Bringing Churches Together

Bringing Churches Together
Author: Gideon Goosen
Publisher: World Council of Churches
Total Pages: 173
Release: 2001
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9782825413487

According to the author, "In order to understand the present, and move confidently into the future, one must have an appreciation of the past." The book therefore deals, in a non-technical way, with the theology and history of ecumenism, explains the origins of the main Christian denominations, gives a brief history of the World Council of Churches, and introduces some of the current issues. Ecumenical ethics and inter-religious dialogues form the subjects of the two final chapters. The author concludes each chapter with questions for group discussion, and ends the book with suggestions for practical ways in which the ordinary individual can promote ecumenism. Several appendices give useful background information. This book is for the average reader or student of theology who would like to be better informed about ecumenism.

Intergenerational Christian Formation

Intergenerational Christian Formation
Author: Holly Catterton Allen
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2023-06-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1514001438

In a revised an updated edition, this comprehensive, up-to-date text offers a framework for intentional intergenerational Christian formation. It provides the theoretical foundation of intergenerationality, then gives concrete, practical guidance on how worship, learning, community, and service can all be achieved intergenerationally.

Bringing Churches Together

Bringing Churches Together
Author: Gideon Goosen
Publisher: E J Dwyer Limited
Total Pages: 180
Release: 1993
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780855741730

Introduction to ecumenism, the quest for unity among the Christian churches. Presents the theology of ecumenism, its history, and relationships with and between the churches, along with a survey of current dialogues between churches and discussion of issues of ecumenical significance today, including the ordination of women and intercommunion. Includes chapter references, questions for discussion, practical suggestions, a glossary, bibliography and an index. Appendices include biographical sketches of the Reformers and a list of church councils. A second edition was published by the World Council of Churches in 2001.

We Will Feast

We Will Feast
Author: Kendall Vanderslice
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
Total Pages: 138
Release: 2019-05-21
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1467457337

Explores the practice of eating together as Christian worship The gospel story is filled with meals. It opens in a garden and ends in a feast. Records of the early church suggest that believers met for worship primarily through eating meals. Over time, though, churches have lost focus on the centrality of food— and with it a powerful tool for unifying Christ’s diverse body. But 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 readers to the rising contem­porary dinner-church movement. We Will Feast provides vision and inspiration to readers longing to experience community in a real, physical way.

Being an Intergenerational Church

Being an Intergenerational Church
Author: Suzi Farrant
Publisher: Saint Andrew Press
Total Pages: 136
Release: 2023-08-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1800830386

There is a growing realisation across mainstream churches that age-segregated models of connecting with children, young people and families are not working. Drawing on their extensive experience, Suzi Farrant and Darren Philip set out a vision for bringing the generations back together to become the intergenerational church we are designed to be. In conversation with the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, they develop a theological rationale for intentional intergenerational relationships of mutuality lived out within the core activities of the church. Through an exploration of the Christian practices of humility, hospitality, participation, discipleship, joy, worship, discernment and testimony, they call the church to re-discover its DNA as an all-age community of transformation.

Better Together

Better Together
Author: Jim Tomberlin
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2012-04-24
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1118131304

Thousands of Protestant churches are perplexed by plateaued or declining attendance, while other congregations nearby thrive. Is there a way for them to combine forces, drawing on both their strengths, in ways that also increase their missional impact? Church merger consultant Jim Tomberlin, with co-writer Warren Bird, makes the case that mergers today work best not with two struggling churches but with a vital, momentum-filled lead church partnering with a joining church. In this new book, they provide a complete, practical, hands-on guide for church leaders of both struggling and vibrant churches so that they can understand the issues, develop strategies, and execute a variety of forms of merger for church expansion and renewal to reinvigorate declining churches and give them a "second life."

Life Together

Life Together
Author: Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 134
Release: 1978-10-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0060608528

After his martyrdom at the hands of the Gestapo in 1945, Dietrich Bonhoeffer continued his witness in the hearts of Christians around the world. His Letters and Papers from Prison became a prized testimony to Christian faith and courage, read by thousands. Now in Life Together we have Pastor Bonhoeffer's experience of Christian community. This story of a unique fellowship in an underground seminary during the Nazi years reads like one of Paul's letters. It gives practical advice on how life together in Christ can be sustained in families and groups. The role of personal prayer, worship in common, everyday work, and Christian service is treated in simple, almost biblical, words. Life Together is bread for all who are hungry for the real life of Christian fellowship.

Church Together

Church Together
Author: Daniel C. Dickard
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2022-01-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1666790346

Church Together is a Christian leadership book designed to give pastors, church leaders, and church members a working plan to overcome the greatest underlying threat to the church today, individualism, through five relationships of surrender which correlate to the five core values of the Church of We. Part One examines the three rotten fruits of individualism within the Church of Me--consumerism, pragmatism, and the extremes of legalism and liberalism--and how to spot each of these problems. Part Two offers a solution on what it will take for churches to make a healthy transition from the Church of Me to the Church of We. Church Together, for this reason, gives churches a manageable plan to defy the individualistic spirit of the age as they become the Church of We in the Age of Me.

One Assembly

One Assembly
Author: Jonathan Leeman
Publisher: Crossway
Total Pages: 118
Release: 2020-03-26
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1433559625

Many churches are switching to the multisite or multiservice models to manage crowded sanctuaries due to growing attendance. This solution seems sensible in the short term, but too often churches adopt this model without taking into consideration what the Bible says about it. Illuminating the importance of physical togetherness as a way to protect the gospel, this book argues that maintaining a single assembly best embodies the unity the church possesses in Jesus Christ. Jonathan Leeman considers a series of biblical, theological, and pastoral arguments that ask us to stop and examine intuitions or assumptions about what a church is. He reorients our minds to a biblical definition of church, offering examples of churches that have thrived with a single service at a single site and compelling alternatives for those looking to solve the complications that come with a growing church.