Local Church

Nearly all churches and ministries consider themselves dedicated to evangelism, and many explicitly include outreach in their mission statements. But few are actually bearing fruit. Kevin Harney diagnoses this problem and offers guidance for multiplying the outreach impact of churches. Organic Outreach for Churches provides direction for local congregations to weave evangelism into the fabric of the church. Commitment to the Great Commission is not simply about sending money and prayers to missions or holding occasional events to reach out (although these things are good).

This is a story of power, set against Puritan America and the English Civil War. Williams's interactions with King James, Francis Bacon, Oliver Cromwell, and his mentor Edward Coke set his course, but his fundamental ideas came to fruition in America, as Williams, though a Puritan, collided with John Winthrop's vision of his "City upon a Hill."

What world missions ministry would arise if you only had the Bible? Answer: It would start and end with the local church. A focus on the local church is biblical, practical, and effective. It aligns with the New Testament. Local churches everywhere display God's wisdom and the glory of Christ in the gospel. You’ll see it from the view of Christ, the Great Commission, first-century Christians, Paul, and the New Testament canon itself. Once you see it, you can’t un-see it! This book walks through these steps: A.

Many Christians struggle with the idea of church membership. This means that they do not join their local church as members. They then miss out on a huge range of spiritual and practical benefits. This booklet explains why church membership is both biblical and beneficial, and how it results in ‘righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit’ (Romans 14:17), blessings for believers, and glory for God. It gives biblical, cultural and practical encouragement for Christians to join their local church as members. Christians must believe Jesus, who said, “It is more blessed to give than ...

For 35 years Biblical Eldership has been the premier book explaining the biblical teaching on church eldership, which is shared pastoral leadership by a council of scripturally qualified, Spirit-placed elders. Biblical Eldership has helped ignite a worldwide awakening to this long-neglected and misunderstood subject. This new edition is a comprehensive revision. For those who love solid Bible exposition, this is a much-welcomed volume.

Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, paying particular attention to the downtrodden and the poor. As followers of Jesus, Christians are called to imitate his example and reach out to those who have the least. This book offers biblical guidelines and practical strategies for reaching those on the margins of our society with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Capitol Hill Baptist Church, located just blocks away from the center of American power, has a rich 150-year history. Its members have participated in significant world events, advocated for religious freedoms, and spoken out against the moral failings of the times. There's no doubt this church has had a unique impact on evangelicalism from a significant location. But these lively characters and their unique experiences only tell part of this engaging narrative.

Many new believers have questions about what it means to live as a Christian in the context of a local church, and pastors are looking for resources to pass along to their congregations to help them think biblically about the Christian life. Church Questions is a series by 9Marks that seeks to provide Christians with sound and accessible biblical teaching by answering common questions about church life. Each booklet offers biblical answers and practical applications with the goal of nurturing healthy church practice and commitment.

Every local church should be engaged with global missions, even if most individuals in the church aren't called to go overseas. But what does this engagement actually look like? How can local churches train, send, and support missionaries well? Unpacking principles from the Bible and applying them in the context of real life in a local church, this short guide is filled with practical steps and advice for supporting missionaries, forming international partnerships, sending short-term teams, and engaging with the nations here at home.

House church advocates want pastors to know exactly why they left the institutional church. They have legitimate disagreements with the way the local church is functioning today, and their issues have been largely ignored by pastors and those who are in leadership. Their evacuation out of the institutional church and into house churches may be the wrong move for some of the right reasons. There are serious issues to deal with, and pastors, it’s time to wake up and lead the church into the new wine skin.

HELPS: Having Enough Loving People Serving Churches need the ministry of helps. The time has come for church members to begin doing the work of the ministry, and let the pastors return to doing what the have been called to do–be a spokesmen for Jesus. Finally, a book filled with useful information for: • Ushers • Greeters • Nursery Workers • Counselors • All Areas of Your Churches Ministry The Ministry of Helps Handbook by Buddy Bell is a unique combination of teaching, seminar guidelines and answers to often-asked questions. This useful and complete book provides pastors, and ...

Leaders in the church are called to be shepherds, not a board of directors. This requires involvement in a personal shepherding ministry among the people. The Shepherd Leader unpacks the four primary ministries of shepherds - knowing, feeding, leading, and protecting - on macro (churchwide) and micro (personal) levels, providing seven elements to be incorporated into an effective shepherding plan.

In this audiobook, Megan Hill answers a common question of churchgoers: What's so great about the church? With rich theology and practical direction, Hill encourages and equips both first-time visitors and regular members to delight in being a part of the local church - no matter how messy and ordinary it seems today. It is only when God's people begin to see one another as the Lord sees them that they will truly find a place to belong.

Life in the Body of Christ is a must-listen for every Christian. Every age group in every evangelical church should make it a point to study this book chapter by chapter, look seriously at every suggestion, and meditate on every scripture suggested for that purpose. Curtis Thomas has given us a gift, a stimulus to edifying reflection and action on every pertinent aspect of corporate and individual responsibility and privilege to be pursued in the life of a local church. His suggestions are brief but turgid with biblical insight and healthy church experience.

Filled with real-life stories from the authors’ own experiences, Teach a Man to Fish provides churches and missions organizations with a blueprint for helping people help themselves in order to create lasting change and long-term sustainability and independence.

This comprehensive guide is designed to help you and your church enter a lifestyle where the supernatural becomes normal—a lifestyle in which God’s perfect will breaks into this world, and Jesus is glorified.

This book introduces us to the meaning of church membership, the traits of a good church, and how we are to function as parts of the body. Written for laypeople, it includes practical discussions on church leadership, male and female roles, worship, spiritual gifts, confrontation, unity, and prayer. Revised and expanded with study questions and new conclusions.

History amply demonstrates that the truths of Paul's message cannot be overstated or repeated too often. The appalling, centuries-long failure to stop false teachers from invading churches can be traced directly back to ignorance of or disobedience to Paul's prophetic warnings to the Ephesian elders. Paul's instructions and pleas to the Ephesian elders are just as critically needed today as they were that day on the shores of Miletus.

God’s vision for the local church is a family with Jesus as the Head of our house, the body of Christ built up in love. This book aims to secure us as the people of the local church to our Anchor. That in this time, in this place, we would take the truths of the Gospel like a carabiner and tether ourselves to Christ. May we rise strong and mature, no longer tossed to and fro by the strong undertow of culture—that pull back into the will and way of life in the world. There’s a unity of faith in the Spirit and a fullness of Christ the Father desires for us.

Exciting and effective movements of the gospel are happening around the world yet in the US we are still losing the battle to see the gospel keep pace with the population's growth. Mega-church, multi-site, missional communities are all new forms to attempt more effective spread of the good news of Jesus Christ. But despite all of our best efforts, with our most talented and gifted leaders we still can't seem to crack the code of setting the good news of Jesus free from our forms to spread viral. But can you adapt these new strategies without jettisoning the current structures? Hybrid church...