Church Leadership

We must change our priorities in the Body of Christ. The pursuit of success, prosperity and breakthroughs should not drive us to betray one another just to achieve our goals. It is time for radical heart searching. We cannot continue to divide the body of Christ with doctrines and attitudes that are aimed at making us happy and fulfilled at the expense of everybody else.

Eine überfällige Auseinandersetzung mit dem hochaktuellen Thema Kirchenkritik – und gleichzeitig der Liebesbrief eines modernen Theologen, der keine Angst davor hat, unangenehme Fragen zu stellen. Denn was ist eigentlich los mit der Kirche? Warum wenden sich immer mehr Menschen von ihr ab, und das in einer Zeit, in der die Sehnsucht nach Orientierung größer denn je zu sein scheint? Wie ist es überhaupt so weit gekommen? Und was kann die Kirche tun? Julian Sengelmann geht mit kritischem Blick diesen Fragen nach und zeigt, warum es die Kirche heute so schwer hat.

Despite its many crises, especially in Western Europe, there are still 1.2 billion Catholics in the world and the Church remains a powerful, controversial and defiantly archaic institution. After the French Revolution and the democratic rebellions of 1848, the Church retreated, especially under Pius IX, into a fortress of unreason, denouncing almost every aspect of modern life, including liberalism and socialism. In Losing a Kingdom, Gaining the World, Dr. Ambrogio A. Caiani narrates the epic, fascinating, entertaining and horrifying history of the Roman Catholic Church.

L'autore, filosofo e storico anglo-americano ha esaminato la relazione tra religione e scienza, respingendo le idee di armonia e presentando la storia della scienza come "non una semplice registrazione di scoperte isolate; è una narrazione del conflitto di due potenze in competizione, la forza espansiva dell'intelletto umano da una parte, dall'altra la comprensione derivante dalla fede tradizionale e dagli interessi umani".

Un audiolibro explosivo para entender las claves del Vaticano, explicadas por el corresponsal de TV3 en Roma. El periodista Vicens Lozano, que ha sido enviado especial de TV3 en Roma durante décadas, recoge en este libro las claves para entender el Vaticano, un universo de poder más allá de la religión. Los interrogantes que despierta este pequeño Estado son tan numerosos como los obstáculos que tradicionalmente ha puesto a la transparencia.

Does the phrase church discipline sound like an oxymoron? The church’s message is about grace, we reason, while discipline feels like the opposite of grace. In fact, Jesus taught his disciples to practice church discipline because it’s one way congregations grow in holiness and imitate God’s own love. In this audiobook, Jonathan Leeman presents biblical answers to questions about the nature and application of church discipline, conveying that Scripture presents church discipline as both loving and necessary.

What can we learn about leadership and influence from Paul? Most Christians know something of the Apostle Paul's life and ministry, but what about the incredible team of influencers he assembled and mobilized? Who were they, and how did Paul lead this team to accomplish God's purposes? Even more, what can we learn from their successes and failures, and how can we imitate their qualities?

"Show me your ways, o Lord; teach me your paths" (Psalm 25:4 NKJV). Have you noticed most things that remain significant today are remnants from the "old" ways? Ancient Paths has been designed to draw you back to the unique routes of those who have followed God and began to chase the narrow way. These age-old examples are the less traveled routes that you will begin to tread and where transformation will occur. Michelle Gehrt shares supernatural insights into what life is like when we are walking out our destinies that God has purposed for us.

Guided by current research from Barna Group, Mettes illustrates the profound physical, emotional, and social toll of loneliness in the United States. Surprisingly, her research shows that it is not the oldest Americans but the youngest adults who are loneliest and that social media can actually play a positive role in alleviating loneliness.

