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Rethinking The Church For The 21st Century
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Book Synopsis Rethinking the Church by : James Emery White
Download or read book Rethinking the Church written by James Emery White and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2003-07-01 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why is it important to rethink the church? Today many leaders focus on how their ministries can be run more efficiently. But the foundational question, according to James Emery White, should be Why do we have this ministry? and then, Why do we do this ministry the way we do? Is it effective? Rethinking the Church helps pastors and lay leaders work through questions that must be answered if a church is to rethink evangelism, discipleship, ministry, worship, community, and the structure of the church. Break old molds, check assumptions, and be sensitive, says White. He uses the language and aims of "seeker-targeted" churches but urges readers not to tie themselves to any model without understanding the individual purpose of their church. Now thoroughly revised and expanded, Rethinking the Church contains more emphasis and key material on how to move from rethinking to transition. White blends biblical reflection and hands-on experience and uses the early church as described in the Book of Acts as the ultimate example.
Download or read book We Must Speak written by Larry Hollon and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2012-07-28 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We Must Speak: Rethinking How We Communicate About Faith in the 21st Century Pray that I may declare (the message) boldly, as I must speak. - Ephesians 6:20 In We Must Speak, Larry Hollon addresses the communications crisis in mainline denominations and sounds a call to action for the church: Speak out in todays digital culture or risk irrelevance. Communications technology is connecting people in unprecedented ways, yet many mainline churches have been slow to adapt and have continued to lose members and status. Other voices and messages are filling the void, offering superficial entertainment and consumerism as poor substitutes for the good news of the church. By embracing communications ministry, churches can transform their communities, change lives and be the presence of Christ for a hurting world. Hollon shares success stories, a theologically grounded vision, and specific steps for local congregations and denominations to tap the power of communications. Larry Hollon sets out the case for why we need to maintain our voice in a world crowded with competing messages and often destructive values. - Mike McCurry, former White House press secretary
Book Synopsis Redefining Children's Ministry in the 21st Century by : Becky Fischer
Download or read book Redefining Children's Ministry in the 21st Century written by Becky Fischer and published by . This book was released on 2011-07 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Research shows that by the time many children are thirteen years old they feel they know everything there is to know about the Bible and God, and feel no further need of attending church. Could this be because we have underestimated their spiritual potential, and been content to feed them a repetitive spiritual diet of basic Bible stories over and over again? Just how many ways can we repackage Noah's Ark anyway? It's time the collective body of Christ re-evaluate children's ministries and redefine what valid, disciple-making, equipping children's ministry really is.
Download or read book From the Outside written by Tony Flannery and published by Red Stripe Press. This book was released on 2021-02-17 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eight years ago the popular and outspoken priest Tony Flannery was withdrawn from his ministry by his religious congregation, the Redemptorists, under orders from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican. The CDF took issue with some of his writings, saying they were heretical. He was forbidden to perform priestly duties, or to write any articles or give interviews. Refusing to submit to this sentence, the intervening eight years have given him a greater degree of freedom of thought and action than he had ever experienced during his life as a priest in ministry. From the Outside is a product of what he has ascertained and come to believe during those years. The Church is facing many challenges. A great many people are leaving or have left; priest numbers are declining; clerical sex abuse still festers; women are excluded from ministry and decision-making, and that is becoming more and more of an anomaly as time goes by. Leadership in the Church seems incapable of dealing with these challenges, leaving the Church with a serious credibility issue. Along with these issues, From the Outside also deals with a much more fundamental and intractable problem, namely the problem of Church doctrine. Many of what are regarded as fundamental doctrines in the Church date from the early centuries of Christianity. To hold that what was defined about God over fifteen hundred years ago must be accepted without question in the twenty-first century is no longer credible. Flannery outlines what needs to be changed, both in the content and language of doctrine, and in the images and metaphors used. Challenging and controversial, From the Outside asks the Church leadership to look again at some of its basic doctrines. Change is needed. Tony Flannery is a Redemptorist priest, well known for his writings on a variety of Church issues. His previous books include A Question of Conscience (2013), From the Inside: A Priest’s View of the Catholic Church (1999), Keeping the Faith (2005), and Death of Religious Life? (1997).
