If I had known the Enneagram earlier in my ministry, I would have been a much better pastor. When this thought came to Todd Wilson, he had already served as a pastor in several churches for the better part of fifteen years and was successfully leading a large, historic, and diverse congregation. He'd started out in ministry with a strong education in everything from biblical exegesis and homiletics to organizational development and Christian education. However, at its root, pastoral ministry is about shepherding, serving, leading, and loving people, and Todd realized that what he lacked was wisdom about how people work. He says, "When it came to empathetically shepherding people and sensitively engaging their manifold personalities and diverse ways of seeing the world, I was an amateur." Whether you are on a church staff or leading a small group, you will find that the insights from the Enneagram that have helped many grow in self-awareness can be applied to life in our faith communities. The Enneagram can help us to become better teachers. It can influence how we develop worship and Christian education. And it can guide us in building and leading teams. It's time to take the Enneagram to church-and to allow it to shape our life together.

Christian Book Award Finalist What type of leadership is needed in a moment that demands adaptive change? Tod Bolsinger, author of Canoeing the Mountains, is uniquely positioned to explore the qualities of adaptive leadership in contexts ranging from churches to nonprofit organizations. He deftly examines both the external challenges we face and the internal resistance that holds us back. Bolsinger writes: "To temper describes the process of heating, holding, hammering, cooling, and reheating that adds stress to raw iron until it becomes a glistening knife blade or chisel tip." When reflection and relationships are combined into a life of deliberate practice, leaders become both stronger and more flexible. As a result, these resilient leaders are able to offer greater wisdom and skill to the organizations they serve. Also available: Tempered Resilience Study Guide

Running through the papers collected here is the concern to try and understand the reasons which people thought they had for acting in a certain way, and - not always the same thing - the reasons which they expressed for what they were doing. The book's first section focuses on the theories of government in the late medieval Church, especially the ideas of conciliarism; the second is concerned with the study of medieval guild and city organisation and politics, looking at the communal movement and at the impact of Christianity on the development of republican ideas. In the papers in the final part, Professor Black takes a comparative approach, setting the political thought and traditions of the Islamic world, in particular, alongside those of Western Europe as part of an attempt to understand the origins of the modern state: to know why this emerged in Europe, he argues, it is necessary to ask why it did not develop elsewhere and it is intellectual and cultural factors which provide the most obvious differentiating features.

2019 World Magazine Book of the Year Short List 2019 The Gospel Coalition Book Award 2019 Send Institute's Top Ten Church Planting Related Books of 2019 Kevin DeYoung's Top 10 Books of 2019 Jesus loves small, insignificant places. In recent years, Christian ministries have increasingly prioritized urban areas. Big cities and suburbs are considered more strategic, more influential, and more desirable places to live and work. After all, they're the centers for culture, arts, and education. More and more people are leaving small places and moving to big ones. As a ministry strategy, focusing on big places makes sense. But the gospel of Jesus is often unstrategic. In this book, pastor Stephen Witmer lays out an integrated theological vision for small-place ministry. Filled with helpful information about small places and with stories and practical advice from his own ministry, Witmer's book offers a compelling, comprehensive vision for small-place ministry today. Jesus loves small places, and when we care deeply about them and invest in them over time, our ministry becomes a unique picture of the gospel-one that the world badly needs to see.

How can the people of God develop churches in ways that help and don't hurt poor neighborhoods? In urban ministry, Christians too often treat the poor as goodwill projects instead of people. Because of this mindset, many remain unchurched. Healthy, local, urban churches are needed because they combine personal empowerment and community transformation. Every poor neighborhood needs uncommon churches that will seek the common good of their communities. Alvin Sanders engages hard truths about these neighborhoods and provides a model for how to do ministry in difficult conditions. The local, urban church is the key to community transformation, as it plays three crucial roles of empowering, partnering, and reaching. Pastors and church planters interested in Christian community development will find here practical insights into the power of the local church, which is often underrated. Churches can serve their communities and improve the quality of life of every facet of the neighborhood.

Never before had France had a church council so large: almost 1000 churchmen assembled at Bourges on 29 November 1225 to authorize a tax on their incomes in support of the Second Albigensian Crusade. About one third of the participants were representatives sent by corporate bodies, in accordance with a new provision of canon law that insisted, for the first time ever, that there should be no taxation without representation. Basing himself on the rich surviving records, Professor Kay paints a skilful portrait of this council: the political manoeuvering by the papal legate to ensure the tax went through, and his use of this highly public occasion to humiliate members of the University of Paris; and, on the other hand, his failure to win a permanent endowment to support the papal bureaucracy, the bishops' effective protests against the pope's threat to diminish their jurisdiction over monasteries, and a subsequent 'taxpayers' revolt' that challenged the validity of the tax. The book also draws out the importance and implications of what took place, highlighting the council's place at the fountainhead of European representative democracy, the impact of the decisions made on the course of the Albigensian Crusade, the reform of monasticism, and the funding of the papal government which was left to rely on stop-gap expedients, such as the sale of indulgences. In addition, the author suggests that the corpus of texts, newly edited from the original manuscripts and with English translation, could be seen as a model for the revision of the conciliar corpus, most of which still remains based on 18th-century scholarship.

