From the New York Times bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved, a fascinating look at the world of Christian women celebrities Since the 1970s, an important new figure has appeared on the center stage of American evangelicalism-the celebrity preacher's wife. Although most evangelical traditions bar women from ordained ministry, many women have carved out unofficial positions of power in their husbands' spiritual empires or their own ministries. The biggest stars-such as Beth Moore, Joyce Meyer, and Victoria Osteen-write bestselling books, grab high ratings on Christian television, and even preach. In this engaging book, Kate Bowler, an acclaimed historian of religion and the author of the bestselling memoir Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved, offers a sympathetic and revealing portrait of megachurch women celebrities, showing how they must balance the demands of celebrity culture and conservative, male-dominated faiths. Whether standing alone or next to their husbands, the leading women of megaministry play many parts: the preacher, the homemaker, the talent, the counselor, and the beauty. Boxed in by the high expectations of modern Christian womanhood, they follow and occasionally subvert the visible and invisible rules that govern the lives of evangelical women, earning handsome rewards or incurring harsh penalties. They must be pretty, but not immodest; exemplary, but not fake; vulnerable to sin, but not deviant. And black celebrity preachers' wives carry a special burden of respectability. But despite their influence and wealth, these women are denied the most important symbol of spiritual power-the pulpit. The story of women who most often started off as somebody's wife and ended up as everyone's almost-pastor, The Preacher's Wife is a compelling account of women's search for spiritual authority in the age of celebrity.

This book examines the life of George Strachan (1572 1635), early 17th-century Scottish Humanist scholar, Orientalist and traveller. Drawing on a wealth of newly discovered archival material to offer new insights into Strachan's life and work, it also utilises recent scholarship on the relationship between the cultures and religions of East and West. Tom McInally explains the voyages that the Catholic exile took to many of the Catholic courts of Europe as a scholar and spy before turning eastwards to embark upon a 22-year journey around the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal empires. By becoming fully literate in Arabic and Farsi, Strachan was able to gain a unique knowledge of Eastern societies. His collection of Arabic and Farsi texts on Islam, philosophy and humanities which he translated and sent to Europe for the advancement of European knowledge of Islam and Islamic societies became Strachan's real intellectual legacy

This ethnographic study is a revisionist view of the most significant and widely known mission system in Latin America-that of the Jesuit missions to the Guarani Indians, who inhabited the border regions of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. It traces in detail the process of Indian adaptation to Spanish colonialism from the sixteenth through the early nineteenth centuries. The book demonstrates conclusively that the Guarani were as instrumental in determining their destinies as were the Catholic Church and Spanish bureaucrats. They were neither passive victims of Spanish colonialism nor innocent "children" of the jungle, but important actors who shaped fundamentally the history of the Rio de la Plata region. The Guarani responded to European contact according to the dynamics of their own culture, their individual interests and experiences, and the changing political, economic, and social realities of the late Bourbon period.

Biblical Foundations Book Award "God cannot lead you on the basis of information you do not have." --Ralph Winter What is God's mission in the world? For anyone passionate about discovering God's heart for the nations, Discovering the Mission of God will reveal his plans for you. Written by 21st-century field workers, scholars and church leaders, this book weaves together the basic components of God?s global mission and challenges readers to identify where they fit in the mission of God. Discovering the Mission of God explores the mission of God as presented in the Bible, expressed throughout church history and in cutting-edge best practices being used around the world today. Drawing from a new generation of scholar-practitioners, this comprehensive reader provides global perspective, recent missiological research, case studies, recommended further readings and relevant discussion questions at the end of each chapter. Contributors include: Bryan E. Beyer Karen O'Dell Bullock R. Bruce Carlton Gary R. Corwin Don Dent Robert Edwards Nathan Evans David Garrison H. Al Gilbert Kevin Greeson Jim Haney J. Scott Holste R. Alton James Patrick Lai William J. Larkin Christopher R. Little Alex Luc Stan May Clyde Meador A. Scott Moreau D. Kurt Nelson Howard Norrish Meg Page John Piper Robert L. Plummer Jerry Rankin Nik Ripken Tom Steffen Ed Stetzer John Mark Terry LaNette W. Thompson Greg Turner Preben Vang Joel. F. Williams Christopher J. H. Wright William R. Yount Discovering the Mission of God is an indispensable resource for anyone wanting a better picture of what God is doing in the world and how to find one's place in God's global plan.

