Showing titles in Church & Church Leadership

For every celebrity pastor exiting the ministry in the spotlight, there are many more lesser-known pastors leaving in the shadows. Pastor and best-selling author Paul David Tripp argues that lurking behind every pastoral failure is the lack of a strong leadership community. Tripp draws on his decades of ministry experience to give churches twelve gospel principles necessary to combat this leadership crisis.

The church across North America has struggled to minister effectively with people struggling with mental health issues. One reason for the lack of ministry is the absence of a widely accepted model for mental health outreach and inclusion. In Mental Health and the Church, Dr. Stephen Grcevich presents a simple and flexible model for mental health inclusion ministry for implementation by churches of all sizes, denominations, and organizational styles.

Perhaps no one else has ever faced as much hardship, opposition, or relentless suffering as the apostle Paul. And yet, through it all, Paul stood firm in Christ and remained faithful - to the very end. The power of Paul's example has captivated veteran Pastor John MacArthur for years, and here, he outlines nine unwavering convictions that contributed to this remarkable perseverance.

Stigmatized by scandal, the church in North America and throughout Europe has been branded as useless and irrelevant. To stem the tide of nominal Christianity, we need to get serious about making disciples who can make other disciples. There is an urgent need today for church services that are substantive and purposeful.

John Newton, Charles Simeon, and William Wilberforce suffered lifelong opposition and endured for the causes of gospel truth, missionary zeal, and political justice. They found, in solid doctrine and humble joy, the tough roots for habitual tenderness in response to their adversaries - without doctrinal or moral flinching. They are examples of remarkable grace. In the third book of the Swans Are Not Silent series, best-selling author John Piper looks at the lives of these three great men and how they not only endured great opposition but did so with joy and without bitterness.

The enduring influence of the Catholic Church has many sources, but in the first half of the 19th century, the foundations upon which the church had rested were shaken. For many people, liberalism in the guise of liberty, equality, and fraternity was the quintessence of the evils that shook those foundations. At the Vatican Council of 1869-1870, the church made an effort to set things right by defining the doctrine of papal infallibility. Author John W. O'Malley draws us into the bitter controversies over papal infallibility that at one point seemed destined to rend the church in two.

David Limbaugh has examined Jesus Christ's life, his divinity, and the prophecies that preceded him in the Old Testament. Now, the best-selling author picks up after the Gospels in a captivating study of Jesus Christ's legacy in the early church and the work of Saint Paul.

Every pastor struggles with demands for his time, and how to determine priorities in ministry. Some choose to respond to the most urgent needs, while others seek a more balanced and intentional approach. But what determines these priorities? Where should a busy pastor look for wisdom in making decisions? In the Pastor’s Ministry, pastor and author Brian Croft looks to the Scriptures to determine the top ten priorities for a faithful pastoral ministry. These biblically rooted responsibilities help pastors determine how to spend their time.

Evangelism and missions are parts of the Christian life often accompanied by fears, insecurities, and cultural pressures. In this addition to the Union series, Daniel Hames and Michael Reeves argue that an individual's relationship with God influences their evangelism and missions more than anything else. Scripture clearly shows that a believer's responsibility is to make God known in the world, but this cannot be done without first knowing and enjoying God.

Do you feel as if your Christian life is full of highs and lows? Perhaps you attend a special church service that draws you close to God or even experience a healing. In those moments, your heart is filled with the presence of God, but within a few days or weeks, you once again feel empty or sick. You are not alone. Even though many believers experience this, it is not what the Lord intended. The keys to staying full of God are not a secret, and they are not mysterious. They are simple.

An expansive and deeply contextual work, at its heart The Great Reformer is about the intersection of faith and politics—the tension between the pope's innovative vision for the Church and the obstacles he faces in an institution still strongly defined by its conservative past. Based on extensive interviews in Argentina and years of study of the Catholic Church, Ivereigh tells the story not only of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the remarkable man whose background and total commitment to the discernment of God's will transformed him into Pope Francis.

The Middle Ages were dubbed the "Dark Ages" almost before they had begun to draw to a close. Ever since then, they have continued to be seen as a time of hardship and oppression, full of popes and crusades. In the second volume of 2,000 Years of Christ's Power, another side of the Middle Ages shines through though: The continual workings of Christ as he built his kingdom through figures such as Thomas a Kempis and John Wycliffe, who lived and struggled during these centuries. This was far from a period of stagnation; rather it was the fire from which the Reformation was kindled.

This classic gem on prayer has been a faithful guide to Christians for the last 100 years. McIntyre addresses the role of prayer in the life of the Christian. What does it mean for the believer to be equipped for the Christian life in prayer? How are we to engage our Heavenly Father in prayer? Using the testimony of Spurgeon, Whitefield, Luther, and others, McIntyre encourages the Christian towards a life fully devoted in prayer.

"I'm deconstructing my faith." As any pastor can tell you, hearing these words is simply a regular feature of ministry these days. How we respond to those who are deconstructing will reveal the kind of church—and the kinds of Christians—we really are. Ian Harber knows the fear and grief of deconstruction firsthand. In this book, he tells the story of his own process of deconstruction and reconstruction over more than ten years and explores what is actually happening, both culturally and spiritually, when someone deconstructs their faith.

We all need help navigating the politics of ministry. In The Politics of Ministry, Bob Burns, Tasha Chapman, and Donald Guthrie combine their long ministry experience with sociological research on the topic. Filled with real-life stories taken from a variety of ministry settings, this book sets out wise principles and practices that help us see more clearly the political dynamics at play in our churches and parachurch ministries.

While much of church planting today is approached as an innovative new effort, church leaders can take comfort in the truth that they are simply stewards of what the faithful church has been doing for millennia. By rediscovering the foundations of our heritage, we are able to build healthier, more faithful, and more effective churches. At the same time, the act of planting new churches can breathe new life into these ancient traditions as they are applied to a variety of cultural contexts.

Many bemoan the decline of the church. We hear a steady stream of reports about how droves of people, especially younger generations, are abandoning Christianity. But new research shows that unchurched Americans are surprisingly more receptive and open to the Christian faith than is commonly assumed. Researcher and practitioner Rick Richardson unveils the findings of the Billy Graham Center Institute's groundbreaking studies on the unchurched.

In August of 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, calling on all Americans to view others not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. Yet King included another powerful word, one that is often overlooked. Warning against the "tranquilizing drug of gradualism", King emphasized the fierce urgency of now, the need to resist the status quo and take immediate action.

The greatest revolution of all time was about to begin.... When Pontius Pilate ordered the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, he thought he was putting an end to the Jewish uprising that had been threatening the authority of the Roman Empire. What Pilate didn't realize, however, was that the real revolution was just getting started.

Recovering Our Sanity is not another self-help book about how to beat your daily fears for a better life. It's a book that will show you the gravity and glory of a God who's worthy of our fear. It’s a book that will reveal how these two biblical phrases - Fear God and Do Not Be Afraid - are not contradictory but actually one coherent message.