Lively record of 14c ecclesiastical life in the north of England. John Kirkby's episcopate was an eventful one. It coincided with a period of Anglo-Scottish warfare in which the bishop participated with gusto, but even domestically his tenure of the see of Carlisle was stormy: the bishop was involved in feuding among the local gentry, and quarrelled with his archdeacon and with the dean and chapter of York during the vacancy of 1340-42. This second volume of Kirkby's register includes a rental of episcopal manors, an appendix of transcripts of documents, and the index, adding to the calendar contained in the first volume and providing a lively record of life in a remote part of the country. R.L. STOREYis Emeritus Professor of Medieval History, Nottingham University. He is the author of several standard books on late-Medieval England.

Pope Francis has thoroughly re-engaged the Catholic Church with the modern world, by tackling the difficult and urgent questions that we face as a civilization, in order to illuminate the path to change. French sociologist Dominique Wolton interviewed Pope Francis regularly over the course of a year, and their open, warm dialogue builds a detailed picture of how Pope Francis became the most popular leader the Catholic Church has ever seen.

The Pope's clarity, humility and humanity are brought to the fore by Dominique Wolton's engaging and relevant questions. As well as revealing fascinating insights into his early life, in The Path to Change Pope Francis freely addresses the major issues of our time: peace and war, politics and religion, globalization and cultural diversity, fundamentalism and secularism, Europe and migrants, ecology, family, time, trust and joy.

This down-to-earth workbook gets to the heart of modern congregational life: how to live creatively together despite differences of age, race, culture, opinion, gender, or theological or political position. Gil Rendle explains how to grow by valuing our differences rather than trying to ignore or blend them. He describes a method of establishing behavioral covenants that includes leadership instruction, training tools, resources, small-group exercises, and plans for meetings and retreats. An essential resource for all ministers.

Edmund Campion: A Scholarly Life is the response, at long last, to Evelyn Waugh's call, in 1935, for a 'scholarly biography' to replace Richard Simpson's Edmund Campion (1867). Whereas early accounts of his life focused on the execution of the Jesuit priest, this new biography presents a more balanced assessment, placing equal weight on Campion's London upbringing among printers and preachers, and on his growing stature as an orator in an Oxford riven with religious divisions. Ireland, chosen by Campion as a haven from religious conflict, is shown, paradoxically, to have determined his life and his death. Gerard Kilroy here draws on newly discovered manuscript sources to reveal Campion as a charismatic and affectionate scholar who was finding fulfilment as priest and teacher in Prague when he was summoned to lead the first Jesuit mission to England. The book argues that the delays in his long journey suggest reluctant acceptance, even before he was told that Dr Nicholas Sander had brought 'holy war' to Ireland, so that Campion landed in an England that was preparing for papal invasion. The book offers fresh insights into the dramatic search for Campion, the populist nature of the disputations in the Tower, and the legal issues raised by his torture. It was the monarchical republic itself that, in pursuit of the Anjou marriage, made him the beloved 'champion' of the English Catholic community. Edmund Campion: A Scholarly Life presents the most detailed and comprehensive picture to date of an historical figure whose loyalty and courage, in the trial and on the scaffold, swiftly became legendary across Europe.

On the first anniversary of his election to the papacy, Leo the Great stood before the assembly of bishops convening in Rome and forcefully asserted his privileged position as the heir of Peter the Apostle. This declaration marked the beginning of a powerful tradition: the Bishop of Rome would henceforth leverage the cult of St. Peter, and the popular association of St. Peter with the city itself, to his advantage. In The Invention of Peter, George E. Demacopoulos examines this Petrine discourse, revealing how the link between the historic Peter and the Roman Church strengthened, shifted, and evolved during the papacies of two of the most creative and dynamic popes of late antiquity, ultimately shaping medieval Christianity as we now know it. By emphasizing the ways in which this rhetoric of apostolic privilege was employed, extended, transformed, or resisted between the reigns of Leo the Great and Gregory the Great, Demacopoulos offers an alternate account of papal history that challenges the dominant narrative of an inevitable and unbroken rise in papal power from late antiquity through the Middle Ages. He unpacks escalating claims to ecclesiastical authority, demonstrating how this rhetoric, which almost always invokes a link to St. Peter, does not necessarily represent actual power or prestige but instead reflects moments of papal anxiety and weakness. Through its nuanced examination of an array of episcopal activity-diplomatic, pastoral, political, and administrative-The Invention of Peter offers a new perspective on the emergence of papal authority and illuminates the influence that Petrine discourse exerted on the survival and exceptional status of the Bishop of Rome.

