Praise for "Church Unique"

"There is a screaming need today for leaders who will rise above quick fixes and generic approaches. Now, Will Mancini has brought an indispensable book to the church leader's toolbox, providing a thoughtful and creative process that will galvanize your team to unleash God's vision for your church."
--Howard Hendricks, chairman, Center for Christian Leadership;distinguished professor, Dallas Theological Seminary

"Will Mancini's vision for vision is contagious. "Church Unique" doesn't hold back--challenging existing paradigms, yes, but also providing new maps for churches to engage in God's mission."
--Ed Stetzer, director, LifeWay Research; coauthor, "Comeback Churches" and "Compelled by Love"

"If leaders are to steer the church through the challenges of the twenty-first century successfully, they will need help to negotiate the complexities of the spirituality, culture, history, and institutional structures that make up organizations. Will Mancini is a savvy navigator and "Church Unique" is an impressive blueprint for organizational renewal."
--Alan Hirsch, author, "The Forgotten Ways" and "The Shaping of Things to Come"; founding director, Forge Mission Training Network

"Will Mancini has done us all a great favor in releasing the practical ways he helps church leaders envision their own unique future.?His insights provide you the coaching you need to prepare for your next ministry chapter."
--Reggie McNeal, author, "The Present Future"

"If you don't know the unique purpose of your church, read this book now!"
--Jim Tomberlin, founder, Third Quarter Consulting; former regional pastor, Willow Creek Community Church

"Will Mancini's love for the local church and skill for facilitating vision makes this a must-read. He is a Sherpa, not a travel agent. He has the experience; he knows the trail."
--Lance Witt, founder, Replenish Ministries; former executive pastor, Saddleback Community Church

World-famous apologist Norman Geisler offers a new edition of his bestselling apologetics text, which has sold consistently for over thirty years (over 125,000 copies sold). This edition has been updated throughout and includes three new chapters. It offers readers a systematic approach that presents both the reasons and the methods for defending the claims of Christianity. Topics covered include deism, theism, Christ's authority, and the inspiration of the Bible.

Combining travelogue with testimony, Nathalie MacDermott shares her life's adventure with God, offering a compelling memoir set amidst a host of dangerous situations. This is what happens when compassion and courage are allowed to thrive. From orphanages in former communist states to hard-line Islamic regimes, international humanitarian disasters to corrupt African institutions, Nathalie has come face to face with numerous instances where trusting God is the only option. Told with honesty, and humility, Dare to Trust is an invitation to reconnect with God, to be inspired by His call, to put faith in action, and to renew our commitment to serving Him today.

The terrain of church missions is often bewildering. Should we prioritize evangelism or works of service? Local ministries or overseas missions? What's more important: giving our money or giving our time? Crisis relief or building sustainable, long-term ministries? And what about the often debated pros and cons of short-term missions trips? In Mapping Church Missions, Sharon Hoover brings her years of experience in local church missions to bear on these and other thorny questions. Instead of taking a hardline stance on one end of the spectrum or the other, she approaches each question with nuance, adding helpful data, presenting new perspectives, and always pressing gently past surface questions to the heart of the matter. Whether we're fully aware of it or not, our churches come up against these questions whenever we consider how best to use our resources for the mission of God. Written by an experienced guide, this book maps the terrain of church missions in careful detail, helping us plot our church's unique course as we seek to serve Christ's kingdom.

16th Annual Outreach Magazine Resource of the Year - Culture We live in conflicted times. Our newsfeeds are filled with inequality, division, and fear. We want to make a difference and see justice restored because Jesus calls us to be a peacemaking and reconciling people. But how do we do this? Based on their work with diverse churches, colleges, and other organizations, Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Graham Hill offer Christian practices that can bring healing and hope to a broken world. They provide ten ways to transform society, from lament and repentance to relinquishing power, reinforcing agency, and more. Embodying these practices enables us to be the new humanity in Jesus Christ, so the church and world can experience reconciliation, justice, unity, peace, and love. With small group activities, discussion questions, and exercises in each chapter, this book is ideal to read together in community. Discover here how to bring real change to a dehumanized world.

