Church Vision

Is your workplace riven by tribal conflict? Are your meetings governed by dozens of unspoken rituals? Is there something faintly religious about the way your colleagues worship the CEO? If so, then you might need a lesson in business anthropology. For a century, anthropologists have had an unusual method: immersing themselves deep inside 'alien' tribes and uncovering, from the inside, how they tick. Today, a new generation of anthropologists are using this approach to explain modern businesses - revealing the hidden rituals that define what we buy, who we sell to and how we work.

St. Bridget of Sweden, whilst still in her girlhood, was seized in ecstasy with a vision of her Blessed Saviour hanging upon the wood of the cross. This was the first of thousands of visions and dialogues between our saint and the heavenly court. This volume, for the first time, brings before the reader the most profound and insightful experiences of this medieval mystic and collates them according to the mysteries of the rosary. For each bead of the rosary, you will find a choicely selected point of meditation to ponder over, and an opportunity to join St. Bridget of Sweden as she ...

In today's frenetic society, people rarely develop intimate friendships. Instead, they spend their lives essentially disconnected from others, rushing through life content with brief visits and casual conversations. But what if one were to develop a community, a spiritual community, of people who walked with and supported each other through life's journey? A community of real friends who listened to each other's personal tragedies without merely trying to fix the problems, who encouraged and nurtured each other's strengths, and who accepted people for who they really are.

Do you want to know the secret to success according to Ecclesiastes 9:11? Be in the right place at the right time. That principle forms the foundation of "The Mystery of Time". Yet, it all starts with seeing time through the eyes of The One who created it; God. Time is more than the numbers on a clock or dates on a calendar. It’s more than the span between the beginning of Genesis and the end of Revelation. It’s more than what can be measured with any man-made tool or instrument. God has fit time into the continuum of eternity in such a way that it governs the human experience. In this,...

The Augustine Way recovers Augustine's mature apologetic voice to address the challenges facing today's church. It offers a compelling argument for Christian witness that is rooted in tradition and engaged with contemporary culture. The book focuses on Augustine's best-known works, Confessions and The City of God, to retrieve his scriptural and ecclesial approach for a holistic apologetic witness.

We are living in an era where the cult of the expert enables the increasing encroachment of civil government into areas of cultural and societal life where it does not belong. This growing statism must be countered by a distinctly Christian response. But what should a Christian proposal for social order look like? In this audiobook, Joe Boot critiques the world as it is today and provides the critical basis for a Christian response to the socio-political crisis of our time. Ruler of Kings is contextual and current, but its solutions are biblically rooted and therefore enduring.

The story begins with a simple grain of rice: one grain on the first square of a chessboard, two on the second, four on the third, and so on. By the 64th square, the number is staggering—over 18 quintillion grains, more than the world could produce. This ancient tale of exponential growth captures the same principle that drives multiplying groups: small, consistent actions that, over time, result in extraordinary impact. In Multiplying Groups, Josh Hunt explores how this principle has fueled some of the most dynamic movements in church history. Drawing from the groundbreaking work of ...

Adam Russell Taylor reimagines a contemporary version of the beloved community that will inspire and unite Americans across generations, geographic and class divides, racial and gender differences, faith traditions, and ideological leanings. In the beloved community, neither privilege nor punishment is tied to race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or economic status, and everyone is able to realize their full potential and thrive.

In a tiny, dilapidated trailer in northeastern Oregon, a young woman saw a vision of the Virgin Mary in an ordinary landscape painting hanging on her bedroom wall. After being met with skepticism from the local parish, the matter was officially placed "under investigation" by the Catholic diocese. Investigative journalist Randall Sullivan wanted to know how, exactly, one might conduct the official inquiry into such an incident, so he set off to interview theologians, historians, and postulators.

Since when did believing in God and having moral values make you pro-war, pro-rich, and solely pro-Republican? And since when did promoting and pursuing a progressive social agenda with a concern for economic security, health care, and educational opportunity mean you had to put faith in God aside?