How did the present authority structures within the Church come into existence? How, if at all, can we justify their existence? What form of authority should exist in the Church? These and other related questions exercise the minds of many Christians in these days when the very notion of authority is questioned, but debate about them is perhaps nowhere more lively than within the ranks of Roman Catholicism. This book offers an important contribution to such debate within that church. Leading Catholic theologians from both sides of the Atlantic take up the key issues: analysing the concept of authority and governance; examining the history of authority within the Roman Catholic church; discussing who should have a say in future developments; exploring ecumenical dimensions, with particular reference to Anglicanism and the Orthodox churches; and suggesting the kind of reforms that might be prudent, as well as ways in which such reforms might be brought about. The book will prove of interest to many Roman Catholics, but given the ecumenical impact of many of the issues explored, it is likely to exert a wide appeal far beyond the confines of that church.

A must for every Catholic bookshelf, this fresh and inspiring book distils the essential thoughts of Pope John Paul II on matters of belief and conscience into one volume. Throughout his more than two decades as the leader of the world's Catholics, John Paul II has spoken both officially and informally on all aspects of life in the modern world. Whether defining the Church's teachings or passionately espousing the basic human rights of all people, he has always eloquently and clearly stated his hopes for the Church and the world. Collected from his encyclicals, speeches, homilies, and statements to fellow bishops, this book includes the pontiff's thoughts at the beginning of the third millennium of Christianity.

This book presents a comparative study of church order in the East and West of the Christian world. It deals with the development of canon law from the 6th century, the time of Dionysius Exiguus and John Scholastikos, up to the period of Balsamon and Gratian. While the focus is upon Rome and Constantinople, the author includes in his discussion the churches under Islamic rule, in Syria and Persia, and describes the beginnings of Slavonic canon law in Moravia. The issues of church government, the discipline of the clergy (married or celibate), and the question of divorce and re-marriage are key themes. By illustrating how these were faced in the canon law of the Christian churches of late antiquity and the earlier Middle Ages, the book highlights questions of unity and diversity within the Christian tradition.

The essays in this volume centre upon the epoch-making papacy of Gregory VII (1073-85), and complement the author's major study of the pope. They look at the formation and expression of Gregory's ideas, notably in relation to simony and clerical chastity, and emphasise his religious motivation; attention is also given to the impact of his pontificate on the Anglo-Norman lands and Scandinavia. The book further includes extended discussion of the contrasting figure of Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury (1070-89), and of the complex question of the interaction between him and Pope Gregory.

This volume is an examination of the debate over clerical marriage in Reformation polemic, and of its impact on the English clergy in the second half of the sixteenth century. Clerical celibacy was more than an abstract theological concept; it was a central image of mediaeval Catholicism which was shattered by the doctrinal iconoclasm of Protestant reformers. This study sets the debate over clerical marriage within the context of the key debates of the Reformation, offering insights into the nature of the reformers' attempts to break with the Catholic past, and illustrating the relationship between English polemicists and their continental counterparts. The debate was not without practical consequences, and the author sets this study of polemical arguments alongside an analysis of the response of clergy in several English dioceses to the legalisation of clerical marriage in 1549. Conclusions are based upon the evidence of wills, visitation records, and the proceedings of the ecclesiastical courts. Despite the printed rhetoric, dogmatic certainties were often beyond the reach of the majority, and the author's conclusions highlight the chasm which could exist between polemical ideal and practical reality during the turmoil of the Reformation.

This volume covers two closely related themes. Essays in the first section deal with the varieties of clerics and their hierarchical arrangements in the churches of western Europe in the early Middle Ages, the formative period in which the ordering of clerics in the Western Church evolved. The number and numbering of clerics was debated and then established, as was their status as minor and sacred orders. In one of several hitherto unpublished pieces in this collection the significance of the elevation of the subdeacon to a sacred order in the later 11th century is examined, together with its effect on the status of the highest grades of priest and bishop, often seen to be one in order but distinct in office. In the second section, visual depictions of clerics in early medieval manuscripts are shown to have reflected their hierarchical ordering, especially in their ordinations, in the vestments and symbols assigned them, and in their functioning at conciliar gatherings.

