"The time has come to reimagine how we picture and practice sharing the good news about Jesus. The time has come because the old pictures and practices aren't wearing well and aren't working well. People in our culture aren't responding. And people in the church aren't excited or engaged. . . . The time has come because our culture is shifting." (Rick Richardson, Reimagining Evangelism) Sometimes talking about Jesus with friends can feel like trying to close a deal on a sales call, pushing something on people they may not really want. But what if we thought of it more like inviting friends on a spiritual journey? The Reimagining Evangelism Participant's Guide, in conjunction with the Reimagining Evangelism DVD and Rick Richardson's book Reimagining Evangelism, will help you to reframe evangelism as inviting friends on a journey toward meeting and following Christ. The seven one-hour sessions found in this Participant's Guide are 1. Do What You Love 2. Use Your Gifts 3. Ask Good Questions 4. Respond to Tough Questions 5. Share Your Story 6. Communicate the Good News 7. Invite Response Each session incorporates animated short or live-action video, an introductory discussion of the session's topic, a Bible study, a teaching video and interactive learning. If you are looking for a fresh way to share your faith, you will find the Reimagining Evangelism curriculum a freeing and insightful guide to evangelism in our rapidly changing culture.

John Stott's definitive and passionate plea to the church to listen both to God's Word and to his world (double listening)

We are all aware of problems in this world. Everyone knows what it is to be weary, to be disappointed, and to struggle. And we have a feeling that we were not meant for this. We are all searching for some solution to the problems of life. The question is, why are you unhappy? Why do things go wrong? Why is there illness and sickness? Why should there be death? Those are the questions with which the Bible deals. The Bible talks to you about your unhappiness. Some insist that the Bible, far from being practical, is really very remote from life. But nothing in the world is as practical as the teaching of the Bible. In order to answer questions about you, the Bible starts in the most extraordinary way: "In the beginning God..." It starts with God. Before I begin to ask any questions about myself and my problems, I ought to ask questions like this: Where did the world come from? Where have I come from? What is life itself? You come to me and say, "I'm unhappy. I'm in a crisis. What's the matter with me?" And the Bible says, "In the beginning God . . ." as if it has forgotten all about you. But it has not! The only way to understand yourself or your life is to start with God. And right at the very beginning, the Bible takes us there. The Bible also tells us that the world came into being because the eternal God made it. It tells us that God is the Creator, that he made everything out of nothing, by his own power, and he made it perfect. What's more, according to the Bible, man is a special creation of God. The Bible tells us, "God created man in his own image" (Genesis 1:27). It does not say that about anything else, only about human beings. Man was made by God, for God. He spoke to God, walked with God, and enjoyed God. And his life was one of perfect bliss. But into this perfect world made by God there entered another power, another force. Something came that was opposed to God and opposed to man, and it was bent upon one thing only-- wrecking God's perfect work. The Bible tells us that the Devil entered into this world, and by tempting the man and the woman, whom God had made, brought to pass everything bad that you and I know. Why are there jealousy and envy and misunderstanding? Why lust and passion? Why are homes and marriages broken? Why do little children suffer? Why all the agony and the pain of life? It is because there is this other power in the world that has dragged man down. That is the biblical explanation. You will find it in the Bible from beginning to end. And if that is true, how hopelessly and utterly inadequate are all the remedies that are being offered apart from the Bible. What's more, the Bible tells us that as the result of that original sin, all of us are in the grip of this evil power. Man, as the result of all this, is quite helpless; he has brought a curse upon himself and cannot escape it. He would like to, but he cannot. Man has been trying to get back into Eden ever since he went out of it. That is the whole history of civilization. That is the whole meaning of philosophy and all political thought and all the blueprints of utopias at all times and in all places--man trying to get back into paradise. But it is worse than merely not being in paradise. Man is under the judgment of God. He thought that he could forget God and that there would be no risk involved. He did not realize that the law of God is absolute. Both man as an individual and the whole world, according to the Bible, are under the judgment of God. You see, in the garden Adam and Eve thought they could eat the forbidden fruit and all would be well. Then they heard the voice of the Lord God, and they cowered and were frightened. Judgment had come, and they were thrust out. But, thank God, he intervenes! God, even at the moment of rebellion, tells man that he has a way to rescue him and to redeem him: "It [the seed of the woman] shall bruise thy [the serpent's] head" (Genesis 3:15). The serpent can only be mastered by one, and he has come--the seed of the woman, Jesus of Nazareth. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." JOHN 3:16 Christ, the Son of God, came into this world, took on our human nature, entered into our very situation, and defeated our enemy. He received judgment for us on the cross. God dealt with him there and pardons us, and our enemy is conquered. So the way to paradise is open, and it is open for you. All your problems, all your needs, arise from the fact of sin. That is the cause of all ill. And there is but one solution to the problem, the solution that God himself has provided in the person of his Son. ". . . that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." And that life begins here and now--a knowledge of God, assurance that you are right with God, that he will take you through death and announce in the judgment that you are already pardoned and forgiven. My dear friend, that is your problem, and that is the answer to your problem. Believe it. Accept it here and now. Go to that great God. Acknowledge your sinning against him, and thank him for his eternal love in sending his Son to rescue you and to redeem you by dying for you, and ask him to give you new life. And he will. I say that on the authority of Jesus who stated, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" ( John 6:37).

