How can we reconcile the ideal church described by theology with the broken church that we see in the world? In this book Joseph Small argues that the church's true identity is known somewhere in the tension between the two. Small revisits familiar ecclesiological concepts-including the body of Christ, communion of saints, and people of God- but rather than focusing on theological abstractions or worldly cynicism, he evaluates the church in its scriptural, historical, theological, and social contexts. After stripping away the marketing and shallowness that characterizes much of contemporary church life, Small finds hope that the church's faith, nature, and mission can be lived out within God's calling. Both sociologically honest and theologically discerning, Flawed Church, Faithful God offers a constructive Reformed yet ecumenical ecclesiology for the real world.

In Teaching and Christian Practices several university professors describe and reflect on their efforts to allow historic Christian practices to reshape and redirect their pedagogical strategies. Whether allowing spiritually formative reading to enhance a literature course, employing table fellowship and shared meals to reinforce concepts in a pre-nursing nutrition course, or using Christian hermeneutical practices to interpret data in an economics course, these teacher-authors envision ways of teaching and learning that are rooted in the rich tradition of Christian practices, as together they reconceive classrooms and laboratories as vital arenas for faith and spiritual growth.

Identifying a widespread hunger for guidance in people's quest today for a genuine encounter with God, Craig Dykstra explores the contributions of the traditions, education, worship practices, and disciplines of the Reformed Christian community in helping people to grow in faith. This new edition includes a foreword by Dorothy Bass, Director of the Valparaiso Project on the Education and Formation of People in Faith, and a study guide by Syd Hielema, professor at Dordt College in Sioux City, Iowa. From Dorothy Bass's foreword: 'What does it mean to live the Christian life faithfully and well? And how can we help one another to do so?' I recently heard Craig offer these two questions as a summary of his life-long interests. As he notes early in Growing in the Life of Faith, the ongoing forms of Christian living in his family and church were determinative in planting these questions in his mind and shaping his answers to them. He insists that thinking and doing cannot be separated-and neither can believing and living, education and its content, or theology and the means of sharing it with others. This is where 'practices' come in-not at all through a simplistic 'putting ideas into