The theology of sacred or clerical orders of the Latin Church in the high and later Middle Ages developed from an amalgam of texts written from late patristic antiquity through to the early 12th century. Such texts, many studied and edited here, include letters, tracts, sermons, liturgical commentaries, ordination instructions, and canon law pieces. Within these texts multiple topics might be considered, such as the Old and New Testament origins of each of the clerical grades, their number and hierarchical ranking, the duties, dress and moral conduct of a cleric, and ordination ritual. Particularly striking are the multiple duties assigned each grade and their modification in various parts of the Western Church. Many of these texts found their way not only into more formal theological treatments of sacred orders, but also into ordination rites. Probably the most public and visible duty of a cleric was his function as a eucharistic officer, and one essay in this collection deals with perhaps the most famous early medieval depiction of this clerical ritual on the ivory covers of the 9th-century Drogo Sacramentary.

The average age of churchgoers in Britain is now 47. Almost every denomination is experiencing steady decline. How sure can we be that we are still offering something people want to hear? Alison Morgan identifies four clear reasons to be confident: 1. The gospel still speaks to confused teens and weary sceptics. By embracing doubts and welcoming questions it remains open to us to present something which answers people's real needs. 2. The word of truth and the Spirit of power still exercise authority and compel attention. Alison's own experience of ministry in the UK and abroad provides illustrations. 3. Spiritual gifts, given not to excite individuals but in order to renew the church for its core task of mission, are powerfully present and widely recognised and practised. 4. In a time of rapid cultural change, new expressions of church are constantly emerging: this is necessary to guard against vital spirituality sliding into drab religion.

The articles in this volume trace the development of the theory that humanity forms a single world community and that there exists a body of law governing the relations among the members of that community. These ideas first appeared in the writings of the medieval canon lawyers and received their fullest development in the writings of early modern Spanish intellectuals. Conflict and contact with 'the infidel' provided a stimulus for the elaboration of these ideas in the later Middle Ages, but major impetus was given by the English subjugation of Ireland, and by the discovery of the Americas. This body of work paved the way for the modern notions of an international legal order and universal norms of behavior usually associated with the publication of Hugo Grotius's work in the seventeenth century.

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 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.

'If the English people were to be set a test to justify their history and civilization by the example of one man, then it is Sir Thomas More whom they would perhaps choose.' So commented The Times in 1978 on the 500th anniversary of More's birth. Twenty-two years later, Pope John Paul II proclaimed Thomas More the patron saint of politicians and people in public life, on the basis of his 'constant fidelity to legitimate authority and . . . his intention to serve not power but the supreme ideal of justice'. In this fresh assessment of More's life and legacy, John Guy considers the factors that have given rise to such claims concerning More's significance. Who was the real Thomas More? Was he the saintly, self-possessed hero of conscience of Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons or was he the fanatical, heretic-hunting torturer of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall? Which of these images of More has the greater historical veracity? And why does this man continue to fascinate, inspire and provoke us today?

This volume completes the edition of the two earliest manuscript Chapter Act books of Westminster Abbey, which is now the first cathedral or collegiate church to have all its Chapter Acts fully in print from the Reformation to the Civil War. It records the formal decisions of the Abbey's governing authority, many involving grants of office and leases of the Abbey's large and widely-scattered estate, principally in the midlands and the south-east, and especially in Westminster itself. A full introduction brings out the value of the documents in placing the Abbey in the tumultuous history of the church under James I and Charles I.

Leadership is both an art and a science. We may be tempted to look for a sure-fire formula, but the reality is quite different: effective leaders are exceptional generalists rather than narrow specialists. The best leaders take what the best business experts have to offer, and apply that based on their own abilities, experience and judgment. And these leaders seek real-life mentors and learn from them. Gayle Beebe, who has spent over a decade as a college president, had the opportunity to study with Peter Drucker, the father of modern management and the author of The Effective Executive. Drawing on Drucker's influence as well as his own years of experiences as a pastor, administrator and president, Beebe has developed a pyramid of leadership principles. The combination of these defines a leader of influence and integrity. In these pages you'll also meet some of Beebe's other mentors: Steve Sample of USC, Harold A. "Red" Poling of Ford Motor Company, Richard Foster of Renovar?, David McKenna of Asbury Seminary and Bob Emmons of Smart&Final. In a day of relentless self-direction, strong leaders have a critical role. With this book you can discover what it takes to be effective in your sphere of influence.

Biblical Leadership takes the best of evangelical scholarship to make the leadership lessons of Scripture tangible for today's readers. All contributors are biblical scholars who not only think seriously about the texts covered in their individual chapters, but have committed their lives to teaching and living the truths therein. This volume walks through the sections of the Bible, gleaning insights from each biblical writer. Every chapter analyzes the original setting of the writing, extrapolates the leadership principles in the text, and provides advice on applying that theology of leadership. Presented in everyday language understandable to both professionals and practitioners, these lessons will equip current and upcoming leaders to make a Christlike impact.