Christianity Today Book Award Winner This volume helps leaders and leaders-in-training become students of culture who can then contextualize what they learn for their own organizational settings. Douglas McConnell, a respected leader in the worlds of missiology and higher education, enables readers to understand intercultural dynamics so they can shape their organizational cultures and lead their organizations in a missional direction. This is the latest volume in an award-winning series emphasizing mission as partnership with Christians around the globe.

Outreach Resource of the Year Something is not right. The witness of the church in North America is eroding. Many Christians are alarmed by the decline in church attendance and seek a culprit. Too often, we point the finger away from the church, make culture the enemy, and build walls between us and others. But our antagonism and enemy-making are toxins that further eat away at our witness. Is there a better way? Tara Beth Leach could easily be one of those millennials giving up on the church. Instead, she is a pastor who loves the church and is paradoxically hopeful for its future. In an era where the church has lost much of its credibility, Leach casts a radiant vision for Christians to rediscover a robust, attractive witness. We need to name the toxic soil we've grown in, repent for past wrongs, and lean into a better way to become the church that Jesus proclaimed we would be. Leach casts down idolatrous false images of God to recover a winsome picture of a kingdom of abundance and goodness. We can be sustained by practices that will tune our hearts to God's and form us into the radiant communities God intends for us and those around us.

The publication of the Chinese Union Version (CUV) in 1919 was the culmination of a hundred years of struggle by Western missionaries working closely with Chinese assistants to produce a translation of the Bible fit for the needs of a growing church. Celebrating the CUV's centennial, The Translation of the Bible into Chinese explores the unique challenges faced by its translators in the context of the history of Chinese Bible translation. Ann Cui'an Peng's personal experience of the role played by the CUV in Chinese Christian communities lends the narrative particular weight, while her role as director of the Commission on Bible Publication at the China Christian Council offers a unique insight into the continuing legacy of the CUV for Bible translators today.

Presents a unique contemporary Eucharist that remains similar to the liturgy celebrated in a Celi De community in the early ninth century. Following the classic shape of the Eucharist--Entrance, The Ministry of the Word, The Peace, The Offertory, The Holy Communion, and the Dismissal--this service draws together texts from Scripture, mainstream Irish, Scottish, and Welsh traditions, and contemporary Celtic spirituality to create a remarkably original service that encourages fresh appreciation of the Eucharist. Easily adaptable to formal or informal settings, this book can be used inconjunction with modern lectionary cycles.

Advance Praise for Organic Church

"This book is profound, practical, and a pleasure to read. It stretches our thinking and brings us to a place where we can see the Kingdom of God spread across the world in our generation. This book has come at the right time."
--John C. Maxwell, founder, INJOY, INJOY Stewardship Services and EQUIP

"My life is about seeing hundredfold results. Neil Cole's approach helps get those kinds of results for churches by planting many new expressions of the Kingdom that reach thousands of people. One of the great joys of my life for the past six years has been to watch the dramatic growth of Awakening Chapels and the organic churches described in this work. Cole's new book tells not only the inspiring story but also describes the principles, so you can apply these ideas."
--Bob Buford, founder and chairman, Leadership Network; author, Halftime and Finishing Well

"I always listen when Neil Cole speaks. His breadth of understanding and practice of what he preaches is right on. Everyone should know or be aware of this guy that God is using in a powerful way."
--Bob Roberts, senior pastor, NorthWood Church, Keller, Texas

"Neil Cole is one of the foremost thinkers and practitioners of organic forms of church. His vision of the church is as new as it is ancient. Cole's story as well as the philosophy of Church Multiplication Associates is paradigmatic for the church as it seeks to negotiate its way faithfully into the twenty-first century."
--Alan Hirsch, director, Forge Mission Training Network, church planter; author, The Shaping of Things to Come

This study guide and DVD set, based on Rebecca McLaughlin's book Confronting Jesus, features 9 brief teaching segments with accompanying discussion questions for individuals, small groups, or Sunday school classes.

