Have you ever heard yourself cry out through the chaos, "God where are you? Why is this happening?" or perhaps even, "God, are you real?" In a tattooed pop culture world that is perpetually trying to keep up with the Kardashians, God Culture introduces a greater knowledge of God and an invitation to engage in a deeper and more intimate relationship that will transform your life.
With worldwide plagues such as rampant terrorism and children shooting children, " God Culture" explores Jesus' true intention of reconnecting mankind with Yahweh, while revealing why God behaves as He does, how we can learn to comprehend and relate to Him, and ultimately how we can apply His wisdom to our individual present day life experience leading to our ultimate destinies.
"God Culture" dispels the age-old myth that "God works in mysterious ways." The misunderstanding of God's true motives, methods and divine nature has left millions of people yearning for answers to such timeless questions as "Why did God allow that? Has God left me? Or does He even exist?" When "Life can only be truly understood when looking backward" those who feel lost, confused and perhaps even abandoned will discover that He actually uses the every-day challenges and chaos of life to cultivate His will while simultaneously connecting with us on a personal level.
This thought-provoking discussion has been composed to help you gain a new understanding of God and to develop the knowledge of and insights into God's behavior, plan and purpose. If you have been perplexed by the daily chaos of life don't miss "God Culture." As you peer into the supernatural realm of heaven the God you discover may be quite different than you could have ever imagined.

At once a travel guide and a vision for the future, this series is good news for the Episcopal Church at a time of fast and furious demographic and social change. It analyzes the present plight of the church and sketches a positive way forward, sprouting from the seeds of change those transformative practices already at work renewing the church. What church models can help point us toward transformation? What are the essential tools? What will give us strength, direction, and purpose to the journey?

Each volume of the series will: Explain why a changed vision is essential Give robust theological and biblical foundations Offer a guide to best practices and positive trends in churches large and small Describe the necessary tools for change Imagine how transformation will look

For most Episcopalians, stewardship is synonymous with pledge drives, budgets, and capital campaigns, but the Bible is clear that God wants more than our tithes and offerings. Looking to its scriptural roots in 1 Chronicles, Luke-Acts, and the letters of Paul, as well as St. Francis third way, Robertson offers a vision of holistic stewardship for the whole church, holistic because it can t be separated from evangelism, outreach, scripture study, and ministry to the newcomer. It does not involve strong-arm tactics, only a willingness to risk changing existing structures and ideas in order to enrich the faith community and strengthen connections to the neighboring world.

"Transforming Stewardship" delivers both good and bad news about Episcopalians and stewardship. "Robertson" provides essential models and spiritual practices in order to transform the church s outmoded attitudes toward stewardship and wealth into a broader context of faith."

Since the original publication of this title, the twelfth-century Calabrian Abbot Joachim of Fiore has been accorded an increasingly central position in the history of medieval thought and culture. In this classic work Marjorie Reeves shows the wide extent of Joachimist influence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries and demonstrates the continuity between medieval and Renaissance thought in the field of prophecy. Reeves pinpoints some of the most original aspects of Joachim's theology of history and traces his reputation and influence through succeeding centuries. She also explains how his vision of a final age of the spirit in history became a powerful force in shaping expectations of the future in Western Europe. The book traces in detail the development of the three great images in which these expectations came to be focused: New Spiritual Men, Angelic Pope, and Last World Emperor. In addition, Reeves illuminates how the pervading influence of Joachim's concepts of a future golden age forms the basis for an understanding of prophetic visions in later centuries.

This study is a comprehensive history of the papacy, the oldest elective office in the world, and how it has managed over the centuries the most complex voluntary association of faith. The book argues that in fact through most of its existence, the papacy has adapted managerial models of the secular world and applied them to the Catholic Church. Since its emergence from the Jewish synagogues to a persecuted minority in the Roman Empire to becoming the established religion of the West, the Church and the papacy engaged the world on its own terms. It is only after the Council of Trent did the Church become somewhat more divorced and estranged from the environment around it. This book focused on those changes and on the great popes across the centuries who reformed and altered Catholicism. Special attention is directed to Gregory I, Innocent I, Innocent III, Pius IX, Leo XIII, Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXVII, Paul VI, and John Paul II. The conclusion is that the persistence of the Catholic Church for so many centuries was due to its ability to preserve the faith, but re-establish its forms and managerial class.