God’s vision for the local church is a family with Jesus as the Head of our house, the body of Christ built up in love. This book aims to secure us as the people of the local church to our Anchor. That in this time, in this place, we would take the truths of the Gospel like a carabiner and tether ourselves to Christ. May we rise strong and mature, no longer tossed to and fro by the strong undertow of culture—that pull back into the will and way of life in the world. There’s a unity of faith in the Spirit and a fullness of Christ the Father desires for us.

All truth that has vitalizing power comes home to men in visions. The visions may be of the head or heart. Through whatever tributary the waters first are seen to be flowing they must all merge in the main current of experience, or the vision is no real vision but some cheap fancy, such “stuff as dreams are made of.” The contents of this little volume are a real vision. The author is distinctively a seer. The one vision under which may be classified all the others is a divine-human life, real to thought, actual in living, realized already in part, to be perfected in a kingdom of God on ...

Churches rise and fall with vision. Every church has a vision for what it is, what it should be, and what it dreams of being, and there is always an image or metaphor that lies behind a church's vision for itself. Some churches see themselves as country clubs, and others as battleships. Some are safe-havens for the already converted, and some are edgy alternative communities. The governing metaphor shapes all the expectations the church has for itself and the way it presents itself to the community. Through that defining vision, the church thrives or fails. It's Like This explores some of ...

An intriguing and captivating look at the background, character, and eventual decline of the Civil War Revival that took place in Nigeria from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s. This dynamic spiritual wakening grew out of the chaos of civil conflict and eventually impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of people for great good. The author builds on previous scholarship but adds rich additional information from interviews with thirteen principal participants in the revival. Nigeria has experienced several revivals in the 170-year history of the Church in that country, but none has more ...

How did the Islamic State attract so many followers and conquer so much land? By being more ruthless, more apocalyptic, and more devoted to state building than its competitors. The shrewd leaders of the Islamic State combined two of the most powerful yet contradictory ideas in Islam - the return of the Islamic Empire and the end of the world - into a mission and a message that shapes its strategy and inspires its army of zealous fighters.

Venerable Mary of Agreda, the well known Religious Sister and Mystic of the Seventeenth Century recounts many of her intimate revelations received from Our Lord and Our Lady in her Spiritual Classic, The Mystical City of God, an immense work of over a thousand pages. In this book, Fr. Higgins offers a carefully curated and edited compendium of meditations drawn from the saint’s masterpiece, assigning a relevant text for contemplation to each bead of the Holy Rosary. In this work, the scenes of the Holy Rosary, so familiar to us, are brought life in a new way, dramatically enriched and ...

PRAISE FOR A VISION OF THE POSSIBLE "...a message of hope, insight, and encouragement to all who long to see the completion of the Great Commission in this generation." Dr. David Garrison Missionary and author of A Wind in the House of Islam and Church Planting Movements; Executive Director, Global Gates "Church planters among the most resistant peoples, like Muslims, have relied largely on a vision that a church was possible. In his book, Dan demonstrates how this vision is not only possible but is a reality." Dr. Dudley Woodberry Dean Emeritus and Professor of Islamic Studies, Fuller ...

Ephesians presents a wide-ranging panorama of the Christian gospel and its implications. It looks backwards toward the creation of the world, and it looks forward to the time when God will be "all in all." It foregrounds the work of Jesus the Messiah and the work of the spirit, and it positions the church as central to the purposes of God--a small, working model of new creation.

“STATEMENTS Your Church Needs” addresses how to write a Mission Statement, Vision Statement, Core Values Statement, and Beliefs Statement unique to your community which is short and concise; that everyone in your church (or organization) can know, recite, and clearly understand. The premise being: If you want to reach people no one else is reaching, you will have to do things no one else is doing. This book will show you how.

What was Jesus’ core message?Most Christians don’t know the answer to this question. Most of us were never taught how to speak with our neighbors about the Kingdom of God. The Jesus Strategy offers a practical guide to learn how to share Jesus’ good news in the way He taught His followers. By taking a fresh look at familiar stories, we will see how Jesus’ brilliant strategy is laid out in the gospel accounts. You will be challenged to consider a different approach to both evangelism and discipleship. The Jesus Strategy will show you how to experience the joy of applying Jesus’ ...