Beginning with a 'Street Nativity Play' that didn't end as planned, and finishing with an open-ended conversation in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, "Being Interrupted" locates an institutionally-anxious Church of England within the wider contexts of divisions of race and class in 'the ruins of empire', alongside ongoing gender inequalities, the marginalization of children, and catastrophic ecological breakdown. In the midst of this bleak picture, Al Barrett and Ruth Harley open a door to a creative disruption of the status quo, 'from the outside, in': the in-breaking of the wild reality of the 'Kin-dom' of God. Through careful and unsettling readings in Mark's gospel, alongside stories from a multicultural outer estate in east Birmingham, they paint a vivid picture of an 'alternative economy' for the Church's life and mission, which begins with transformative encounters with neighbours and strangers at the edges of our churches, our neighbourhoods and our imaginations, and offers new possibilities for repentance and resurrection.

Este diario esta disenado para ser usado con la serie de videos del Curso Para Parejas. El Curso Para Parejas fue desarrollado por Nicky y Sila Lee, quienes lideran los ministerios para familias en la iglesia HTB en Londres, y fue revisado y actualizado en el ano 2020. El curso ofrece a las parejas las herramientas para construir una relacion duradera para toda la vida. Durante cada noche, las parejas hablan sobre temas importantes que pueden ser ignorados con el ajetreo de la vida cotidiana. Si bien el curso se basa en principios cristianos, esta disenado para parejas con o sin antecedentes religiosos. Las sesiones cubren los siguientes temas: Establecer Cimientos Solidos El Arte de la Comunicacion Resolucion de Conflictos El Poder del Perdon El Impacto de la Familia Vida Sexual Sana Amor en Accion Este diario esta disenado para ser usado con la serie de videos del Curso Para Parejas (9780310116714), la cual se vende por separado.

When Wayne Gordon and his wife started a Bible study for high school kids in North Lawndale, Chicago, people warned them that a white couple moving into a black neighborhood as a recipe for disaster. That was twenty-five years ago. Today, what began as the Gordons' seedling Bible study has become the Lawndale Community Church. It has a staff of 150, has renovated more than 100 local apartments, has helped more than 50 young people graduate from college, runs a medical clinic that treated 50,000 patients in 1994, and has become a vital part of rebuilding an inner-city neighborhood into a community of faith and hope. Real Hope in Chicago is Wayne Gordon's inspiring account of how people, white and black, rich and poor, old and young, worked together to transform a decaying neighborhood into a place where love is lived out in practical and miraculous ways. It offers an exciting model for interracial cooperation, urban-suburban church partnering--and real hope for the inner cities of our nation.

One of the most significant British foreign missionaries of the nineteenth century, Henry Martyn (1781-1812) is a central figure in the history of the East India Company. Henry Martyn (1781-1812) was one of the most significant British foreign missionaries of the nineteenth century. An Anglican Evangelical, active in India and Persia, he translated the New Testament into Urdu and Persian, pioneeredengagement between Protestant Christianity and Islam, and inspired a generation of British and American evangelical missionary efforts. He is a central figure for the history of the East India Company and its relationship to themissionary movement. This book provides a fully annotated transcription of all Martyn's surviving 327 letters, together with a very substantial introduction covering Martyn's biography, missiology and churchmanship, circle of correspondents, philological contribution, and experience in India and Persia. The letters themselves are rich in detail about East India Company governance in India and the importance of the religious issue at the highest levels. Thebook will be of great interest to historians of India and the East India Company, historians of Anglo-Persian relations and of Evangelical Anglicanism and the broader Protestant missionary movement, and those interested in the emergence and shape of modern Christian-Islamic discourse. SCOTT D. AYLER spent 24 years as an English-language instructor in the Middle East and South Asia, most recently at the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. He completed his doctorate in History at the University of Wales, Lampeter.