Play Nice in Your Sandbox at Church equips readers with the knowledge and skills needed to help their church members stay focused on their mission, rather than get sidetracked with their interpersonal squabbles. The PLAY and NICE in the title are capitalized because they are acronyms. PLAY represents a four-step model to prevent conflict when possible, and NICE gives a four-step model to resolve differences with others. Play Nice in Your Sandbox at Church is divided into two major portions covering eight sections. The first four sections comprise the PLAY chapters, where readers learn how to prevent needless trivial matters from escalating into situations they neither want nor need. In sections five through eight, readers gain the knowledge and skill to help them resolve significant differences they are bound to have with others from time-to-time. Within Play Nice in Your Sandbox at Church, there is a CHAPTER CHALLENGE at the end of each chapter to help readers implement the information they've learned throughout.

Most of us would rather have a root canal than ask for money. Raising support is one of the most difficult challenges facing Christians in ministry. Fears of rejection, concerns about biblical validity, feelings of not being deserving, anxiety about limited resources can all block us from obtaining the means to fulfill our calling. This book both affirms that God uses the Christian community to send us into ministry and demystifies the process. This down-to-earth handbook offers a clear, biblical perspective gives step-by-step instructions on how to assemble the tools unique to each person's support-raising task helps you know what range of gift to ask of a potential donor outlines the how-tos of holding a home promotional event tells the four predictors of church support is aware of the diverse ethnic contexts of today's new mission candidates includes a chapter by a woman for women on their unique challenges in support raising shows how to build a base in a strong church when you don't have one explains exactly why people do and don't give The relational strategy in this book has proven valuable for those who serve Christ on campus, in the city or in other special ministries at home or abroad. It is not necessarily the quickest approach to raising money, but it is the most lasting and fulfilling for those who give and receive.

What does it cost to follow Jesus? For these men and women, the answer was clear. They were ready to give witness to Christ in the face of intense persecution, even if it cost them their lives. From the stoning of Stephen to Nigerian Christians persecuted by Boko Haram today, these stories from around the world and through the ages will inspire greater faithfulness to the way of Jesus, reminding us what costly discipleship looks like in any age. Since the birth of Christianity, the church has commemorated those who suffered for their faith in Christ. In the Anabaptist tradition especially, stories of the boldness and steadfastness of early Christian and Reformation-era martyrs have been handed down from one generation to the next through books such as Thieleman van Braght's Martyrs Mirror (1660). Yet the stories of more recent Christian witnesses are often unknown. Bearing Witness tells the stories of early Christian martyrs Stephen, Polycarp, Justin, Agathonica, Papylus, Carpus, Perpetua, Tharacus, Probus, Andronicus, and Marcellus, followed by radical reformers Jan Hus, Michael and Margaretha Sattler, Weynken Claes, William Tyndale, Jakob and Katharina Hutter, Anna Janz, Dirk Willems. But the bulk of the book focuses on little-known modern witness including Veronika Loehans, Jacob Hochstetler, Gnadenhutten, Joseph and Michael Hofer, Emanuel Swartzendruber, Regina Rosenberg, Eberhard and Emmy Arnold, Johann Kornelius Martens, Ahn Ei Sook, Jakob Rempel, Clarence Jordan, Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, Tulio Pedraza, Stanimir Katanic, Samuel Kakesa, Kasai Kapata, Meserete Kristos Church, Sarah Corson, Alexander Men, Jose Chuquin, Norman Tattersall, Katherine Wu, and Ekklesiyar Yan'uwa a Nigeria. This book is part of the Bearing Witness Stories Project, a collaborative story-gathering project involving Anabaptist believers from many different traditions.

Part of a major doctrinal tract of the Hutterites of the sixteenth century, this early Anabaptist document gives Biblical references for Christian nonviolence. Concerning the Sword is the fourth article of the Article Book, a major doctrinal document of the Hutterites of the sixteenth century. Its author is not named but was probably the Hutterian bishop Peter Walpot (1521-1578). The book deals with the following five articles: (1) Concerning true baptism (and how infant baptism contradicts it); (2) Concerning the Lord's Supper (and how the sacrament of the priests is against it); (3) Concerning the true surrender (Gelassenheit) and Christian community of goods; (4) That Christians should not go to war nor should they use sword or violence nor secular litigation; (5) Concerning divorce between believers and unbelievers. The book is not a theological treatise, but rather, like all Anabaptist doctrinal writings, a collection of biblical texts topically arranged to prove the position of the church with regard to the question at issue. The title of the larger edition, A Beautiful and Pleasant Little Book Concerning the Main Articles of our Faith, is quite colorless; more to the point is the title used in the Chronicle of the Hutterian Brethren: The Five Articles of the Greatest Conflict Between Us and the World. It does not pretend to contain a complete system of Anabaptist thought but only a collection of those points and their arguments that distinguish the Brethren from the "world" and justify their particular stand. The Article Book must have been widely known in its time. Catholics as well as Lutheran polemics against it are known.

