Disappearing Church

Disappearing Church PDF Author: Mark Sayers
Publisher: Moody Publishers
ISBN: 0802493467
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
When church and culture look the same... For the many Christians eager to prove we can be both holy and cool, cultural pressures are too much. We either compartmentalize our faith or drift from it altogether—into a world that’s so alluring. Have you wondered lately: Why does the Western church look so much like the world? Why are so many of my friends leaving the faith? How can we get back to our roots? Disappearing Church will help you sort through concerns like these, guiding you in a thoughtful, faithful, and hopeful response. Weaving together art, history, and theology, pastor and cultural observer Mark Sayers reminds us that real growth happens when the church embraces its countercultural witness, not when it blends in. It’s like Jesus said long ago, “If the salt loses its saltiness, it is no longer good for anything…”

Disappearing Church

Disappearing Church PDF Author: Mark Sayers
Publisher: Moody Publishers
ISBN: 0802493467
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 176

Get Book

Book Description
When church and culture look the same... For the many Christians eager to prove we can be both holy and cool, cultural pressures are too much. We either compartmentalize our faith or drift from it altogether—into a world that’s so alluring. Have you wondered lately: Why does the Western church look so much like the world? Why are so many of my friends leaving the faith? How can we get back to our roots? Disappearing Church will help you sort through concerns like these, guiding you in a thoughtful, faithful, and hopeful response. Weaving together art, history, and theology, pastor and cultural observer Mark Sayers reminds us that real growth happens when the church embraces its countercultural witness, not when it blends in. It’s like Jesus said long ago, “If the salt loses its saltiness, it is no longer good for anything…”

Already Gone

Already Gone PDF Author: Ken Ham
Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group
ISBN: 0890515298
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
NATIONWIDE POLLS AND DENOMINATIONAL REPORTS ARE SHOWING THAT THE NEXT GENERATION IS CALLING IT QUITS ON THE TRADITIONAL CHURCH.

Strange Days

Strange Days PDF Author: Mark Sayers
Publisher: Moody Publishers
ISBN: 0802495788
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
What in the world is going on? These days the world has everyone spinning. Weekly terrorist attacks. The refugee crisis. Transgender bathrooms. Academic safe spaces. Tensions with Russia. A perpetually uncertain economy. The list goes on. It’s enough to make us crazy… or want to put our heads in the sand. But we can’t, because these are our times, and we must face them. So what many Christians are looking for is someone to communicate a way forward—someone who both understands culture and trusts the Bible. Mark Sayers is such a leader, one who “writes from the future.” He is a gifted cultural analysist who combines his biblical knowledge, curious mind, and pastoral heart to offer a guide to the times. Strange Days will help Christians slow down, get their bearings, and follow God with wisdom and tact in this wild world. “Take heart, for I have overcome the world,” Jesus said nearly 2,000 years ago. And that’s the message of Strange Days, the message the church needs today.

Why Men Hate Going to Church

Why Men Hate Going to Church PDF Author: David Murrow
Publisher: HarperChristian + ORM
ISBN: 0849949815
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
“Church is boring.” “It’s irrelevant.” “It’s full of hypocrites.” You’ve heard the excuses—now learn the real reasons men and boys are fleeing churches of every kind, all over the world, and what we can do about it. Women comprise more than 60% of the adults in a typical worship service in America. Some overseas congregations report ten women for every man in attendance. Men are less likely to lead, volunteer, and give in the church. They pray less, share their faith less, and read the Bible less. In Why Men Hate Going to Church, David Murrow identifies the barriers keeping many men from going to church, explains why it’s so hard to motivate the men who do attend, and also takes you inside several fast-growing congregations that are winning the hearts of men and boys. In this completely revised, reorganized, and rewritten edition of the classic book, with more than 70 percent new content, explore topics like: The increase and decrease in male church attendance during the past 500 years Why Christian churches are more feminine even though men are often still the leaders The difference between the type of God men and women like to worship The lack of volunteering and ministry opportunities for men The benefits men get from attending church regularly Men need the church but, more importantly, the church needs men. The presence of enthusiastic men is one of the surest predictors of church health, growth, giving, and expansion. Why Men Hate Going to Church does not call men back to church—it calls the church back to men.

The Disappearing Deaconess

The Disappearing Deaconess PDF Author: Brian Patrick Mitchell
Publisher: Eremia
ISBN: 9780991016983
Category : Deaconesses
Languages : en
Pages : 118

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Book Description
The Disappearing Deaconess examines not just the history of deaconesses but also patristic teaching on male and female and the evolution of ministries in the early Church to conclude that the order of deaconess was inherently problematic for early Christians because it appeared to elevate women over men in the hierarchy of the Church, contrary to Christian beliefs about both the natural order and the divine economy. That explains why many local churches never had deaconesses and why those that had them eventually stopped having them. This book also includes two important appendices addressing proposals to create a new order of deaconesses and the larger issue of male and female as understood by Church Fathers. The first outlines a theological basis for the distinction of male and female as the key to understanding many gender issues, including the exclusion of women from clerical orders. The second is a public statement signed by over 300 Orthodox clergy and laity opposing the creation of a new order.

