Showing titles in Ecclesiology

In Holy Disunity: How What Separates Us Can Save Us, Layton E. Williams proposes that our primary calling as humans is not to create unity but rather to seek authentic relationship with God, ourselves, one another, and the world around us. And that means actively engaging those with whom we disagree. Our religious, political, social, and cultural differences can create doubt and tension, but disunity also provides surprising gifts of perspective and grace.

In Deep Church, Belcher brings the best insights of all sides to forge a third way between emerging and traditional. In a fair and evenhanded way, Belcher explores the proposals of such emerging church leaders as Tony Jones, Brian McLaren and Doug Pagitt. He offers measured appreciation and affirmation as well as balanced critique.

Many of us have questions about what it means to live as a Christian in the context of a local church. You may even catch yourself asking: If I believe in Jesus, why do I need to join a church? To put it simply, when you are saved from your sin, you are saved into a community characterized by fellowship and accountability.

Does the phrase church discipline sound like an oxymoron? The church’s message is about grace, we reason, while discipline feels like the opposite of grace. In fact, Jesus taught his disciples to practice church discipline because it’s one way congregations grow in holiness and imitate God’s own love. In this audiobook, Jonathan Leeman presents biblical answers to questions about the nature and application of church discipline, conveying that Scripture presents church discipline as both loving and necessary.

Many believe Charles Colson and Ellen Vaughn¿s The Body to be the watershed book of the past decade. It impacted the Church worldwide, encouraging Christians of diverse backgrounds to see themselves as part of the universal body of Christ. It challenged many to a new sense of unity, realizing that we blunt the Gospel message every time we divide over petty issues and personal turf.

Michelle Van Loon came to faith in Jesus as a Jewish teenager and embraced the first Christian community she found: evangelicals. Over the next 50 years, she enthusiastically worshiped and worked in a wide variety of evangelical groups. Looking back on those experiences today, Van Loon treasures the things that truly deepened her faith. At the same time, she laments the accumulation of baggage—religious ideas and practices that were unhelpful at best, and harmful at worst.

The Hybrid Congregation explores how technology has become an integral part of our daily lives and how it is impacting religious practices in unexpected ways. With the rise of online platforms, including social media and video conferencing tools, the concept of a physical church space is being redefined. The virtual world is now an extension of our physical reality, blurring the lines between what is considered "real" and what is not.

Do you have a nagging feeling that something’s missing from your church experience? You’re not alone. And it’s time to discover a better way. Church-reform advocate and Bible scholar Peter DeHaan, PhD, is a strong proponent of meaningful Christian community. In Jesus’s Broken Church, he uses Scripture to guide us into right practices and away from the off-track customs that most every church adheres to. The problem is that today’s church follows an Old Testament model.

This book is essentially a field guide to Conditional Time-Salvation Primitive Baptist vocabulary—a “dictionary” that tries to use terms Conditionalists actually use, and then document them with examples from their own published wording and common reference points. What’s in it A foreword written from an Absoluter, non-means Old School Baptist voice—polemical, forceful, and intentionally suspicious of “two-story” systems where eternal salvation is all of God but time blessings become conditional wages. It attacks the idea that conditional frameworks subtly “edit God” and ...

There's got to be more to church than this. People around the world are seeking a community that focuses more on others than on themselves. Yet most don't know where to start. Drawing from his own journey, Brandon Hatmaker reminds us that serving the least is not a trendy act of benevolence but...

Comment peut-on définir l’Église ? Lorsqu’on mentionne le mot « Église », beaucoup de gens pensent à un bâtiment. D’autres l’associent à une dénomination chrétienne en particulier. Mais l’Église est bien plus que cela. Dans ce petit livre, R. C. Sproul explique que l’Église ne fait pas référence à un bâtiment, mais à un groupe de personnes appartenant à la famille universelle de Dieu et appelées à vivre des vies qui le glorifient.

What does faithful church leadership look like according to Scripture? In an age where churches often adopt corporate models of leadership or personality-driven ministries, Under the Chief Shepherd calls the Church back to a biblical vision of governance rooted in Christ’s authority and the wisdom of Scripture. The Church belongs to Jesus Christ. Every form of leadership within it—pastors, elders, deacons, trustees, and ministry leaders—exists under His authority and for His glory. In this deeply theological and practical book, Brendon Naicker explores: • The headship of Christ over...

UNA OBRA MAESTRA DE LA ECLESIOLOGÍA Y EL MINISTERIO PASTORAL El deber de los pastores y la congregación es una obra fundamental para comprender la estructura y el funcionamiento de la iglesia cristiana. Escrito en un momento crítico de la vida y el pensamiento de Owen, este tratado ofrece una visión profunda y detallada de las responsabilidades tanto de los líderes eclesiásticos como de los feligreses. John Owen, uno de los teólogos más destacados del siglo XVII, guía al lector a través de una comprensión clara y aplicable de los principios bíblicos esenciales para el ...

Election Untangled: Chosen for the Gospel, Not for Salvation Few doctrines in Scripture have been more hotly debated—and more misunderstood—than the doctrine of election. For centuries, Christians have asked: Who does God choose? Does election mean only some can be saved? Is salvation restricted to the “elect”? These questions have divided churches, sparked controversy, and caused confusion for believers seeking clear biblical answers. In Election Untangled, Pastor Marvin McKenzie takes readers on a journey from Genesis to Revelation to uncover what the Bible really teaches about ...

There is a war being waged between what the Bible defines as the proper roles for the sexes and secularism’s own fluid philosophy of gender. Within the church, one battle in this war is being waged around the pulpit....

Many Christians know they should be passionate about evangelism, but in reality they often find it daunting. In this concise version of God Shines Forth, Daniel Hames and Michael Reeves urge Christians to grow in their knowledge and enjoyment of God—as they know God more, they will be spurred on to authentic service through missions and evangelism. To illustrate how the nature of God influences evangelism and missions, Hames and Reeves address biblical themes such as the glory of God, Christ's sacrifice, the fallenness of man, and the church's future hope.

Jesus People is a call to abandon cheap, consumeristic Christianity and recapture the radical and subversive nature of authentic Christianity. It explores the eight Beatitudes and the way each of them inform how we must live and approach our God-given mission in the twenty-first century. “To believe in Jesus is to believe the words of Jesus in such a way that God’s people embody God’s radiant light in a weary world. With robust Biblical scholarship and a loving pastoral heart, Ryan Post unpacks Jesus’ call to a ‘holy we’ instead of a ‘holy me.’ When we live in communities ...

Ecclesiology is the study of the church, which is God’s people throughout the world. God has chosen the church to be his global representative (Matt 28:19) and to glorify him throughout eternity (Eph 3:21). The church is God’s temple (1 Cor 3:16) and his family (Gal 6:10). It is Christ’s body, including various members with different spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12:12-28). It is the salt and light of the world (Matt 5:13-14). While on earth, Christ promised to build his church and that the gates of hades will not prevail against it (Matt 16:18). It is the most important institution in the ...

Churches and their leaders have innovation fever. Innovation seems exciting—a way to enliven tired institutions, embrace creativity, and be proactive—and is a superstar of the business world. But this focus on innovation may be caused by an obsession with contemporary relevance, creativity, and entrepreneurship that inflates the self, lacks theological depth, and promises burnout. In this follow-up to Churches and the Crisis of Decline, leading practical theologian Andrew Root delves into the problems of innovation.

Jesus promised, “Where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them" (Matthew 18:20). Writing in a positive, friendly, engaging style, the author encourages you to claim that promise and experience that presence, and walks you through it with practical how-to advice.