In Understanding Clergy Misconduct in Religious Systems, you ll take an incisive look at why sexual misconduct occurs in religious systems and how to implement proactive strategies for holistic change. Applicable to both Jewish and Christian communities, this illuminating exploration takes a look at the psychology behind scapegoating, why it is perpetuated, and how you can quell the damaging tradition of silence.Understanding Clergy Misconduct in Religious Systems helps you see leaders of religious institutions in a way that the world has been afraid to see them--in a glass clearly. Enriched with metaphoric myths and fairy tales instead of technical jargon, its unique systemic perspective reveals the psychodynamics behind the obsession with family secrets and lets you understand this dysfunction from the perspectives of victim, abuser, and counselor. These specific areas will both inform and aid you in dealing with this difficult subject: the religious institution as a family system the religious system as an illusion of the perfect family the concept of God-transference and the overidealization of clergy clergy personal relationships and clergy congregational relationships vulnerability and the psychology of the victim strategies for healing dysfunctional religious systems Understanding Clergy Misconduct in Religious Systems comes at just the right time--in an era when little has been written on the subject, especially from a systemic perspective, this work comes at a time when the phenomena of clergy sexual misconduct has rocked the very foundation of religious systems worldwide. Whether you re a lay congregational leader, judicatory administrator, pastoral counselor, psychologist, or seminarian, you ll find that the coping strategies and intervention techniques it outlines will guide you in pinpointing the sickness at its source and restoring felicity and order to your religious leaders and their communities.

God created us with diverse cultural and individual backgrounds. He intended those differences for our corporate delight and blessing. But too often we let differences separate us from each other. In One New People Manuel Ortiz persuades us of the benefits in fellowship and outreach that we can experience by crossing racial, ethnic and cultural lines. He urges us not just to put aside our differences but to celebrate them and to embrace them--to use them in a way that draws us closer to each other and closer to God. To that end, he offers a variety of models for creating and sustaining a multiethnic church. You'll explore new possibilities by reading stories of those who have already reaped the benefits of multiethnic approaches to community and ministry. And you'll sort out which options are best for your situation by working through the questions for thought and discussion that are included throughout the book. Finally, you'll find here ideas and principles to guide you through the process of change and growth: improving communication, managing conflict, encouraging and training new leaders, and much more. Here is inspiration, guidance and time-tested models for broadening the ministry of your church to reflect the power of God not only to overcome our differences, but also to transform them into a source of strength and joy.

The gospel really is the best news anyone will ever receive. So why do Christians shy away from talking about Jesus outside of church? And, when they do speak of Jesus, why do they often get a disinterested or scornful reponse? Mack Stiles offers a wealth of answers, ideas and stories in this heads-up, hands-on evangelism handbook. His creative strategies for reaching an ethnically, culturally, economically, educationally, geographically and ideologically diverse world with the best news ever are drawn directly from his own work as an evangelist in today's student world. In Speaking of Jesus he shows readers how to keep their eyes open for "divine appointments," how to approach others with a servant spirit, how to cross relational barriers, how to simply tell one's own story of faith, and how to answer questions with honesty and confidence. Speaking of Jesus may well be an Out of the Saltshaker for the 1990s and beyond. With contagious enthusiasm, Stiles stresses that evangelism isn't about exhibiting superhuman courage or perfecting specialized techniques or exercising extraordinary gifts. Instead, he shows that people of faith can use everyday situations and everyday language to pass on the simple--and simply wonderful--news about Jesus.

Using inside sources and extensive field reporting about the secretive, high-stakes world of international diplomacy, Vatican reporter Victor Gaetan takes readers to the Holy See to explicate Pope Francis's diplomacy, show why it works, and to offer readers a startling contrast to the dangerous inadequacies of recent U.S. international decisions.

This book explores the vital, common, yet surprisingly often misunderstood and neglected vocation of people gifted to combine academic and priestly roles in church, church-related, and secular academic contexts. The works of those who unite priestly and academic functions into one vocation have been vital to the Church since its first-century foundations. The Church would have no practically informed theology or liturgy, and arguably no New Testament, if not for individuals who have been as gifted at researching, writing, and teaching as at conventional ministry skills like preaching and pastoral care. With a specific focus on Anglicanism as one useful lens, prominent voices from around the Anglican Communion reflect here on their experiences and expertise in academic-priestly vocation. Including contributions from the UK, USA, and Australia, this book makes a distinctive and timely offering to discussions that must surely continue.

This volume introduces the early Christian ideas of history and history writing and shows their value for developing Christian communities of the patristic era. It examines the ways early Christians related and transmitted their history: apologetics, martyrdom accounts, sacred biography, and the genre of church history proper. The book shows that exploring the lives and writings of both men and women of the ancient church helps readers understand how Christian identity is rooted in the faithful work of preceding generations. It also offers a corrective to the individualistic and ahistorical tendencies within contemporary Christianity.

