As we enter a Community of Faith for the first time, we are naturally drawn to a shared spirituality. It may be a congregation, synagogue, mosque, or temple. It is shared spiritually of the people at prayer which attracts us and draws us to unite with others in prayer. There are three shared stands of any Community of Faith: their shared faith tradition, the culture of the community, and the personalities of the members. This book examines the elements of tradition, culture, and personal temperament to determine how the three become spiritually integrated at the moment of prayer. The conclusion is that through an explicit assessment of these three elements, members of the faith community can enrich their personal spiritual life, resulting in spiritual growth and can ultimately revitalize the spiritual prayer life of the community of faith. The books is a spiritual intervention of a Presbyterian congregation in Central New York in the 1980s. I'm grateful for the prayer group that committed there Wednesday nights during 1986. This is their story of how they were able to revitalize the spiritual life of a 150-year-old three-hundred-member Presbyterian congregation.

Is church revitalization and turnaround biblical? Or, is it merely a secular concept? In Revitalize Your Church, you will discover that the Bible has much to say about revitalization. Combining biblical scholarship, first-hand research, and personal experience, Pastor Dan Eymann develops a biblical blueprint for revitalization. Utilizing the seven churches of Revelation, Pastor Dan identifies seven crucial biblical building blocks for church revitalization. He also builds a model for turnaround leadership from the example of Nehemiah, one of the greatest turnaround leaders in biblical history. Revitalize Your Church will give you hope and biblical insights on turning around a plateaued church. Your church can experience revitalization and renewal.

At last—a resource for librarians who wish to build or develop their nonfiction collection and use it to better serve the needs of adult Christian readers. Covering the three major branches of Christianity (Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox), the author organizes more than 600 titles into subject categories ranging from biography, the arts, and education, to theology, devotion, and spiritual warfare. Award-winning classics are noted. Introductory narrative frames the literature, and helps librarians better understand Christian literature; and learn how to establish selection criteria for building a Christian nonfiction collection.

Preaching Effectively, Revitalizing Your Church offers a practical and theological guide to effective preaching. Guerric DeBona, an experienced and respected teacher of homiletics, uses the metaphor of a ladder to describe the ascent up seven rungs that constitute the strategies of preaching. Beginning with advice on discovering a personal theology of preaching, the author proceeds to unlock the power of the Bible and the liturgy. He then guides preachers in creating a unified homily and in discovering a homiletic method that best suits their own intellect and temperament. Chapters on communicating in contemporary culture and on globalizing the homily for the New Evangelization are vital for coming to grips with the technological age and the often bewildering diversity of today's world. Finally, DeBona challenges readers to recognize and confront their own obstacles to effective preaching. Each chapter ends with questions to assist preachers in appropriating the material. With bad homilies consistently cited as a factor in declining church attendance, Preaching Effectively, Revitalizing Your Church answers a very pressing need, especially in view of the papacy's urgent call to rescue traditionally Christian countries from the brink of total secularization. Book jacket.

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.

Why is it a struggle to pray? Respected professor, speaker, and pastor Dr. Chuck Lawless explores the power of a praying church and how it can transform your ministry. Through prayer, we have access to the all-powerful living God. Even so, too many of us are tempted to start our days prayerless and feeling alone. How can this be? We can’t afford to be so negligent, because whether we realize it or not we all face a high-stakes spiritual battle when we step out into our communities. In The Potential and Power of Prayer, Chuck Lawless illustrates how churches need to take prayer seriously in order to grow; explores how Jesus and the early church depended on God through prayer; explains how prayer is essential to preparing for spiritual battles; and guides church leaders in establishing the priority of prayer and a thriving prayer ministry in their churches. God chooses to move among Christians who humbly come to him in prayer; who depend on him for strength and guidance.

Themajority of American churches are stalled or in decline. Church Come Forth is a strategic model for renewing andrevitalizing plateaued and dying churches into prevailing and growingcongregations. Todd Hudnall combines Biblical insights, church revitalizationresearch and his experience as a turnaround pastor to provide a guidebook for transformation.It is God's desire to renew His church and most church leaders will find thisplan a Godsend in effectively revitalizing their congregations. Steve Pike, Director of the Church Multiplication Network says: Three words came to mind when I read Church Come Forth by Todd Hudnall - Biblical, Practical, Real. Biblical - A book about God's Church would be useless if not filled with wisdom from God's Book! Hudnall carefully makes the Biblical case for revitalization, unpacking scripture after scripture to lay a firm foundation for why and how a drifting church can once again join God on His mission. Practical - Todd Hudnall is a seasoned and successful practitioner whose walk aligns with his talk. His counsel is based on the best research and his actual experience of applying that research. As a result, Church Come Forth is loaded with great advice that is tried and true. Real - Todd's honesty about his personal growing pains is refreshing. His diverse experience in churches small and large make his counsel relatable to every pastor. He writes as a pastor friend writing to a pastor friend. Church Come Forth is a must read for every leader of a plateaued or declining church.

Church health is measured by more than just numbers, but declining membership is often a key symptom of a church in crisis. The pastor of a dying church doesn't need to be told it is dying; he needs to find the way forward--and he needs hope. Author and pastor Andrew Davis offers readers the lessons he's learned in his own journey of leading church transformation, including - keeping Christ's ownership of the church central - being humble - choosing your battles wisely - empowering godly men to join in leadership - making prayer a priority - focusing on the Word - and more Church decline is not inevitable. Revitalize gives pastors the spiritual support they long for and the practical advice they need to turn their churches around and position them for greater health in the future.

Through the 12 Point Action Plan Vision of Reverend Dr. R.B. Holmes, Jr., this book serves as a model to support the needs of the churches of the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc.

As modern society becomes increasingly secular, Christians today find themselves living in a world that is not only diametrically opposed to their faith, but also downright hostile about it. While living in what has been deemed an anti-Christian culture, characterized by a vehemently negative view of both Christianity and Christians, we are locked in a fight-to-the-finish battle with the forces of evil. Rory Noland calls and equips twenty-first century Christians to engage in spiritual warfare by praying the Psalms—the same book of prayers that ministered to the Israelites of old and served as their collective voice in turbulent times. He highlights a group of psalms that address three specific areas currently under spiritual attack—the family, the church, and the culture at large. Each chapter focuses on a particular psalm, presents a verse-by-verse devotional commentary, and concludes with prayer exercises based on that psalm. Throughout his presentation, Noland encourages Christians to stay vigilant in the all-important kingdom work called prayer. Fighting on Our Knees calls and equips Christians to engage in spiritual warfare by praying psalms that address three vital areas: family, church, and culture.