Spiritual Church

How do you grow a congregation? Is it by hiring the perfect minister or developing the perfect strategy? Preachers and plans are important, but this book is dedicated to the idea that lasting church growth comes primarily through church health. God gives the increase, but He works through people who work together well. The more fit you are, the more fruitful you will be. Consequently, two of the most important questions you can ask are, “How healthy am I as a leader?” and, “How healthy are we as a team?” Are your leaders spiritually mature? Are your teams strategically aligned? Are ...

For many believers, the fight has disappeared from their faith. Faith and fighting go hand in hand and cannot be separated. To separate the fight from faith, or faith from the fight, causes both ones faith and ones fight to be ineffective and powerless. In order to war, one must have faith. When a believer moves, lives and works by faith it is inevitable that he/she will encounter opposition and war. There is a war going on. Unless we fight and overcome this war, we will be overcome. Unless God's people stand up, pick up the whole armor of God, and make a bold stand for Truth the church ...

Every week a terrorist attack, riot, or political scandal makes the headlines - and we feel the world around us shaking again. We struggle to separate truth from biased statements and hope from naïveté. We wonder how we got here and where these uncertain days will take us. One of the world’s top investigative reporters, John S. Dickerson, addresses this post-truth, post-Christian society in Hope of Nations. Hope of Nations shows us how and why the world is changing, where those changes will lead, and what it looks like to live like Christ in today’s society.

“Jonathan Brenneman in I Am Persuaded provokes, jabs and challenges our sacred cows of church leadership. Yet, the jabs are not hurtful because they come from Scripture. This is not a reactionary book filled with leader bashing but a graceful and excellent presentation of mostly forgotten principles concerning how Jesus and the early church taught and practiced leadership. All the key and at times controversial words are discussed: rule, obey, submission, apostles, authority, and spiritual covering. Excellent exegesis on these words is provided and is foundational to the author’s ...

Michael McGarry explores the foundation of youth ministry in the Old and New Testaments and brings that together with Church history in a compelling way. This contemplative and well-researched book provides a careful critique of youth ministry along with practical guidance for those serving in ministry.

Does the local church today recognize its place as the beloved bride of Christ? In this audiobook, Dustin Benge invites believers who have underestimated or become disillusioned by the church to rediscover its beauty and glory. Exploring biblical qualities including the Trinitarian relationship, selfless service, and gospel proclamation, he awakens the affections of Christ's followers for their local church home.

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.

From his difficult childhood on the poor side of town to his rise as a multiple Grammy-winning artist, Kirk Franklin’s Church Boy is a personal story of unwavering faith, remarkable talent, and unyielding perseverance. His narrative is a testament to how God can transform pain and adversity into sources of strength and joy. In this gripping account, Franklin shares the pivotal moments that shaped his faith, including a dramatic ten-foot fall from a darkened stage in November 1996.

You joined your church because of its intensity for God. Like no other place, it’s helped you discover the meaning of obedience. If there’s one problem, it’s the confusion that sometimes comes from your own carnal thinking. But God has given you leaders who can lovingly correct a doubting, independent spirit and help you choose God’s best for your life. How can you go wrong with a church like that? Easily, because it fits the profile of many abusive churches.

Many of us as women feel conflicted about Jesus’s calling on our lives because a woman trying to love God beyond her heart and soul, with her mind and strength, can be thought of as crossing some line or unspoken boundary. Bible teacher Kat Armstrong challenges us to ask, “Why am I allowing limitations on my pursuit of Jesus’s calling?”

'And God said, Let there be light; and there was light, but Eastern Electricity Board said He would have to wait until Thursday to be connected.' There have been many interpretations of the Old Testament over the centuries but never one quite like this. Spike Milligan has rewritten, in his own inimitable style, many of the best-known stories of the Old Testament, featuring characters like King 'my brain hurts' Solomon; the great oaf of a giant, Goliath; and the lesser-known crossword clue, Hushai the Archite.

All throughout the modern period, there has been a steady campaign for people to "think for themselves" without tradition's distorting restraint. As a result, many Christians now blindly sip a watered-down faith, marketed as "no creed but the Bible." But, as Leonard Allen shows, we are always traditioning—even if one doesn't believe in tradition. And in this time of theological uncertainty and confusion, that process calls for new intentionality and seriousness. I

In Revival: When God Comes to Church, Pastor Steve Gaines analyzes how churches can look like the church of the first century. Infused with the Holy Spirit, they evangelized most of the civilized world within only three centuries.

Get ready for a spiritual explosion! Experience the release of spiritual power through the age-old wonders of fasting and prayer! When it comes to Fasting and Prayer, author Steven Brooks has lived his message. In this book, he shares the ups and downs of his experiences with fasting—and the explosive power the Holy Spirit has released in his ministry as a result. Visions, healings, and miracles have been released to Steven Brooks through the simple commitment to fast and pray, and these supernatural manifestations are for you, as well! Tremendous power is released to the believer who is ...

In Why Government Can't Save You: An Alternative to Political Activism, John MacArthur illustrates through Scripture that regardless of the numerous immoral, unjust, and ungodly failures of secular government, believers are to pray and to seek to influence the world for Christ by godly, selfless, and peaceful living under that authority, not by protests against the government or acts of civil disobedience.

The multi-site church movement is reshaping the way we do church. But how does it actually work? And is it right for your church? Enjoy a guided tour of multi-site churches across America and see for yourself how churches are growing and reaching their communities. This companion to The Multi-Site Church Revolution gives you on-site pictures of the new and creative ways churches are expanding their impact through multiple locations.

No one has brought the Good News to more people than the Reverend Billy Graham, and the people who admire him span all generations. This Bible storybook will be a timeless classic for parents and grandparents to give a new generation of children the Good News; to show them the way to the cross; and to help them begin a lifetime of following Christ.

This radical book examines the historical formation of Catholic theology from the perspective of the spiritual abuse of women. Debra Flint defines spiritual and political power abuse before considering female influence in the Church from New Testament times to date. She clearly demonstrates how women, who were respected by Jesus and authoritative in the early Church, were gradually eliminated from positions of influence by patriarchy and the growing development of misogyny.

Among the top ten trends that are changing American life, Time magazine recently listed a rising dissatisfaction with organized religion. Though many people today like Jesus, they are growing tired of traditional religious institutions. Even those who follow Jesus aren't so sure they always like what Christianity and the church represent.

Modesty, the flower of manners, the honor of our bodies, the grace of the sexes, the integrity of the blood, the guarantee of our race, the basis of sanctity, the pre-indication of every good disposition; rare though it is, and not easily perfected, and scarce ever retained in perpetuity, will yet up to a certain point linger in the world, if nature shall have laid the preliminary groundwork of it, discipline persuaded to it, censorial rigor curbed its excesses.