Wie müsste sie aussehen - eine Kirche, in der sich möglichst viele Menschen wirklich wohlfühlen? Christopher Schlicht und Maximilian Bode, zwei junge Pastoren, probieren es einfach. Als Pastor nicht zu heilig daherzukommen, das ist beiden wichtig. Deshalb tragen Pastor Max und Pastor Chris im Gottesdienst keinen Talar, sondern Jeansjacke oder Flanellhemd. Nur am Kollar, dem Priesterkragen, sind sie während des Gottesdienstes zu erkennen.

The Monkey and the Fish decodes profound shifts and events taking place in the world today due to globalism, multiculturalism and technology, and introduces an original approach to ministry, church, and leadership known as The Third Culture. The book title refers to an Eastern parable that will challenge you to reexamine fundamental assumptions of the evangelical movement, including erroneous interpretations that have made the church increasingly irrelevant in North America and the global village.

The United States is recognized as the most religiously diverse country in the world, and yet its laws and customs, which many have come to see as normal features of American life, actually keep the constitutional ideal of “religious freedom for all” from becoming a reality. Christian beliefs, norms, and practices infuse our society; they are embedded in our institutions, creating the structures and expectations that define the idea of “Americanness.”

In an audiobook eagerly awaited by her growing retinue of fans, she brings listeners inside the world's oldest Christian faith, illuminating Eastern Orthodoxy in a manner similar to Kathleen Norris's exploration of Benedictine spirituality. An ex-hippie and former social radical, the author often writes humorously about her unusual road from Woodstock to the altar of an Orthodox church, where she is the pastor's wife.

Der Wahl des neuen Papstes ist eine Revolution, eine Umwälzung von gewaltiger Bedeutung, im Vatikan vorausgegangen, die ihren Schatten auf alle folgenden Ereignisse geworfen hat. Was hat Benedikt XVI. tatsächlich zum Rücktritt, zum ersten Rücktritt eines Papstes seit über 700 Jahren, bewogen?

Moments after our pastor exited the building that afternoon in 2008, most of the congregation sat in shock. A tiny but powerful minority wore victorious smiles at the minister's ousting. The lady to my left wept. Her pleading question kept me awake all night. "Why did our pastor have to leave?" Polls reveal startling statistics regarding pastoral ministry: 91 percent of ministers know three to four others who've been forced out of pastoral positions.

You can be young, passionate about Jesus Christ, surrounded by diversity, engaged in a postmodern world, and reared in evangelicalism and not be an emergent Christian. In fact I want to argue that it would be better if you weren't. The Emergent Church is a strong voice in today's Christian community. And they're talking about good things: caring for the poor, peace for all men, loving Jesus. They're doing church a new way, not content to fit the mold. Again, all good. But there's more to the movement than that.

Church Revitalization guides current and future leaders through the often-complex process of bringing a church to a place of vibrancy. This book demonstrates how the overarching goal of seeing people come to faith in Christ and develop into Christlikeness can—and must—inform the most foundational to the most fleeting aspects of revitalizing a struggling church.

And this species of the divine patience indeed being, as it were, at a distance, may perhaps be esteemed as among “things too high for us”; but what is that which, in a certain way, has been grasped by hand among men openly on the Earth? God suffers himself to be conceived in a mother’s womb, and awaits the time for birth; and, when born, bears the delay of growing up; and, when grown up, is not eager to be recognized, but is furthermore contumelious to himself, and is baptized by his own servant; and repels with words alone the assaults of the tempter.

Why are homosexual clergymen the biggest homophobes? Why do they hide sexual offenders behind clerical collars? Why do they hate Pope Francis so much? The answers to these and many other questions are what French sociologist F. Martel, looks for in his interviews with the clergymen. His book is a result of an investigation conducted in 30 countries. He finds that the Church has the biggest community of homosexuals in the world.

Lyn Brakeman was among the first women to enter the ordination process in the Episcopal Church just after the General Convention voted in 1976 that women could be priests. The bishop of her diocese had voted against ordaining women priests, and hospitality toward female aspirants was guarded at best. So why would a 40-year-old institutional naïf, suburban housewife, and mother of four enter such unfriendly territory to seek priestly ordination at a time when her personal life was in chaos?