The two themes brought together in this volume - the canon law and the liturgy of the early medieval Latin Church - have close links, as these articles reveal. At the basis of this lies that fact that the collections and manuscripts with which Professor Reynolds is concerned provide the source material for both fields of study. In the book particular emphasis is given to the Irish Collection canonum hibernensis and its many derivatives, to works from Carolingian Salzburg and eleventh-century Southern Italy, and to liturgical collections. The whole illustrates the need for liturgiologists to be aware of the riches in medieval legal sources, and for legal historians to take account of the wealth of liturgical material that is a principal ingredient of the law of the Church; and demonstrates how much one field can contribute to understanding the development and to the dating of the other. Les deux themes reunis dans ce volume - le droit canon et la liturgie de l'Eglise Latine du haut moyan-Acge - ont, comme le revele ce groupe d'articles, des liens tres etroits. Ceci reposant sur le fait que les collections et manuscrits, auxquels le professeur Reynolds s'interesse, apportent la substance se trouvant A la source de ces deux terrains d'etudes. Dans le livre, une importance particuliere est donnee au Collectio canonum hibernensis irlandais et A ses multiples derivations, ainsi qu'aux travaux issus de Salzburg A l'epoque carolingienne A ceux provenant d'Italie meridionale au 11e s. et aux collections liturgiques. L'ensemble illustre la nesessite pour les specialistes en liturgie d'Atre conscients de l'abondance de sources legales medievales et pour les historiens du droit de tenir compte de la richesse en matiere liturgique et que forme l'un des ingredients principaux du droit de l'Eglise; il demontre aussi combien un domaine peut contribuer e la comprehension du developpement et A l'assignation de date

The question these articles seek to respond to, in this fifth collection by Jean Gaudemet to be published by Variorum, is how the intellectual elite of the medieval Church perceived the institutions among which they lived - how they portrayed them, and how they sought to influence them. Whether dealing with the papacy and its place in the Church and the world, with the role of the people in government, or with the position of the individual in society, he would argue that this is the essential question. In their response, this elite drew on the Bible and custom, on Roman law and papal letters, in order that the law could encompass all human experience. To achieve this, these jurists needed to create categories and work out principles, hence the recourse to theology and the necessity for a logical structure, a 'systematization'. Ce volume reunit dix-sept etudes parues dans diverses revues ou recueils de Melanges entre 1988 et 1992. Toutes concernent La doctrine canonique medievale telle qu'elle s'exprime (principalement du VIe au XIIIe siecle) A propos des institutions de l'Eglise et de ses relations avec la societe seculiere. Comment l'elite intellectuelle des hommes de l'Eglise medievale a-t-elle perAu les institutions au milieu desquelles elle vivait? Quelle image a-t-elle voulu en donner? Dans quelle voie esperait-elle les orienter? Qu'il s'agisse de la Papaute, de se place dans l'Eglise et dans le Monde, du rAle du Peuple dans le gouvernement, du sort de l'individu dans le group social, de l'entree dans l'Eglise et de la condition de ceux qui lui restent etrangers, la question reste la mAme: Comment le droit peut-il saisir l'infinie variete de l'histoire des hommes?

Several different approaches to medieval legal history are evident in these articles. The first group uses law to investigate the principles that governed society, whether clearly articulated or not, and to ask how the intellectual structures of the ius commune affected the institutions of government and the presuppositions of the people. The second group of articles illustrates the importance of returning to the manuscript sources of later medieval texts, rather than relying on the early printed editions. In both parts Professor Pennington also focuses on the lives of individual jurists, contending that these provide a key to the understanding of their thought, their position in society, and the connections between the two. One of these articles is published for the first time here, while a number of others have been revised and up-dated for publication. Plusieures approches differentes A l'histoire legale du Moyen Age sont refletees au travers de ces articles. Le premier groupe se sert de la loi pour explorer les principes qui gouvernaient la societe - que ceux-ci soient clairement exprimes ou non - et afin de demander comment les structures intellectuelles de l'ius commune affectaient les institutions gouvernementales et les presuppositions du peuple. Le second groupe illustre l'importance du retour aux sources manuscrites des textes medievaux tardifs, plutAt que de se fier A des impressions anciennes. Au travers des deux parties du volume, le professeur Pennington se concentre aussi sur la vie de certains juristes, avanAant qu'il s'agit lA d'une des clefs permettant de comprendre leur pensee, leur place dans la societe et le rapport entre ces deux facteurs. Un des articles est publie ici pour la premiere fois, alors qu'un certain nombre d'autres ont ete revises et mis A jour pour leur reimpression.