Are distractions holding you back from living abundantly? Our world is filled with distractions. They take a toll on our work, our parenting, our marriages, and our souls. Constant tugs on our attention have us spinning our wheels, unable to gain momentum to move forward. Much like white noise, these distractions tune out what matters most within, and we're all susceptible. As distractions grow louder, we become deaf to the issues that most need our attention. In this six-session video Bible study (DVD/digital videos sold separately), pastor Clay Scroggins shows you how to take the next step in your personal growth by limiting the distractions in your life. Through the practices described in this guide, you will be empowered to replace the chaos in your increasingly busy schedule with emotional competence that leads to a calmer and more fulfilling life. This study guide contains a session overview, a video teaching summary, group discussion questions, and personal study tools. Sessions include: The Danger of Distraction Turning Down the White Noise Finding Simplicity Speaking to Yourself Getting Quiet Pressing Pause Designed for use with the How to Lead in a World of Distraction Video Study available on DVD or streaming video, sold separately.

What are the distinctive characteristics of Christian leaders? Too many churches and parachurch groups are blindly operating under secular leadership principles and strategies. Concerned to counter this drift, leadership expert Aubrey Malphurs 1) articulates a working definition of a Christian leader and leadership based on Scripture and his own extensive research, and 2) challenges you to define and develop leadership in your ministry. Malphurs then describes in detail the specific characteristics of leaders, such as commitment to Christ, caring, trustworthiness, a servant attitude, and having followers. Each chapter ends with helpful questions for reflection and discussion. Included in the appendices are several inventories that will help you assess your strengths and weaknesses in leadership as well as your leadership style, ideal ministry circumstances, and much more. Aubrey Malphurs is professor of pastoral ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary. A nationally recognized expert on leadership issues, he is the author of a dozen books and the president of The Malphurs Group (www.malphursgroup.com), a training and consulting organization.

Create a small, strong congregation that is dedicated to advancing God's mission The twenty-first century is the century of small, strong congregations. More people will be drawn to small, strong congregations than any other kind of congregation. Yes, there are mega-congregations; Their number is increasing greatly. Nevertheless, across the planet, the vast majority of congregations will be small and strong, and the vast majority of people will be in these congregations. With uncommon wisdom Kennon L. Callahan--today's most noted church consultant--moves ahead of conventional thinking and in Small, Strong Congregations offers his unique vision of the church of the future. This important book chronicles the emergence of a vast number of congregations that are questioning the bigger-is-better notion in church membership. These congregations are deliberately small, active, and happy in their dedication to creating strong church communities that advance God's mission. Step by step, Kennon Callahan shows pastors and other church leaders how they can develop the values and specific qualities helpful to shape and strengthen their own small congregations.Written to be a hands-on guide, Small, Strong Congregations offers practical suggestions for creating mission and service, compassion and shepherding, community and belonging, self-reliance and self-sufficiency, worship and hope, teams and leaders, space and facilities, and giving and generosity. This wise resource is filled with illustrative examples that show clearly how myriad small churches have created solid, vigorous congregations.

In 1631, Marie Guyart stepped over the threshold of the Ursuline convent in Tours, leaving behind her eleven-year-old son, Claude, against the wishes of her family and her own misgivings. Marie concluded, "God was dearer to me than all that. Leaving him therefore in His hands, I bid adieu to him joyfully." Claude organized a band of schoolboys to storm the convent, begging for his mother's return. Eight years later, Marie made her way to Quebec, where over the course of the next thirty-three years she opened the first school for Native American girls, translated catechisms into indigenous languages, and served some eighteen years as superior of the first Ursuline convent in the New World. She would also maintain, over this same period, an extensive and intimate correspondence with the son she had abandoned to serve God. The Cruelest of All Mothers is, fundamentally, an explanation of Marie de l'Incarnation's decision to abandon Claude for religious life. Complicating Marie's own explication of the abandonment as a sacrifice carried out in imitation of Christ and in submission to God's will, the book situates the event against the background of early modern French family life, the marginalization of motherhood in the Christian tradition, and seventeenth-century French Catholic spirituality. Deeply grounded in a set of rich primary sources, The Cruelest of All Mothers offers a rich and complex analysis of the abandonment.

Church leaders live and work in complex systems, including their church, their staff, their congregation, their community, and society itself. How a leader navigates those systems, and how those systems operate, can have a huge impact on how church leaders achieve their goals. The Whole Church is an authoritative view of how clergy leadership can greatly benefit from understanding how systems theory is an essential learning tool to becoming an effective leader. The reader will learn how to diagnose symptoms of issue(s) that affect the church, how to overcome change and conflict, and ultimately emphasizes the significance of one's own spirituality and faith in guiding the congregation's pilgrimage.

