Readers will find these inspiring portraits both nurture and challenge for their own understanding of authentic faith. Yancey fans will devour these new glimpses of how he has held onto faith while acknowledging with utter honesty its inherent difficulties. New Yancey readers will be drawn in by the theme of faith versus religion and drawn along a compelling narrative of signposts on a spiritual journey. Soul Survivor offers illuminating and critically important insights into true Christianity, which will enrich the lives of veteran believers and cautious seekers alike.

It's Personal

Author : Brian Bloye
Publisher : Zondervan
ISBN 13 : 0310494559
Total Pages : 254 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (14 download)

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Book Synopsis It's Personal by : Brian Bloye

Download or read book It's Personal written by Brian Bloye and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2012-04-23 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A challenging and encouraging manual for day-to-day life in ministry written specifically for couples who want to do more than survive the process of church planting and leadership—who want to actually thrive and grow in faith together as a family. Though we may feel like we can't show it, every aspect of planting a church is personal. Church planters and those in ministry leadership roles give so much to starting and growing healthy, thriving churches that when some people inevitably criticize the church, or leave altogether, it's hard not to take it personally. Brian and Amy Bloye know firsthand the emotional and relational toll that planting churches can take. In It's Personal—part of the Exponential series, inspiring and equipping next-generation church planters—the Bloye's get personal about finding the right balance of family and ministry. Planting a church is more than a ministry—it's a calling that touches every aspect of your life in very personal ways. With intimacy and wisdom, Brian and Amy discuss topics like: How to protect your marriage while planting a church. How to respond to growth and change. How to lead well while still maintaining space and time for family. How to know when it’s becoming too personal. With a forward by Andy Stanley, It's Personal will challenge and encourage you to avoid some of the pitfalls of planting a church and be equipped to build both strong and prevailing ministries, and healthy marriages and families. Each chapter includes interviews with church-planting couples who share their personal joys and struggles, giving you authentic insight into the issues families face when planting a church.

Surviving the State, Remaking the Church

Author : Li Ma
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781532634628
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (346 download)

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Book Synopsis Surviving the State, Remaking the Church by : Li Ma

Download or read book Surviving the State, Remaking the Church written by Li Ma and published by . This book was released on 2017-12-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This sociological portrait presents how Chinese Christians have coped with life under a hostile regime over a span of different historical periods, and how Christian churches as collective entities have been reshaped by ripples of social change. China's change from a centrally planned economy to a market economy, or from an agrarian society to an urbanizing society, are admittedly significant phenomena worthy of scholarly attention, but real changes are about values and beliefs that give rise to social structures over time. The growth of Christianity has become interwoven with the disintegration or emergence of Chinese cultural beliefs, political ideologies, and commercial values. Relying mainly on an oral history method for data collection, the authors allow the narratives of Chinese Christians to speak for themselves. Identifying the formative cultural elements, a sociohistorical analysis also helps to lay out a coherent understanding of the complexity of religious experiences for Christians in the Chinese world. This book also serves to bring back scholarly discussions on the habits of the heart as the condition that helps form identities and nurture social morality, whether individuals engage in private or public affairs. ""Li Ma and Jin Li have written an unusually valuable book on the recent history of Christianity in China. Unlike too many others (often speculative or ill-informed), they support their general narrative with extensive ethnographic research. The individuals they have interviewed provide fascinating insights into conversions in prison, the Christian 'harvest' from the Tiannamen Square massacres, effective evangelism at McDonald's and Starbucks, the emergence of Christian NGOs, ongoing tensions between believers and the Chinese Communist Party, the surprising emergence of self-conscious Chinese Calvinist theology, and much more. The result is extraordinary insight concerning perhaps the most important scene of Christian development in the world today."" --Mark Noll, Professor at the University of Notre Dame ""Ma and Li have given us an invaluable set of voices from China's Christian world. Through patient combing of printed texts and many hours of interviews with people today, they allow Chinese Christians to speak for themselves and let us understand how Christianity has become China's fastest-growing--and one of its most influential--religions. Understanding China requires understandings its faiths and beliefs, and especially those of its youngest but most dynamic faith: Christianity."" --Ian Johnson, Pulitzer-Prize winning writer, Author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao ""Readers in the West and the East alike are keen to know more about life in China, both today and in the recent past. For Christian readers, this eager curiosity extends to the churches of China, the majority of which remain officially illegal and are often hidden. What does it mean to be a Christian in China today? How do today's Chinese Christians remember the past? Why have they come to faith? What difference does Christianity make in their lives? Sociologist Li Ma and her husband, theologian Jin Li, have interviewed over 100 Chinese Christians from various parts of the nation. Their voices, so seldom heard, come through with amazing force. This book reveals the hearts and minds of Chinese Christians as never before."" --Joel Carpenter, Director, Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity at Calvin College ""Surviving the State, Remaking the Church is a truly illuminating book. Based on interviews with Chinese Christians, it provides valuable glimpses into the remarkable stories of how the Chinese churches survived during the era of the most severe repression. It also provides vivid and thoughtful accounts of the many contemporary challenges facing Chinese Christians even as their churches continue to flourish."" --George Marsden, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Notre Dame Li

