You may have encountered books on this topic before, but not like this one. Instead of an instruction manual for church growth, this classic text points to basic biblical principles for assessing and strengthening the health of your church. Whether you’re a pastor, a leader, or an involved member of your congregation, studying the nine marks of a healthy church will help you cultivate new life and well-being within your own church for God’s glory.

In Emotionally Healthy Discipleship, best-selling author Pete Scazzero combines three decades of wisdom with hard lessons from his own ministry journey. He lays out what is required for church leaders to multiply deeply changed people who are growing in relationship with God, themselves, and others. Scazzero begins with four beneath-the-surface, systemic gaps that undermine serious discipleship. He provides a clear vision for a church culture that deeply changes lives and then practically unpacks the seven biblical marks of emotionally healthy discipleship.

No one wants to see a church die. And yet, far too many churches are dying. For more than 25 years, Dr. Thom Rainer has helped churches grow, reverse the trends of decline, and has autopsied those that have died. From this experience, he has discovered 12 consistent themes among those churches that have died. Yet, it's not gloom and doom because from those 12 themes, lessons on how to keep your church alive have emerged.

Think about an incredibly joyful event in your life. Do you remember how you couldn’t wait to talk about it? You were willing and eager to have a conversation about it with anyone who would listen! Why doesn’t our excitement for Jesus overflow from our lives in a similar and natural way? In this book, Thom Rainer explores what makes so many Christians hesitant to talk about the greatest news the world has ever heard. There are real obstacles, challenges, and fears, but God is bigger and stronger than these hurdles.

This audiobook outlines digital discipleship principles for building an online community and provides practical instruction for how to do it no matter how big or small a local church may be.

Based on case studies of 400 American churches, authors Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger prove that the process for making disciples has quite often become too complex. Simple churches are thriving, and they are doing so by taking these four ideas to heart: Clarity. Movement. Alignment. Focus. Each idea is examined here, simply showing why it is time to simplify.

Churches committed to following Christ's example want this world changed for the sake of eternity. While the supernatural piece of making that happen goes without saying, how does a body of believers do its part to be in that "sweet spot" where true spiritual transformation occurs?

Why do so many young adults (18 to 22) leave the church, and what will it take to bring them back? This important question is examined and duly answered in Essential Church?, a follow-up to Thom S. Rainer's best-selling Simple Church and cowritten with his son, research expert Sam Rainer.

Nine out of 10 churches in America are either declining or growing slower than the communities in which they are located. Stated simply, 90 percent of American churches are losing ground in their communities. Change is not an option; it is an urgent need. We don't change our doctrines and biblical foundations, but we do change our methodologies and approaches for this rapidly changing culture.

Best-selling author, Thom S. Rainer, guides listeners toward a practical framework and game plan for making a difference for those who visit their church to help make churches more hospitable to guests.

Church growth models have often been long on promises and short on disciple-making. We continue to watch consistent church attendance shrink, and our desire to reach the lost is infected with a need for self-validation by growing our numbers at any cost. If we believe that God wants his church to grow, where do we go from here? What is the future of the church?

Some churches advocate one-on-one discipling, others try getting everyone into a small group, while still others training through mission trips or service projects. Yet others focus all their efforts on attracting people to a large group gathering to hear biblical teaching and preaching. But does one size really fit everyone? Based on careful biblical study and years of experience making disciples in the local church, Bobby Harrington and Alex Absalom have identified five key relationships where discipleship happens in our lives.

In Thom Rainer's latest book, he sets out to discover how churches that were once healthy but had stagnated in growth have broken out to become great churches impacting lives and entire communities.

Your church has the opportunity of a lifetime. The world has shifted, and a new, brighter tomorrow awaits. The Church Revitalization Checklist is a tool to help you start fresh, leverage your strengths, and discover hidden opportunities for church growth.

Explorers Lewis and Clark had to adapt. While they had prepared to find a waterway to the Pacific Ocean, instead they found themselves in the Rocky Mountains. You too may feel that you are leading in a cultural context you were not expecting. You may even feel that your training holds you back more often than it carries you along. Drawing from his extensive experience as a pastor and consultant, Tod Bolsinger brings decades of expertise in guiding churches and organizations through uncharted territory.

