Church discipline is essential to building a healthy church. So how exactly do we practice church discipline?

Jonathan Leeman helps us face the endless variety of circumstances and sins for which no scriptural case study exists, sins that don't show up on any list and need a biblical framework to be corrected appropriately in love.

Here is a contemporary and concise how-to guide that provides a theological framework for understanding and implementing disciplinary measures in the local church, along with several examples of real-life situations and the corresponding responses.

The changing dynamics of contemporary church life are well-known, but what's less well-known is how leaders can work most effectively in this new context. In Quietly Courageous, esteemed minister and congregational consultant Gil Rendle offers practical guidance to leaders-both lay and ordained-on leading churches today. Rendle encourages leaders to stop focusing on the past and instead focus relentlessly on their mission and purpose-what is ultimately motivating their work. He also urges a shift in perspectives on resources, discusses models of change, and offers suggestions for avoiding common pitfalls and working creatively today.

Drawing from over thirty years of studying and helping to shape churches, dioceses, religious communities, and pastoral ministries nationwide, Thomas Sweetser, S.J., argues that contemporary parishes are "caught in a Church system that is not working." In The Parish as Covenant: A Call to Pastoral Partnership, he proposes a dual-focus system of parish leadership which creates a healthier, more collaborative environment for leaders, assistants, and parishioners, and helps ensure a successful transition when pastors and administrators are replaced.

It has been rightly said that "Jesus is the hope of the world." While we can never argue against the importance of the power of the risen Son of God, it is also true that "the local church is the hope of the world." After all, the church is the body of Christ. Jesus manifested himself through the church. And we, as the church, are chosen and called by God to be light in the darkness and give hope to the hopeless.

For this reason, it is critical for the body of Christ—both pastors and laypeople alike—to learn how to lead like it matters. In this study guide, which accompanies the book of the same name, pastor and bestselling author Craig Groeschel shares what he has learned in more than twenty-six years of leading LifeChurch. The church began in a borrowed two-car garage, with ratty furnishings and faulty audiovisual equipment, but people were drawn there because they sensed a powerful, life-changing force that Craig calls "it." While exactly what "it" is can be difficult to define, Craig reveals seven factors that contribute to it (or at least don’t kill it):

Sessions include:

• Vision
• Divine Focus
• Unmistakable Camaraderie
• Innovative Minds
• Willingness to Fall Short
• Hearts Focused Outward
• Kingdom-Mindedness

Craig also unpacks three important realms that every leader must master: (1) prioritizing mindset over model, (2) creating systems that empower it, and (3) finding a balanced way to lead to stay centered around it. While adopting these seven factors and realms will not guarantee a church will have that "it" factor, it will certainly lead that church toward it. It will help all of us lead like it matters.

What does it mean to be a small missional community in a deeply secularized society? Drawing on a wide range of practical insight with mission in one of the most secular contexts of the West, Pilgrims and Priests blends this experience with a thorough analysis of relevant biblical, historical, sociological, theological and spiritual sources that bear relevance to missional identity in the challenging circumstances presented by the secular West. It presents a hopeful perspective, rooted in a realistic appraisal of reality and rich theological reflections. The result is an important resource for thinkers, practitioners and all who are fascinated by the future of Christianity in the West.

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.

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to enter into a business partnership with God? In The 25 Biblical Laws of Partnership with God, William Douglas and Rubens Teixeira reveal that God wants to be a part of not just your spiritual life but your entire life. God wants to participate in your career, your workplace, and the way you do business. The 25 biblical laws offer a spiritual agenda with practical results, providing answers to such questions as - How should a Christian act at work? - If the owner of a company is a follower of the Bible, how should they treat their employees and clients? - Should the products sold or the services rendered by a partner of God be special in any way? In this book, you'll learn how to build a business partnership with God, changes you can make in your work habits, and the laws you should follow to reap the benefits of your partnership with God and others.

Pastor, author, and leadership consultant unpacks instruction for church leaders found in 1 Peter 5:1-4 where they are exhorted to shepherd the flock among them.Some instruction is timeless. Regardless of the age in which we live, certain instruction carries no expiration on its relevance. Pastor, author, and leadership consultant, Larry Osborne has discovered this to be the case with instruction on how to be a good leader. The best, most practical advice comes from the Bible, and in particular, 1 Peter 5:1-4. It's in this short passage where leaders are exhorted to shepherd the flock among them.Unfortunately, most modern leaders have precious little experience tending sheep, and many of the implications that were well understood when Peter penned these words are lost on today's reader. Osborne finds the parallels to be numerous, well-worth reviewing and understanding anew.A shepherd leads them to water even when they fear it. A shepherd never allows one sick lamb to destroy the flock. A shepherd lays down his life for his sheep . . .When leaders truly understand Peter's words of exhortation to lead like a shepherd, then they will begin to see the path that leads them to Leading Well.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Imagine an organizational model for church leadership that enables the entire team to unleash their full potential. The joy and vigor coming from a collective strength, intelligence, and skill in the community of leaders not only brings greater potency but better yields for your ministry. What would it be like to see this kind of healthy leadership reproduced into the second, third, and fourth generation, on multiple strands? Leveraging the metaphor Ori Brafman popularized in his NYT best-selling book, The Starfish and the Spider, Rob Wegner, Lance Ford, and Alan Hirsch show: How to take a close look at your church's organizational structure and how to adapt instead of simply adopt a certain kind of structural approach. How churches can function without a rigid central authority, making them nimbler in reacting to external forces. How seeding starfish networks inside today's churches will prepare the church of tomorrow to be agile while maintaining the accountability to be effective. The Starfish and the Spirit is about creating a culture where church leaders view themselves as curators of a community on a mission, not the source of certainty for every question and project. It's about creating a team of humble leaders "in the middle" of the church, not at the top--leaders who naturally reproduce multiple generations of leaders, from the middle out.

Most women in the church don't aspire to "lord it" over men, nor do they want to scramble for position. Instead, they want to be accepted as full participants in God's work, sharing in kingdom tasks in ways that use their gifts appropriately. In Gender Roles and the People of God, author, radio host, and professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Alice Mathews surveys the roles women have played in the Bible and throughout church history, demonstrating both the inspiring contributions of women and the many hurdles that have been placed in their path. Along the way, she investigates the difficult passages often used to preclude women from certain areas of service, pointing to better and more faithful understandings of those verses. Encouraging and hopeful, Mathews aims for an "egalitarian complementarity" in which men and women use all of their gifts in the church together, in partnership, for the glory of God.