Book Synopsis Rethinking the Church for the 21st Century by : Apostle Jean Saflo
Download or read book Rethinking the Church for the 21st Century written by Apostle Jean Saflo and published by . This book was released on 2013-04-01 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Apostle Jean Saflo is the senior pastor of Holy Church of Jesus in Oslo Norway, as well as the founder and leader of Trumpet of Faith Ministries internationally. He and his wife Jovia Saflo are blessed with four children: Ivan, Igor, Hinn and Teta. Born in Rwanda 1972, God called him for the "Paying BackTime" mission in Europe and internationally. His ministry has blessed believers in the US, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, France and Africa. God has used him to unify several churches in Norway for preaching the Gospel for the Last Harvest. He dreams of seeing God revive African nations with an open door to the Gospel. He believes we live in an international prophetic season for the Gospel.
Book Synopsis Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century by : Richard B. McKenzie
Download or read book Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century written by Richard B. McKenzie and published by SAGE. This book was released on 1999 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring the only option for a growing army of children who cannot be placed for adoption or fostering, this text demonstrates from a large-scale survey of orphan alumni that they outpace the general population in most areas of life.
Book Synopsis Suffering and Persecution by : Myrto Theocharous
Download or read book Suffering and Persecution written by Myrto Theocharous and published by Langham Publishing. This book was released on 2024-09-17 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: God’s love in Jesus Christ for the salvation and recreation of all things is still the hope of the world. This Christian affirmation is the reality that “holds all things” and “holds all things together.” Yet in today’s world, it is easy to understand why the church is in pain and declining in its Christian and moral influence. Rethinking Church in the 21st Century is the culmination of three years of exploration into the condition of the church around the world today. Bringing together a diverse community of Christian voices, these essays offer reflections and admonitions to ignite the hearts of pastors and leaders during the dynamic, vulnerable, and hopeful times we face. In this first volume, scholars and church leaders from across the globe respond to writings on suffering and persecution. The authors examine the universal themes of suffering and address topics such as violence, natural disasters, and persecution through contextually rooted lenses. The resulting essays are an authentic, richly diverse collection that offers fresh perspectives for the church to reflect on together.
Book Synopsis Rising From the Ashes by : Becky Garrison
Download or read book Rising From the Ashes written by Becky Garrison and published by Church Publishing, Inc.. This book was released on 2007-10-01 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The alternative worship/emergent church movement has been underway in various incarnations throughout the UK for over twenty years, and has impacted the U.S. evangelical community since the 1990s. However, these influences are just now beginning to emerge within the mainline liturgical churches. What impact do these new ways of worshiping God have on the contemporary mainline church? Rising From the Ashes engages these questions through interwoven oral history-style interviews with people in mainline churches who are doing outside-the-box ministries and are at the forefront of exploring what it means to "be" the church in the 21st century. Critics of the emergent church movement are also included.
Book Synopsis Rethinking Mary in the New Testament by : Edward Sri
Download or read book Rethinking Mary in the New Testament written by Edward Sri and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2018-10-02 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scholars often have questioned how much the New Testament can tell us about the Mother of Jesus. After all, Mary appears only in a few accounts and speaks on limited occasions. Can Scripture really support the many Marian beliefs developed in the Church over time? In Rethinking Mary in the New Testament, Dr. Edward Sri shows that the Bible reveals more about Mary than is commonly appreciated. For when the Mother of Jesus does appear in Scripture, it's often in passages of great importance, steeped in the Jewish Scriptures, and packed with theological significance. This comprehensive work examines every key New Testament reference to Mary, addressing common questions along the way, such as: What was Mary's life like before the Annunciation? Is there biblical support for Mary's Immaculate Conception and Perpetual Virginity? Does Scripture reveal Mary as our spiritual mother? What does it mean for Mary to be "full of grace"? How is Mary the "New Eve," "Ark of the Covenant," and "Queen Mother"? Can Mary be identified with the "woman" in Revelation 12? Rethinking Mary in the New Testament offers a fresh, in-depth look at the Mother of Jesus in Scripture—one that helps us know Mary better and her role in God's plan.
