Essential Church?
Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts
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Narrated by:
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Erik Synnestvedt
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By:
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Thom Rainer
About this listen
This important question is examined and duly answered in Essential Church?, a follow-up to Thom S. Rainer's best-selling Simple Church co-written with his son, research expert Sam Rainer.
The book is based on a study of 1,000 so-called "church dropouts" who were interviewed about why they left. Their answers are quite surprising, having less to do with "losing their religion" and more about the desire for a community that isn't made stale by simply maintaining the status quo. In turn, the Rainers offer churches four concrete solutions toward making their worship community an essential part of these young people's lives again:
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Let's face it. Church isn't working. We hear sermons about the abundant life Jesus promised, but how many of us are actually living it? How many of our churches are thriving? How many people in our congregations are experiencing God's blessings? Maybe it's time to call it quits. Quit church? Well, not exactly. Drawing from his experience coaching hundreds of churches toward true growth, Chris Sonksen calls on us to quit our casual, cultural commitment to church as we know it....
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Quit Church
- By larry jenkins on 06-07-18
By: Chris Sonksen
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Real-Life Discipleship
- Building Churches That Make Disciples
- By: Jim Putman
- Narrated by: Lance Smith
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Real-Life Discipleship explains what should happen in the life of every Christian and in every small group so that the church becomes an army of believers dedicated to seeing the world saved. With the overriding goal to train disciples who know how to make more disciples, this book offers proven tools and strategies from Real Life Ministries, one of America’s fastest-growing churches. Discover what the Bible says about true and effective discipleship with these strategies and practices.
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It's fantastic!
- By Ali on 04-25-24
By: Jim Putman
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4 Chair Discipling
- What Jesus Calls Us to Do
- By: Dann Spader
- Narrated by: Tim Lundeen
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Dann Spader is a disciple-maker who has spent his adult life exploring what it means to take someone from being a seeker to making disciples themselves. Over 750,000 people in 80 countries have been trained to make disciples through organizations he has led. Through studying the life of Christ and his disciple-making methods, Dann developed 4 Chair Discipling, a simple picture for others to follow. Jesus’ last words on earth had a few very specific instructions: Go, make disciples, baptize, and teach.
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I stopped reading..,
- By Linda on 08-04-23
By: Dann Spader
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Forming Intentional Disciples
- The Path to Knowing and Following Jesus
- By: Sherry A. Weddell
- Narrated by: Nan McNamara
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Learn about the five thresholds of postmodern conversion; how to open a conversation about faith and belief; how to ask thought-provoking questions and establish an atmosphere of trust, when to tell the great story of Jesus; how to help someone respond to God's call to intentional discipleship; and much more. And be prepared for conversion because when life at the parish level changes, the life of the whole Church will change.
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Valuable resource, required reading
- By Andrew Havens on 01-03-19
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The Post-Quarantine Church
- Six Urgent Challenges and Opportunities That Will Determine the Future of Your Congregation
- By: Thom S. Rainer
- Narrated by: Michael Beck
- Length: 3 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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A trustworthy and respected guide for pastors and church leadership in the post-quarantine world, providing hope and vision for the future of your congregation.
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A revisiting of previous books
- By wall32 on 01-31-21
By: Thom S. Rainer
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Interrupted
- When Jesus Wrecks Your Comfortable Christianity
- By: Jen Hatmaker
- Narrated by: Rebecca Gallagher
- Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Are you one of the millions who crave a new direction in the church, fed up with religious games, empty promises, and cultural Christianity? You are not alone. You are not crazy. Maybe Jesus is ready to interrupt your life. Snatching Jen Hatmaker from the grip of her consumer life, God began asking her questions like, "What is really the point of My Church? What have I really asked of you?" Transparent and imperfect, Jen will engage and inspire you to go beyond comfortable and answer for yourself the question she faced.
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If you're ready to be interrupted too...
- By Tamara Shope on 10-08-15
By: Jen Hatmaker
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Overrated
- Are We More in Love with the Idea of Changing the World Than Actually Changing the World?
- By: Eugene Cho
- Narrated by: Eugene Cho
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Many people today talk about justice, but are they living justly? They want to change the world, but are they being changed themselves? Eugene Cho has a confession: "I like to talk about changing the world but I don't really like to do what it takes." If this is true of the man who founded the One Day's Wages global antipoverty movement, then what must it take to act on one's ideals? Cho does not doubt the sincerity of those who want to change the world.
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OK memoir but the message was regurgitated from other sources
- By Laura M. on 03-28-16
By: Eugene Cho
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The Invested Life
- Making Disciples of All Nations One Person at a Time
- By: Joel C. Rosenberg, Dr. T. E. Koshy
- Narrated by: Joel C. Rosenberg, Lynn Rosenberg
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Every follower of Jesus Christ should be able to answer two simple questions: Who is investing in me?Whom am I investing in? God desires to pour an abundance of spiritual and emotional capital into your life - directly and through older and wiser believers. And he wants to use you to pour spiritual and emotional capital into the lives of others. Along the way, you’ll be changed. Others will change. God calls this process of spiritual investing "making disciples". It’s the heart of the Great Commission.
By: Joel C. Rosenberg, and others
What listeners say about Essential Church?
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Overall
- Justin
- 03-12-09
An Essential Book For Essential Churches
This book was very good...challenged my view on several things, and overall was a great book!
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- Clarence K
- 10-09-18
Most thorough, practical and incisive book on reinventing your ministry
These authors are clearly very experienced yet they seem to have a fresh perspective on the realities affecting church today. I like how they acknowledge that even best practices may not apply uniformly to every congregation or community. Some of the research findings cited here about the departure of youth from church is really interesting. I recommend this book to ministers who need a reset in their declining ministries or even those who want their healthy congregations to be more robust.
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