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The Significance Of Congregational Identity And Structure To Spiritual Formation Within Churches Of Christ
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Book Synopsis The Significance of Congregational Identity and Structure to Spiritual Formation Within Churches of Christ by : Ethan E. Brown
Download or read book The Significance of Congregational Identity and Structure to Spiritual Formation Within Churches of Christ written by Ethan E. Brown and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 696 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Developing a clear understanding of identity within the congregation, and putting community-friendly structures in place, are human expressions of faithfulness to which God may respond. Congregational identity consists of a clealyr defiined mission, set of core beliefs , core values, and vision. Congregational structures are programs or activities of the church that are put in place to channel, guide, and focused members toward interaction with God. A survey focuses on the West Springfield (Mass.) Church of Christ.
Book Synopsis Transforming Congregations through Community by : Boyung Lee
Download or read book Transforming Congregations through Community written by Boyung Lee and published by Presbyterian Publishing Corp. This book was released on 2013-11-11 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this helpful book, Boyung Lee offers an encouraging vision of the mainline church's future. Lee grapples with some of the greatest challenges facing the mainline church, offering compelling responses to recurring questions: What does faithfulness to the gospel look like in this changing world? What is our distinctive voice in the larger society? How does theological education have to change if it is to serve the needs of a new century? Lee argues that the church's future is a promising one if the church can offer a richer and deeper definition of community--one that moves beyond the excessive individualism of western culture and that helps mainline Christians understand their solidarity with one another and with all of God's people. Lee further explores the crucial role of faith formation at the congregational and seminary levels. More than mere schooling, theological education must engage all aspects of educators' and students' lives to prepare seminarians for the challenges that lie ahead. While not dismissing the mainline church's challenges, Lee offers congregational leaders and seminary educators a vision of a church transformed for the 21st century.
Book Synopsis Renovation of the Heart by : Dallas Willard
Download or read book Renovation of the Heart written by Dallas Willard and published by Tyndale House. This book was released on 2014-02-27 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As Christians, we know that we are new creations in Jesus. So we try to act differently, hoping this will make us more like Him. But changing our outward behavior doesn’t change our hearts. Only by God’s grace can we be transformed internally. Renovation of the Heart lays a biblical foundation for understanding what best-selling author Dallas Willard calls the “transformation of the spirit”—a divine process that “brings every element in our being, working from inside out, into harmony with the will of God.” This fresh approach to spiritual growth explains the biblical reasons why Christians need to undergo change in six aspects of life: thought, feeling, will, body, social context, and soul. Willard also outlines a general pattern of transformation in each area, not as a sterile formula but as a practical process that you can follow without the guilt or perfectionism so many Christians wrestle with. Don’t settle for complacency. Accept the challenge Renovation of the Heart offers to become an intentional apprentice of Jesus Christ, changing daily as you walk with Him.
Book Synopsis Christian Spiritual Formation in the Church and Classroom by : Susanne Johnson
Download or read book Christian Spiritual Formation in the Church and Classroom written by Susanne Johnson and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this thought-provoking new volume, Susanne Johnson counters what she sees as "wrong-thinking" in much contemporary Christian education by offering forceful ideas about spiritual formation and faith development. First, she shows the "flabbiness" of much recent talk of spiritual formation in the church. She demonstrates the importance of learning about and achieving Christian formation instead. Second, she shows how the present theories of stages in faith development must be replaced by a perceptive understanding of the way persons actually learn and believe. Third, she replaces the popular focus on individual psychology with one that emphasizes the corporate nature of the church and the grace of God. This volume brings innovative ideas into the practical arena, where they can be applied by Christian educators in local churches. Christian Spiritual Formation in the Church and Classroom challenges the way the entire discipline is currently approached.
Book Synopsis Formation in Faith by : Sondra Higgins Matthaei
Download or read book Formation in Faith written by Sondra Higgins Matthaei and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2008-01-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ministry of congregations is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Behind that simple and seemingly self-evident statement lies a problematic reality, however. While congregations know that disciple making is at the heart of their identity, they often have trouble understanding how to go about it. Apart from such traditional Christian education ministries as Sunday school, too little formal thinking or planning goes into the task of forming Christians in the faith. In this book Sondra Matthaei casts a vision in which congregations open up their life of faith to others as an invitation to connect the universal longing for authentic relationships and deeper meaning with the church’s practice of faithful discipleship. As folks enter the church’s communion of grace, Matthaei challenges church leaders to utilize the gifts of every member and lays out a plan to help congregations grow in faith and communion with God and creation, including the context and goal of such ministry, deciding what to teach and who shall teach, and attendant relationships, structures, and practices.
Download or read book Steeplejacking written by Sheldon Culver and published by Ig Publishing. This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shows how a strident theocratic minority is attacking - or steeplejacking - mainstream churches in order to eliminate progressive voices and take control.