Book Synopsis For the Fame of His Name by : G W Steel
Download or read book For the Fame of His Name written by G W Steel and published by Xulon Press. This book was released on 2022-09-18 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two thousand years ago, Jesus told His disciples, "Go into all the world...". However, since then, times have changed... and the world has changed. Yet, how the church approaches what has come to be called "The Great Commission" has, for the most part, not changed. The task remains unfinished, and there is still much debate about why and how to keep this mission effort going. Just in the last few decades, the church has spent billions on mission projects, and thousands of faithful missionaries have gone out serving under this Great Commission... but to what end? Written for pastors, mission leaders and aspiring missionaries, this volume brings refreshing clarity to the core issues surrounding Christian missions. G. W. Steel offers straightforward biblical exegesis, astute observations, compelling stories and engaging cultural insights gained from nearly 20 years working throughout Asia and the Middle East. Steel summarizes the fruit of the church's mission work and then addresses: What exactly did Jesus teach and expect His followers to do? What was His primary message, and therefore...? What is the church's core mission? How can this mission be successful in our post-Christian, multicultural world? What kind of people are suitable for this mission, and what skills do they need? If you are asking these questions or wrestling with the implications of what Jesus taught and the first apostles practiced, open the pages of this paradigm-shifting book to explore scriptural and culturally relevant answers to these burning issues. Dig in and discover your part in fulfilling God's pleasures for His church and how you can join Him in what He is doing in the world today! G.W. Steel is first and foremost a disciple of Jesus. He is also a beloved son, husband, father, grandfather, mentor and avid sailor. Steel lived in SE Asia and has traveled to over 50 countries. He holds a Master's Degree in Organization Development and Training, and is committed to equipping cross-cultural teams from Asia and the United States to proclaim the fame of God's Name in unreached nations.
Book Synopsis Hybrid Church by : James Emery White
Download or read book Hybrid Church written by James Emery White and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2023-02-28 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We live our lives in both physical and digital community. We need to do ministry the same way. Because of COVID-19, nearly every church in the US was forced to adapt to a quarantine and adopt new ministry strategies, including digital technologies they may have avoided before. When services began to be offered in-person once more, many church leaders said they hoped they'd never have to "live stream" again for the rest of their lives. But then came the shock: people didn't return in droves, and declining attendance steepened. The pandemic had only accelerated the profound cultural changes that were already marginalizing the church and reducing its relevance. In Hybrid Church, James Emery White argues that the post-pandemic church must commit to a hybrid strategy as the only means to reach a post-Christian culture in a digital age. This book will help you rethink the church's approach and stretch you to move beyond the mentality of "that's the way we've always done it." First outlining the dynamics and depths of the new realities we face, White then walks you through major ways of rethinking digital community, strategic thinking, discipleship, and outreach—tackling practical topics like: How to create an online presence that removes unnecessary barriers to engagement and community. How to rethink your church's delivery, both online and in-person. How to meet the spiritual and communal needs of a younger, digitally-native generation. How to shift from a focus on gathering and attendance to a more biblical vision of togetherness and discipleship. Hybrid Church is written to enable pastors and church leaders to see the positive opportunities in the radical changes of the day and to help model a dynamic new approach to ministry.
Book Synopsis About Face by : Christopher L. Flanders
Download or read book About Face written by Christopher L. Flanders and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2011-03-07 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "For Thais, face is a fact," writes Flanders. However, "whether in theology, evangelism, or issues involving sin, salvation, or atonement, Thai Christians and missionaries alike seem either uninterested in or possibly incapable of addressing issues related to face. This glaring incongruity between the value of face for Thais and the lack of intentional engagement within the Thai Christian community is deeply troubling. "Surely, such a lack of careful attention to face is a dangerous posture. Uncritical views of face, furtively attaching to the theology of the Thai church, are potentially detrimental for its life and mission. Such seems to be an unavoidable situation without proper attention to face. Additionally, to ignore face is to run the risk of missing valuable cultural resources, implicit in the Thai experience of face, for the critical task of authentic Thai theological reflection. "This lack of engagement with face raises critical issues with which we must wrestle. How is it that such a central sociocultural issue has not been a more significant part of the Thai Christian vocabulary or experience? How pervasive are these negative attitudes regarding face? What lies behind them? Might this lack of self-conscious engagement with face have any relationship to the persistent Thai perception of Christianity as a foreign, Western religion? How should Christians understand this notion of face and how it relates to the ways we understand and proclaim the gospel?"
Download or read book One Assembly written by Jonathan Leeman and published by Crossway. This book was released on 2020-03-26 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many churches are switching to the multisite or multiservice models to manage crowded sanctuaries due to growing attendance. This solution seems sensible in the short term, but too often churches adopt this model without taking into consideration what the Bible says about it. Illuminating the importance of physical togetherness as a way to protect the gospel, this book argues that maintaining a single assembly best embodies the unity the church possesses in Jesus Christ. Jonathan Leeman considers a series of biblical, theological, and pastoral arguments that ask us to stop and examine intuitions or assumptions about what a church is. He reorients our minds to a biblical definition of church, offering examples of churches that have thrived with a single service at a single site and compelling alternatives for those looking to solve the complications that come with a growing church.
