Developing Healthy Churches is an utterly practical and realistic guide for any leader seeking to revitalize and grow their church. The long-awaited sequel to the bestselling Healthy Churches’ Handbook, this new volume will help you implement tried and tested approaches for healthy church growth in your parish.

In an age obsessed with physical and psychological health the author emphasizes the importance of spiritual well-being as an essential element of holistic health for the individual Christian and for Christian communities. This work constitutes a template for a spiritual audit of the local church. It offers an appointment with the Great Physician that no Christian can afford to ignore. Developing Healthy Churches: A Case-Study in Revelation begins with a well-researched outline of the origins and development of the church health movement. With that background in mind the author, aware that throughout the history of the church there have been a number of diverse views about how Revelation ought to be interpreted, presents the reader with four distinct interpretive models. These are the idealist, preterist, historicist, and futurist. Beville explains these interpretive approaches simply and critiques them fairly. Revelation is a complex but intriguing book which presents seven letters to the churches of Asia Minor. However, this easy-to-read work will take readers to the heart of the matter by taking them to the heart of Jesus. The historical and cultural background provides fascinating insights to the meaning of Christ’s words to those churches then and to all churches now. The author elicits essential application for the church today. He presents timeless and timely truths in a fresh and forthright manner. The reader is informed about issues of particular historical significance in a way that has contemporary resonance. Here is a work that cautions about complacency, confronts compromise and challenges the carnality of Christians in contemporary culture. Beville tells us not only what Jesus desires from his disciples but also what He demands. Thus, this work presents uncomfortable truth for comfortable churches because it allows the voice of Jesus to be heard with clarity amongst the clamor of church activity. Christians who want to restore their vision and vigor will find this book immensely profitable.

A practical guide that helps churches identify their strengths and weaknesses and discover what action to take in order to develop the health of their church. It focuses on the quality of the church's life rather than just the numbers attending.

"A wonderful tool that I recommend to every church that is serious about being purpose-driven." -Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Church Now available in trade paper, Becoming a Healthy Church illustrates the ten most important characteristics of church health. Based on extensive surveys, this helpful volume is designed to encourage the creation of a healthy climate for your church and its ministry.

Congregations want to support their pastors, but don’t know how. Pastors love their congregations, but they don’t know what to ask of their congregations to garner needed support. Everyone wants to thrive together, but so often we get stuck. This clear and engaging guide helps pastors and congregations bridge communication gaps and set mutual goals and expectations. Reverend Keck grounds his framework of expectations on both scholarly research and on interviews he’s conducted with pastors and lay people. He finds many common difficulties in churches arise from failing to discuss priorities and expectations, and from not effectively working through the problems that arise when expectations aren’t met. For pastors and congregants to arrive at common expectations, they need to understand each other—their respective needs, hopes, and distinctive callings. This book provides concrete steps to aid congregants and pastors communicate their mutual expectations. Keck presents fifty “expectation statements”—examples of what pastors and congregations can expect of one another; a vital resource to anyone who seeks to initiate a discussion of expectations in their own church. Elucidating goals and expectations allows congregations and pastors to support one another and flourish, and fosters church health and harmony.

Explores a variety of growing churches to identify what is making the difference between them and churches which are static or declining. In addition to numerical growth, it asks how we measure spiritual growth and identifies the signs of spiritual vitality, laying a practical and theological foundation for continued growth into the future.

How to Do Mission Action Planning (SPCK, 2009) was the first book to appear on the MAP process, at a time when it was beginning to have a significant impact. In this fully revised and expanded edition, the authors offer further critical evaluation and theological reflection, by drawing on the experiences of people who have been using the MAP process in different contexts from their own: Fr Damian Feeney, parish priest and Catholic Missioner of Lichfield diocese Canon David Banbury, leader of Parish Mission Support, Blackburn diocese The Rt Revd Dr Alan Smith, Bishop of St Albans Dr Stephen Hance, Canon Missioner of Southwark diocese Linda Rayner, the United Reformed Church co-ordinator for Fresh Expressions ‘This is a rare book – a refreshing meditation on planning for mission – and one that is rooted in spirituality. As the authors show, the church and its mission arise from our vision of God. And once that vision has been realised, churches are able to become more intentional about their mission. Our vocation to share God’s love is not an option or an afterthought. It is the heart and soul of our faith. Mission – and our planning of it – should not fill us with fear or foreboding. Rather, as the authors argue, the call to share God’s love can be evermore meaningful, even as mission becomes more methodical.’ The Very Revd Prof. Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford ‘This is a must-read for anyone using MAP. The rich theological reflection, the detailed unpacking of the 4 MAP phases and the learning offered by the 5 guest practitioners add up to an impressive offering. This book enables good questions to be asked, overflows with wise reflection and contains oodles of practical examples, ideas and resources. I commend it to all local church leaders who are seeking to discern how best to translate the prayer ‘your kingdom come’ into appropriate church and congregational action.’ John Dunnett, General Director, CPAS 'This timely revision is honest, well researched and carefully put together - an important contribution to the necessary change of culture required in today's Church.' Julian Henderson, Bishop of Blackburn

Ten years on from their first book, Evangelism: Which way now? which has become a valuable and much recommended resource, Mark Ireland and Mike Booker aim to take people a step further. Making New Disciples offers a practical approach, based on careful theological reflection and years of hands-on experience in local church leadership, theological education and the national church. The book is not so much a Which? guide to the available resources, as a wrestling with the paradoxes of evangelism in a changing world, backed up with plenty of stories and specific examples.

Themelios is an international, evangelical, peer-reviewed theological journal that expounds and defends the historic Christian faith. Themelios is published three times a year online at The Gospel Coalition (http://thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/) and in print by Wipf and Stock. Its primary audience is theological students and pastors, though scholars read it as well. Themelios began in 1975 and was operated by RTSF/UCCF in the UK, and it became a digital journal operated by The Gospel Coalition in 2008. The editorial team draws participants from across the globe as editors, essayists, and reviewers. General Editor: D. A. Carson, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Managing Editor: Brian Tabb, Bethlehem College and Seminary Consulting Editor: Michael J. Ovey, Oak Hill Theological College Administrator: Andrew David Naselli, Bethlehem College and Seminary Book Review Editors: Jerry Hwang, Singapore Bible College; Alan Thompson, Sydney Missionary & Bible College; Nathan A. Finn, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; Hans Madueme, Covenant College; Dane Ortlund, Crossway; Jason Sexton, Golden Gate Baptist Seminary Editorial Board: Gerald Bray, Beeson Divinity School Lee Gatiss, Wales Evangelical School of Theology Paul Helseth, University of Northwestern, St. Paul Paul House, Beeson Divinity School Ken Magnuson, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Jonathan Pennington, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary James Robson, Wycliffe Hall Mark D. Thompson, Moore Theological College Paul Williamson, Moore Theological College Stephen Witmer, Pepperell Christian Fellowship Robert Yarbrough, Covenant Seminary