Book Synopsis Discerning Your Congregation's Future by : Roy M. Oswald
Download or read book Discerning Your Congregation's Future written by Roy M. Oswald and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 1996-09-01 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on extensive consulting experience with congregations, the authors provide a step-by-step guide to congregational planning that grounds strategic planning techniques in a process of spiritual discernment. The result: members will own the vision and be eager to participate in the congregation''s calling, life, and ministry. You and your planning committee learn the theory behind the techniques, along with receiving help for addressing specific situations.
Book Synopsis Renovation of the Church by : Kent Carlson
Download or read book Renovation of the Church written by Kent Carlson and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2011-05-24 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Copastors Kent Carlson and Mike Lueken tell the decade-long story of how God took their thriving, consumer-oriented church and transformed it into a modest congregation of unformed believers committed to the growth of the spirit--even when it meant a decline in numbers....
Book Synopsis Celebration of Discipline by : Richard J. Foster
Download or read book Celebration of Discipline written by Richard J. Foster and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 1988-10-05 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the twenty years since its publication, Celebration of Discipline has helped over a million seekers discover a richer spiritual life infused with joy, peace, and a deeper understanding of God. For this special twentieth anniversary edition, Richard J. Foster has added an introduction, in which he shares the story of how this beloved and enduring spiritual guidebook came to be. Hailed by many as the best modern book on Christian spirituality, Celebration of Discipline explores the "classic Disciplines," or central spiritual practices, of the Christian faith. Along the way, Foster shows that it is only by and through these practices that the true path to spiritual growth can be found. Dividing the Disciplines into three movements of the Spirit, Foster shows how each of these areas contribute to a balanced spiritual life. The inward Disciplines of meditation, prayer, fasting, and study, offer avenues of personal examination and change. The outward Disciplines of simplicity, solitude, submission, and service, help prepare us to make the world a better place. The corporate Disciplines of confession, worship, guidance, and celebration, bring us nearer to one another and to God. Foster provides a wealth of examples demonstrating how these Disciplines can become part of our daily activities-and how they can help us shed our superficial habits and "bring the abundance of God into our lives." He offers crucial new insights on simplicity, demonstrating how the biblical view of simplicity, properly understood and applied, brings joy and balance to our inward and outward lives and "sets us free to enjoy the provision of God as a gift that can be shared with others." The discussion of celebration, often the most neglected of the Disciplines, shows its critical importance, for it stands at the heart of the way to Christ. Celebration of Discipline will help motivate Christians everywhere to embark on a journey of prayer and spiritual growth.
Book Synopsis Beyond Maintenance to Mission by : Craig L. Nessan
Download or read book Beyond Maintenance to Mission written by Craig L. Nessan and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2010-02-24 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Visionary yet practical, Nessan's influential book makes a persuasive case for the centrality of mission in the life of the church. Nessan's model of mission-driven leadership is strongly centered on the community of faith's worship and draws unique connections between the worship life of a congregation and every aspect of the church's ministry. Around the twin foci of congregational identity and mission, the chapters in this dynamic book provide solid theological and radical direction on the themes of worship, education, fellowship, stewardship, evangelism, global connections, and social ministry.
Book Synopsis The Church In Many Houses by : Steve Cordle
Download or read book The Church In Many Houses written by Steve Cordle and published by CCS Publishing. This book was released on 2014-01-01 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although the largest churches in the world are cell-based, many have questioned whether the model will work in North America. The Church In Many Houses: Reaching Your Community Through Cell-Based Ministry makes the case that the cell model will work— if key assumptions about spiritual growth and the nature of the church are reexamined and renewed. By drawing on scripture, research, and insights gained through personal experience as the pastor of a growing cell church, Steve Cordle identifies the four pivotal philosophical shifts necessary for the cell approach to work. These are mindset shifts that move from: programs to relationships—the purposes of the church are best fulfilled in the cell group instead of in programs member to disciple-maker—every member can and should become a group leader educating to equipping—spiritual growth is not knowing more but applying more “come and see” to “go and show”—the power of penetration evangelism. Impose a cell structure upon a congregation that has not yet made these philosophical shifts we are likely to fail. But when people adopt these biblical mindset changes, the cell approach will seem natural, and will result in great unity and effectiveness. The Church In Many Houses will help congregations make the changes that are necessary for success.
