Lillian Daniel shares how her congregation re-appropriated the practice of testimony one Lenten season, a practice that would eventually revitalize their worship and transform their congregational culture.
Not only do new church starts in significant numbers bring systemic change and renewal to mainline denominations, but new church development brings similar change to individual aging congregations in their vicinity.
Mead presents five key challenges facing today's churches-and how they represent opportunities for the evolutionary, transformative changes he believes must take place in congregations if the church is to remain a viable institution into the twenty-first century.
Vibrant worship services, argues creative and provocative author Graham Standish, are those in which the congregation obviously asks questions such as: Does our worship help people experience God?
Roy Oswald, who ministers to pastors with great compassion, perceptiveness, and skill, now brings eight more years of field experience to an updated edition of "e;New Beginnings.
Clergy, worship or music committees, organists, and choir or music directors will find this a practical and invaluable guide to the role and power of music to express and form faith.
Used successfully in Episcopal dioceses and congregations, Total Ministry describes a new way for local congregations (especially small ones) and judicatories to organize their response to God's call and to provide resources, support, and encouragement for ministry-a way that is not dependent only on full-time, seminary-trained, ordained leaders.
Nationally known for his work and teaching on clergy development, Oswald integrates research and experience into a liberating perspective on the pastoral calling.
Although spiritual growth occurs within an individual, Ware explains that it is the calling of the congregation to be a community of support and encouragement.
Known as "e;the internship guy"e; at Dallas Theological Seminary where he teaches, George Hillman talks daily with students about God's movement in their lives.
A large and growing number of congregations are setting up church-based nonprofit organizations in order to operate community development or educational programs.
In our rapidly evolving religious scene, congregations that are open to continuous learning and willing to respond to external and internal change, will be the ones that achieve new vitality and health.
Our culture has undergone a major shift: younger generations have less and less interest in the printed word as they become predominantly image oriented.
I can only shake my head in the face of the irony that all too often the very place where we look for life and health, the very place where we expect to nurture and deepen a loving relationship with God, can cause so many to experience the exact opposite.
In this profound yet practical book, Mary Sellon and Daniel Smith make the case that the health of churches and synagogues depends on congregations learning how to live out love in "e;right relationships.
Listeners do love their pastors and they agree with the sermon content they hear,' Lori Carrell once explained to a group of pastors, 'but most sermons don't ask for change, and most listeners don't experience spiritual growth as a result of the sermon.
Tending to the Holy: The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry invites pastors to embody their deepest beliefs in the routine and surprising tasks of ministry.
Pastor & author, Lynne Baab "e;offers readers a useful tool to understand both their own spiritual journeys and their role in the life of their chosen spiritual community"e;.
As a troubadour for global music and an instigator of cross-cultural worship for more than 15 years in a variety of denominational settings, including congregational, national, and international venues, Michael Hawn has observed many faithful people who find that a taste of Pentecost in worship is refreshing and invigorating.
Pastors and others who want to develop their skills as teachers of prayer and spiritual practices will find in this book not only wisdom for themselves but easily accessible lesson plans, enabling them to share Vennard's insights with others while infusing the activities with their own spirit and creative ideas.
Known as "e;the internship guy"e; at Dallas Theological Seminary where he teaches, George Hillman talks daily with students about God's movement in their lives.
The synagogue remains a central institution in Jewish life as a place of study, worship, and assembly, but each day brings word of a new challenging development within each of the larger movements to which synagogues belong-Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist.