At the age of only twenty, Walter Medhurst set sail in August 1816 from London, aboard the General Graham, bound for Malacca to establish a printing facility for the London Missionary Society. Thereby began a career as missionary, adventurer, printer, writer, translator, teacher and nineteenth-century pioneer to China. The adventure begins in Madras, where Walter meets and falls in love with his wife Elizabeth and together they move on to Malacca, Penang and Batavia, preparing for the day when China opens up to the 'foreign devils' so that he can take the Christian message to the heart of the Celestial Empire. Following the First Opium War and the signing of the Treaty of Nanking, Medhurst took the opportunity in 1843 to set up the LMS mission centre in Shanghai. From this base he built churches, schools, a printing works and a hospital (now a major Shanghai hospital). During the time of the Taiping Rebellion, Walter maintained contact with the rebel leaders and he became a leading source of information in Britain and America about the situation in China. In the years between 1847 and 1850, he led the team that translated the Bible into Chinese. Encapsulated within this life is the whole history of the nineteenth-century integration of the West and the Orient - from a new, shared religious belief to common trade and enterprise. This is a true story of love, adventure, dedication and tragedy, set during a time of great turmoil, and one that changed the course of history.

This is Robert Schuller like you've never heard before. Though it echoes the extraordinary insightfulness and encouragement you have come to count on from Dr. Schuller, never before has he written a book so personal, so moving. This book is about adversity, tragedy, despair. But it's also about hope, joy, and eternal victory in Jesus.

For the first time, he discusses many of the difficult events of his life. He provides positive examples to show readers how he got through them and how they can emerge victoriously also.

This book analyzes the memoirs of 42 'missionary kids' - the children of North American Protestant missionaries in countries all over the world during the 20th century. Using a postcolonial lens the book explores ways in which the missionary enterprise was part of, or intersected with, the Western colonial enterprise, and ways in which a colonial mindset is unconsciously manifested in these memoirs. The book explores how the memoirists' sites and experiences are exoticized; the missionary kids' likelihood of learning - or not learning - local languages; the missionary families' treatment of servants and other local people; and gender, race and social class aspects of the missionary kids' experiences. Like other Third Culture Kids, the memoirists are migrants, travelers, border-crossers and border-dwellers who alternate between insider and outsider statuses, and their words shed light on the effects of movement and travel on children's lives and development.

From the late 1960s until the mid-1980s, the influence of Marxist ideas expanded in sub-Saharan Africa. The Catholic Church saw this influence as likely to affect the accomplishment of its mission, and its pastoral efforts accordingly sought to deal with the Marxist thrust. In the late 1980s, Marxist influence in Africa declined sharply as Marxist political dominance became less intense. Nevertheless, the Church's encounter with Afrcian Marxism constituted an important chapter in both secular and ecclesiastical history. Finding a Social Voice records and analyzes the significant elements of this encounter. Father McKenna's book investigates how postcolonial African regimes under varying degree of Marxist influence have interacted with the Catholic Church, and studies how the Chruch has grown through its response to that interaction. The book contributes greatly to the virtually unexplored topic of church-state interaction in contemporary Africa. McKenna's claim that the Catholic Chruch's response to Marxism was a "part of its coming to maturity," part of its bringing its social perspective to bear on the processes of political, economic, and social modernization through which traditional cultures were passing, is an important contribution to the more recent literature on the emergence of "civil society" in Sub-Saharan Africa. The text also provides an introduction to post-Vatican II understandings of ecclesiastical activity in Africa. It reviews the theory and practice of Marxism as developed by Marx, Engels, Lenin, and the leaders of Soviet Russia and other Communist countries. It then presents an overview of the ways in which Marxist influence worked in Africa and a similar overviewof how the Church functioned and was affected by that influence. Finally, the book offers case-studies on the interaction of Marxism and the Church in four diverse Africa countries: Mozambique, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. The introductory chapters make this book accessible to the general reader; the book as a whole is an enrichment of our understanding of contemporary Africa.

