Spiritual Church

The Open Episcopal Church is the first safe Church that is guaranteed to be loving, inclusive, unprejudiced, non-discriminatory, non-sexist, non-racist, non-violent, not homophobic, enlightened, peaceful, modern, uplifting, and challenging. We have ministered to hundreds of thousands of people. We became a member of the International Council of Community Churches in 2008. It is important to provide a clear account of the origins of the church.

Do you want to see God? This book unlocks a powerful secret. If you truly want to see God and what He wants to show you in the Holy Spirit, this book is for you. In this culture of opposites, where it's considered cool to be hot, good to be bad, and slick to be coarse, it may be that nothing is more shocking to encounter than a person who cultivates spiritual vision. If you're familiar with the Sermon on the Mount, you've seen this secret, hidden in plain sight. Not many venture down the visionary path of purity. Yet, Jesus' words resonate with stunning promise: The pure in heart are ...

Hearing God's voice is one of the greatest gifts we've been given, but it can also feel complex and frustrating. As a teenager, Havilah Cunnington didn't think she could hear God's voice, thinking it was like trying to tune into a radio station and never finding the correct frequency. But one night at a conference, she had an encounter with God that changed everything. She realized He had been speaking to her the whole time—she just hadn't learned to recognize His voice.

Rethinking Caribbean Christianity is an invitation. In this thin volume, readers are asked to pause and reflect on the state of modern-day Christianity. Why has the younger generation become so disenchanted with organized religion? What is causing some older Christians to feel stagnated or stuck as they journey toward wholeness and holiness?This book calls us back to simplicity, the pursuit of depth and to the restoration of beauty as pillars of our spiritual transformation. Join me on this short but exciting quest of examining ways to refuel the sacred fire within us as Caribbean ...

For thousands of years, the prophet Moses was regarded as the sole author of the first five books of the Bible, known as the Pentateuch. According to tradition, Moses was divinely directed to write down foundational events in the history of the world: the creation of humans, the worldwide flood, the laws as they were handed down at Mt. Sinai, and the cycle of Israel’s enslavement and liberation from Egypt. However, these stories—and their frequent discrepancies—provoke questions.

Many of us long to serve and be there for those who are suffering from trauma, but we don't know how to do so in a way that is caring and helpful. This book enables Christians, and especially pastors, elders, and ministry leaders, to understand what trauma is and how it affects people, including their experience of church, so that we can lovingly support those who are suffering from it.

What are apostles and prophets? Why is there so much controversy, error, and abuse in the Church concerning these ministry callings? In Apostles and Prophets: Their Roles in the Past, Present, and Last-Days Church, Rick Renner defines these ministry offices biblically and historically, tracing their roles from the Early Church all the way to the present.

Create a church unchurched people absolutely love to attend. Deep and Wide provides church leaders with an in-depth look into North Point Community Church and its strategy for creating churches unchurched people absolutely love to attend. Andy Stanley shares his strategy for preaching and programming to both mature believers and cynical unbelievers, essential ingredients for creating irresistible environments, and North Point's spiritual formation model (The Five Faith Catalysts).

Sex and money scandals. An exploding divorce rate. Drug-addicted youths. And an ever-growing worldliness. Today's evangelical church is fighting battles on all fronts. And we seem to be losing these battles to the relentlessly encroaching world. Perhaps the answers to our problems are not in the present, but in the past. Because there was time when Christians were able to stand up to world.

In a debut memoir that is funny and earnest, Riley invites questioners, doubters, misfits, and curious believers to participate in the universal search to heal what life has broken. Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome takes you by the hand and reminds you that sometimes you first have to be lost in order to be found.

The Apostle Paul was a veteran church planter who "laid a foundation like a wise and master builder", and there is much we can learn from his example. Paul indicated that there were basic skills and experiences required to successfully plant a church. Church Plantology examines the wide variety of church planting methods and ideologies in contemporary pastoral practice and outlines a biblical model based on the New Testament.

Women comprise at least half the world, and usually more than half the church, but so often Christian teaching to women either fails to move beyond a discussion of roles or assumes a particular economic situation or stage of life. This all but shuts women out from contributing to God's kingdom as they were designed to do.

As a “good Christian,” Karla Kamstra attended church every Sunday, listened to the pastor, and committed to functions and activities. But no amount of participation could shake her growing sense of spiritual unrest. As time went on, she realized that she was doing Christianity on autopilot—going through the motions, but spiritually checked out. She finally understood that the rules of the church were keeping God inside a too-small box, and it was time to let "Him" out. And so Karla embarked upon her sacred journey of deconstruction: healing her religious trauma and reclaiming her spirituality.

Unlike other religious approaches, Opus Dei had the attractiveness of waking up the desire for religion. I am not saying it was exclusive of Opus Dei. But without a doubt, for so many people Opus Dei meant the moving from the duty of observing religious practice –the routine attendance at the weekly Mass– to the desire for transforming the entire existence into a plentiful religious life. This shift from duty to desire explains the impulse and institutional growth that Opus Dei had in its first decades, because this desire turned into effective sacrifice and this sacrifice into energy ...

The biblical story as it has never been told before. The Bible is the best-selling book in human history, but sometimes the stories it weaves are not fully understood, due to its poetic and obscure literary style. Genesis Days brings you the stories of the first generations, from the creation of the world to the end of the days of Sarah, wife of Abraham, in simple and straightforward English. The book lays bare the lives of humanity’s forefathers and reveals ancient history through a contemporary experience. If you’ve always wanted to read the Bible and understand it from beginning to ...

The very fact that listeners may find themselves surprised now and again by the prominent role of women in certain events and movements proves an inequality that historical narrative has often been guilty of. This is a book about women. In Daughters of the Church, authors Ruth A. Tucker and Walter Liefeld have endeavored to present an objective story.

When Father Bredder gets involved with murder--Heaven only knows what will happen next... Named "A Red Badge Novel of Suspense" alongside Agatha Christie, Michael Innes, and Hugh Pentecost, The Father Bredder Mysteries, written by Leonard Wibberley under the pen name Leonard Holton, inspired a television show starring George Kennedy. “All the reader could ask… adventure, warm humor, and provocative nuggets of wisdom.”—The Los Angeles Times ★★★★★ “If you enjoy Agatha Christie and Murder She Wrote, you will love this cozy mystery series!”—Goodreads Review This boxed ...

Brimming with insights and packed with information, this book draws you out, quite literally, into nature to experience a new, well thought through pattern of spiritual practice. Bruce Stanley gives you all the resources you'll need, both practical and theoretical, to get going with a group or on your own. "I’d rather be in the mountains thinking about God, than in church thinking about the mountains", wrote John Muir. Many people can describe transcendent moments in nature where they feel deeply connected to something bigger than themselves and Forest Church is a way to explore that ...

If you have suffered spiritual abuse from a toxic church, toxic organization, or toxic leader, your trust has been broken. You entrusted your life to someone you thought would care for you: someone who initially inspired you to know God, only to reject you in the end. Now you are left wounded and disillusioned, wondering if you can ever trust others, yourself, or possibly even God, again.

While we can't determine how God will act, we can be expectant and anticipate his work. And revivals are not just experienced-they can be led. James Choung and Ryan Pfeiffer have seen revival in their own ministries, with remarkable transformation in both individuals and communities. They unpack what revival looks like, how Christians can anticipate it, and how they can experience it in their own lives and in larger movements. They provide a model of revival leadership for Christians who want to facilitate and spread revival in their contexts.