Facing Leviathan

Facing Leviathan PDF Author: Mark Sayers
Publisher: Moody Publishers
ISBN: 0802489818
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
There are two styles of leadership at war in the world. On one side the mechanical leader casts a vision of heroic action aided by pragmatism, reason, technology, and power. On the other side the organic leader strives to bring forth creativity, defying convention, and relishing life in culture’s margins. This leadership battle is at the heart of our contemporary culture, but it is also an ancient battle. It is the reinvocation of two great heresies, one rooted in an attempt to reach for godlikeness, the other bowing before the sea monster of the chaotic deep. Today’s leader must answer many challenging questions including: What does it mean to lead in a cultural storm? How do I battle the darkness in my own heart? Is there such a thing as a perfect leader? Weaving a history of leadership through the Enlightenment, Romanticism, tumultuous 19th-century Paris, and eventually World War II, cultural commentator Mark Sayers brings history and theology together to warn of the dangers yet to come, calling us to choose a better way.

The Road Trip that Changed the World

The Road Trip that Changed the World PDF Author: Mark Sayers
Publisher: Moody Publishers
ISBN: 0802479391
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Can’t find no satisfaction? There’s no shortage of prescriptions for restlessness out there: Seek adventure. Live your life. Don’t hold back. Sound familiar? The Road Trip that Changed the World is a book challenging the contemporary conviction that personal freedom and self-fulfillment are the highest good. Like the characters in a Jack Kerouac novel, we’ve dirtied the dream of white picket fences with exhaust fumes. The new dream is the open road—and freedom. Yet we still desire the solace of faith. We like the concept of the sacred, but unwittingly subscribe to secularized, westernized spirituality. We’re convinced that there is a deeper plot to this thing called life, yet watered-down, therapeutic forms of religion are all we choose to swallow, and our personal story trumps any larger narrative. This is the non-committal culture of the road. Though driving on freely, we have forgotten where we’re headed. Jesus said His road is narrow. He wasn’t some aimless nomad. He had more than just a half tank of gas—He had passion, objectives, and a destination. Do you?

Disappearing Ink

Disappearing Ink PDF Author: Travis McDade
Publisher: Diversion Books
ISBN: 1626818967
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description
The remarkable true story of the document heist that shocked the world. Like many aspiring writers, David Breithaupt had money problems. But what he also had was unsupervised access to one of the finest special collections libraries in the country. In October 1990, Kenyon College hired Breithaupt as its library’s part-time evening supervisor. In April 2000, he was fired after a Georgia librarian discovered him selling a letter by Flannery O’Connor on eBay, but that was only the tip of the iceberg: for the past ten years, Breithaupt had been browsing the collection, taking from it whatever rare books, manuscripts, and documents caught his eye—W. H. Auden annotated typescripts, a Thomas Pynchon manuscript, and much, much more. It was a large-scale, long-term pillaging of Kenyon College’s most precious works. After he was caught, the American justice system looked like it was about to disappoint the college the way it had countless rare book crime victims before—but Kenyon, refused to let this happen . . .

Green Church

Green Church PDF Author: Rebekah Simon-Peter
Publisher: Abingdon Press
ISBN: 1426702922
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 146

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Book Description
"God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good." -Genesis 1:31 What the Bible says about taking care of the earth. From extreme weather events to oil spills to climate change, Planet Earth is in the news. What does this mean for Christians and how does it impact the life of faith? Green Church answers these questions in ways both hopeful and engaging. Citing both Scripture and science, Rebekah Simon-Peter weaves together personal stories of Sabbath, gardening, recycling, mentoring, and the power of faith. She challenges us to consider our role in the care of creation and to help steward the earth for future generations. Includes Green Facts, Spotlight on Science and Greening the Church follow up steps. Use as a stand-alone book, small group selection or as part of a church wide campaign. You can study the book by yourself or get a small group together at your church and work through the book together using the Green Church Leader Guide. Use the resources for Children and Youth at the same time for a churchwide study. Whether reading the book on your own or participating in a study, don't forget to get a copy of 7 Simple Steps to Green Your Church, which will show you how to implement a green plan at your church. Be sure to Like Green Church at www.Facebook.com/GreenChurch "What a remarkable Book! Green Church is the most direct, attractive, and no-nonsense argument I have yet seen for the holy obligations to Christian greennes. This and its companion volume, 7 Simple Steps to Green Your Church, should be 'must reads' for every church in North America." ~ Phillis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why

Truth Aflame

Truth Aflame PDF Author: Larry D. Hart
Publisher: Zondervan Academic
ISBN: 0310864488
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 609

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Book Description
“Larry Hart’s Truth Aflame brings together charismatic renewal and classic evangelical faith better than anything I have read. An important contribution to the contemporary renaissance in systematic theology!” Timothy George Dean of Beeson Divinity School of Samford University, Executive Editor of Christianity Today As the Pentecostal/charismatic movement continues to grow, so does the need for solid theological resources for its members. While there are many volumes of systematic theology available, very few are written from a distinctly charismatic perspective. Truth Aflame seeks to meet that need. While academically sound, Truth Aflame is written with a practical, pastoral flavor. Larry Hart defines systematic theology as the process of taking what the Bible teaches and relating it to contemporary questions and knowledge. His passion for the subject is evident: he is concerned that the reader both grasps the magnificence of the study of God and allows these great truths to be transformative. This Truth, then—liberating, enlivening, and transforming Truth—becomes central to the ongoing renewal of the church that we are seeing in our day. Dr. Hart treats each of the traditional categories—revelation, God, creation, humanity, sin, Christ, salvation, the church, and last things—from a Pentecostal/charismatic perspective. He addresses other theological viewpoints but does not get bogged down in analysis and rebuttal. Further, he seeks to build bridges of understanding to those evangelicals outside the charismatic tradition. Clear, succinct, and readable, this revised and updated edition of Truth Aflame is well-suited not only for students, but for anyone desiring a greater understanding of Pentecostal/charismatic theology.