Showing titles in Discipleship

Do you want to make a difference with your life, but you're having trouble moving on from your past? "Follow me," Jesus told his early followers, "and I'll show you life as it was meant to be lived." Nick Hall reminds us that Jesus says the same thing to us today: "Trust me. Follow me. Come to me dirty, and I'll clean you up. Come broken, and I'll reassemble the parts. Come desperate, and I'll replace pain with joy. Come to me with all your questions, all your confusion, all your fear. I can reset your purity, your self-image, your faith. Come."

The community of Christ has a great tradition of invitation. Inviting others to faith requires leaning in to your own story, overcoming fear, and stepping out. But the good news is for everyone, always. And you can help keep it going. Using Scripture and story, Steve Carter casts a vision for non-threatening conversations that point people to Christ. Most significantly, Steve shows that only through risking it all will we discover what God is truly like.

Pleasing God is not a matter of personal choice, but an imperative that must be taken seriously. In a world of self, we must give way to the priority of God if we want to experience His joy.In the popular book, Alistair identifies 10 benchmarks from Scripture that will prove invaluable as you seek to live a life that is pleasing to God. His clear, personal message will challenge and revitalize your faith.

In The Pietist Option, Christopher Gehrz, a historian of Pietism, and Mark Pattie, a pastor in the Pietist tradition, show how Pietism holds great promise for the church-and the world-today. Modeled after Philipp Spener's 1675 classic, Pia Desideria, this timely book makes a case for the vitality of Pietism in our day. Taking a hard look at American evangelicalism and why it needs renewal, Gehrz and Pattie explore the resources that Pietism can provide the church of the 21st century.

"And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way" (1 Peter 3:15-16, NLT). This book demonstrates again and again that talking about God is simple when we commit ourselves first to loving and listening to our friends. For people who are intimidated or fatigued by the idea of talking about matters of faith, Talking About God offers story after gripping story about faith conversations that avoid cliché and combativeness.

To have found God and still to pursue Him is a paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too-easily-satisfied religious person, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux stated this holy paradox in a musical four-line poem.

The world is fractured. Tensions are high, patience is low, and goodwill is hard to come by. In The Genius of One, author and pastor Greg Holder reminds us of the high value Jesus and his early followers placed on community and offers guidance for how to see and relate to one another in emotionally and spiritually healthy ways so that we, the church, can fulfill Jesus' prayer for us and model a better way of loving one another in a fractured world.

Doug Logan pastors in Camden, NJ, a city of great need where God is doing great things. Amid drug abuse, gang violence, and extreme poverty, God is using Doug and Epiphany Fellowship to rewrite broken stories and bring life to the block. With teachings from Scripture and powerful stories from his urban context, Doug will help you change the story on your own block, wherever that may be. If you are a pastor trying to mobilize your church, or a Christian trying to live with purpose, this theology of missions will help.

A virus has been spreading across America. Chances are you've already been infected without even realizing it. The virus is made up of dangerous ideas - worldviews that don't reflect Jesus and biblical living. According to a recent Barna study, less than one in five practicing Christians has a biblical worldview. Idea viruses - stemming from secularism, Marxism, postmodernism, new spirituality, and Islam - are rampant in our churches today. But don't give up - there is hope!

This illuminating 12-lecture audio course will crystallize your understanding of the two vital elements that make up discipleship: mission and evangelization. Fr. Gittins expertly dissects familiar scripture passages, revealing the deep and inspiring faith of Jesus’ first disciples. The concluding lecture ties everything together with powerful reflections on the cost of discipleship: a willingness to give up everything to follow Christ.

We are story-making people. We love reading stories - and we love hearing the personal stories of others. We need stories, or narratives, to make sense of our world. And those stories shape our lives. What is the story you have been told about the Gospel? About God? About the Christian life? About Jesus? About the cross? About yourself? About heaven?

When people live in community moved by the gospel and marked by the Spirit, great things happen. They commit to one another. They grieve together, sing together, eat, pray, and play together. They love, serve, honor, encourage, and provide for each other gladly. And they live on mission together.

Somewhere along the way, our culture lost its definition of manhood, leaving generations of men and men-to-be confused about their roles, responsibilities, and relationships and the reason God made them men. It's into this "no-man's-land" that New York Times best-selling author Mark Batterson declares his mantra for manhood: Play the man. In this inspiring call to something greater, he helps men understand what it means to be a man of God by unveiling seven virtues of manhood.

In True Discipleship William MacDonald highlights some principles of New Testament discipleship and challenges every genuine Christian believer. He makes clear that nothing less than an all-out commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ is required of us. The savior seeks those who will give him first place in their lives.

Too many discipleship books are written for clean, perfect people who know all the right Sunday school answers. The Imperfect Disciple is for the rest of us—people who screw up, people who are weary, people who are wondering if it's safe to say what they're really thinking. For the believer who is tired of quasi-spiritual lifehacks being passed off as true, down-and-dirty discipleship, here is a discipleship book that isn't afraid to be honest about the mess we call real life.

In this Christian classic, late pastor and evangelist A. W. Tozer brings the mystics to bear on modern spirituality, grieving the hustle and bustle and calling for a slow, steady gaze upon God. With prophetic vigor and flowing prose, he urges us to replace low thoughts of God with lofty ones, to quiet our lives so we can know God's presence. He reminds us that life apart from God is really no life at all.

In One, Riggs shows listeners that when Jesus offered himself up in our place, he was not only purchasing our salvation but also setting an example for us to follow. She helps listeners understand that they are secure in God's inexhaustible love, making them free to love others lavishly—not just in what they do but in what they say, what they don't say, what they will endure, and what they will forgive.

The second in Joe Thorn's series on the confession, nature, and expression of the church, The Character of the Church explores what the church is fundamentally like. Useful for training in membership classes, discipleship groups, and elder boards, The Character of the Church is at once theological, practical, and experiential. Listeners will be not simply informed but led to a deeper appreciation of the church of God.

The third in Joe Thorn's three-book series on the confession, nature, and expression of the Church, The Life of the Church explores what the church does because of who it is. Useful for training in membership class, discipleship groups, and elder boards—and even for devotional reading—The Life of the Church is at once theological, practical, and experiential. Listeners will not simply be informed, but led to a deeper conviction about their role in the body of Christ.

The first in Joe Thorn's three book series on the confession, nature, and expression of the Church, The Heart of the Church explores the center of the Church's life and identity: the gospel. Useful for training in membership classes, discipleship groups, and elder boards - The Heart of the Church is at once theological, practical, and experiential. Listeners will not simply be informed, but led to believe in, rejoice in, and be transformed by the truth of God for his gathered people.