The church spends $1.5 million for every one new follower of Jesus. Apple sells 26 iPads every minute. What is it that makes Apple so exciting and Jesus so boring? What is it that compels someone to bring their iPod everywhere and their Bible nowhere? In a word: marketing. Jesus is a life-changing product with lousy salespeople--people who are intimidated and embarrassed by the word "evangelism" and who show more enthusiasm for their gadgets than their God.

What would life look like if we stopped mass-marketing Jesus and started marketing our faith like Nike and Apple market their products--sharing relationally, from person to person? Using examples from these and other successful companies, author Tim Sinclair challenges Christians to throw out their casual attitudes toward faith and sign on for a marketing campaign for the Savior.

Written with the wit and wisdom of an experienced marketer, "Branded" peels away the feelings of fear and encourages readers how to share their faith in ways that are honest, authentic, and, most importantly, effective.

Faith and Revolution in the Life of Eduardo Mondlane. This work is a significant contribution to the narrative of Christianity in southern Africa within the framework of the struggle for liberation from colonial rule. By focusing on the story of a Protestant political and ecumenical leader, Eduardo Mondlane, of note within a dominantly Roman Catholic country, Faris explores the role of the churches and missions, especially the Swiss Mission, in the struggle for African Independence.

In Reaching Your Muslim Neighbor with the Gospel, A. S. Ibrahim seeks to provide his readers with insight and practical tips to engage and share the gospel with Muslim friends and neighbors.

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.

Society in Britain has changed dramatically in the last 30 years, especially in terms of our understanding of community and how we relate to one another. One of the responses of the Church has been to plant new churches and create 'fresh expressions' of church; churches that relate to our changing context. With a new foreword by the Rt Revd Graham Cray, this detailed, practical and well-researched report: gives an overview of recent developments in church planting; describes varied and exciting 'fresh expressions' of church; offers practical help and advice; looks candidly at where lessons can be learned; proposes a framework and methodology for good, effective church planting; includes recommendations to make possible the visions of a vibrant future Church. Each chapter has a set of questions and challenges to help local parish churches engage with the issues.

Modern missional movements have often viewed the historic Christian traditions with suspicion. The old traditions may be beautiful, the thinking goes, but they're too insular, focused primarily on worship and on the interior life of the church, and not looking outward to evangelism and good works. In Liturgical Mission, Winfield Bevins argues that the church's liturgy and sacramental life are in fact deeply missional. He explores the historic practices of the Christian church, demonstrating how they offer a holistic framework for everyday Christian discipleship and mission in the twenty-first century. The result is a book that not only invites all Christians back to the historic liturgy of the church, but also invites those already in liturgical churches to rediscover the missional life that has too often remained latent in their own traditions.

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.

This hand sized NKJV edition is the perfect travel companion for readers who like to take their Bibles with them throughout the day. Though it fits easily into backpacks and purses, you won't have to sacrifice readability or study resources. The exclusive Thomas Nelson NKJV Comfort Print (R) typeface was designed to be easy to read at any size, so you can experience deeper engagement in God's Word. This edition also includes over 73,000 cross-references, a concordance, and full-color maps so you have everything you need for serious study at your fingertips. Features include: Presentation page Red letter words of Christ 73,000+ cross-references trace the connections in Scripture Concordance Full-color maps Satin ribbon marker Clear and readable 7-point NKJV Comfort Print Commissioned in 1975 by Thomas Nelson, 130 international and multi-denominational Bible scholars, church leaders, and lay Christians worked for seven years to create a completely new, modern translation of Scripture that retained the purity and stylistic beauty of the King James Version. The New King James Version is faithful to the original Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic text, and provides transparency to the recent research in archaeology, linguistics, and textual studies in the footnotes. The result is a Bible translation that is both beautiful and uncompromising-perfect for serious study, devotional use, and reading aloud.

