Pastor and author N. Graham Standish describes how a church that is open to God’s purpose, presence, and power can claim God’s blessing. Standish shares the story of Calvin Presbyterian Church in Zelienople, Pennsylvania, and its journey to become a spiritually deep congregation, one that is inwardly and outwardly healthy: spiritually, psychologically, physically, and relationally. Becoming a Blessed Church will help you discern God’s purpose and the path God is calling your congregation to walk. This book will help you find Christ in your midst and become aware of the many ways the blessings of God’s Spirit flow through your congregation. This second edition includes three new practical chapters that answer the questions the author is most frequently asked: how to effectively run a group discernment practice, how to create an effective small group program, and how to set a church vision in a new direction that actually works.

Philippians 3:20, 21: For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. The Blessed Hope of the Church is the church's glorification and departure from the earth. It is the event by which the Son of Man brings many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10). This is not a made-up doctrine contrived by the thoughts of man. All biblical principles and truths speak of the validity of this teaching and its occurrence before the coming tribulation. For the believer/church, the rapture is its sure and steadfast hope, its constant expectation.