There's got to be more to church than this. People around the world are seeking a community that focuses more on others than on themselves. Yet most don't know where to start. Drawing from his own journey, Brandon Hatmaker reminds us that serving the least is not a trendy act of benevolence but a lifestyle of authentic community and spiritual transformation. In Barefoot Church, Brandon offers practical ideas for creating service-based, missional communities and explains how the organizational structure of a church can be created or restructured for mission in any context.

Drawing on the wisdom gleaned from thriving mega-churches and innovative business leaders while anchoring their vision in the Eucharistic center of Catholic faith, Fr. Michael White and lay associate Tom Corcoran present the compelling and inspiring story to how they brought their parish back to life. Rebuilt is a story of stopping everything and changing focus. When their parish reached a breaking point, Fr. Michael White and lay associate Tom Corcoran asked themselves how they could make the Church matter to Catholics.

In this compelling and insightful book, Al Winseman - who has led thriving churches, including one he built from the ground up - explores how churches and parishes can dramatically increase members' participation, service to the community, giving, and even life satisfaction. But the solutions Winseman offers are not the "magic pill" many leaders have come to expect. Rather, he shows leaders how to reach and inspire the hearts, minds, and imaginations of their people.

Bill Willits and best-selling author Andy Stanley share their successful approach, which has resulted in nearly 8,000 adults becoming involved in small groups at North Point Community Church in Atlanta . Simply put, the five principles clearly described here have passed the test. This is not just another book about community; this is a book about strategy - strategy that builds a small group culture.

In this unabridged audio download of Sticky Teams, Larry Osborne exposes the hidden roadblocks that often sabotage the health and harmony of even the best intentioned ministry teams. Then, with practical and seasoned advice, he shows what it takes to get a leadership board, ministry team, and an entire congregation headed in the same direction.

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.

Whether you are a pastor, a volunteer, or a church member, you want your church to grow well. After all, there’s no better place to experience God than in the loving, healthy community of a church. But what does an effective church look like? Is it possible to grow and be healthy at the same time? The Blessed Church, Pastor Morris brings you practical wisdom for cultivating real growth by nurturing true and Biblical health in your spiritual community.

In Emotionally Healthy Discipleship, best-selling author Pete Scazzero combines three decades of wisdom with hard lessons from his own ministry journey. He lays out what is required for church leaders to multiply deeply changed people who are growing in relationship with God, themselves, and others. Scazzero begins with four beneath-the-surface, systemic gaps that undermine serious discipleship. He provides a clear vision for a church culture that deeply changes lives and then practically unpacks the seven biblical marks of emotionally healthy discipleship.

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.

It may sound simplistic, but it’s not. The genius of this book is how Rob Ketterling targets the problems all leaders face, deconstructs them, and wrote a book that will be a lifesaver for all who listen to it. This book is not just for leaders of churches, corporations, or organizations. The truths and concepts apply to all walks of life - including our homes.

Do you ever feel like a spectator in God’s kingdom? Perhaps you know there’s something you should be doing, but you just can’t pinpoint it. Most of us want to make a big impact with our lives but struggle with questions. In this profound audiobook, best-selling author John Bevere relies on a careful exploration of Scripture and uses powerful stories to help you think differently about your calling and why it’s so important to God. As you hear these words, you’ll be empowered to multiply your God-given gifts and step into your potential.

There's no scoreboard in the sanctuary, and the only plate is probably for the offering. But every church leader needs to know how to win, and every congregation needs to know when to cheer. This insightful book speaks to every church leader who yearns for a simpler, more effective approach to ministry. An engaging parable about one overwhelmed pastor is followed by an overview of seven successful team practices, each one developed and applied in a ministry setting.

Today there are too many examples of those claiming to follow Christ being caustic, divisive, and irrational, contributing to dismissals of the Christian faith as hypocritical, self-interested, and politically co-opted. What has happened in our society? One short outrageous video, whether it is true or not, can trigger an avalanche of comments on social media. Welcome to the new age of outrage. In this groundbreaking book featuring new survey research of evangelicals and their relationship to the age of outrage, Ed Stetzer offers a constructive way forward.

When a myriad of tense conversations about ideological differences in the Church left him feeling spiritually empty, Niequist determined God must have a different vision for worship and community. In his search, Aaron discovered that there was historical Christian precedent for enacting faith in a different way, an ancient and now future way of believing. He calls this third way "practice-based faith". This book is about loving one's faith tradition and, at the same time, following the call to something deeper and richer.

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.