Many colleges and universities informally highlight the value of mentoring among academic professionals. Yet scholars often lack clear definitions, goals, practices, and commitments that help them actually reap the benefits mentoring offers. As new faculty members from younger generations continue to face evolving challenges while also reshaping institutions, their ability to connect with more experienced mentors is critical to their vocations-and to the future of higher education. In Cultivating Mentors, a distinguished group of contributors explores the practice of mentoring in Christian higher education. Drawing on traditional theological understandings of the mentee-mentor relationship, they consider what goals should define such relationships and what practices make their cultivation possible among educators. With special attention to generational dynamics, they discuss how mentoring can help institutions navigate generational faculty transitions and cultivate rising leaders. Contributors include: David Kinnaman Tim Clydesdale Margaret Diddams Edgardo Colon-Emeric Rebecca C. Hong Tim Elmore Beck A. Taylor Stacy A. Hammons This book offers valuable insights and practical recommendations for faculty members, administrators, and policy makers. Whether pursuing their vocation in Christian or secular institutions, Christian scholars will benefit from the sharing of wisdom mapped out in Cultivating Mentors.

Hobgood examines new pressures on clergy that are emerging in the "post-Christendom era:" financial stresses; the effects of a conflicted and confrontational culture; the needs of an increasing number of people living broken or dependent lives; dysfunctional behavior on the part of pastors and parishioners; questions regarding clergy respect and job satisfaction. How is ministry being affected by these changes? What skills will clergy need as they enter the new century? An invaluable resource thoroughly grounded in research and full of practical observations for clergy, judicatory executives, seminary professors, and long-range planners.

The study examines the appointments to the office of Bishop in two Italian church provinces (Milan and Salerno) in the period from 1676 to 1903. It covers the legal and political parameters, the state and ecclesiastical bodies selecting the candidates, and the social prerequisites for advancement to higher church orders. The study draws on extensive material from the Vatican archives on the personnel policy of the Roman curia from the pontificate of Innocent XI to that of Leo XIII and casts an unusual light both on the relations between the Papacy and the Italian states and on the social history of the Roman Church.

Preaching in the Purple Zone is a resource for helping the church understand the challenges facing parish pastors, while encouraging and equipping preachers to address the vital justice issues of our time.This book provides practical instruction for navigating the hazards of prophetic preaching with tested strategies and prudent tactics grounded in biblical and theological foundations. Key to this endeavor is using a method of civil discourse called "deliberative dialogue" for finding common values among politically diverse parishioners. Unique to this book is instruction on using the sermon-dialogue-sermon process developed by the author that expands the pastor's level of engagement on justice issues with parishioners beyond the single sermon. Preaching in the Purple Zone equips clergy to help their congregations respectfully engage in deliberation about "hot topics," find the values that bind them together, and respond faithfully to God's Word.

A manual for securing a significant number of planned gifts for a church of any denomination or size. In order for churches and related religious institutions to advance their strategic growth initiatives, a variety of funding vehicles are required, and a planned gifts program can play an important part. A planned gifts program offers a systematic and sustainable implementation model that is formalized, progressive, and-most importantly-volunteer-based and -driven. Implementation of a planned gifts program should be centered upon the resolution of significant church needs and the advancement of God's work. The authors, both successful fundraisers, keep this motivation at the center of their implementation model.

"Earl Creps is a superb communicator with the passion, courage, and vulnerability to hang out with younger people who mentor him enthusiastically. This book is a refreshing, innovative perspective that all other mentoring books miss."
--Gary R. Collins, PhD, School of Psychology and Counseling, Regent University

"This book will help satisfy a deep hunger for wisdom and guidance."
--John Ortberg, pastor, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church; author, "The Life You've Always Wanted"

"The world has ended about four times. New technologies and processes for handling information make the old world obsolete, quickly. When this happens an unusual dynamic asserts itself. Younglings mentor the elders into the way of the new world. The richness of life sharing that is established in reverse mentoring is a largely unexplored, but promising green edge to the Christian movement. Let Earl Creps show you how to get in on this development."
--Reggie McNeal, author, "The Present Future"

"Unfortunately, those of us who've been around for awhile find it difficult to listen to those who haven't. What could they ever teach us? No question this prevalent attitude is much to our disadvantage as we lose touch with the future of Christ's church. So how can we learn to be quiet for once and listen? And why should we founts of wisdom even consider it? Earl Creps provides us with a compelling answer in Reverse Mentoring. This is a must-read for all generations who love Christ's church."
--Aubrey Malphurs, lead navigator, The Malphurs Group; senior professor, Dallas Seminary

