Transforming Faith Communities draws upon a model for the church that combines congregationalism with a constructive approach to church-state relationships within a vision for a renewed Christendom, commended as a viable option for Christian mission in the twenty-first-century world. Michael Ian Bochenski uses two movements to make his case: sixteenth-century Anabaptism and late twentieth-century Latin American liberation theology. Each movement is held up as a mirror to the other in a vision for the transformation of church and society that resonates powerfully with contemporary culture. Outlining the development of radical religious communities, Bochenski examines some of the factors that create world-affirming Christian faith communities, and explores many examples of effective and constructive engagement with church and society across the centuries.

How does one become 'righteous among the Nations'? In the case of Henri Nick (1868-1954) and Andre Trocme (1901-1971), two French Protestant pastors who received the title for their acts of solidarity toward persecuted Jews, it was because they had been immersed, from an early age, in the discourses and practices of social Christianity. Focussing on the lives of these two remarkable figures of twentieth-century Christianity, Revivalism and Social Christianity is the first study in English on the Social Gospel in French Protestantism. Chalamet presents a genealogy of the movement, from its emergence in the last decades of the nineteenth century to its high point during World War II, in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, where Trocme and many local people rescued hundreds of Jewish refugees. As social Christians who prayed and worked for the coming of God's kingdom on earth in the midst of a society ravaged by two world wars, Henri Nick and Andre Trocme combined a deep revivalist faith with a concern for the concrete conditions in which people live.

In our world, stories matter. Methods and systems are beneficial because they provide structure and help keep us on the right road; but the motivation and courage to keep walking the road, come from the stories we hear and see and experience-stories that inspire hope and bring us face-to-face with God. For ministers, the call to preach is a call into a story that forms and shapes us. It's about stumbling into revelation as life unwinds and scripture unfolds. It's about listening to God's voice and then sharing it with others. It's about recognizing that when people gather to hear a sermon, God speaks. And it's about understanding that when He speaks, He speaks through you. Preaching the Story That Shapes Us is more than a textbook on preaching. It's an empowering call for preachers to present a picture of the kingdom of God already at work among us, recognizing that the work of preaching is not just about arranging words--it's about people. With elegant prose and crafted reason, Dan Boone weaves together scripture, personal narrative, structure, and theological reflection to provide a satisfying, efficient guide to narrative preaching. From exploring the importance of biography to walking readers through creative processes that shape the sermon, Boone shows preachers how to awaken lives and share the stories of God that reveal who we are and lead us to who we will be.

What does it mean to make Christlike disciples? Discipleship is a common word in churches today. Pastors and leaders are continually looking for resources to help their members develop a deeper understanding of the Christian faith and a closer relationship with Christ. But there's more to discipleship than studying and following Christ's teachings. True discipleship is an invitation to become like Christ; to absorb His passions, behaviors, and wisdom by spending significant time with Him; to engage in a relationship with Him that shapes you into His likeness and in turn, inspires others to do the same. Walk with Me calls pastors, church leaders, teachers, and parents to go beyond basic discipleship and begin to intentionally teach others to be disciplemakers. It explores the importance of teaching mature disciples how their Christ-influenced responses to everyday situations can be used to show others who Jesus is and what it means to be His disciple. With biblical insight, author Hal Perkins explores the call to 'go and make disciples of all nations' and demonstrates how changing the way we act, think, and serve will not only help us fulfill the Great Commission, but also answer the call to love God with all our hearts and minds, and our neighbor as ourselves.

Jong Hun Joo offers a model of how both solid biblical understanding and effective practice of worship can be realised in churches today by exploring the theology and practice of Matthew Henry (1662-1714). Matthew Henry is one of the most famous biblical commentators in the English-speaking world. He was, however, also a pastor who was liturgical in negotiating the political and religious landmines of his day. This all but overlooked aspect of Henry's biography and writings is both a window into his life and times, and an insightful view into the pastoral dimensions of Christian rituals and practices in the home and church. Joo discerns how Henry understood and practised English Presbyterian worship as an example of Reformed worship in his context and suggests how contemporary churches can appropriately develop and articulate their own worship in their own contexts, making the case for worship renewal.

The Bible, the Bullet, and the Ballot provides a balanced account of the role of Christians, Christian organisations, and churches in sociopolitical transformation over the bedrock of colonial and nationalist politics in the past century in Zimbabwe. Fabulous Moyo explores the broader social and political impact of prominent African Christian clergy who were sociopolitical activists such as Ndabaningi Sithole, Abel Muzorewa, and Canaan Banana. It also highlights the role of missionaries who contributed to the African struggle for independence such as Ralph Edward Dodge, Donal Lamont, and Garfield Todd. He examines the contributions of African nationalist parties and prominent politicians with Christian roots, such as Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe, in the struggle for independence, and their contribution in the postcolonial era in light of their Christian heritage and the collective pre-independence nationalist ideals on nation-building and national unity.