aA great service for all of us who teach undergraduate and graduate courses in U.S. religious history. This fine historian has provided us with a representative collection of primary texts, in the process allowing our students the opportunity to encounter the diversity of evangelicals and evangelical ideas in twentieth-century America.a
--William Vance Trollinger, author of "Godas Empire: William Bell Riley and Midwestern Fundamentalism"

Evangelicalism retains the doctrine of biblical authority that developed during the Protestant Reformation as well as the sense that each individual stands in need of a life transforming experience of forgiveness of sins that can only come through faith in Christ.

With the rise of the Christian Right in American politics over the past quarter-century, there has been renewed interest in Protestant evangelicalism and fundamentalism and their roles in American culture. Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism is a collection of key primary readings tracing the history and development of this religious movement and its intersections with American life and politics, spanning the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first centuries.

The documents deal with issues such as biblical criticism, theology, revivalist preaching, religion and science, religion and politics, and social concerns such as gender and race. Countering notions among some that evangelicalism is monolithic, the diversity of the movement is made evident in texts from the evangelical left as well as the Christian Right.

Each section and many individual texts are prefaced by a brief editoras introduction explaining their background and context. During the period the book covers, evangelicalism went from being the dominant form of religion in America, then to the fringes, then back into the mainstream. These texts provide the reader with a sense of the central core as well as the range of evangelical thinking in the past century.

When Linda Ann Smith first considered accompanying a friend on a mission trip to Albania in 1996, she didn’t even know where the country was located. Now, more than ten years later, she reserves a special place in her heart for the people she met and the places she visited on that unforgettable journey.

This heartening personal memoir honors the transformative spiritual experiences of Smith and her five companions in one of the world’s poorest countries. Chronicling the volunteer boot campers’ mission to visit and help friends who had established a program to feed the children in the isolated village of Rodokal, Albania, The Gift of Walnuts is a powerful story of friendship and love.

Smith shares both the glories and the challenges of being a missionary in a former communist country, and she reflects especially warmly on the children of Rodokal, who were overpowering in their simple joys and genuine loves. And Smith includes nearly fifty pictures of the beautiful faces and places of Albania.

The Gift of Walnuts not only provides insight into the culture and living conditions in southern Albania in 1996, but shows how a formerly closed communist country opened one woman’s eyes to a fresh worldview and her heart to a faith and love she’d never known before.

Billy Graham, the high-profile evangelist, author, and founder of the diverse Billy Graham Evangelical Association, is now in his 80s. Yet his popularity is undiminished, thanks to new generations seeking Christian spiritual fulfillment. Graham is the superstar evangelist who has remained untainted by the financial and sex scandals that have plagued his evangelical peers. His movie-star looks, manner, and propriety have made him a role model, and have brought him into close contact with power. He has had a personal relationship with every president since Dwight D. Eisenhower, serving as an unofficial White House chaplain and, to some extent, policy advisor. This balanced biography covers Graham's life and work, his extraordinary accomplishments, and the criticisms he has endured. It is clear that Graham will be remembered as a tireless crusader for his faith in popular revivals around the world. He has preached in nearly 200 countries, drawing the largest crowds for religious events in history, and made special efforts to reach audiences in Communist countries in Asia and the Soviet Union, which alienated fundamentalists.

