Showing titles in Ecclesiology

The second in Joe Thorn's series on the confession, nature, and expression of the church, The Character of the Church explores what the church is fundamentally like. Useful for training in membership classes, discipleship groups, and elder boards, The Character of the Church is at once theological, practical, and experiential. Listeners will be not simply informed but led to a deeper appreciation of the church of God.

From higly-respected professor Homer Hailey (author of popular commentaries on the Minor Prophets, Isaiah, John, and Revelation) comes a book perfect for understanding and defending the inspiration of the Bible! This easy-to-understand volume is designed both for personal study and for Bible class use, and will help grow your faith and confidence in the inspired word of God! Homer Hailey served as a Professor of Bible at Abilene Christian College (now University) and Florida College. His life story has been written by expert religious historian, David Edwin Harrell, "The Churches of Christ ...

"Hypothetical universalism," or "unlimited atonement," states that Christ's death is sufficient for the guilt of all people yet is only effectively applied to those with faith. This tradition, typified by the French Reformer Moïse Amyraut, has continued among Anglicans and Baptists for over four centuries, yet has been underexplored in Reformed systematic theology. Unlimited Atonement fills a gap in resources on atonement theology that begin with the unlimited love of God.

America has become a beautiful mosaic filled with many colors and ethnicities - but does your church reflect this change? Are you longing to be a cross-cultural leader who can guide the church into a multicolored world for the sake of the gospel? Best-selling author and pastor Dr. Derwin Gray calls all churches and their leaders to grow out of ignorance, classism, racism, and greed into a flourishing, vibrant, and grace-filled community of believers.

In this book, Thomas Dwight Witherspoon lays out the core ideas of Presbyterian ecclesiology in five points, and sets forth the beauty of this biblical system of church government.

This vision of and invitation to the work of global missions challenges Christians everywhere to cultivate a holy ambition to preach Christ where he has not yet been named.

Many believe Charles Colson and Ellen Vaughn¿s The Body to be the watershed book of the past decade. It impacted the Church worldwide, encouraging Christians of diverse backgrounds to see themselves as part of the universal body of Christ. It challenged many to a new sense of unity, realizing that we blunt the Gospel message every time we divide over petty issues and personal turf.

Advent to Epiphany is the first volume in the From Text to Sermon series designed to help pastors and their flocks better understand the rhythm and purpose of the Christian calendar. As Christians, we view time from a different perspective than the rest of the world. We may use the same seconds, minutes, hours, dates, and days, but we view the meaning and purpose of history and the future by considering God’s actions through the children of Abraham and through His only begotten Son, Jesus of Nazareth. Certain events in the Bible, though over two thousand years old, provide the key to ...

Many of us have questions about what it means to live as a Christian in the context of a local church. You may even catch yourself asking: If I believe in Jesus, why do I need to join a church? To put it simply, when you are saved from your sin, you are saved into a community characterized by fellowship and accountability.

Many Christians know they should be passionate about evangelism, but in reality they often find it daunting. In this concise version of God Shines Forth, Daniel Hames and Michael Reeves urge Christians to grow in their knowledge and enjoyment of God—as they know God more, they will be spurred on to authentic service through missions and evangelism. To illustrate how the nature of God influences evangelism and missions, Hames and Reeves address biblical themes such as the glory of God, Christ's sacrifice, the fallenness of man, and the church's future hope.

The evangelical church is hemorrhaging. Over 40 million Americans have dechurched in the last 25 years alone, and multiple generations have been raised to believe the most spiritual thing they can do is follow God by following their heart—right out of the church. Yet, this shift is happening right as society is hitting record levels of loneliness, stress, and anxiety. In The Reason for Church, pastor Brad Edwards connects the dots of our current church crisis and provides compelling reasons to come back.

Walking into church can be intimidating, whether for the first time or after a period of absence, whether you are a non-believer or a believer. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if your church was a place where everyone received a warm welcome? A place where newcomers can quickly feel at home and where non-believers receive the welcome of God’s people alongside the welcome of Jesus? This warm, practical book by Jen Oshman explores what the Bible says to help listeners discover how to make space for others, however different they are to them, in their church and in their lives.

The Sunday collection in every Catholic church throughout the world is as familiar a part of the Mass as the homily and even Communion. There is no doubt that historically the Catholic Church has been one of the great engines of charity in history. But once a dollar is dropped in that basket, where does it go? How are weekly cash contributions that can amount to tens of thousands of dollars accounted for? Where does the money go when a diocese sells a church property for tens of millions of dollars?

Despite a strong belief in the institution and sacredness of marriage, studies show that Christian spouses experience divorce at least as much as the secular population. But whatever the reasons for a divorce--beyond the divorce itself--many Christians want to know: does the Bible support remarriage?

Christians love to fight, and most of the time we fight unnecessary battles. We fight over worship styles, building programs, carpet color, governance structures, use of alcohol, and a thousand other debatable matters of theology or culture. The fuel that feeds the fire are gray issues. What is a gray issue? A gray issue is an area of theology or culture that is either not addressed in the Bible, or while addressed, leaves room for legitimate differences of opinions. Come and join a new movement of biblically sound, theologically solid, and beautifully unified Gray Churches.

Why does church government matter? In this book, Guy Prentiss Waters offers a brief and accessible introduction to Presbyterianism that shows how a well-ordered church fosters Christian lives lived well. In making the case that church government is critical to Christian discipleship, Waters presents an overview of the nature of the church (the body and its member) and its structures of authority (officers, assemblies, and ordination). He concludes by answering common questions people raise about church government.

This is a must-read for pastors and lay leaders involved in, or wanting to learn about, the church multiplication groundswell in North America. It shows how multiplying churches should be a natural, regular function in the DNA of every church. Learn the principles from master multiplier Bob Roberts. Here is powerful hope for the church in America.

In Deep Church, Belcher brings the best insights of all sides to forge a third way between emerging and traditional. In a fair and evenhanded way, Belcher explores the proposals of such emerging church leaders as Tony Jones, Brian McLaren and Doug Pagitt. He offers measured appreciation and affirmation as well as balanced critique.

This is That!An inspiring account of God's supernatural power working in the world today! This is That!An exciting look at the Holy Spirit's extraordinary activities in the life of an ordinary person. This is That!A powerful testimony to the reality of the Spirit-filled life today!

"This volume takes us to the end of the various subjects that form the full scope of systematic theology. We began with the concept of theology as such (truth, sound doctrine, bibliology), and now we have come to eschatology (the end times). In between we have covered theology proper (the doctrine of God), anthropology (the doctrines of man and sin), Christology (the person and work of Christ), pneumatology (the doctrine of the Holy Spirit), soteriology (the doctrine of salvation), and ecclesiology (the doctrine of the church).So far, in the first eleven volumes of this series, I have not ...