In a world in which resources are unjustly distributed, identities are under threat and solidarity is fragile, the toughest task facing humanity is the quest for community. Yet the contribution of the church to that task is undermined because its message and organization remain stuck in the past. Christians fail to grasp that in the gifts of the kingdom community - life, liberation, love and learning - they hold the key to what the search for community is all about. This book describes those gifts and how a servant church, through the creation of its diaconate as an order of mission, might offer a fragmented world new hope.The Methodist Church in Britain is taken as a model of what could be achieved.

The need to train Christian missionaries was an afterthought of the Protestant missionary movement in the early nineteenth century. The Basel Missionary Training Institute (BMTI) was the first school designed solely for the purpose of preparing European missionaries for ministry in non-European lands. Pitfalls of Trained Incapacity explores the various sociological and historical factors that influenced the BMTI 'community of practice' and how the outcomes affected the work of the Basel Mission in Ghana in its initial phase. It shows that the integral training of the BMTI resulted in missionary practices that lacked flexibility to adjust attitudes and behaviour to the vastly different circumstances in Africa, impeded the realisation of mission objectives, and hindered the emergence of an African appropriation of Christianity. By exploring educational and sociological perspectives in a pre-colonial context, this study reaches beyond its historical significance to raise questions of unintended effects of integral ministry training in other times and places. The natural cultural bias of groups with shared theological assumptions and social ideals - like the Basel Mission - suggests a strong propensity for trained incapacity, that is, for training processes that establish inflexible mental frameworks that are potentially detrimental to intercultural engagement.

Between Heaven and Earth grew out one of Thielicke's visits to the United States in 1963, during which he travelled across the country preaching and lecturing. The conversations recorded here are the fruit of his more informal discussions with small groups of clergy, students and lay people. "You have disturbed our peace and upset our doubts," said one pastor. "You have freed the fettered and bound the wandering spirits," said another. The questions that American Christians asked of Thielicke are direct and wide-ranging, concerned not only with the fundamental problems of faith but with its bearing on issues of social and political morality. Thielicke's answers, though equally direct, are neither simplistic nor dogmatic. His approach is refreshingly open and his conclusions emerge from a reasoned consideration of the evidence and alternative possibilities. Above all, Thielicke's answers reveal the warmth and deep concern for humanity's spiritual welfare that is at the root of his teaching and writing.

Mission in the world of work has been neglected by the churches within the UK for decades. The Kingdom at Work Project addresses this crippling failure. It sets out a new and comprehensive model of mission for the transformation of the workplace. The model is founded on a radical theology of community and related spirituality which guide and empower an innovative process of discernment and intervention. The last covers individual and collective action, dialogue, the use of symbols, prayer and worship. Mentoring, the role of chaplains and ministers in secular employment, and the responsibilities of the gathered church are key issues covered in depth. This book is the most thorough and imaginative exploration of mission in the world of work to appear for many years.

One of the most powerful forces in the twenty-first century is the increasing phenomenon of globalization. In nearly every realm of human activity, traditional boundaries are disappearing and people worldwide are more interconnected than ever. Christianity has also become more aware of global realities and the important role of the church in non-Western countries. Church leaders must grapple with the implications for theology and ministry in an ever-shrinking world.
"Globalizing Theology" is a groundbreaking book that addresses these issues of vital importance to the church. It contains articles from leading scholars, including Tite Tienou, Kevin Vanhoozer, Charles Van Engen, M. Daniel Carroll R., Andrew Walls, Vinoth Ramachandra, and Paul Hiebert. Topics covered include the challenges that globalization brings to theology, how we can incorporate global perspectives into our thinking, and the effect a more global theology has on a variety of important issues.

Tried-and-tested material developed in a local church context by a biblical scholar

Archbishop Doye Agama influences the church and community ministry of some 15,000 active clergy on four continents. Around 10,000 people may read his online postings and musings in a single week. This series of handbooks will give you insights into the journey of wisdom that has made the Apostolic Pastoral Congress and it's remarkable leader, one of the most significant emerging church movements of our generation; and perhaps this century.

This book is founded on the premise that being a servant of 'the kingdom community' must become the heart of the church's mission. Unless this happens Christians will have little to offer to a world now facing an ultimate choice between community and chaos. To fulfil this mission the mould of Christendom needs to be broken so that a new form of church - the diaconal church - can come into being. This will mean a church open to dialogue, a laity liberated from clericalism and the creation of a servant leadership. The book includes an informative evaluation of five original case-studies of the diaconal church in action and the diaconal potential of five worldwide Christian 'renewal movements'.