The astonishing growth of Christianity in the global South over the course of the twentieth century has sparked an equally rapid growth in studies of ''World Christianity, '' which have dismantled the notion that Christianity is a Western religion. What, then, are we to make of the waves of Western missionaries who have, for centuries, been evangelizing in the global South? Were they merely, as many have argued, agents of imperialism out to impose Western values? In An Unpredictable Gospel, Jay Case examines the efforts of American evangelical missionaries in light of this new scholarship. He argues that if they were agents of imperialism, they were poor ones. Western missionaries had a dismal record of converting non-Westerners to Christianity. The ministries that were most successful were those that empowered the local population and adapted to local cultures. In fact, influence often flowed the other way, with missionaries serving as conduits for ideas that shaped American evangelicalism. Case traces these currents and sheds new light on the relationship between Western and non-Western Christianities.

The Alpha Team Guide is recommended for Alpha small group hosts and helpers. It includes notes for the two required team training sessions on how to lead an Alpha small group, and how to lead prayer ministry, that can be found online or on either the Alpha Film Series DVD or Alpha with Nicky Gumbel DVD. It also provides weekly key concept summary and suggested questions to help guide the discussion time for each session of Alpha. Alpha creates an environment of hospitality where people can bring their friends, family and work colleagues to explore the Christian faith, ask questions, and share their point of view. Alpha makes it easy to invite friends to have spiritual conversations which explore life's biggest questions in a safe and respectful way. Alpha's approach to hospitality, faith, and discussion is designed to welcome everyone, especially those who might not describe themselves as Christians or church-goers. Each session includes time for a large group meal, short teaching, and small group discussion.

A unique blending of historical analysis and bibliographic data, this volume examines the course of the voluntary association for religious purposes and analyzes the prominent primary and secondary literature in the field of voluntarism. In addition, hundreds of voluntary associations prior to 1900 in Britain, the United States, Canada, and elsewhere are listed. A reference tool for students and scholars in Western Christian thought and history, over 900 resources are classified by general, denominational, racial, and gender categories and are annotated. The first part of the volume examines the roots of voluntary thought in the Christian tradition and provides an overview of the evolution of voluntary Christian endeavor in Britain and North America. Of particular significance is the connection between churchly voluntary associations and the evangelical experience of the 19th century. Individual voluntary relationships and groups are an integral part of human socialization. This is the first bibliography and overview of individuals joining together under the banner of Christianity in order to satisfy this deep human need.

Eric Liddell, the Scottish 400m Olympic champion from the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris was immortalized in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire. His refusal to race on a Sunday is now legendary. His story, however, goes far beyond the restrictions of a 2-hour movie. This vivid biography recounts the highs and lows of Liddell's athletics career, and uncovers his life after the Olympics as a missionary, and internment camp prisoner, in war-torn China. Drawing upon interviews with Liddell's surviving family and friends, Julian Wilson brings Eric to life through fascinating anecdotes, reminiscences, extracts from his letters and rare photographs. Discover the secret behind Eric Liddell's enduring legacy - the complete surrender of his life to God.

The theme of this volume is the transformation of European Christianity into a world-wide religion. The spirit of crusade against Islam was one impulse driving the early expansion; these essays show how new ideologies of mission were developed and how perceptions have continued to evolve, notably in the light of Vatican II. They reveal the differing attitudes and roles of missionaries in such radically different environments as America and China, and the equally varied ways in which this activity was received, with the many problems of accomodation and sycretism. Topics covered include the development of new institutions to control missionary activity, notably the Roman Propaganda Fidei, tensions around race and the role of women, and the stimulus given, for instance to linguistic studies, by the need to communicate. Finally, they examine the belated awakening of the Protestant churches to the need to compete with Rome in the evangelization of the world.

In recent decades scholars have rediscovered a handwritten source of historical documentation from the eighteenth-century transatlantic religious movement known as "The Great Awakening." The McCulloch Examinations manuscripts contain more than a hundred first-person conversion narratives from the Cambuslang Revival of 1742 that have never before been published in their entirety. Collected and compiled by Reverend William McCulloch in what was Scotland's first oral history project, these personal accounts open a unique window into the early modern Scottish soul and shed new light upon an important chapter of British and American history. In this first complete, unabridged and fully annotated edition of the Examinations, the editor offers an introduction and analysis of these fascinating narratives, and provides supplementary resources that will illuminate the text for the reader. In addition to preserving the narrative accounts in their original frame, the edition includes the proposed redactions and marginal comments of four prominent Church of Scotland clergy who assisted McCulloch with the project. Keith Edward Beebe is Professor of Church History in the Department of Theology at Whitworth University, Spokane, Washington, and an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church, USA.

