Church as Network

Church as Network PDF Author: Jeffrey H. Mahan
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538135817
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
Just as the emergence of print and literacy created conditions for vast religious change at the time of the Reformation, the emergence of a digital culture shaped by computers and the internet has led to radically different assumptions about religious identity, how people connect and maintain transformative relationships, and how people follow and give authority to leaders. The central issues concerning this digital culture are not technological but theological and anthropological. Old models of stable religious identity and community seem irrelevant in a culture in which everyone is in motion. The book identifies three profound changes produced by digital culture which challenge existing understandings of church: 1) a shift to seeing Christian identity as an ongoing constructive project, 2) the development of fluid networked forms of community, and 3) the emergence of less hierarchical more conversational forms of leadership.

Church as Network

Church as Network PDF Author: Jeffrey H. Mahan
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538135817
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 175

Get Book

Book Description
Just as the emergence of print and literacy created conditions for vast religious change at the time of the Reformation, the emergence of a digital culture shaped by computers and the internet has led to radically different assumptions about religious identity, how people connect and maintain transformative relationships, and how people follow and give authority to leaders. The central issues concerning this digital culture are not technological but theological and anthropological. Old models of stable religious identity and community seem irrelevant in a culture in which everyone is in motion. The book identifies three profound changes produced by digital culture which challenge existing understandings of church: 1) a shift to seeing Christian identity as an ongoing constructive project, 2) the development of fluid networked forms of community, and 3) the emergence of less hierarchical more conversational forms of leadership.

Church of the Wild

Church of the Wild PDF Author: Victoria Loorz
Publisher: Broadleaf Books
ISBN: 1506469655
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
Once upon a time, humans lived in intimate relationship with nature. Whether disillusioned by the dominant church or unfulfilled by traditional expressions of faith, many of us long for a deeper spirtuality. Victoria Loorz certainly did. Coping with an unraveling vocation, identity, and planet, Loorz turned to the wanderings of spiritual leaders and the sanctuary of the natural world, eventually cofounding the Wild Church Network and Seminary of the Wild. With an ecospiritual lens on biblical narratives and a fresh look at a community larger than our own species, Church of the Wild uncovers the wild roots of faith and helps us deepen our commitment to a suffering earth by falling in love with it--and calling it church. Through mystical encounters with wild deer, whispers from a scrubby oak tree, wordless conversation with a cougar, and more, Loorz helps us connect to a love that literally holds the world together--a love that calls us into communion with all creatures.

We Are Church: A Small Group Experience

We Are Church: A Small Group Experience PDF Author: Francis Chan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780781403849
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
BASIC.We Are ChurchA Small Group ExperienceFRANCIS CHAN In this bold new interactive 9-session small group study, Francis Chan takes on the practical aspects of the church, distilling the reality of God's design for the church into foundational truths that will challenge Christians to become the church described in Scripture. Features the final four BASIC films on DVD, each enhanced with two exclusive study sessions found only in this small group experience.- BASIC.Fellowship DVD- BASIC.Teaching DVD- BASIC.Prayer DVD- BASIC.Communion DVD- Six (6) We Are Church Follower's Guides, corresponding to the interactive DVD studies- Resource DVD with video clips, trailers, and poster for church use, sermon outlines for pastors, tips for leaders, and more.

Sticky Church

Sticky Church PDF Author: Larry Osborne
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 031031299X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
Why closing the back door of your church is even more important than opening the front door wider. In Sticky Church, author and pastor Larry Osborne offers a time-tested strategy for doing so: sermon-based small groups that dig deeper into the weekend message and tightly velcro members to the ministry. It's a strategy that enabled Osborne's congregation to grow from a handful of people to one of the larger churches in the nation—without any marketing or special programming. Sticky Church tells the inspiring story of North Coast Church's phenomenal growth and offers practical tips for launching your own sermon-based small group ministry. Topics include: Why stickiness is so important Why most of our discipleship models don't work very well Why small groups always make a church more honest and transparent What makes groups grow deeper and sticker over time Sticky Church is an ideal book for church leaders who want to start or retool their small group ministry—and velcro their congregation to the Bible and each other.

Leading a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church

Leading a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church PDF Author: Mark DeYmaz
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0310514754
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
Increasingly, church leaders are recognizing the power and beauty of the multi-ethnic church. Yet, more than a good idea, it’s a biblical, first-century standard with far-reaching evangelistic potential. How can your church overcome the obstacles to become a healthy multi-ethnic community of faith? And why should you even try? In Leading a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church (formerly titled Ethnic Blends), Dr. Mark DeYmaz provides an up-close-and-personal look at seven common challenges to creating diversity in your church. Through real-life stories and practical illustrations, DeYmaz shows how to overcome the obstacles in order to lead a healthy multi-ethnic church. He also includes the insights of other effective multi-ethnic church leaders from the United States and Australia, as well as study questions at the end of each chapter. Leading a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church describes what effective local churches in the 21st century will look like and shows us how to create them, together as one, beyond race and class distinctions. –Miles McPherson, Senior Pastor, The Rock Church, San Diego, CA Mark DeYmaz, perhaps more than any pastor in America, has his pulse on what it will take for the Church to find real reconciliation in our generation. –Matt Carter, Lead Pastor, Austin Stone Community Church, Austin, TX

Servolution

Servolution PDF Author: Dino Rizzo
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0310287634
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
The idea of servolution is a revolution of serving others, and this resource provides practical ideas and strategies to get started.