Gold Medal, 2022 Independent Publisher Book Awards, IPPY Personal friendships with Somali Muslims overcome the prejudices and expand the faith of a typical American Evangelical Christian living in the Horn of Africa. When Rachel Pieh Jones moved from Minnesota to rural Somalia with her husband and twin toddlers eighteen years ago, she was secure in a faith that defined who was right and who was wrong, who was saved and who needed saving. She had been taught that Islam was evil, full of lies and darkness, and that the world would be better without it. Luckily, locals show compassion for this blundering outsider who can't keep her headscarf on or her toddlers from tripping over AK-47s. After the murder of several foreigners forces them to evacuate, the Joneses resettle in nearby Djibouti. Jones recounts, often entertainingly, the personal encounters and growing friendships that gradually dismantle her unspoken fears and prejudices and deepen her appreciation for Islam. Unexpectedly, along the way she also gains a far richer understanding of her own Christian faith. Grouping her stories around the five pillars of Islam - creed, prayer, fasting, giving, and pilgrimage - Jones shows how her Muslim friends' devotion to these pillars leads her to rediscover ancient Christian practices her own religious tradition has lost or neglected. Jones brings the reader along as she reexamines her assumptions about faith and God through the lens of Islam and Somali culture. Are God and Allah the same? What happens when one's ideas about God and the Bible crumble and the only people around are Muslims? What happens is that she discovers that Jesus is more generous, daring, and loving than she ever imagined.

"Few books have had as great an impact on the cause of world evangelization in our generation as Robert Coleman's The Master Plan of Evangelism."--Billy Graham It all started when Jesus called a few men to follow him and share God's message with their neighbors. We are called to do the same. But evangelism can be difficult--even intimidating. With all the evangelism resources available, where should you turn to find advice on how to share the Good News with others? Robert E. Coleman says the answers aren't found in TV evangelism, easy-evangelism guidebooks, or the latest marketing techniques. Rather, he looks to the Bible, to the ultimate example found in Jesus Christ. For more than forty years this classic, biblical look at evangelism has challenged and instructed over three million readers. Now repackaged for a new generation, The Master Plan of Evangelism is as fresh and relevant as ever. Join the movement and discover how you can minister to the people God brings into your life.

The Missionary Outreach of the West Indian Church is the story of Jamaican Baptists, ex-slaves who, four years after Emancipation (1838), established a witness in the Cameroons (West Africa) in cooperation with their British pastors and with the reluctant aid of the Baptist Missionary Society of London. Professor Russell analyzes the relationship between the undertaking of the mission and the new self-awareness of a freed people. The institutions created to achieve their aims are discussed and their fortunes are followed amid the chaotic ecclesiastical, economic, and political happenings consequent upon the Anglo/Hispanic rivalry at the time. The book is also a study of what happens when a mission-field becomes a mission agency with missionaries of its own.

From a brutal and impoverished background in Reading, England, Tom Hamblin became a believer as a teenager before serving as a missionary in the Far East. He and his wife Edna spent more than a decade leading expeditions into the heart of Borneo. Gradually they become convinced that the Lord was calling them to minister in the Arabic peninsula: in particular, to carry in thousands of Bibles in Arabic, Farsi and Urdu. They conveyed shipment after shipment into this region, never losing a copy and surmounting all restrictions. Customs guards turned a blind eye. Tom distributed Bibles very simply: walking around with a bag and waiting for people to ask him what he was doing. The Islamic world is widely regarded as closed to the gospel, but this is untrue. Tom discovered an extensive network of believers - very few churches, but many clandestine meetings for worship - and a huge hunger for the Truth. Under Their Very Eyes is the remarkable biography of a Bible smuggler to the Arab world that will stir the reader's spirit.

The Religion of the Poor is an ambitious survey of Catholic missions into the European countryside from 1500 to 1800. The acclaimed French historian Louis Chatellier analyses the impulses to missionary activity at the end of the Middle Ages, and the specific conception of Ignatius Loyola. He then outlines in detail the development of missionary activity after the Council of Trent. In the second part Professor Chatellier discusses the type of religion proffered by the missionaries, examining a variety of key themes in Catholic belief, including the role of deity, of the cross, and of Satan. The book contains a concluding summary of the impact of these rural missions up to the French Revolution, and documents the way in which they changed in reaction to external social and political circumstance.