Lesslie Newbigin, one of the twentieth century's most important church leaders, offered insights on the church in a pluralistic world that are arguably more relevant now than when first written. This volume presents his ecclesiology to a new generation. Michael Goheen clearly articulates Newbigin's missionary understanding of the church and places it in the context of Newbigin's core theological convictions. Suitable for students as well as church leaders, this book offers readers a better understanding of the mission of the church in the world today. Foreword by N. T. Wright.

In the acclaimed book Muslim Evangelism, Phil Parshall devotes one chapter to "bridges" which can assist in facilitating understanding between Islam and Christianity. In Bridges to Islam he expands that key chapter into a book. The most promising bridges can be found not in orthodox Islam, contends the author, but in "folk Islam," which is less well known in the West but which influences about 70 percent of the world's Muslims. "Popular Islam consists largely of people who desire to know God and to be accepted by him," writes the author. "They have a high view of one God who is . . . all-powerful and merciful." The mystical Sufis press for a more satisfying personal relationship with Allah. These teachings and aspirations, argues the author, have immense potential as bridges, which he has personally witnessed spending many years ministering among Muslims. This thorough and in depth study of ways to bridge folk Islam will be invaluable to missionaries, students, and those interested in reaching Muslims for Christ.

"Cnaan has reported an elegant story about religious congregations and their role in providing social welfare assistance. The book is emperically rich, narratively enhanced, and theoretically thick. It not only documents the role of congregations but also identifies their limitations as social welfare providers. The book is informative and catalyzes reflection on the issues. It is grounded in a large, national, multimethod research project spanning the United States, with a limited focus in Canada. The weaving together of these data is impressive. I particularly appreciate the use of case studies to explicate the array of congregational approaches to caring. For aficionados of case study method, of which I am one, these materials are rich, dense, and artfully constructed. The survey data are also well presented. Together, these data provide a story that resembles an artfully constructed mosaic."--"Non Profit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly"

""The Invisible Caring Hand" represents an excellent addition to studies focused in understanding the role of local churches in their community."
--"Sociology of Religion"

"This book provides some much needed insight into the way congregations function in the povision of social services."--"Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work"

"An important and timely contribution to our understanding. . . . Policy makers and church leaders alike will benefit from Cnaan's groundbreaking investigation of the facts."
--" The Social Policy Journal"

"The first systematic and comprehensive social science description of social service contributions of diverse religious congregations. . . . Could not be more timely or useful toacademic and religious community audiences which now seek credible 'handles' for accessing and understanding this newly exposed but surprisingly extensive faith based contribution to human welfare in the United States."
--Edward Newman, Temple University

"Cnaan's newest book should be required reading for anyone interestedin American congregational life and faith-based social service provision in the wake of the welfare reform. It makes many valuable contributions and will be a sourcebook on congregational service provisions for some time to come."
--"Social Forces"

"A significant new study . . . Cnaan's book is an encouragement for churches, many of whom face resistance to their building or expansion plans from municipalities that don't acknowledge their value to the community."
--"Leadership Quarterly"

Popular calls to transform our current welfare system and supplant it with effective and inexpensive faith-based providers are gaining political support and engendering heated debate about the separation of church and state. Yet we lack concrete information from which to anticipate how such initiatives might actually work if adopted.

Despite the assumption that congregations can help many needy people in our society, it remains to be seen how extensive they wish their involvement to be, or if they have the necessary tools to become significant providers in the social service arena. Moreover, how will such practices, which will move faith-based organizations towards professionalization, ultimately affect the spirit of volunteerism now prevalent in America's religious institutions?

We lack sufficient knowledge about congregational life and its ability to play a keyrole in social service provision. The Invisible Caring Hand attempts to fill that void. Based on in-depth interviews with clergy and lay leaders in 251 congregations nationwide, it reveals the many ways in which congregations are already working, beneath the radar, to care for people in need. This ground-breaking volume will provide much-sought empirical data to social scientists, religious studies scholars, and those involved in the debates over the role of faith-based organizations in faith-based services, as well as to clergy and congregation members themselves.

A church united in truth and mission could be much more fruitful in serving th Lord. Jesus prayed that all his disciples would be one... and yet we are a long way from that. It appears that divisions within the evangelical world are hardening, with many of us going to those conferences, listening to those speakers and reading those books and newspapers which will simply confirm us within our tribal divisions - and we are increasingly neglecting our God-given responsibility to seek for unity. David Coffey has worked across the tribes for many years, and in this book he calls on all evangelicals to be prepared to pull down their barriers and to reach out to each other, for the sake of reaching this needy nation with the gospel.