David Ofumbi is convinced biblically that, Christian faith covers the entire realm of human existence. There is no dichotomy between private life and public life, or spiritual life and secular life, or an individual and a community. In fact, the whole of human life is the visible expression of the invisible God. Therefore, respective indigenous cultures and the gospel must engage and impact each other. On the one hand, Christians in respective indigenous cultures engage and adapt the gospel to the deep-level meaning and the surface-level forms of their cultures; on the other hand, the gospel transforms respective cultures continuously. African understanding and practices of Christian faith ("Africa Christianity") in this respect is both the outcome of the reciprocal impact between respective indigenous cultures and the gospel and the basis of authentic Christian response to human needs ("Christian Community Transformation"). In the first two chapters, he identifies and discusses briefly the challenges and hopes that characterize local communities in East Africa. He also defines and discusses the phrases "African Christianity" and "Christian Community Transformation." David particularly highlights that the impact of African understandings and practices of Christianity on "Christian Community Transformation" strive: (1) to instill self-confidence in native peoples by enabling them to recover and reassert their true human identities, to restore their true self-dignity, and to build just relationships; (2) to encourage the development and the use of local resources; (3) to bolster robust and enabling faith community structures and proactive responses compatible with the African Christian/ human ethos; and (4) to galvanize global relevance and impact. David Ofumbi is the team leader of Leadership Development Initiative Africa (Leadia), an indigenous leadership development ministry based in Kampala, Uganda. Leadia envisions a community of competent Christian leaders transforming ordinary people into effective followers of Christ courageously transforming Africa. He is currently pursuing post graduate studies focusing on the reciprocal influence between followership and leadership.

An exploration of the many faces of televangelism in our world today, including Christian, Islamic and Hindu. The collection analyses the correspondences and major differences between global and local televangelism, focusing on the main individuals involved in televangelism, their practices and the social and cultural impact of their ministries.

For the fifteenth anniversary of its publication, this revised edition features a new introduction from the author on the state of the church and its "radical welcome" today, along with new reflections on how it continues to reshape the church. This book is at once a theological, inspirational, and practical guide for congregations that want to move beyond diversity and inclusion to present a vision for the church of the future: one where the gifts, voices, and power of marginalized groups bring new life to the mainline church. Based on two years of work and over 200 interviews with people in congregations all around the United States-in urban, suburban, and rural settings-it asks the question: How do we face our fears and welcome transformation in order to become God's radically welcoming people? Each chapter introduces a particular congregation and the challenges it faced, and lays out the theological underpinnings of tackling fears head-on to embrace change as a welcome part of community life. This new edition features essays from Michael B. Curry, Mark Bozzuti-Jones, Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, and Mark Richardson.

What if tried and true methods from the corporate world could raise your ministry's probability of success by a considerable margin? Lorenzo Lebrija, director of TryTank, a lab for church growth and innovation, has developed a fresh straightforward framework for experiments in new ministry based on research and interviews. With three clear steps, this framework can have a lasting impact on any church that uses it. You can even start innovating today, using this specific and actionable process within your church community. Scripture is full of examples encouraging us to try new works in the name of God. This book gives the exact tools and templates for how to do just that, and to find God in the failures as well as the successes.

Beginning in the nineteenth century, native women preachers served and led nascent Protestant churches in much of Southern India. Even while allying with their missionary employers, they evolved their own mission theology and practices. This volume identifies what Telugu Biblewomen believed their mission to be and how they practiced it. It also examines the impact of Telugu culture and socio-political dynamics, such as caste, gender, and empire, on the theology and practices of the Telugu Biblewomen.

This book explores the ways in which emotions were conceptualised and practised in Christian mission contexts from the 17th-20th centuries. The authors show how emotional practices such as prayer, tears, and Methodist 'shouting', and feelings such as pity, joy and frustration, shaped relationships between missionaries and prospective converts.

Though much has been written about Charles Finney, The Father of Modern Revivalism, most works have concentrated on his roles as an educator and political reformer. In this new study, Chesebrough examines the rhetorical skills and techniques that made Finney the first contemporary evangelist, one whose methods are still practiced today. A major force in many social reform movements of his time, most notably abolitionism, Finney introduced techniques to revivalist preaching that he used toward politically sophisticated ends. Chesebrough explores both his rhetoric and the effect it had on Finney's audiences, as well as the controversy this major figure often provoked.

