Turning Ourselves Inside Out

Turning Ourselves Inside Out
Author: Russell Daye
Publisher: Fortress Press
Total Pages: 167
Release: 2021-09-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1506470033

Turning Ourselves Inside Out emerges from the Thriving Christian Communities Project started by the authors in 2015, as well as from a Facebook conversation where someone asked, "We always hear about the problems in our churches. When are we going to talk about the good news stories?" This got the authors thinking: How do we learn about what is exciting and what the Holy Spirit is doing? How do we broaden the conversation beyond how sad, afraid, and grumpy we often are as church people? These kinds of questions filled the authors' imaginations as they scouted out the long walking route of Camino Nova Scotia, the pilgrimage program offered by Atlantic School of Theology. The long hours walking together gave them space and peace to think more broadly about what they wanted to learn, and how to share it with the wider church. In interviews with thirty-five faith communities, the authors discovered that amid great upheaval, Christ is giving us a new church, and this book offers readers a firsthand glimpse of it. Turning Ourselves Inside Out isn't an "off the shelf" program or model. It invites readers to listen to others' experiences and then dig deep into their own and get down to the business of dreaming God's dream and making it real, right where they are. Leaders of congregations, and all who care about what God is up to in the world, need to hear these stories. They are a source of hope and courage, as God renews and revives God's people.

Community That Is Christian

Community That Is Christian
Author: Julie A. Gorman
Publisher: Baker Books
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2002-06-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 158558553X

Over the past thirty years there has been a boom in small groups, both in society at large and within the church. From Bible studies to MOPS to Alcoholics Anonymous, it is estimated that four out of ten Americans belong to a small group that meets regularly for the care and support of its members. But are these groups creating true, biblical community, or do they settle for self-focus and personal gain? Julie Gorman has studied small groups for decades and presents her analysis, insights, and suggestions in Community That Is Christian, an essential resource for building community in church-based small groups. This comprehensive book serves both as a text for those who equip leaders or lead small groups and as an interactive manual for small-group members, helping them transform their relationships into Christ-centered community. The book begins with biblical support for coming together, contrasting it with our often individualistic mind-set that undermines community. Gorman then sets forth the goals of community and describes the process of transformation. She draws from extensive research to address the why and the how of small-group ministry, giving special attention to gender and cultural distinctions. Community That Is Christian provides readers with charts, discussion questions, and inventories to further help them establish community within their small groups.

Christian Community

Christian Community
Author: Rob Suggs
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 68
Release: 2002-01-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780830830718

In this ten-session LifeGuide® Bible Study, Rob Suggs leads us to grow in community--in loving and nurturing one another, and in reflecting Christ's love to the world around us.

Uncomfortable

Uncomfortable
Author: Brett McCracken
Publisher: Crossway
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2017-09-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1433554283

Does your church make you uncomfortable? 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. Chances are your church doesn’t quite look like that. But what if instead of searching for a church that makes us comfortable, we learned to love our church, even when it’s challenging? What if some of the discomfort that we often experience is actually good for us? This book 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.

Small Christian Communities

Small Christian Communities
Author: Thomas A. Kleissler
Publisher: Paulist Press
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2003
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780809141579

This revised and updated edition of Small Christian Communities: A Vision of Hope for the 21st Century is a rich source of practical information about how to make the vision of the parish as "a community of many small communities" come alive.y

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.

Emerging Churches

Emerging Churches
Author: Eddie Gibbs
Publisher: Baker Academic
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2005-12
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0801027152

Provides a comprehensive examination of the emerging church phenomenon, considering emerging patterns in leadership, worship, mission, spiritual practices, and cultural engagement.

Christian Community in History Volume 1

Christian Community in History Volume 1
Author: Roger Haight
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 449
Release: 2004-09-16
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0826416306

Drawing upon the methodology developed in his Dynamics of Theology (1990) and exemplified in Jesus Symbol of God (1999), Roger Haight, in this magisterial work, achieves what he calls an historical ecclesiology, or ecclesiology from below. In contrast to traditional ecclesiology from above, which is abstract, idealist, and ahistorical, ecclesiology from below is concrete, realist, and historically conscious. In this first of two volumes, Haight charts the history of the church's self-understandings from the origins of the church in the Jesus movement to the late Middle Ages. In volume 2 Haight develops a comparative ecclesiology based on the history and diverse theologies of the worldwide Christian movement from the Reformation to the present. While the ultimate focus of the work falls on the structure of the church and its theological self-understanding, it tries to be faithful to the historical, social, and political reality of the church in each period.

Building Community

Building Community
Author: Loughlan Sofield
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1998
Genre: Christian communities
ISBN: 9780877936480

Insights from psychology, group theory, and theology are knit together to create a primer for Christian communities. Especially helpful are insights into conflict, forgiveness, decision-making, intimacy, and confrontation.

Making Neighborhoods Whole

Making Neighborhoods Whole
Author: Wayne Gordon
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 182
Release: 2013-08-26
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830895779

Civil rights leader John Perkins and CCDA president Wayne Gordon revisit the founding principles of the Christian Community Development Association, seeking to provide the terms for a new discussion around the emerging priorities of Christian community development today. Includes profiles of thriving urban ministries.