Considers many facets of the medieval church, dealing with institutions, buildings, personalities and literature. The text explores the origins of the diocese and the parish, the history of the See of Hereford and of York Minster. It discusses the arrival of the archdeacon, the Normans as cathedral builders and the kings of England and Scotland as monastic patrons. The studies of monastic life deal with the European question of monastic vocation and with St Bernard's part in the sensational expansion of the early 12th century. An epilogue takes us to the 14th century, contrasting Chaucer's parson with an actual Norfolk rector.

Connect your journey of discipleship with a passion for the world to meet Jesus Christ. For many followers of Jesus, discipleship means doing certain things to deepen our connection with Jesus Christ. But our spiritual growth checklists are often disconnected from the mission of reaching a lost world with the gospel message. Taking a holistic approach that unites evangelism and discipleship, Kevin and Sherry Harney demonstrate how God's plan for our spiritual growth is intimately connected to his mission to the world. Based on the teachings and reflection of their book, Organic Disciples, Kevin and Sherry will lead you and your group through the seven markers of spiritual maturity and how these biblical practices can connect us with God's work of reaching people with his love: Bible Engagement Passionate Prayer Wholehearted Worship Humble Service Joyful Generosity Consistent Community Organic Outreach True spiritual maturity will always lead believers outward to engage the world with the good news and truth of Jesus. You'll learn how to overcome the common roadblocks and false narratives that stand in the way of spiritual maturity and how to design a personal pathway of growth to be more like Jesus in character and mission. Used together with the Organic Disciples book and the free video study and online assessment available at OrganicOutreach.com, churches and individuals can better identify where they are in their growth journey and what the next steps are in becoming more like Jesus.

In this new biography, students will follow Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu from her humble Albanian birth to worldwide celebrity as Mother Teresa. The nun who attended to the dying and diseased in Calcutta, India, and established her Missionaries of Charity around the world is revealed to have a singular determination from a young age. As a woman in the patriarchal Catholic system, she had to prove to the hierarchy, even the Vatican, that she was capable of handling each project she proposed. Her vision to live and work among the poorest of the poor as one of them led to the founding of a new order that tended to society's outcasts. The narrative chronicles the expansion and success of the order and the eventual attention that was showered on her efforts. This increasing attention led to scrutiny and criticism of ideology, methods of care, and financing. Why did she reject better medical equipment for her patients yet receive the latest treatment and best care when she herself was ailing? Why did she take money from and try to help Charles Keating, a major player in the savings and loan scandal of the 1980s? The accusation of hypocrisy, among others, are discussed as is her controversial beatification. Readers will be challenged to consider for themselves whether Mother Teresa deserves to be sainted. Mother Teresa is characterized as being ordinary and her life as mundane. The biography suggests that she transcended her ordinariness with a singular belief that she was called to life's work. When this work brought fame, which she never sought, she used it to further her causes. In a global age, celebrity worship allowed her to work the system. She became an icon of service and selflessness, but her human flaws remained behind the saintliness.

The root of the word 'mission' means 'sending'. All Christian mission has its fountainhead in the God revealed in Scripture, who sent his Son for us, sends his Spirit to us, and summons all people to himself. The privilege and responsibility of his church, sent into all the world, is to testify by his words and deeds to Jesus Christ, God's unique son, crucified, risen and ascended. The East-West partnership in missiological exploration expounds a variety of Old and New Testament texts, and examines a wide range of issues. The authors' desire is that Jesus Christ might be glorified more and more in the church and in the world; their eager expectation is that one day the whole creation will find its consummation in him, and God will be all and in all.

The Budapest Scottish Mission with its two-fold aim, mission to the Jews and initiating an Evangelical revival in the largest Protestant body had played a remarkable, decisive and unique role in the « long 19th century of the Hungarian Kingdom. This study focuses on how the Scottish Mission implanted British Evangelicalism, German Pietism, voluntary organisations such as YMCA, IFES, WSCF, Sunday School, Women's Guild, social outreach, medical missions, home mission, personal piety, concepts of mission and evangelisation through their Scottish Presbyterianism into Hungary. The study presents the interaction of Scottish Presbyterians, Orthodox, Neolog (Reform and Conservative) and Status Quo Ante Jews of Hungary, and the Hungarian Reformed Protestants. It also discusses their attitudes to conversion, mission, proselytising, education, assimilation, and nationalism. While discussing the Mission's aims, the book pays careful attention to church, institutional, and religious histories. In addition to these, local theologies, ideologies and world-views of the people are scrutinized. Through these issues this study introduces the reader to the daily life of a multicultural community gathered around the Scottish community.

Social movements inspired by powerful ideological beliefs continue to define global and national politics. In Yugoslavia, civil war is justified in the name of religion and ethnic identity. The Arab-Israeli conflict rages on, fuelled on either side by a conviction of indisputable ideological truth. Closer to home, American religious organizations consistently challenge political authority in the name of a higher morality. Existing theories either ignore the role of religion in social movement formation or discredit the claim that religious convictions can directly lead adherents to engage in political action. Through a detailed analysis of American and British evangelical Christians, J. Christopher Soper here demonstrates that religious commitments were, in fact, crucial in promoting political activism in both countries. Evangelical Christianity in the United States and Great Britain is the first book to provide such a comparative perspective.

