| Author | : Gary McIntosh |
| Publisher | : Baker Books |
| Total Pages | : 208 |
| Release | : 2012-05 |
| Genre | : Religion |
| ISBN | : 0801014069 |
Veteran church consultant calls church leaders back to the hope that God can and does restore churches, equipping them with practical tools to bring about healthy growth.
| Author | : Craig Groeschel |
| Publisher | : Zondervan |
| Total Pages | : 177 |
| Release | : 2018-08-21 |
| Genre | : Religion |
| ISBN | : 0310342961 |
Can God be good when life is not? Rediscover faith in the character, power, and presence of God. Even in the questions. Even in the hurt. "I want to believe, I want to have hope, but . . ." Pastor and bestselling author Craig Groeschel hears these words often and has asked them himself. We want to know God, feel his presence, and trust that he hears our prayers, but in the midst of great pain, we may wonder if he really cares about us. Even when we have both hope and hurt, sometimes it's the hurt that shouts the loudest. In Hope in the Dark, Groeschel explores the story of the father who brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus, saying, "I believe! Help my unbelief!" In the man's sincere plea, Jesus heard the tension in the man's battle-scarred heart. He healed not only the boy but the father too, driving out the hopelessness that had overtaken him. He can do the same for us today. As Groeschel shares his pain surrounding the health challenges of his daughter, he acknowledges the questions we may ask in our own deepest pain: "Where was God when I was being abused?" "Why was my child born with a disability?" "Why did the cancer come back?" "Why are all my friends married and I'm alone?" He invites us to wrestle with such questions as we ask God to honor our faith and heal our unbelief. Because in the middle of your profound pain, you long for authentic words of understanding and hope. You long to know that even in overwhelming reality, you can still believe that God is good. Hope in the Dark is also available in Spanish, Esperanza en la Oscuridad.
| Author | : Gary L. McIntosh |
| Publisher | : Baker Books |
| Total Pages | : 224 |
| Release | : 2009-09-01 |
| Genre | : Religion |
| ISBN | : 1441210857 |
All local churches experience a predictable life cycle of growth and decline. But if a church is on a downward trend, how can it turn around? Taking Your Church to the Next Level explains the impact of age and size on churches and outlines the improvements that must be made at each point for a church to remain fruitful and faithful to its mission. McIntosh deftly describes the cycles of fruitfulness and the importance of continual improvement to diminish destructive forces that keep a congregation from its mission. Church leaders, pastors, and all who care about the church and desire to see it experience biblical growth will benefit from the sage wisdom offered in these pages.
| Author | : Gary L. McIntosh |
| Publisher | : Baker Books |
| Total Pages | : 208 |
| Release | : 2012-05-01 |
| Genre | : Religion |
| ISBN | : 1441238522 |
A startling 85% of churches in the US are plateaued or declining, a trend that has been building for the past fifty years. In the face of shrinking attendance and lagging spiritual growth, pastors and church leaders are understandably discouraged and demoralized. But the first step to turning things around is hope. Church health expert Gary McIntosh offers this hope by showing church leaders the first things they need to do to make a new start for their church. God can and does restore churches to new life, even as he restores individuals. The street-smart ideas and step-by-step instructions found in this book are ones that pastors and church leaders can put to use immediately in their churches to bring about solid growth and renewed hope for the future.
| Author | : Dottie Escobedo-Frank |
| Publisher | : Abingdon Press |
| Total Pages | : 130 |
| Release | : 2012 |
| Genre | : Religion |
| ISBN | : 1426743394 |
Death is good for us.
| Author | : Peter Orr |
| Publisher | : Crossway |
| Total Pages | : 95 |
| Release | : 2022-10-31 |
| Genre | : Religion |
| ISBN | : 1433584794 |
Practical Ways to Support and Care for Your Pastor Do you pray for your pastors? Do you encourage them? Do you have realistic expectations for them? The office of pastor is simultaneously a rewarding and draining position. Pastors today have immense pressure on their shoulders and they need the support of their congregations. Peter Orr has written Fight for Your Pastor as an exhortation for church members to stand behind their pastors through the difficulties of ministry. Orr specifies ways in which congregations can be intentional in caring for church leaders, including prayer, encouragement, generosity, and forgiveness. Featuring stories from current pastors about their struggles, this book is perfect for thoughtful church members eager to understand the weight of their pastors' positions and support leaders in their important ministry. For Thoughtful Christians: Specifically those wanting to know more about their pastors and how to care for them Current: Features insight from pastors about their personal experiences in ministry Applicable: Gives practical examples of how to love and care for pastors, including specific prayers for church leaders and the best ways to encourage them
| Author | : Tom Bennardo |
| Publisher | : Zondervan |
| Total Pages | : 208 |
| Release | : 2019-08-13 |
| Genre | : Religion |
| ISBN | : 031010100X |
Church planting has become a cottage industry. National conferences, hip planting organizations, and all-in-one resource kits celebrate the thrill of pioneering a church and inspire visions of glorious victories. Yet few who respond to the call are warned what they'll actually encounter: the relentless opposition they'll endure; the eventual scattering of their entire core group; the failure of their tried-and-true, field-tested system. Here's the dirty little secret of church planting: the roadside is strewn with casualties. Many have closed their churches. Some left ministry permanently. Others abandoned the faith altogether. Church planting is at once the greatest and most grueling ministry work on earth. This book is for those toiling in the trenches, those about to bail out, and those considering jumping in. It's for the church planters laboring and struggling, seeing little movement, and wondering what they're doing wrong or why God is failing them. It's also for mother churches, planting organizations, and denominations, as a challenge to rethink and re-calibrate the way they approach and measure planting endeavors. The Honest Guide to Church Planting is a fresh and candid conversation about the challenges and joys of planting new churches. Tom Bennardo speaks the truth so that those involved in church planting can embrace a more accurate and realistic picture of what planting a church is really like; one that not only enables them to survive, but to thrive in this wondrous work.
| Author | : Thom S. Rainer |
| Publisher | : B&H Publishing Group |
| Total Pages | : 296 |
| Release | : 2011-06 |
| Genre | : Religion |
| ISBN | : 0805447997 |
Now in paperback, this multi-awarded national best seller shares a clear message from case studies of 400 North American congregations: church is done best when it's kept simple.
| Author | : Katongole, Emmanuel |
| Publisher | : Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |
| Total Pages | : 314 |
| Release | : 2017 |
| Genre | : Religion |
| ISBN | : 0802874347 |
There is no more urgent theological task than to provide an account of hope in Africa, given its endless cycles of violence, war, poverty, and displacement. So claims Emmanuel Katongole, an innovative theological voice from Africa. In the midst of suffering, Katongole says, hope takes the form of "arguing" and "wrestling" with God. Such lament is not merely a cry of pain--it is a way of mourning, protesting, and appealing to God. As he unpacks the rich theological and social dimensions of the practice of lament in Africa, Katongole tells the stories of courageous Christian activists working for change in East Africa and invites readers to enter into lament along with them.
