Church Ministry

Introverts have gifts for the church and the world. But many churches tend to be extroverted places where introverts are marginalized. Some Christians end up feeling like it's not as faithful to be an introvert. Adam McHugh shows how introverts can live and minister in ways consistent with their personalities. He explains how introverts and extroverts process information and approach relationships differently and how introverts can practice Christian spirituality in ways that fit who they are.

Speak of the Devil is the first book-length study of The Satanic Temple. Joseph Laycock, a scholar of new religious movements, contends that the emergence of "political Satanism" marks a significant moment in American religious history that will have a lasting impact on how Americans frame debates about religious freedom.

Often called the "Father of Church History", Eusebius was the first to trace the rise of Christianity during its crucial first three centuries from Christ to Constantine. Our principal resource for earliest Chrisitianity, The Church History presents a panorama of apostles, church fathers, emperors, bishops, heroes, heretics, confessors, and martyrs. This audiobook edition includes Paul L. Maier's clear and precise translation, historical commentary on each book in The Church History, and numerous maps, illustrations, and photographs.

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.

In this popular introduction to church history, now in its third edition, Mark Noll isolates key events that provide a framework for understanding the history of Christianity. The book presents Christianity as a worldwide phenomenon rather than just a Western experience. Students in academic settings and church adult education contexts will benefit from this one-semester survey of Christian history.

Best-selling author and ministry leader Thom S. Rainer drew an exceptional response when he posted a 500-word declaration about church membership to his daily blog. Thoughtfully expanded to book form, I Am a Church Member begins to remedy the outbreak of inactive or barely committed church members, addressing without apology what is expected of those who join a body of believers.

The church has an image problem. It is widely viewed in the world at large as being outdated, boring, irrelevant and filled with backbiting hypocrites. How different that picture is to how the Bible talks about the new family that Jesus has gathered. In this brief accessible but thorough guide to church, Sam outlines what church is and why we need it. And how, when we have got it wrong, we can move closer to what a true church should be.

Should we actually practice church discipline today? Is it unloving? Once an ordinary part of church life, churches gradually stopped practicing church discipline in the 20th century. But Jesus commands it. Paul practiced it. And churches benefit from it. Why practice church discipline? It shows love for the individual caught in sin, love for the whole church, love for non-Christian neighbors, and love for the glory of Christ.

Millions are satisfied to sit through hour-long, weekly religious services. Millions more have left the church, brokenhearted and cynical. But God is waking up his people - people who will risk everything and sacrifice anything to become the dynamic, powerful church seen in Scripture. We Are Church calls Christ-followers, young and old, to hold fast to their biblical roots while seeking radical change. Scripture promises an exuberant and unstoppable church. That wondrous early church of acts can be our reality today.

The Epistle to the Romans, or Letter to the Romans, is the sixth book in the New Testament. Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by Paul the Apostle to explain that salvation is offered through the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the longest of the Pauline epistles. Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to the Book of Romans, and learn about bibles.

Outreach to those who struggle with same-sex attraction is severely lacking in most churches. As a result, most Christians learn more about homosexuality from movies, the internet, television, and so-called diversity training than they learn in their own congregations. Many people who struggle with same-sex attraction are torn by the debate while yearning to hear the redemptive truth of the Bible and be touched by the unyielding love of Christ. Author Bill Campbell believes that Christians can have a significant positive influence on how the larger culture frames the issue of same-sex attraction. He combines twenty years of study with current surveys and research by national leaders of ministries to homosexuals.

Being a pastor is a complicated calling. Pastors are often pulled in multiple directions and must "become all things to all people" (1 Cor. 9:22). What does the New Testament say (or not say) about the pastoral calling? And what can we learn about it from the apostle Paul? According to popular New Testament scholar Scot McKnight, pastoring must begin first and foremost with spiritual formation, which plays a vital role in the life and ministry of the pastor. As leaders, pastors both create and nurture culture in a church.

Church Is a Team Sport shows proven ways to push believers, new and mature, toward growth as both Christians and leaders. Through this powerful, thought-provoking volume, ministers both in the congregation and on staff will discover how to expand the church one soul at a time. Making disciples is the crux of pastor Jim Putman's message. The plan works. Caring for people, following up on stray sheep, and teaching what it means to love God and obey him.

As many have said, the church must always be reforming. It must continually move closer to a truer, more faithful expression of the gospel. The risen Christ’s powerful letters to the seven churches in Revelation are a guide to just that. Based on John MacArthur’s exposition of these letters, Christ’s Call to Reform the Church is a plea to the modern church to heed these divine warnings, to reform before it succumbs to the kinds of compromise and error that invite God’s judgment.

Jim Cymbala—New York Times best-selling author and long-time pastor of The Brooklyn Tabernacle—has been watching the pressing need for back-to-the-basics spiritual leadership among Christians, and he's seen so many churches come to defeat because so many leaders forget this one truth: Your church is not your church. It's Christ's church. In order for his church to flourish, we have to minister his way.

The ancient church fathers taught many things about end-time prophecy. They taught the Second Coming would be approximately 2,000 years after the First Coming (AD 32 and AD 2032). The actual writings of church fathers Irenaeus (AD 170), Hippolytus (AD 210), and Ephrem (AD 350) identify three of the ten nations that will become part of the Antichrist’s government and where the Antichrist will be born. Brought to you by Biblefacts Ministries, Biblefacts.org.

Will God's wrath fall on America? What happens when a country glories in its immorality, turning away from faith in God and obedience to him? Jeff Kinley, author of As It Was in the Days of Noah, explores historical and biblical precedents for the demise of a nation and addresses pressing questions.

For years, Christians have been asking, "If you died tonight, do you know where you would go?" It turns out that many believers have been giving the wrong answer. It is not heaven. Wright outlines the present confusion about a Christian's future hope and shows how it is deeply intertwined with how we live today. Wright asserts that Christianity's most distinctive idea is bodily resurrection, and provides a magisterial defense for a literal resurrection of Jesus. Wright then explores our expectation of "new heavens and a new earth".

Welcome to the Orthodox Church - its history, theology, worship, spirituality, and daily life. This friendly guide provides a comprehensive introduction to Orthodoxy, but with a twist: listeners learn by making a series of visits to a fictitious church, and get to know the faith as new Christians did for most of history, by immersion. Mathews-Green provides commentary and explanations on everything from how to "venerate" an icon, the Orthodox understanding of the atonement, to the Lenten significance of tofu.

The gospel of Jesus Christ—the good news that through Jesus we have been adopted as sons and daughters into God’s family—means that Christians ought to be at the forefront of the adoption of orphans in North America and around the world. Russell D. Moore does not shy away from this call in Adopted for Life, a popular-level, practical manifesto for Christians to adopt children and to help equip other Christian families to do the same.