Book Synopsis Understanding the Principles of Church Growth by : Professor Isaac O. Ojutalayo
Download or read book Understanding the Principles of Church Growth written by Professor Isaac O. Ojutalayo and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2019-04-06 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of this work, Isaac Ojutalayo, has done his research on the subject of leadership and church growth. The contents of this book are the written evidence. The eleven chapters embrace some of the most important and necessary things that leaders should learn and practise, whether they are ordained ministers or lay workers in the church. The principles he has written about can also be applied in circular organisation. This book reveals Dr Isaac Ojutalayo’s academic achievement and experimental development. He has divided each chapter into readable sections that can be easily discussed and studied. The book is suitable for individuals and groups who are called by God to lead His people. Dr Isaac Ojutalayo is passionate that leaders be men and women of excellence, whether the congregation they lead is large or small. He stresses communication, generosity, honesty, and continuing education with the highest level of trust, all essential elements of church growth. He points out repeatedly that the church and the world community are suffering from a crisis of leadership, that bold and honest leaders are needed in the church and in the marketplace, as well as in the home. In my analysis he has called for transformational leaders to rise up and effect change. It is very clear that he is saying that many leaders work within situations. Transformational leaders change what can be talked about, whereas many other leaders talk about pay-offs. Transformational leaders talk about goals. Many leaders bargain, whereas transformational leaders appeal to a common vision. Dr Isaac Ojutalayo argues that desperately needed Christians and transformational leadership will not emerge until we have a model of a transforming leader. I believe that Jesus Christ was and is the most effective leader the world has ever known. It is with unreserved joy that I recommend this publication to those who are interested in church leadership. Professor Clinton L. Ryan, ThD
Book Synopsis Who Is Our Church? by : Janet R. Cawley
Download or read book Who Is Our Church? written by Janet R. Cawley and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2006-06-01 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After congregations have considered their history, added up all the statistics, and tried to be honest about their core values, the question still remains: "Who are we, really?" Author Janet Cawley offers a creative, engaging, and faithful way to answer just that question. Cawley demonstrates how to use a congregation’s knowledge of itself to construct a metaphor of the congregation as a person and then draw on theat metaphor to generate options for future mission. Cawley makes the case that congregations with a clear, well-articulated identity—those that know, accept, and love who they are—can be flexible and respond to change and new initiatives from the Holy Spirit with boldness because their basic sense of themselves is affirmed rather than threatened. They can make faithful and appropriate choices about what they should do. Congregations will find this intuitive, imaginative approach is useful, accurate, and lots of fun!
Book Synopsis Discipleship in Community by : Mark E. Powell
Download or read book Discipleship in Community written by Mark E. Powell and published by ACU Press. This book was released on 2020-06-16 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jesus said, “Go and make disciples.” So, what exactly are we doing? Western churches face a difficult future marked by numerical decline and evident signs of shrinking cultural influence. But Discipleship in Community wisely asks the church to go back to basics. What does it mean to follow Jesus? What does a life of discipleship look like? Trusted scholars Mark Powell, John Mark Hicks, and Greg McKinzie invite you to consider how good theology can lead to better, more intentional discipleship. In Discipleship in Community you will learn • how the language of Trinity matters to everyday disciples; • how God’s plan and mission is unfolding and how, as disciples, we can participate in that mission; • how the Bible is more than a book of facts and how it guides us into a relationship with God; • how baptism and the Lord’s Supper allow us to experience God’s saving power; and • how local churches can encourage intentional discipleship.
Book Synopsis Ritual Practices in Congregational Identity Formation by : Timothy D. Son
Download or read book Ritual Practices in Congregational Identity Formation written by Timothy D. Son and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2014-05-08 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ritual Practices in Congregational Identity Formation investigates the educational roles of ritual practices in the process of congregational identity formation. Son identifies and analyzes various kinds of Christian rituals with respect to how rituals influence the formational processes of a congregation’s identity. Based on Victor Turner’s ritual theory, this book also investigates the pedagogical and transformative efficacies of ritual practices within the dynamics of congregational education.
Book Synopsis Christian Faith, Formation and Education by : Ros Stuart-Buttle
Download or read book Christian Faith, Formation and Education written by Ros Stuart-Buttle and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-11-13 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses the relationship between faith, formation and education. Rooted in a variety of discourses, the book offers original insights into the education and formation of the human person, both theoretical and practical. Issues are considered within a context of contemporary tensions generated by an increasingly pluralist society with antipathy to religious faith, and debated from interdenominational Christian perspectives. Including chapters by an international team of experts, the volume demonstrates how Christian faith holds significance for educational practice and human development. It argues against the common assumption that there can be a neutral approach to education, whilst at the same time advocating a critical dimension to faith education. It brings fresh thinking about faith and formation, which demands attention given the fast-changing political, educational and socio-cultural forces of today. It will appeal to students and researchers involved in Christian educational practice.
Book Synopsis Spiritual Formation as if the Church Mattered by : James C. Wilhoit
Download or read book Spiritual Formation as if the Church Mattered written by James C. Wilhoit and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2022-03-29 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most books on spiritual formation focus on the individual. But spiritual formation is at the heart of the church's whole purpose for existence. It must be a central task for the church to carry out Christ's mission in the world. This book offers an introduction to spiritual formation set squarely in the local church. The first edition has been well received and widely used as a textbook. The second edition has been updated throughout, incorporates findings from positive psychology, and reflects an Augustinian formation perspective. Foreword by Dallas Willard.