This title was first published in 2002. This book presents a timely study of a neglected British Christian women's movement. Jenny Daggers charts the inception of the movement in the exciting times of the post-sixties decades, amid new currents generated in the British denominational churches, and the wider current of Women's Liberation. Focusing on Christian women's concern with the position of women in the church, this book identifies a core Christian women's theology which affirms a (rehabilitated) 'new Eve in Christ', and so contrasts with a concurrent paradigm shift taking shape in North American feminist theology. Daggers argues that this divergence is primarily due to the effect of the prolonged Church of England women's ordination debate upon the ethos of the British Christian women's movement.

How Baptism and the Eucharist Shaped Early Christian Understandings of Jesus Long before the Gospel writers put pen to papyrus, the earliest Christians participated in the powerful rituals of baptism and the Lord's Supper, which fundamentally shaped their understanding of God, Christ, and the world in which they lived. In this volume, a respected biblical scholar and teacher explores how cultural anthropology and ritual studies elucidate ancient texts. Charles Bobertz offers a liturgical reading of the Gospel of Mark, arguing that the Gospel is a narrative interpretation of early Christian ritual. This fresh, responsible, and creative proposal will benefit scholars, professors, and students. Its ecclesial and pastoral ramifications will also be of interest to church leaders and pastors.

Reforms and processes of change have become an increasingly pervasive characteristic of European Protestant churches in the last fifteen to twenty years. Driven by perceptions of crises, such as declining membership rates, dwindling finances, decreasing participation in church rituals, and less support of traditional church doctrine, but also changes of governance of religion more generally, many churches feel compelled to explore new forms of operations, activities, and organisational structures. What is the inner dynamic and nature of these processes? This book explores this question by applying perspectives from organisational studies and bringing them into dialogue with ecclesiological categories, seeking to provide a richer understanding of the field of processes of change in churches. Among the questions asked are: What are the implications - organisationally and ecclesiologically - of viewing reform as a church practice, and how does this relate to much more comprehensive waves of public sector reforms? How is church leadership configured and exercised, how is democratic leadership related to the authority of ordained ministry, and how does leadership take on new forms in the context of churches? And how do churches incorporate organisational practices of planned change and renewal, such as social entrepreneurship?

2015 Book Award for Excellence in Missiology, American Society of Missiology Named an Outstanding Mission Book of 2015, International Bulletin of Mission Research In 1900 many assumed the twentieth century would be a Christian century because Western "Christian empires" ruled most of the world. What happened instead is that Christianity in the West declined dramatically, the empires collapsed, and Christianity's center moved to Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific. How did this happen so quickly? Respected scholar and teacher Scott Sunquist surveys the most recent century of Christian history, highlighting epochal changes in global Christianity. He also suggests lessons we can learn from this remarkable global Christian reversal. Ideal for an introduction to Christianity or a church history course, this book includes a foreword by Mark Noll.

First published in 1973, this work demonstrates how the English churchmen of the nineteenth century moved from a firmly entrenched position in the old social hierarchy to a less definable and insecure position under the rule of the collectivist State run by a professional workforce. Dr Kitson Clark explores the many questions po

Popular Apologist Corrects the Record on What Christianity Is All About The Christianity our culture rejects may not be true Christianity at all. So many people today believe they have to be good to be accepted by God, or that the Bible is just a list of do's and don'ts, or that God is far away and unapproachable. Instead of providing "proofs" about God and the Bible, in this book Alex provides a reason to want to know Jesus. By sharing his own story of the loneliness and alienation of his youth, Alex taps in to universal fears of rejection and loneliness. We all seek acceptance and purpose--and there's only one solution. Learn how to be anchored in the Truth and security that comes through Christ.

Part storybook, part textbook, part historical overview, Parade of Faith presents the history of Christianity in riveting fashion. Ruth Tucker adopts the metaphor of a parade, journey, or pilgrimage to explore the history of Christianity, which began as the Messiah marched out of the pages of the Old Testament and will end one day when "the saints go marching in" to the New Jerusalem. The book is divided into two chronological groupings: first, the advent of Christianity until the German and Swiss Reformations; second, the Anabaptist movement and Catholic Reformation until the present-day worldwide expansion of the church. Yet, ultimately the topic matter is not movements, dates, or a stream of facts, but instead people-people who still have stories to tell other Christians. And with a little help from clues to their own contexts, they can still speak clearly today. This book is laid out systematically to showcase the biographies of such prominent figures within their historical settings. The pages are peppered with sidebars, historical "what if" questions, explorations of relevant topics for today, personal reflections, illustrations, and lists for further reading. Parade of Faith is an excellent introduction for undergraduate students and interested lay readers.