City Ministry

Even if you don’t go to the city to minister, make no mistake—the city is coming to you. Regardless of your particular cultural or geographical context, you will need to consider the city when forming a theological vision that engages the people you are trying to reach. In Loving the City...

Practical and Gospel-centered thoughts on how to have a fruitful ministry by one of America's leading and most beloved pastor. Many church leaders are struggling to adapt to a culture that values individuality above loyalty to a group or institution. There have been so many "church growth" and...

Written between A.D. 413 and 426, The City of God is one of the great cornerstones in the history of Christian thought, a book which is vital to the understanding of modern Western society. Augustine originally intended it to be an apology for Christianity against the accusation that the Church was responsible for the decline of the Roman Empire, which had occurred just three years earlier. Indeed, Augustine produced a great amount of evidence to prove that paganism was responsible for this event. However, by the time the work was finished, the book had taken on a larger theme.

The book recounts the life of the Virgin Mary and the divine plan both for creation and the salvation of souls. According to María de Ágreda, the book was mostly dictated to her by the Virgin Mary herself. The book moves between describing the Trinity, the Virgin Mary's life, and providing spiritual guidance to the author, which also spiritually benefits the listener. The book describes the virtues and how the listener ought to conduct his or her life using the Virgin Mary as a model for holiness.

Confessions, St Augustine’s autobiographical work comprising 13 books, is not a complete autobiography as it was written during his early 40s. He states his regrets for having followed Manichaeism and believing in astrology, and tells of Saint Ambrose's role in his conversion to Christianity. Besides giving an account of the author’s sinful youth and his conversion, Confessions is also an important theological work, featuring spiritual meditations and insights. The City of God is a book of Christian philosophy.

In this inspiring work, Dominique Lapierre tells stories of extraordinary love and heroism - performed by ordinary people. Deep within one of the poorest sections of Calcutta, Lapierre found that this city, which produced Mother Teresa, had many other selfless inhabitants.

It is easy to assume that if we understand the gospel and preach it faithfully, our ministry will necessarily be shaped by it—but this is not true. Many churches claim to be gospel-centered but do not have a ministry that is shaped by, centered on, and empowered through the gospel. The...

A witch's coven in Argentina became a lighthouse of prayer in less than 60 minutes. A prodigal son returned to the Lord in California. An adopted son and the father who had cast him out years before were reunited in Christ. These are real stories of real lives and cities being transformed through the power of prayer evangelism.

Moved by his mother's death and his Irish Catholic family's complicated history with the church, Timothy Egan decided to follow in the footsteps of centuries of seekers to force a reckoning with his own beliefs. He embarked on a thousand-mile pilgrimage through the theological cradle of Christianity, exploring one of the biggest stories of our time: the collapse of religion in the world that it created. The goal: walking to St. Peter's Square, in hopes of meeting the galvanizing pope who is struggling to hold together the church through the worst crisis in half a millennium.

It’s time to break free from our Sunday-centric, formulaic versions of church and instead architect fresh kingdom ecosystems as an ancient yet new frontier for sustainable mission. The temptation for many church leaders is to take what’s worked elsewhere and use it as a paint-by-number. Yet Jesus showed us a different way. Every word he spoke and everything he did utterly broke the molds, rules, and laws that people had created to confine God and his kingdom.

Discover how the mission of the church relates to the work done by Christians individually to serve and better us all collectively. Our goal as Christians is never simply to build our own tribe. Instead, we seek the peace and prosperity of the city or community in which we live through a gospel...

How did the preaching of a peasant carpenter from Galilee spark a movement that would grow to include over two billion followers? Who listened to this "good news," and who ignored it? Where did Christianity spread, and how? Based on quantitative data and the latest scholarship, preeminent scholar and journalist Rodney Stark presents new and startling information about the rise of the early church, overturning many prevailing views of how Christianity grew through time to become the largest religion in the world.

The fascinating, true account of the quest for one of the Old Testament’s most infamous cities. Like many modern-day Christians, Dr. Steven Collins struggled with what seemed to be a clash between his belief in the Bible and the research regarding ancient history - a crisis of faith that inspired him to put both his education and the Bible to the test by embarking on an expedition that has led to one of the most exciting finds in recent archaeology.

Understand the paradigmatic shift that is happening in city ministry around the world - the shift from internal church concern to external community focus - and learn how to live out and lead others in this missional approach.

Why is the city a battleground of hostile principalities and powers? What is the mission of the church in the city? How can the church be supported in accomplishing that mission? These are the questions that Robert Linthicum treats in his comprehensive and probing biblical theology of the city...

More people live in cities now than at any other time in human history, presenting a historic opportunity for Christians to influence the majority of the world. Unfortunately, most Christian literature about the city focuses solely on its problems (crime, homelessness, etc.), rather than providing a comprehensive analysis of the city that informs, instructs, and inspires. Using sociological research and data, urban pastors Justin Buzzard and Stephen Um lay out the vision and rationale for church planting, cultural engagement, and missionary impulses in our world’s cities as they provide a solid foundation for motivation.

This is a book written nearly 60 years ago of Elisabeth’s reflections on the trip she made to Israel just three months after the 1967 Six-Day Arab-Israeli War. With input from many there, Elisabeth takes the listener on a journey of perspective.

John and Jill have finally made it home only to find their children are not in Repose. Where are they and why aren't they here? Questions are answered and new ones abound as we go back to The Day. Follow along as the Repose Alliance Group comes together to brace themselves and their community for the trials ahead. Some will thrive, some will die as desperate people begin to do desperate things.

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.

A Pilgrimage into Service is a resource for those discerning or undergoing an immersive service experience or post-graduate volunteer service program. It utilizes recent Catholic social thought, Scripture, an Ignatian paradigm of service-reflection, and Christian spirituality.