Ungodly Fear

Author : Stephen Parsons
Publisher : Lion Books
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 328 pages
Book Rating : 4.F/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Ungodly Fear by : Stephen Parsons

Download or read book Ungodly Fear written by Stephen Parsons and published by Lion Books. This book was released on 2000 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this disturbing and compelling new book, Stephen Parsons uses real-life stories to highlight the dangers that exist ijn the modern Church, and sounds the alarm for any church or individual who may be susceptible to perpetrating or falling victim to abusive practices or behavior. These harrowing stories include a vulnerable couple persuaded to part with their life savings for a church; a woman raped by her minister, who then had to face denial and rejection; a woman demonized for resisting a church’s obsession with demons; a homosexual whose integrity as an individual was attacked; and a woman damaged by inappropriate "healing." Parsons ends his bold analysis by affirming the potential for abuse-free Christianity and healthy church life.

Surviving Ministry

Author : Michael E. Osborne
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1498280293
Total Pages : 168 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (982 download)

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Book Synopsis Surviving Ministry by : Michael E. Osborne

Download or read book Surviving Ministry written by Michael E. Osborne and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2016-05-06 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Being a pastor has its rewards and pleasures. But churches can be unsafe places. They are filled with broken, imperfect people. Many ministers of the gospel walk into a church naive about the potential hazards of their vocation. They are vulnerable to difficult people, unresolved conflict, incompatible visions, hidden agendas, mission drift, and sin--their own and that of others. Other pastors feel trapped in a ministry hurricane and don't know what to do. They feel like failures. They're thinking about leaving the ministry. They are looking for help and hope--not from an "expert" detached from the real world of ministry--but from someone who has suffered through church hurricanes and lived to share the story. Moreover, they need to know they are not alone. Surviving Ministry: How to Weather the Storms of Church Leadership includes the author's own story as well as true stories from other pastors who have been in the eye of the hurricane. Discouraged ministers looking for biblical, practical, gospel-centered advice for storm proofing their churches, homes, and hearts have found a friend. Surviving Ministry will equip them to stay resilient before, during, and after seasons of difficulty.

The Church of the Dead

Author : Jennifer Scheper Hughes
Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN 13 : 147982593X
Total Pages : 263 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (798 download)

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Book Synopsis The Church of the Dead by : Jennifer Scheper Hughes

Download or read book The Church of the Dead written by Jennifer Scheper Hughes and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2023-07-11 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tells the story of the founding of American Christianity against the backdrop of devastating disease, and of the Indigenous survivors who kept the nascent faith alive Many scholars have come to think of the European Christian mission to the Americas as an inevitable success. But in its early period it was very much on the brink of failure. In 1576, Indigenous Mexican communities suffered a catastrophic epidemic that took almost two million lives and simultaneously left the colonial church in ruins. In the crisis and its immediate aftermath, Spanish missionaries and surviving pueblos de indios held radically different visions for the future of Christianity in the Americas. The Church of the Dead offers a counter-history of American Christian origins. It centers the power of Indigenous Mexicans, showing how their Catholic faith remained intact even in the face of the faltering religious fervor of Spanish missionaries. While the Europeans grappled with their failure to stem the tide of death, succumbing to despair, Indigenous survivors worked to reconstruct the church. They reasserted ancestral territories as sovereign, with Indigenous Catholic states rivaling the jurisdiction of the diocese and the power of friars and bishops. Christianity in the Americas today is thus not the creation of missionaries, but rather of Indigenous Catholic survivors of the colonial mortandad, the founding condition of American Christianity. Weaving together archival study, visual culture, church history, theology, and the history of medicine, Jennifer Scheper Hughes provides us with a fascinating reexamination of North American religious history that is at once groundbreaking and lyrical.

