Facing Messy Stuff in the Church

Facing Messy Stuff in the Church PDF Author: Kenneth L. Swetland
Publisher: Kregel Academic
ISBN: 9780825495366
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
A collection of fifteen case studies that give church leaders practical and realistic preparation to handle tough issues like sexual harassment, pornography, divorce, and the effects of abortion. The book includes discussion questions, an appendix for facilitating discussions, and a bibliography of additional resources.

Facing Messy Stuff in the Church

Facing Messy Stuff in the Church PDF Author: Kenneth L. Swetland
Publisher: Kregel Academic
ISBN: 9780825495366
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
A collection of fifteen case studies that give church leaders practical and realistic preparation to handle tough issues like sexual harassment, pornography, divorce, and the effects of abortion. The book includes discussion questions, an appendix for facilitating discussions, and a bibliography of additional resources.

Inside the Large Congregation

Inside the Large Congregation PDF Author: Susan Beaumont
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1566995612
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
For five years, Alban Institute senior consultant Susan Beaumont has been giving voice to the organizational and leadership demands of large congregations. Through her work, she has identified five basic leadership systems that need to stay in alignment for the large church to function well for its size: clergy leadership roles, staff team design and function, governance and board function, acculturation and the role of laity, and forming and executing strategy. She has also learned that these five systems operate with some important but subtle distinctions in what Beaumont calls the professional church (400-800 in worship attendance), the strategic church (800-1,200), and the matrix church (1,200-2,000). Often, she has discovered, problems in a large congregation are related to the fact that one or more of the five systems is inappropriately structured for the size of the congregation. In other words, the church isn't acting its size. Beaumont is invested in helping large congregations 'rightsize' their leadership systems to better serve their ministry context. This book articulates why size matters and how it matters in the world of large congregations. It is written for anyone who wants to better understand the leadership and organizational dynamics of the large church anyone seeking to understand the challenges of leading from inside the large congregation.

The Hidden World of the Pastor

The Hidden World of the Pastor PDF Author: Kenneth L. Swetland
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 155635178X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
There is no question that pastors are under great stress today. Difficulties tear at the heart of the pastor but are often hidden from the view of the congregation. Kenneth Swetland presents a compelling look at this hidden world through true stories from pastors of different ages and from different parts of the country, various denominations, and diverse backgrounds. Meet Pete, Dirk, Norm, Ted, and others who face such problems as depression, sexual sin, family concerns, friction in staff relationships, gender and leadership conflicts, debt, and divorce. The thirteen case studies can be read alone or used by groups of pastors and/or students for discussion. Reading and discussing the case studies will give insight into the pastor's own problems. Having worked through their own concerns, they will be better equipped to minister to others. Laypeople would also benefit from reading the cases to gain deeper understanding of the world of pastoring and to learn when to offer support and counsel to their own pastors. 'The Hidden World of the Pastor' includes bibliographic entries as well as an appendix on how to teach a case study.

Protecting Your Church Against Sexual Predators

Protecting Your Church Against Sexual Predators PDF Author: Voyle A. Glover
Publisher: Kregel Academic
ISBN: 9780825497384
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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Book Description
Many unsuspecting and unprepared churches have been financially and spiritually destroyed by child molestation within the church ministries and the resulting litigation. Written by an experienced lawyer, this handbook provides help to any church dealing with these issues.

Looking for God in Messy Places

Looking for God in Messy Places PDF Author: Jake Owensby
Publisher: Abingdon Press
ISBN: 1791013236
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 187

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Book Description
“This is beautiful and brilliant stuff, profound and plain, incredibly human, wise and charming. I trusted and enjoyed every word.” –Anne Lamott, New York Times bestselling author about Looking for God in Messy Places For any who feel frustrated and world-weary, and who want more than just wishful thinking or superficial spirituality, this book is for you! In these pages, my friend Jake Owensby poignantly shows how LOVE is what can truly give us hope to carry on: real love, God's love for us, our love for each other, right here, right now in all the struggles of this messy life. And God knows, we need this book NOW! —Bishop Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church and author of Love is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times Life is messy. We can get discouraged by setbacks, overwhelmed by busyness, and shaken by worry. Hope is the power that gets us out of bed in the morning and gives us the courage to face adversity. Looking for God in Messy Places by Jake Owensby is a book about how love gives us an inextinguishable hope. This book is for anyone who has ever been frozen in place by loss or regret, anyone who has endured suffering, cruelty, or rejection. From word to word and page to page, readers will experience themselves as God’s beloved—so that they can be hopeful. From the introduction [This book is] For those whose struggles have been long and for those who are growing weary from heavy burdens. For those facing an unforeseen crisis or for those enduring a slow personal train wreck. For those whose throats have grown raw from crying for justice and for those whose wounds have gone unhealed. This is a book about hope, and I have written it especially for those who refuse to yield to discouragement and despair. Topics include: - The power of love to give us hope - The ways that God shows up in our daily lives - Recognizing God’s call in our lives - Becoming your true self - Having a sense of belonging - Forming a friendship with Christ - Contemplative faith

Preparing for Ministry

Preparing for Ministry PDF Author: George M. Hillman
Publisher: Kregel Academic
ISBN: 0825497337
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
Most seminaries now require their students to get real world training by way of supervised theological field education. This volume presents the wide array of issues that must be understood in order to integrate theological education and practical ministry, including the importance of theological field education, its purpose and challenges, the need for flexibility in meeting different students' needs, and the resources available to create a meaningful and educational experience.

