Religion Community

Today, a new movement is under way, bringing Christians of every denomination, age, race, and sexual orientation together around dinner tables. Men and women nervous about stepping through church doors are finding God in new ways as they eat together. Kendall Vanderslice shares stories of churches worshiping around the table, introducing listeners to the rising contemporary dinner-church movement. We Will Feast provides vision and inspiration to listeners longing to experience community in a real, physical way.

If the past few years have taught us anything, it's that by and large the church has failed women. From sexual abuse scandals involving high-profile pastors, to decades-long systemic cover-ups of sexual harassment and mistreatment, to harmful theology that has driven women to leave the church and find community elsewhere, it's clear that something is broken. If we want to fix it, it's time we start listening.

In every position of power lies the potential for life-giving leadership or destructive corruption. Driven by sinful pride or opportunism, many people abuse their God-given influence, harming the ones they’re called to lead and contributing to an intense angst against authority. The answer to bad authority, however, is not no authority, but good authority—the kind that, according to Scripture, causes those under it to flourish. In this compelling guide from 9Marks, Jonathan Leeman shows that authority, done biblically, is not only good, but is essential to human flourishing.

An intersectional analysis of evangelical purity culture’s influence on gender, sexuality, race, and national identity in the United States. With a foreword by Linda Kay Klein, author of Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement that Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free. In...

God is good, all the time. Jim Wilson was born in 1927 and raised in a Depression-era farming family. At the age of 16, at the height of World War II, he became the primary breadwinner for his parents and four younger siblings. At age 17, eager to fight for his country, he enlisted in the Navy. Germany surrendered while he was in the recruiting office, and the war was over by the time he entered boot camp. But God had a plan for Jim Wilson in the US Navy.

If you thought that–after believing in Christ–your salvation was then up to you, be prepared for a surprise. The Gospel 'is not a proposition, but an announcement’ and this book unpacks the wonder of its message. David Hewitt is the director of a contemporary church called Wellsprings Community, based in Newcraighall, Edinburgh, UK.

Researchers have uncovered the following three trends: First, distrust of institutions, including the church, is at an all-time high. Second, young people raised in the church are leaving at alarming rates and not returning. Third, loneliness and social isolation are at pandemic levels. What’s the connection? It appears that an entire generation is starving for the very thing the church is called to provide but has chosen to look for it elsewhere. Why is this happening?

The Maqasidic Tafsir (At-Tafsir Al-Maqasidi) concentrates on evaluating the higher objective (the Maqsad) of each chapter of the Quran methodologically. It then describes how each chapter's contents reveal the harmony between the higher purpose and the means to achieve it. In tafsir's available trends, the maqasidic method has yet to be treated exclusively and has been subject to only partial and inclusive discussions. We must understand that each verse and chapter of the Quran has a maqsid, which means an aim, purpose, objective, goal, and wisdom.

This essay concentrates on the communal and societal aspects of gospel order as the foundation of meeting – or church – community life. “Gospel” refers to the actual relationship with God. “Order” refers to the patterns of daily living which flow from God. PHP 297

No one is a stranger to loneliness. Despite how social we are via text, chat, and notifications, we are far from being truly connected. We all want someone else to really see us and choose us for who we are. We want a place to finally fit in. But what if finding the right people or the right place is not the answer? From her community-building background, Sarah E. Westfall takes our longing to belong as an invitation to embrace and extend the deep love of God.

While many leadership books focus on the individual, Lifelong Leadership offers a comprehensive mentoring community model to support and develop Christian leaders, extending the work of God in and through ministry. This model was inspired by Leighton Ford as a way to inspire and support young leaders. MaryKate Morse is the inheritor of this leadership legacy. Her team has developed the mentoring community model, which is easy to replicate in a variety of settings.

In this audiobook, Megan Hill answers a common question of churchgoers: What's so great about the church? With rich theology and practical direction, Hill encourages and equips both first-time visitors and regular members to delight in being a part of the local church - no matter how messy and ordinary it seems today. It is only when God's people begin to see one another as the Lord sees them that they will truly find a place to belong.

It’s easy to dream about the “perfect” church - a church that sings just the right songs set to just the right music before the pastor preaches just the right sermon to a room filled with just the right mix of people who happen to agree with you on just about everything. This audiobook is a call to embrace the uncomfortable aspects of Christian community, whether that means believing difficult truths, pursuing difficult holiness, or loving difficult people - all for the sake of the gospel, God’s glory, and our joy.

In When the Church Harms God's People, Langberg unveils what she has learned about how churches cause harm and why Christian communities often foster unhealthy leaders who end up hurting rather than protecting God's people. She also offers hope for the future, describing how churches can reflect Christ not just in what they teach but also in how they care for themselves and others.

In 1978, when Jamiyla was two years old, her mother, Ummi, quit her job, converted to Islam with her husband, and moved into an exclusive Muslim society in Brooklyn. Once inside the Community, the family was separated by its powerful and charismatic leader, Dwight York, who was hiding behind the name Imam Isa. Instead of the devotional refuge they’d imagined, the Community was a nightmare of controlled abuse and unspeakable secrets. Forty years later, Jamiyla was ready to excavate and understand a past buried in bad dreams, disturbing memories, and inexplicable rage.

​In times of isolation, heartbreak, and brokenness, reaching out to each other, being in conversation, finding ways to connect with compassion and openness can help us heal and thrive. This powerful, positive guide coaxes us to go beyond our individual and collective grief and courageously re-enter and reclaim our sense of community—which then further strengthens our spiritual practice.

As the first Black woman to anchor the Boston-area evening news, Liz Walker found herself in an industry that defined the neighborhood of Roxbury largely by violence. But when she became a pastor there, Walker grew close to households marked not only by trauma but by courage—including the family of Cory Johnson, a young father who was murdered. In the wake of their worst nightmare, the family reached out for help.

Fast cars. Fast and furious. Fast forward. Fast...church? The church is often idealized (or demonized) as the last bastion of a bygone era, dragging our feet as we're pulled into new moralities and new spiritualities. We guard our doctrine and our piety with great vigilance. But we often fail to notice how quickly we're capitulating, in the structures and practices of our churches, to a culture of unreflective speed, dehumanizing efficiency, and disintegrating isolationism.

Have you joined a church or small group in hopes of experiencing real life change, only to be disappointed? Have you sat through inspiring sermons about what is possible when Christians gather together in mutually edifying relationships, only to recognize how cynical you have become after many failed attempts? Community may be one of the most over-promised, under-delivered aspects of the Christian life today. Individuals remain selfish and stuck in their ways.

I’m surrounded by people at church...so why do I feel so alone? You show up at church every Sunday. You see people you know. You listen to a sermon together. And then you go home feeling just as isolated as you did before. What’s going on? We all know that a church is supposed to be a community. The trick is to actually make it one. Communities don’t happen by chance - certainly not in our Lone Ranger culture that values independence and individualism.