Archbishop Doye Agama influences the church and community ministry of some 15,000 active clergy on four continents. Around 10,000 people may read his online postings and musings in a single week. This series of handbooks will give you insights into the journey of wisdom that has made the Apostolic Pastoral Congress and its remarkable leader, one of the most significant emerging church movements of our generation; and perhaps this century.

How did Thomas Merton become Thomas Merton? Starting out from any one of his earlier major life moments - wealthy orphan boy, big man on campus, fervent Roman Catholic convert, new and obedient monk - we find ourselves asking how by his life's end he had grown from who he was then into a transcultural and transreligious spiritual teacher read by millions. This book takes another such starting point: his attempt in the mid-1950s to move from his abbey of Gethsemani, in Kentucky - a place that had become, in his view, noisy beyond bearing - to an Italian monastery, Camaldoli, which he idealized as a place of monastic peace. The ultimate irony: Camaldoli at that time, bucolic and peaceful outwardly, was inwardly riven by a pre-Vatican II culture war; whereas Gethsemani, which he tried so hard to leave, became, when he was given his hermitage there in 1965, his place to recover Eden. In walking with Merton on this journey, and reading the letters he wrote and received at the time, we find ourselves asking, as he did, with so much energy and honesty, the deep questions that we may well need to answer in our own lives.

After you read A CLOSER WALK WITH GOD you are going to see for yourself what God says about it. Have you ever wondered if it's possible to have a meaningful relationship with God? BILL VINCENT'S powerful study will help you discover for yourself how such a rewarding relationship with God is possible. The last two Chapters are Daily Bible Reading and Daily Devotions to help you to get on the right track in your walk with God. You will also learn how salvation is something you keep burning on the inside of you. You have to keep your fire burning and there are many things released in A CLOSER WALK WITH GOD that will help you begin your journey to genuine faith.

By the author of the bestselling Four Gospels, One Jesus? (over 50,000 copies sold)

When Hindus and Sikhs become followers of Christ, what happens next? Should they join Christian churches that often look and feel very unfamiliar to them? Or to what degree can or should they remain a part of their Hindu/Sikh communities and practices? Uncomfortable with the answers that were provided to them by Christian leaders in northwest India, six followers of Christ began Yeshu satsangs that sought to follow Christ and the teachings of the Bible while remaining connected to their Hindu and/or Sikh communities. 'Ecclesial Identities in a Multi-Faith Context' contextualises the practices and identities of these leaders and their gatherings, situating these in the religious history of the region and the personal histories of the leaders themselves. Whereas some Christians worry that the Yeshu satsangs and related 'insider movements' are syncretising their beliefs and are not properly identifiable as 'churches', Darren Todd Duerksen analyses the Yeshu satsang's narratives and practices to find vibrant expressions of local church that are grappling with questions and tensions of social and religious identity. In addition to his ethnographic approach, Duerksen also uses recent sociological and anthropological theory in identity formation and critical realism, as well as discussions of biblical ecclesiology from the Book of Acts. This study will be a helpful resource for those interested in global Christianity, the practices and identities of churches in religiously plural environments, and the creative ways in which Christfollowers can engage people of other faiths.

A much-needed area for brand new converts is a practical workbook for follow up. This is the purpose of 'Connect with Jesus'. I have spent over 16 years as a full time itinerate evangelist. My heart broke over the lack of good material to give to each convert. These babies in Jesus need something special to help them get rooted in the faith. They need to understand what happened to them and what the Bible says about their conversion. These precious babies in Jesus must have something in their hands that will immediately get them into the Word of God. This workbook covers vitally important topics that every new believer must understand to grow in Christ. Understanding what true salvation is all about and what the Bible says about salvation. The importance of reading their Bibles, the importance of having a prayer life and how to develop that discipline, the importance of Church and personal evangelism are just a few topics covered in this important workbook. Churches that use this book as a new believers class are thrilled with their results.

This book series examines issues of Faith and Order, and to some extent issues of life and work, from the perspective of leadership in a modern Pentecostal church movement. The series addresses the harnessing of ethnicity nationality and personal history in the search for church unity. It tries to answer questions such as what is means to be Apostolic in 21st Century Pentecostalism. It looks at how these charismatic churches can renew their historic roots and seek greater local unity with other Christians while remaining authentic as Pentecostals. The author also encourages greater contributions of convergence Pentecostals to the community cohesion, and to peace and justice.