Single, Gay, Christian

Single, Gay, Christian PDF Author: Gregory Coles
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830890939
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
Foreword INDIES Award Finalist IVP Readers' Choice Award In an age where neither society nor the church knows what to do with gay Christians, Greg Coles tells his own story. Let's make a deal, you and me. Let's make promises to each other. I promise to tell you my story. The whole story. I'll tell you about a boy in love with Jesus who, at the fateful onset of puberty, realized his sexual attractions were persistently and exclusively for other guys. I'll tell you how I lay on my bed in the middle of the night and whispered to myself the words I've whispered a thousand times since: "I'm gay." I'll show you the world through my eyes. I'll tell you what it's like to belong nowhere. To know that much of my Christian family will forever consider me unnatural, dangerous, because of something that feels as involuntary as my eye color. And to know that much of the LGBTQ community that shares my experience as a sexual minority will disagree with the way I've chosen to interpret the call of Jesus, believing I've bought into a tragic, archaic ritual of self-hatred. But I promise my story won't all be sadness and loneliness and struggle. I'll tell you good things too, hopeful things, funny things, like the time I accidentally came out to my best friend during his bachelor party. I'll tell you what it felt like the first time someone looked me in the eyes and said, "You are not a mistake." I'll tell you that joy and sorrow are not opposites, that my life has never been more beautiful than when it was most brokenhearted. If you'll listen, I promise I'll tell you everything, and you can decide for yourself what you want to believe about me.

Biblical Counseling and the Church

Biblical Counseling and the Church PDF Author: Bob Kellemen
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0310520630
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 496

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Book Description
As people face addictions, deal with loss and grief, and seek help in restoring broken relationships, where can they turn for counsel and assistance? The local church has been uniquely blessed with the gift of the gospel and is able to offer hope and counsel that no other institution on earth can. In Biblical Counseling and the Church, Bob Kellemen and Kevin Carson have assembled over twenty respected ministry leaders who examine the relationship between counseling and the church. This comprehensive resource, part of the Biblical Counseling Coalition series, helps leaders and counselors develop a vision that goes beyond being a church with a biblical counseling ministry to becoming a church of biblical counseling—a church culture that is saturated by “one-another” ministry. Divided into five parts, Biblical Counseling and the Church will help church leaders: Unite the pulpit ministry of preaching the Word with the personal ministry of the Word in counseling Offer practical and theological training to equip counselors Launch and lead a counseling ministry, regardless of the size of your church Bring together the relational focus of small group ministry with the ministry of care and counseling Better understand the relationship between biblical counseling, church discipline, and conflict resolution Learn how to use counseling in outreach through “missional” biblical counseling—moving biblical counseling beyond the doors of the church and into the world

Preaching Your Way Out of a Mess

Preaching Your Way Out of a Mess PDF Author: Johnny Teague
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1532677626
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Every day, a pastor faces armies of despair, fatigue, exhaustion, and frustration. That blessed hope of a Spurgeon church has morphed into a Paul prison. Every time he looks up, there is another attack. First errors are found, then sin; doctrinal arguing leads to internal strife. The army of the nation’s culture surrounds for the kill. The pastor places his baptism handkerchief on a broom handle and crawls out to surrender. Just then, he looks to the horizon to see a glorious alliance of sixty-six armies. The enemy turns in fear—many ride away, while others engage, only to be routed. The preacher had forgotten that there are more with us than against us. No matter the mess, God is with us. He has given his Spirit to move among us, and he has given us his word to defeat every attack. Grab this handbook and be encouraged; you can preach your way out of every mess.

Honor to the Great Head of the Church

Honor to the Great Head of the Church PDF Author: Margarette W. Williams Ed.D. Ph.D.
Publisher: WestBow Press
ISBN: 1664238913
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Honor to the Great Head of the Church A Transformational Model for Church Leadership, Administration, and Management This Volume One of the Transformational Church Administration Series is support for the organized church to stay on Christ’s message of redemption He has set for the church. Its purpose is to share passion for a committed focus on God’s ordained purpose and mission for His church. Church leaders are encouraged throughout the volume to adhere to theological principles for continued devotion to God’s one true mission. That message is that Christ is God’s mission. Christ is God’s only mission for the church, the people of God. The church exists only as it participates in the “act of Christ.” Chapter by chapter, the book communicates the necessity to intentionally combine God’s divine mission as presented from biblical theology with practical applications of organizational leadership and management. The critical shift with this book apart for other resources highlighting the works of church administration is the acknowledgements that for the church to remain under the Lordship of Christ; the church must be in a continued pursuit to seek Jesus the Chris in all engagements of worship, administration, management and service. The Lord’s purpose of redemption from sin and death has to remain front and central in every ministry, in all programmatic formats, and every service project represented by the church. God’s call to redeem lost man unto salvation and discipleship is highlighted as functions to be grounded through participation in service models and organization. Learners come to view leadership and administration from a scriptural context. As a result, leadership theories and principles of management accurately operate with results that brings edification to the glory of God in all matters of church leadership for administration.