Following a survey of Finney's life, with special attention given to those aspects pertaining to the development of his oratory, Chesebrough considers the themes of Finney's sermons and lectures on both religious and political subjects. A third section details the rhetorical devices he introduced and employed, and the volume concludes with three of Finney's actual sermons, which reveal the ways in which this speaker commanded the attention of his audiences.

Over the last four decades, evangelical scholars have shown growing interest in other religions and their differing theologies. The result has been consensus on some issues and controversy over others, as scholars seek answers to essential questions: How are we to think about and relate to other religions, be open to the Spirit, and at the same time remain evangelical and orthodox? Gerald R. McDermott and Harold A. Netland offer a map of the terrain, describe new territory, and warn of hazardous journeys taken by some writers in exploring these issues. This volume offers critiques of a variety of theologians and religious studies scholars, including evangelicals, but it also challenges evangelicals to move beyond parochial positions. It is both a manifesto and a research program, critically evaluating the last forty years of Christian treatments of religious others, and proposing a comprehensive direction for the future. It addresses issues relating to the religions in both systematic theology and missiology-taking up long-debated questions such as contextualization, salvation, revelation, the relationship between culture and religion, conversion, social action, and ecumenism. The book concludes with responses from four leading thinkers of African, Asian, and European backgrounds: Veli-Matti Karkkainen, Vinoth Ramachandra, Lamin Sanneh, and Christine Schirrmacher.

The growth of Christianity in the global South and the fall of colonialism in the middle of the twentieth century caused a crisis in Christian missions, as many southern Christians spoke out about indignities they had suffered and many northern Christians retreated from the global South. American Christians soon began looking for a fresh start, a path forward that was neither isolationist nor domineering. Out of this dream the ''sister church'' model of mission was born. In this model, rather than Western churches sending representatives into the ''mission field,'' they set up congregation-to-congregation partnerships with churches in the global South. In Sister Churches Janel Bakker draws on extensive fieldwork and interviews with participants in these partnerships to explore the sister church movement and in particular its effects on American churches. Because Christianity is numerically and in many ways spiritually stronger in the global South than it is in the global North-while the imbalance in material resources runs in the opposite direction-both northern and southern Christians stand to gain. Challenging prevailing notions of friction between northern and southern Christians, Bakker argues that sister church relationships are marked by interconnectivity and collaboration.

Win Your City: A Strategic Guide to Achieve and Sustain Revival in Your CommunityAre you stricken over rampant sin in your city? Do you feel led to start a revival but aren't sure where to start? Do you yearn for unity amidst your church and among the churches in your area?Biblically-based and sound, "Win Your City" has the tools you need to bring lasting revival and forever change to the place you call home in six steps: Unity among city church leaders Unity throughout the citywide church family Protracted prayer with special citywide Concerts of Prayer Massive media campaign Continuous evangelical events Discipleship and follow-throughLiving in a unified, Godly city is worth the cost.Frank Purser has a Masters degree in education and has been a sold-out active follower of Jesus for 35 years. He has led ministries at the local, city, and regional level and has organized major evangelistic events. He is a father of three with two grandchildren and has been married to his wife, Marie, for 38 years. He currently lives near Knoxville, TN.

What is really going on inside the Church of England? God's Church for God's World offers essays and testimony from Evangelical Anglicans ahead of the Lambeth Conference 2022, that explore both the current state of Anglicanism and the future of Anglicanism in the UK. Featuring contributions from the likes of Andrew Goddard, Esther Prior, a number of serving bishops and many more, this collection offers a unique window into recent Anglican history that has often be tumultuous, and the workings of the Anglican Communion today. With a rare blend of theological reflection and timely storytelling, each essay offers something fresh - with no easy answers. Combining critical reflection with good news stories, they explore topics such as church planting and mutual flourishing, and encourage all of us to think through what faithfulness might look in our own context. God's Church for God's World brings together voices drawn from all major Anglican evangelical networks in the UK, demonstrating a commitment to the Gospel being proclaimed and a unity both throughout and beyond the Church of England. With a number of young contributors, it also offers a glimpse of possible futures for the Anglican Church. An honest, behind-the-scenes look at the Church of England in the twenty-first century, God's Church for God's World is a book for anyone looking for insight into the Anglican Communion from an evangelical perspective, and to understand what might lie ahead for the church.