Focussing on the temperance movement and the politics of abortion, Soper highlights the similarities, and equally intriguing differences, between British and American political/evangelical structures. Using interviews and literature gathered from evangelical organizations on both sides of the Atlantic, he paints a fascinating picture of a hitherto neglected aspect of social movement theory. Evangelical Christianity in the United States and Great Britain is an invaluable new resource for scholars of religious studies, political science and sociology alike. Soper provides a unique model with which to view a dominant political trend: the mobilization of collective action groups around a set of powerful beliefs. His research can thus be applied beyond the boundaries of his chosen topic, and will be an important contribution to the study of any movement in which ideology assumes a significant role.

In The Great Omission, respected missions thinker Robertson McQuilkin answers the question, "How is it--with so many unreached peoples, there are so few Christians going?" He investigates the reasons so few attempt to carry the message of Christ to the multitudes who have never heard of him. Not only is McQuilkin well-versed on trends and strategies in world missions, he also knows how to present the challenge of world evangelism in an unforgettable way.

HOW CAN WE KNOW WE'LL GO TO HEAVEN? A recent poll indicated that for every American who believes he or she is going to hell, there are 120 who believe they're going to heaven. This optimism stands in stark contrast to Jesus Christ's words written in the Bible: "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Matthew 7:13-14). The truth is that according to the Bible we don't automatically go to heaven. In fact, hell--not heaven--is our default destination. Unless our sin problem is solved once and for all, we can't enter heaven. That's the bad news. But once that's straight in our minds we're ready to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. Jesus took upon himself, on the cross, the hell we deserve so that we could experience for eternity the heaven we don't deserve! THE ONLY TWO OPTIONS There are two possible destinations when we die: heaven or hell. Can we really know in advance where we'll go? John, one of the writers of the Bible, said this: "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13). We can know for sure that we'll go to heaven when we die. Do you? To sin means to fall short of God's holy standards. Sin is what ended paradise in the Garden of Eden. And all of us, like Adam and Eve, are sinners. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Sin separates us from a relationship with God (Isaiah 59:2) and it deceives us and makes us think that wrong is right and right is wrong (Proverbs 14:12). Sin has terrible consequences, but God has provided a solution: "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). Jesus Christ, the Son of God, loved us so much that he left the riches of heaven to become a man and deliver us from our sin. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). He came to identify with us in our humanity and our weakness, but he did so without being tainted by our sin, self-deception, and moral failings (Hebrews 4:15-16). Jesus died on the cross as the only one worthy to pay the penalty for our sins demanded by the holiness of God: "For our sake he [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). But in victory over death, God raised Jesus from the grave, defeating the consequences of sin (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 54-57). When Christ died on the cross for us, he said, "It is finished" (John 19:30). In those times "It is finished" was commonly written across certificates of debt when they were canceled. It meant "Paid in full." Christ died so that the certificate of debt consisting of all our sins could once and for all be marked "Paid in full." THE CRITICAL DECISION Only when our sins are dealt with in Christ can we enter heaven. We cannot pay our own way. Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Because of Jesus Christ's sacrificial death on the cross on our behalf, God freely offers us forgiveness. To be forgiven, we must recognize and repent of our sins. Forgiveness is not automatic. It's conditioned upon confession: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Christ offers to everyone the gifts of forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. "Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price" (Revelation 22:17). There's no righteous deed we can do that will earn us a place in heaven (Titus 3:5). We come to Christ empty-handed. We can take no credit for salvation. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). This gift cannot be worked for, earned, or achieved. It's dependent solely on Christ's generous sacrifice on our behalf. Now is the time to make things right with God. Confess your sinfulness and accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on your behalf. You are made for a person and a place. Jesus is the person, and heaven is the place. They are a package-- they come together. You cannot get heaven without Jesus or Jesus without heaven. "Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near" (Isaiah 55:6). For all eternity you'll be glad you did. If you understand what God has done to make forgiveness and eternal life possible for you, you may want to express it in words like these: "Dear Lord, I confess that I do not measure up to your perfect standard. Thank you for sending Jesus to die for my sins. I now place my trust in him as my Savior. Thank you for your forgiveness and the gift of eternal life."

The Emerging Church movement developed in the mid-1990s among primarily white, urban, middle-class pastors and laity who were disenchanted with America's conservative Evangelical sub-culture. It is a response to the increasing divide between conservative Evangelicals and concerned critics who strongly oppose what they consider overly slick, corporate, and consumerist versions of faith. A core feature of their response is a challenge to traditional congregational models, often focusing on new church plants and creating networks of related house churches. Drawing on three years of ethnographic fieldwork, James S. Bielo explores the impact of the Emerging Church movement on American Evangelicals. He combines ethnographic analysis with discussions of the movement's history, discursive contours, defining practices, cultural logics, and contentious interactions with conservative Evangelical critics to rethink the boundaries of "Evangelical" as a category. Ultimately, Bielo makes a novel contribution to our understanding of the important changes at work among American Protestants, and illuminates how Emerging Evangelicals interact with the cultural conditions of modernity, late modernity, and visions of "postmodern" Christianity.