Surviving Me

Author : Jo Johnson
Publisher : Unbound Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1789650623
Total Pages : 281 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (896 download)

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Book Synopsis Surviving Me by : Jo Johnson

Download or read book Surviving Me written by Jo Johnson and published by Unbound Publishing. This book was released on 2019-11-14 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tom has decided he doesn't want to live. Adam wishes he had a choice. Tom's lost his job and now he's been labelled 'spermless'. He doesn't exactly feel like a modern man, although his double life helps. Yet when his secret identity threatens to unravel, he starts to lose the plot and comes perilously close to the edge. All the while Adam has his own duplicity, albeit for very different reasons, reasons which will blow the family's future out of the water. If they can't be honest with themselves, and everyone else, then things are going to get a whole lot more complicated.

Resilient Ministry

Author : Bob Burns
Publisher : InterVarsity Press
ISBN 13 : 083086461X
Total Pages : 314 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (38 download)

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Book Synopsis Resilient Ministry by : Bob Burns

Download or read book Resilient Ministry written by Bob Burns and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2012-11-30 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does it take to have fruitful ministry over the long haul? The stresses of pastoring are well known and can be a match for even the best-prepared, most experienced in ministry--multiple tasks, long hours, taxing responsibilities and, yes, some challenging personalities. Too often the results can be burnout, being run out or just feeling worn out. To find out how pastors can thrive as well as survive, the authors undertook a five-year in-depth research project among working pastors. Here in this ground-breaking book is the distilled wisdom of dozens of pastors who have been on the front lines of ministry. We hear from them what works, what doesn't and what distinctive issues people in ministry face. The authors uncover five key themes that promote healthy, sustainable ministry that lasts--spiritual formation, self-care, emotional and cultural intelligence, marriage and family, leadership and management. These themes are unpacked from the vantage point of ministry on the ground. Questions for personal evaluation and reflection are included throughout the book to bring home the significance of each section. This is the perfect companion for a peer cohort of pastors to read together. It can also be of value to church boards and others who want to better understand how to help sustain their pastors in ministry. In short, this is a book pastors can't live without.

The New Copernicans

Author : David John Seel
Publisher : HarperChristian + ORM
ISBN 13 : 0718098889
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (18 download)

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Book Synopsis The New Copernicans by : David John Seel

Download or read book The New Copernicans written by David John Seel and published by HarperChristian + ORM. This book was released on 2018-01-16 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Our millennial children, as well as nonchurchgoing millennials, are both the church's greatest challenge and its most exciting new opportunity." —John Seel, PhD Warning: There is a fundamental frame of reference shift in American society happening right now among young adults. You may think of this group as millennials—those born between 1980 and 2000—but millennials resist this label for good reason: the national narrative on them is pejorative, patronizing, and just plain wrong. Here's what we do know: Of Americans with a church background, 76 percent are described as "religious nones" or unaffiliated—and it's the fastest growing segment of the population. Close to 40 percent of millennials fit this religious profile. Roughly 80 percent of teens in evangelical church high school youth groups will abandon their faith after two years in college. It's unlikely that the evangelical church can survive if it is uniformly rejected by millennials, and yet: Millennial pastors and youth ministers are disempowered; their perspective is often not taken seriously by senior church leadership. Most millennial research is framed in categories rejected by millennials; that is, left-brained, analytical communication is lost on right-brained, intuitive millennials. Evangelicals' bias toward rational left-brained thinking makes the church seem tone-deaf. What's next? Read on. John Seel suggests survival strategies—communication on-ramps for genuine human connection with the next generation. It can be done.

