Showing results for "In Christ" in Church & Church Leadership

Despite Jesus' prayer that all Christians "be one", divisions have been epidemic in the body of Christ from the beginning to the present. We cluster in theological groups, gender groups, age groups, ethnic groups, educational, and economic groups. We criticize freely those who disagree with us, don't look like us, don't act like us, and don't even like what we like. With a personal touch and the trained eye of a social psychologist, Cleveland brings to bear the latest studies and research on the unseen dynamics at work that tend to separate us from others.

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.

Some people think of Jesus as a great prophet or a wise philosopher; others see him as an important religious leader or even a revolutionary. In this addition to the Short Studies in Systematic Theology series, Stephen Wellum challenges these claims as he argues for the divinity of Jesus according to Scripture and in line with creedal Christianity. In this brief introduction, we are invited to rejoice in the centrality of Christ―who as both God and man reconciles us to God.

Christians today confront complex opposition to the gospel from intellectuals, skeptics, and pluralists who deny the divinity of Christ. But these are not new issues; the first-century church encountered similar challenges to their faith. How did the apostle Paul address these questions and doubts to effectively spread God's word? In these lectures, originally given at Reformed Bible College and Moore College in 1978, renowned theologian J. I. Packer tackles common objections to Christianity—including secular humanism, pluralism, and universalism.

Jared Dees, creator of the popular website The Religion Teacher, shows how applying the steps of lectio divina to teaching can reorient religious education toward encountering the person of Christ rather than merely sharing information about him. In Christ in the Classroom, Catholic author and speaker Jared Dees applies the five steps of lectio divina - reading/learning, meditation, prayer, contemplation, and action - to the ministry of catechesis.

The rates of decline in church attendance and the ticking demographic timebomb show that business as usual will lead to extinction. But out of these ashes there are countless reasons to hope. Signs and stories emerging from worshipping communities the world over can give us renewed confidence that, as always, God is doing a ‘new-old’ thing. The Church that is emerging amid times of uncertainty is growing, alive and demonstrating the qualities of the early church recorded in the New Testament, one that is more diverse, more spirit-filled, more confident in the Gospel.

In today's highly charged social and political environment, we often don't know how to talk well with others - especially with people whose backgrounds differ from our own. C. Christopher Smith, coauthor of the critically acclaimed and influential Slow Church, addresses why conversation has become such a challenge in the 21st century and argues that it is perhaps the most-needed spiritual practice of our individualistic age.