From the late 1960s until the mid-1980s, the influence of Marxist ideas expanded in sub-Saharan Africa. The Catholic Church saw this influence as likely to affect the accomplishment of its mission, and its pastoral efforts accordingly sought to deal with the Marxist thrust. In the late 1980s, Marxist influence in Africa declined sharply as Marxist political dominance became less intense. Nevertheless, the Church's encounter with Afrcian Marxism constituted an important chapter in both secular and ecclesiastical history. Finding a Social Voice records and analyzes the significant elements of this encounter. Father McKenna's book investigates how postcolonial African regimes under varying degree of Marxist influence have interacted with the Catholic Church, and studies how the Chruch has grown through its response to that interaction. The book contributes greatly to the virtually unexplored topic of church-state interaction in contemporary Africa. McKenna's claim that the Catholic Chruch's response to Marxism was a "part of its coming to maturity," part of its bringing its social perspective to bear on the processes of political, economic, and social modernization through which traditional cultures were passing, is an important contribution to the more recent literature on the emergence of "civil society" in Sub-Saharan Africa. The text also provides an introduction to post-Vatican II understandings of ecclesiastical activity in Africa. It reviews the theory and practice of Marxism as developed by Marx, Engels, Lenin, and the leaders of Soviet Russia and other Communist countries. It then presents an overview of the ways in which Marxist influence worked in Africa and a similar overviewof how the Church functioned and was affected by that influence. Finally, the book offers case-studies on the interaction of Marxism and the Church in four diverse Africa countries: Mozambique, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. The introductory chapters make this book accessible to the general reader; the book as a whole is an enrichment of our understanding of contemporary Africa.

A meeting in a restaurant in Eastern Europe is suddenly interrupted by secret police. Public artworks are installed in a Guatemalan town to confront injustice perpetrated by gangs and government. A ministry begins in the Solomon Islands where none existed before. All this is the work of students, young people the very age the disciples were when Jesus entrusted his ministry to them. Drawing together incredible stories from every region of the globe - from North America to Romania, from movements with official recognition to those persecuted to the point of being driven underground - Campus Lights bears witness to the way that student mission is flourishing around the world today. In his journalistic, engaging style, Luke Cawley recounts how students are taking risks to share their faith, continuing the legacy of Jesus' young disciples as they went out into the world and changed nations. Far more than a book on student mission, Campus Lights will inspire all leaders, encouraging them to take risks for the kingdom in their own context, and showing how students and young people can be catalysts for change in our world.

2022 Christianity Today Finalist, Missions & Global Church Christians should make disciples as disciples. Christians who are engaged in missions regularly face ethical challenges. But the approaches and standards of modern missions often further complicate, rather than alleviate, matters. Modern missiology debates what actions constitute mission work, how to measure growth, and the difference between persuasion and coercion. In Virtuous Persuasion, Michael Niebauer casts a holistic vision for Christian mission that is rooted in theological ethics and moral philosophy. Niebauer proposes a theology of mission grounded in virtue. Becoming a skilled missionary is more about following Christ than mastering techniques. Christian mission is best understood as specific activities that develop virtue in its practitioners and move them toward their ultimate goal of partaking in the glory of God. With Virtuous Persuasion, you can rethink the essence of Jesus's Great Commission and how we seek to fulfill it.

In this holistic study of Paul's ministry, author and missionary Elliot Clark brilliantly explains why Christians today should seek God's approval-not worldly ambition-when sharing the gospel.

The World Is Desperate for What You Have As believers, we have received unimaginable grace from the Father. Unfortunately, we often separate our spiritual life from our everyday lives. We fail to value the grace given to us, and we miss the opportunity to bring heaven to earth. And then we wonder what light we can bring to a world in deep darkness. With depth and insight, Dr. John Jackson shows that grace distributed is the key to sweeping social change, hope and revival. Through biblical teaching and prophetic revelation, Dr. Jackson helps you partner with the Holy Spirit to step into the fullness of all God has called you to be--and to unleash the redemptive presence of Jesus in your home, workplace and community. God wants to use you right now, right where you are. It's time to become a heavenly ambassador that shares the grace you've been given with a world aching for transformation. "In this catalytic book lies an essential message for the Church today. I highly recommend it."--KRIS VALLOTTON "This Spirit-filled and deeply vulnerable book is a gift to us all. Don't miss it!"--MARGARET FEINBERG "Discover your God-given abilities and use them to usher the grace and love of Christ into the here and now."--SAMUEL RODRIGUEZ