"And I thought I was cool, that I had put the 'hip' back in discipleship! But after experiencing Reverse Mentoring, Ihave discovered it was an 'artificial hip.' It reminded me how much younger leaders have helped me, and it motivated me to get down to Starbucks or wherever I can spend some time with them."
--Bill Hull, author, "Jesus Christ Disciple Maker," "The Disciple Making Pastor" and "The Disciple Making Church"

"Yikes. We've been nattering on about apprenticeship and formation forever, but we've often studiously ignored some of our best teachers. Brilliantly incisive and yet Monday-morning practical, this warm, vital book might just nudge the church into a long overdue revolution."
--Jeff Lucas, author, speaker, broadcaster

Just as our life is in our blood, the life for Christ's body is in His blood. Changing a church is more than a new goal or direction. Our churches need more than an organizational "transition"; we need a full "transfusion" of Jesus' blood, His life, within every disciple. Anything less than that will only perpetuate more of the dysfunction and unhealthy church practices that have already plagued us for too long. We are in desperate need of the internally transforming power of the gospel of grace and the presence of Christ so that our salvation is then worked out in a way the rest of the world will notice. It isn't enough that we believe in the facts contained in the gospel, we must allow the gospel itself to infect our souls and transform us from within. The DNA of Jesus' lifeblood is needed in our churches and nothing shy of a full transfusion that touches every cell will be sufficient.

In this book Neil Cole (author of "Organic Church, Church Transfusion" and "Journeys to Significance") and Phil Helfer, co-founders of Church Multiplication Associates, will first point out that change is possible with God, but only with God. In the second half of the book they will lay out some of the actual practical considerations to weigh if you want to release real organic health in your church.

Using multiple examples of very different kinds of churches that have been through the process, the authors present ways that leadership and practices need to change in order to release organic church movements from their midst. Chapters cover: Leadershifts necessaryDetoxification from dependence issues.How to ignite change virally.How to grandparent movements.How to measure success in movements.

This book (another in the Leadership Network series) applies organic life principles to established churches with practical help that is holistic and natural. The content in this book will be helpful whether you are pastor of an established church or wanting to revitalize a small organic church.

Jesus didn't die and rise from the dead so that we can be like everyone else in the world. Our faith is more than just a better doctrine or a bigger goal with a capital giving campaign; it is a better life. Jesus is the difference, and what a difference he makes...don't be satisfied with less.

The authors draw on their combined experience to create an exciting model of congregational leadership that understands congregations as relational systems. Learn how relational processes can liberate members for ministry and mission in the world and release pastors for appropriate leadership.

Ian Parkinson shares his experience of partnering with God to transform two very different local churches. He weaves stories from his own congregations, and draws on his experience of ministering in an inherited traditional but declining church, revealing what he has done to turn them around.

The transformation of such churches is critical: there are relational links to build on within communities; there are resources in place; and most importantly, God desires to renew his people in their sense of identity, vision, calling and anointing, even when they lose their way. In order for this to happen, there need to be leaders who are enthused and equipped to share in God's vision to be agents of change in the church for the sake of the world. This is transformational leadership. Such leadership comes about when we are gripped by a compelling vision of how God intends His Church to be, and a passion to see it move it forwards.

Ian Parkinson begins with a brief overview of the true calling and identity of the Church, before examining the catalytic role of leaders in establishing practices and habits which enable the congregation to see vision become reality.

In the past thirty years, the Catholic bishops of the United States have made headlines with their statements on nuclear disarmament and economic justice, their struggles to address sexual abuse by clergy, and their defense of refugees and immigrants. Despite many similarities, the nearly two hundred U.S. bishops are a diverse mix of varying backgrounds and opinions. The last research-based book to study the bishops of the United States came out in 1989, since which time the Church has gone from Pope John Paul II to Benedict XVI to Pope Francis and undergone dramatic shifts. Catholic Bishops in the United States: Church Leadership in the Third Millennium presents the results of a 2016 survey conducted by the Center of Applied Research for the Apostolate. It reveals the U.S. bishops' individual experiences, their day-to-day activities, their challenges and satisfactions as Church leaders, and their strategies for managing their dioceses and speaking out on public issues. The bishops' leadership has been tested by changes including the movement of Catholics from the Northeast and Midwest to the South and West, the arrival of huge numbers of Catholic immigrants, and the ongoing decline in the number of priests and sisters serving the Catholic community. This book provides a much-needed up-to-date and comprehensive view of who the U.S. bishops of today are, where they are from, and how they are leading the Church in the United States in the era of Pope Francis.