Book Synopsis Anonymous Agencies, Backstreet Businesses, and Covert Collectives by : Craig Scott
Download or read book Anonymous Agencies, Backstreet Businesses, and Covert Collectives written by Craig Scott and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2013-03-27 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many of today's organizations "live in public"; they devote extensive resources to branding, catching the public eye, and capitalizing on the age of transparency. But, at the same time, a growing number of companies and other collectives are flying under the radar, concealing their identities and activities. This book offers a framework for thinking about how organizations and their members communicate identity to relevant audiences. Considering the degree to which organizations reveal themselves, the extent to which members express their identification with the organization, and whether the audience is public or local, author Craig R. Scott describes collectives as residing in "regions" that range from transparent to shaded, from shadowed to dark. Taking a closer look at groups like EarthFirst!, the Church of Scientology, Alcoholics Anonymous, the KKK, Skull and Bones, U.S. special mission units, men's bathhouses, and various terrorist organizations, this book draws attention to shaded, shadowed, and dark collectives as important organizations in the contemporary landscape.
Book Synopsis Beyond Megachurch Myths by : Scott Thumma
Download or read book Beyond Megachurch Myths written by Scott Thumma and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2007-08-10 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on extensive, broad-based, and well-designed research, as well as stories and anecdotes, Beyond Megachurch Myths dispels popluar myths about megachurches while highlighting the diversity within the megachurch phenomenon. Defining a megachurch as a Protestant church that averages at least 2000 total attendees in their weekend services, Scott Thumma and Dave Travis reveal what these churches are and are not, why they are thriving, what their members say about their experiences, and why they have many valuable lessons to teach smaller churches.
Book Synopsis Christian Faith in Our Time by : Paul Jersild
Download or read book Christian Faith in Our Time written by Paul Jersild and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2016-12-19 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jersild responds to a fundamental issue in the theology of the church: what is the nature of our language in addressing the mysteries of our faith, such as speaking of God, or of the incarnation? Advocating a "modest" theology in facing the mystery of God, and acknowledging the impact of postmodern sensibilities, he lifts up the metaphorical language of Jesus as the key to a responsible theology. Jersild makes his case for a "faith-based imagination" centering on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus as God's man who brings a divine, redemptive love to the human story. Theology does not give us a line in the sand that divides the saved from the lost, nor is it the truth that makes all other religions false. This is a book for seekers as well as many church members who harbor questions and doubts about the church's theology.
Book Synopsis Rethinking Church by : Ron Highfield
Download or read book Rethinking Church written by Ron Highfield and published by Keledei Publications. This book was released on 2021-02-15 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Rethinking Church, veteran church leader, theologian, and professor Ron Highfield tells the story of how he came to the conclusions that most institutions we call "churches" are really parachurch organizations, much of the "church work" we do focuses on making something happen on Sunday mornings, and much of the money we give goes to pay staff to keep the parachurch functions running. Highfield writes for older believers who feel burned out and disillusioned by years of institutional maintenance. He addresses young people who have never seen the relevance of institutional churches to their lives. To all who view institutional churches as self-serving, hypocritical, money grubbing, growth obsessed, clergy dominated, and backward, Highfield offers a different vision of church life. This church is simple, small, requires no money, needs no clergy, and possesses no property. It does not run like a business, is not organized like a corporation, and does not feel like a theater. It feels like a family, meets around a table, and focuses on the Lord. Highfield invites you to join him in Rethinking Church for your life. "The vibrancy of "church" envisioned in the Bible tends to happen in smaller settings, while traditional church is hamstrung by numerous programs and other commitments. Truth be told, for many who seek authentic and transformative fellowship, going to church is discouraging. Yet there is hope. Rethinking Church is a compelling and biblically refreshing read, penned by the clearest thinker (and most concise writer) I know. " -Douglas Jacoby, Lincoln Christian University "The widespread frustration with, and apparent social demise of, the institutional church is of grave concern. And if you share such frustrations, it may be important to know that there are creative and faithful and compelling options for "being church." Ron Highfield's description of "simple church" is one of those options which takes church seriously without off-putting dogmatism. Realistic and practical, while also hopeful, this is a genuinely helpful resource for those who are looking for something different before they give up on "church" altogether. " -Lee C. Camp, host of Tokens Show (www.TokensShow.com) " With thoughtfulness and discernment, Ron Highfield deconstructs our expectations of what church must be, inviting us to expand our thinking by thinking smaller. In doing so he offers us a needed moment to take a step back and catch our breath. He beckons us to sit down and sort through our heavy suitcases and consider that traveling light might be a possibility for the family of God. " -Amy Wilson Kendall, College Minister, Boulder Colorado