Pentecostal and charismatic renewal movements have seen great growth over the last century and have engaged with many Christian traditions. Yet there are signs that all is not well, and there is a need to develop theologies of renewal that engage with practice and across the traditions if the movements are to continue to grow. In particular, this book seeks an ecumenical engagement between David Watson and Thomas Merton, leaders in the charismatic and monastic renewal movements. The aim is to reflect on the theological roots of these renewal movements through a study of particular people who lived them in practice and sought to help others understand how the triune God was at work. This is done against the wider background of contemporary renewalist theology to develop constructive proposals for renewal theology in the future. Receptive ecumenism provides the method for bringing the different voices into conversation in ways that also point forward in approaches to ecumenical dialogue. It is thus a study relevant to those seeking new ways in theology, those involved in renewal and ecumenical movements, students of Thomas Merton, and all who seek to better understand the Christian renewal movements that have swept the world.

Marriage Course, developed by Nicky and Sila Lee, is a seven-session study designed to help couples obtain the tools to build a strong and healthy relationship that lasts a lifetime. This Leader's Guide offers a concise yet thorough overview of Marriage Course. It includes timetables for each evening, suggested reading, details on how to set up and run the course, and practical tips for making your Marriage Course successful. This leader's guide is included with The Alpha Pre-Marriage Course and is also sold separately. The course covers: An Introduction to Marriage Course Building Strong Foundations The Art of Communication Resolving Conflict Forgiveness The Impact of Family - past and present Good Sex Love in Action Marriage Course Party Coping with Times of Separation (optional session) Marriage Course serves as a bridge between the church and local community by recognizing the need to go beyond the social, as well as physical, walls of the church to help couples with their relationships. The courses are easy to run, and the talks are also available on DVD (sold separately). If you enjoy hosting people and have a passion for strengthening family life, you could run a course!

Christianity Confronts Culture is a practical guide to effective communications in the cross-cultural setting -- which exists, in fact, when any one person meets another. Dr. Mayers discusses cross-cultural communication by means of four models, each of which approaches the subject in the light of a different discipline: social psychology, sociology, anthropology, and cross-cultural education. The second part of the book presents a series of case studies illustrating each of the four models. Pastors, future pastors, missionaries, Christian educators -- any who find themselves in constant contact with foreign cultures or North American cultures -- will find this book invaluable.

Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) had a mission. The church had become weak, flabby and inconsequential. Being a Christian was more a cultural heritage than a spiritual reality. His mission-reintroduce the Christian faith to Christians. How could he break through to people who were members of the church and thought they were Christians already? Like an Old Testament prophet, Kierkegaard used a variety of pointed and dramatic ways to shake people from their slumber. He incisively diagnosed the spiritual ailments of his age and offered a fresh take on classic Christian teaching. Mark Tietjen thinks that Kierkegaard's critique of his contemporaries strikes close to home today. We also need to listen to one of the most insightful yet complex Christian thinkers of any era. Through an examination of core Christian doctrines-the person of Jesus Christ, human nature, Christian witness and love-Tietjen helps us hear Kierkegaard's missionary message to a church that often fails to follow Christ with purity of heart.

Fulfill One of Your Deepest Longings Every follower of Jesus has a sincere desire to share God's love with others. We want to tell friends and family about who Jesus is, what he means to us, and all he has done for them. Deep in our hearts we have a burning passion to pass on the good news we have received. But, where do we start? We want to share our faith, but we don't want it to feel awkward, uncomfortable, or unnatural for them or for us! Organic Outreach for Ordinary People will help you shape a personal approach to passing on the good news of Jesus in natural ways. This is not a system or a program. It's a collection of biblical practices that you can incorporate into your life starting today. You can begin right where God has placed you. You can share the love and message of Jesus in a way that fits exactly how God has wired you. In this practical and easy-to-read book, Kevin Harney offers the tools needed to reach out with God's love in organic ways. In these pages you will discover that sharing the good news of Jesus can be as natural as talking about your favorite sports team or telling a friend about a wonderful new restaurant. On the golf course, over coffee, while taking a walk - anywhere and everywhere - become a bearer of grace. Share the amazing love of God. Tell the life-changing story of Jesus. Discover ordinary ways to communicate God's love and the message of salvation - naturally.