Surviving Suicide Loss

Author : Rita A. Schulte, LPC
Publisher : Moody Publishers
ISBN 13 : 0802499104
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (24 download)

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Book Synopsis Surviving Suicide Loss by : Rita A. Schulte, LPC

Download or read book Surviving Suicide Loss written by Rita A. Schulte, LPC and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2021-08-03 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nothing could hurt worse. But even in the darkness . . . there’s hope. The pain of suicide loss is indescribable. It seems beyond survival. Yet with faith, perseverance, and the tools of brain science, there is a way through. It will take time. It will take struggle. But hope is real, for there are things you can do to make it to the other side. If you are struggling with suicide loss or you need to come alongside someone who is, Rita Schulte wants to help you move forward. As a suicide loss survivor herself, she understands the pain you’re feeling because she has been there too. Rita, an experienced therapist and expert in traumatic loss, offers a science-based therapy model that also takes into account the role of human spirituality. Chapters in this book include: Making Sense of the Desire to Die The Mind-Body Connection Unfinished Business Making Peace with Ourselves Facing the Dark Side Children—Living Behind the Shadow The Time that Remains When it comes to suicide loss, you’ll never have all the answers. But one thing is certain: there are real pathways to help you heal—body, mind, and spirit.

Beyond Surviving

Author : Joshua Moon Johnson
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780985766139
Total Pages : 146 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (661 download)

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Book Synopsis Beyond Surviving by : Joshua Moon Johnson

Download or read book Beyond Surviving written by Joshua Moon Johnson and published by . This book was released on 2012-11 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stories of Christian students in same-sex relationships as they encountered oppression, adolescence, first-love, and then a passion for social justice.

Paganism Surviving in Christianity

Author : Abram Herbert Lewis
Publisher : DigiCat
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 174 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (596 download)

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Book Synopsis Paganism Surviving in Christianity by : Abram Herbert Lewis

Download or read book Paganism Surviving in Christianity written by Abram Herbert Lewis and published by DigiCat. This book was released on 2022-09-04 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Paganism Surviving in Christianity" by Abram Herbert Lewis. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

Surviving Toxic Leaders

Author : Kenneth O. Gangel
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1556350902
Total Pages : 106 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (563 download)

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Book Synopsis Surviving Toxic Leaders by : Kenneth O. Gangel

Download or read book Surviving Toxic Leaders written by Kenneth O. Gangel and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2007-12-01 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since Jean Lipman-Blumen's The Allure of Toxic Leaders shook the corporate world in 2005, countless articles, books, and Internet blogs have appeared on the topic. Despite such interest and response, no study of toxic leadership had appeared from a Christian point of view until this volume, Kenn Gangel's Surviving Toxic Leaders. Gangel begins by showing that toxic leadership existed throughout biblical history. Making generous use not only of biblical materials but also of contemporary leadership literature, Gangel names the causes and cures of power abuse, cheating, bullying, laziness, and dictatorial behavior in today's leaders. Readers will benefit from Gangel's leadership experience and expertise. He has been a pastor, a college dean (twice), and a college president. Gangel currently edits The Seal, a review of leadership literature. Practical and personal, Surviving Toxic Leaders abounds with stories of real people and their situations. Everyone who has ever had trouble at work will benefit from Surviving Toxic Leaders.

The Great Reckoning

Author : Stephen Mattson
Publisher : MennoMedia, Inc.
ISBN 13 : 1513803425
Total Pages : 158 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (138 download)

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Book Synopsis The Great Reckoning by : Stephen Mattson

Download or read book The Great Reckoning written by Stephen Mattson and published by MennoMedia, Inc.. This book was released on 2018-10-23 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What do we do when the church looks nothing like Jesus? Many followers of Jesus feel disillusioned by a broken religion—one that loves political power, promises prosperity, and feeds on fear. We are desperately trying to rationalize how a loving God can be connected to unloving churches, institutions, and people. We can no longer deny that our version of Christianity is not just imperfect but has been coopted to inflict violence, racism, abuse, hate, and even death. The question before many Christians is no longer how their faith can survive within a secular culture. It’s how their faith can survive Christianity itself. In The Great Reckoning, writer Stephen Mattson writes out of the rubble of the failed American faith. Instead of doomsaying or casting aspersions, however, Mattson offers hope for seekers looking for inspiration, solace for Christians fed up with an unsatisfying religion, and clarity for those sifting through the remains. The Great Reckoning is a clear-eyed yet tender critique of where we’ve gone wrong, and a guide away from the culture wars and toward the life of Jesus. Rather than further immersing ourselves in Christendom, what if we started rethinking what it means to be a Christian in the first place? What if Christians shed the hopes and dreams of Christianity and turned instead of the Christ at the center of our faith? Consider this a dispatch from the wreckage of American cultural Christianity, and an ode to the Jesus-looking faith we seek.