Showing results for "Religion Matters" in Spiritual Growth

Your Story Matters presents a dynamic and spiritually formative process for understanding and redeeming the past in order to live well in the present and into the future. Leslie Leyland Fields has used and taught this practical and inspiring writing process for decades, helping people from all walks of life to access memory and sift through the truth of their stories. This is not just a book for writers. Each one of us has a story, and understanding God's work in our stories is a vital part of our faith.

We live in a culture that permits everything, surrounded by people skimming the surface of life, trying to piece together meaning from ever-shifting truths and fleeting fads. But in a world that stands for nothing, you can choose to stand for something. With warmth and wisdom that only comes from weathering the storms of life, Dennis Rainey shares seven ways to not only build a strong foundation, but to choose to live the life of purpose and potential you were created for.

What is in the heart should never stand in the way of an intimate relationship with the father! Many Christians are still asking, "What's wrong with my old heart?" Juanita Bynum explains, your heart may be the thing preventing you from experiencing the intimacy and closeness to God that you crave and long for. Drawn from her best-selling book Matters of the Heart, Heart Matters shows you the steps that will allow the love of God to flow freely into your heart--and out, impacting every relationship you have.

In How’d I Miss That? popular podcaster Cynthia Yanof shares the lighthearted, awkward, and occasional should-she-be-telling-us-this? moments that prove life is more than professional ladders, night sweats, and frantically searching for your phone. (Hint: It’s in your hand.) Turns out, the seemingly small things—like availability and generosity, friendship and forgiveness—aren’t so small after all.

A perfect blend of medical drama and spiritual insight, Gray Matter is a fascinating account of Dr. David Levy's decision to begin asking his patients if he could pray for them before surgery. Some are thrilled. Some are skeptical. Some are hostile, and some are quite literally transformed by the request.

Americans spend a majority of their waking hours working, whether paid or unpaid. Due to a global pandemic, rapidly advancing technology, shifts in the economy, and more, the working world has become an increasingly complex place to navigate. In this newly expanded and updated version of his 2011 book, Work Matters, author and pastor Tom Nelson wrestles with the latest trends and dynamics of work, including remote work, work-life balance, technology, the meaning of Sabbath, and working for the common good.

While Christians have had a long heritage of rigorous scholarship and careful thinking, some circles still view the intellect with suspicion or even as contradictory to Christian faith. And many non-Christians are quick to label Christians as anti-intellectual and obscurantist. But this need not be so. In this classic introduction to Christian thinking, John Stott makes a forceful appeal for Christian discipleship that engages the mind as well as the heart.

Life is full of love, but it is also full of loss. Like paper cuts to the heart, every big and seemingly insignificant loss—the loss of friendships, faith, dreams, health, community, and everything in between—grieves us more than we think it will, and often more than we let on. Why? Because they matter. In this compassionate and deeply personal book, Rachel Marie Kang invites you to see and be seen in the midst of your sorrow, your suffering—your story.

In Sunday Matters, Paul David Tripp shares 52 devotions about the beauty and significance of church, helping Christians engage in vibrant gathered worship each week. Each short, accessible meditation highlights an essential spiritual topic, including divine grace, gratitude, our identity in Christ, and dependence on the Lord. Over the course of a year, Sunday Matters will strengthen each believer’s personal relationship with God and fill churches with joyful, engaged, and passionate worshipers.

What makes life meaningful? More to the point, what makes our life meaningful? Without a good answer to that question, we can expend much energy and experience much anxiety as we attempt to live lives of significance, only to find that in the end we missed the point entirely and along the way were deeply dissatisfied. But there is hope. In Why You Matter, Michael Sherrard shows that life is only meaningful if God exists. He then shows how that fundamental fact provides clarity for some of the most important questions of our lives.

Insightful and encouraging, this book offers practical, real-world solutions to persistent problems associated with being the hands and feet of Jesus in a hurting world.

Hannah Brencher, TED Talk speaker and founder of The World Needs More Love Letters, thought Atlanta was her destination. Yet even after she arrived, she found herself in the same old chase for the next best thing…somewhere else. And it left her in a state of anxiety and deep depression. Our hyper-connected era has led us to believe life should be a highlight reel - where what matters most is perfect beauty, instant success, and ready applause. Yet, as Hannah learned, nothing about faith, relationships, or character is instant. So she took up a new mantra: be where your feet are.

In the past decades, work has changed dramatically. Yet we are still sent into the new world of work with old, outdated tools, expectations, and strategies. This leaves us ill-equipped in our pursuit of meaningful work that will impact our communities and change the world. The result? Unmet expectations and unfulfilled longings. Not to mention curiosity about how to do the work we sense God calling us to.

Best-selling author, counselor, and life coach helps women lay down unrealistic goals, break free from the pressure to be perfect, and start living fully rather than simply trying not to fail.

God created mankind with the capacity to think. What a person thinks matters and what a person believes matters. Anything that matters must be important. People like to know what they think and what they believe is true because that would be important. However, that is not what happens because sometimes, maybe often, people think and believe what is not true. This is a problem. This book is about truth and reality. This book is about the importance of God's truth and God's reality because God's truth and God's reality matter.

Uncover the ways the Christian church has changed in recent years—from the decline of the mainline denominations to the mega-churchification of American culture—and a hopeful reimagining of what the church might look like going forward. The United States is in the middle of an unprecedented...

Insights from Effective Churches on New Member Classes and AssimilationFindings from a national study to improve membership classes and to motivate current members into active ministry.How do churches move members—both old and new—into ministry? Many church staff and lay leaders know they...

​Every Member Matters is a small and accessible book that lays out the important role that every member plays in the mission of the local church. This book is written by two pastors leading in different contexts in the same community, one a church planter and the other a pastor of an established church.

With unassuming honesty and candor, Dr. Mark Chironna openly shares what he learned in his own three-year battle with darkness. Integrating the best of theology with Christ-centered psychology, he offers scriptural and holistic truths that will help lead you out of the murky depths. Though it feels as if this dark night will never end, you can walk through your uncertainty, fears, and tears to find the edge of hope again.

"I don't want to go to heaven. Not that I'm lobbying for the other place . . ." —Michael Wittmer This planet is more than just a stopover on your way to heaven. It is your final destination. God wants you to enjoy your earthly existence, and to think otherwise is to miss the life he intends...