The Rise of Network Christianity

The Rise of Network Christianity PDF Author: Brad Christerson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019063569X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Why, when traditionally organized religious groups are seeing declining membership and participation, are networks of independent churches growing so explosively? Drawing on in-depth interviews with leaders and participants, The Rise of Network Christianity explains the social forces behind the fastest-growing form of Christianity in the U.S., which Brad Christerson and Richard Flory have labeled "Independent Network Charismatic." This form of Christianity emphasizes aggressive engagement with the supernatural-including healing, direct prophecies from God, engaging in "spiritual warfare" against demonic spirits--and social transformation. Christerson and Flory argue that macro-level social changes since the 1970s, including globalization and the digital revolution, have given competitive advantages to religious groups organized as networks rather than traditionally organized congregations and denominations. Network forms of governance allow for experimentation with controversial supernatural practices, innovative finances and marketing, and a highly participatory, unorthodox, and experiential faith, which is attractive in today's unstable religious marketplace. Christerson and Flory hypothesize that as more religious groups imitate this type of governance, religious belief and practice will become more experimental, more orientated around practice than theology, more shaped by the individual religious "consumer," and authority will become more highly concentrated in the hands of individuals rather than institutions. Network Christianity, they argue, is the future of Christianity in America.

Church Unique

Church Unique PDF Author: Will Mancini
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470435348
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 309

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Book Description
Written by church consultant Will Mancini expert on a new kind of visioning process to help churches develop a stunningly unique model of ministry that leads to redemptive movement. He guides churches away from an internal focus to emphasize participation in their community and surrounding culture. In this important book, Mancini offers an approach for rethinking what it means to lead with clarity as a visionary. Mancini explains that each church has a culture that reflects its particular values, thoughts, attitudes, and actions and shows how church leaders can unlock their church's individual DNA and unleash their congregation's one-of-a-kind potential.

Web-Empower Your Church

Web-Empower Your Church PDF Author: Mark Stephenson
Publisher: Abingdon Press
ISBN: 1426725248
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
A great church website is more about ministry than technology. Web-Empower Your Church offers step-by-step guidance to web implementers and other church leaders who are on the exciting journey to building an effective web ministry. Mark's engaging, conversational style makes technology accessible. He offers first-hand advice on every aspect of building an internet ministry: from assembling a team to designing and maintaining the website to adding powerful ministry features. "A first-hand account from one of the true pioneers of online ministry. Anyone interested in online ministry ought to read this book and learn from Mark's example." Andrew Careaga Author, eMinistry: Connecting with the Net Generation "A clear picture on the do's and don'ts of web ministry for churches. A must read for churches who want to effectively engage in web ministry." Walt Wilson Founder and Chairman, Global Media Outreach, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ "Stephenson has truly unleashed the power of internet ministry for your church. If you're looking for a readable and educating book on web-empowered ministry, look no further. This book is it. I can't believe how much I learned from my first reading. I will be returning to the book over and over." Bill Easum President, Easum, Bandy & Associates Mark Stephenson is Director of CyberMinistry and Technology of Ginghamsburg Church, Tipp City, Ohio. He started the Ginghamsburg CyberMinistry back in 1996 as an unpaid servant. Over the years, as the ministry grew, Mark joined the Ginghamsburg staff, first part time and then full time. Currently, Ginghamsburg Church has one of the largest and most innovative church internet ministries in the world, and the ministry remains unpaid-servant based and “home grown” (no outside companies or consultants have been hired). The website has received national acclaim -- from write-ups in the Wall Street Journal to the Dallas Morning News to Christian Computing Magazine, and television stories by WBNS Channel 10 in Columbus, Ohio and on Fox News. Visionary leaders like Bill Easum and Len Sweet champion it as a must-see website. Mark, the “Church CyberGuy,” is also a well-known speaker on CyberMinistry as he conducts presentations and workshops around North America for such organizations as Leadership Network, United Methodist Communications, North American Christian Convention, Brethren in Christ Church of North America, and Miami University of Ohio. Mark has provided consulting support to numerous churches from around the world to help them develop their web ministries. His passion for helping churches led him to start and lead the Web-Empowered Church, a ministry of The Foundation for Evangelism, to develop free web-ministry software for churches and ministries worldwide.

Networking the Black Church

Networking the Black Church PDF Author: Erika D. Gault
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479805866
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 191

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Book Description
Provides a timely portrait of young Black Christians and how digital technology is transforming the Black Church They stand at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter movement, push the boundaries of the Black Church through online expression of Christian hip hop, and redefine what it means to be young, Black, and Christian in America. Young Black adults represent the future of African American religiosity, yet little is known regarding their religious lives beyond the Black Church. Networking the Black Church explores how deeply embedded digital technology is in the lives of young Black Christians, offering a first-of-its-kind digital-hip hop ethnography. Erika D. Gault argues that a new religious ethos has emerged among young adult Blacks in America. To understand Black Christianity today it is not enough to look at the traditional Black Church. The Black Church is itself being changed by what she calls digital Black Christians. The volume examines the ways in which Christian hip hop artists who have adopted Black-preaching-inspired spoken word performances create alternate kinds of Christian communities both inside and outside the walls of traditional Black churches. Framed around interviews with prominent Black Christian hip hop artists, it explores the multiple ways that digital Black Christians construct religious identity and meaning through video-sharing and social media. In the process, these digital Black Christians are changing Black churches as institutions, transforming modes of religious activism, inventing new communication practices around evangelism and Christian identity, and streamlining the accessibility of Black Church cultural practices in popular culture. Erika D. Gault provides a fascinating portrait of young Black faith, illuminating how the relationship between religion and digital media is changing the lived experiences of a new generation of Black Christians.