The Plurality Principle

The Plurality Principle PDF

Author: Dave Harvey

Publisher: Crossway

Published: 2021-02-17

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 1433571579

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Building and Sustaining a Thriving Leadership Culture Essential to every healthy church is a biblical model of leadership. In the New Testament, church leadership is built around a team of elders working together, each bringing his own unique skills and gifts to the cause of shepherding the flock God entrusted to them. However, in many churches today the principle of plurality in leadership is often misunderstood, mistakenly applied, or completely ignored. Dave Harvey encourages church leaders to prioritize plurality for the surprising ways that it helps churches to flourish. This book not only builds a compelling case for churches to adopt and maintain biblical elder pluralities guided by solid leadership but also supplies practical tools to help elders work together for transformation. Download the free study guide.

Christian Ethics

Christian Ethics PDF

Author: Wayne Grudem

Publisher: Crossway

Published: 2018-07-20

Total Pages: 1451

ISBN-13: 1433549689

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What does the Bible teach about how to live in today’s world? Best-selling author and professor Wayne Grudem distills over forty years of teaching experience into a single volume aimed at helping readers apply a biblical worldview to difficult ethical issues, including wealth and poverty, marriage and divorce, birth control, abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, business practices, environmental stewardship, telling the truth, knowing God’s will, understanding Old Testament laws, and more.

Messy Grace

Messy Grace PDF

Author: Caleb Kaltenbach

Publisher: WaterBrook

Published: 2015-10-20

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 1601427379

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Sometimes, grace gets messy. Caleb Kaltenbach was raised by LGBT parents, marched in gay pride parades as a youngster, and experienced firsthand the hatred and bitterness of some Christians toward his family. But then Caleb surprised everyone, including himself, by becoming a Christian…and a pastor. Very few issues in Christianity are as divisive as the acceptance of the LGBT community in the church. As a pastor and as a person with beloved family members living a gay lifestyle, Caleb had to face this issue with courage and grace. Messy Grace shows us that Jesus’s command to “love your neighbor as yourself” doesn’t have an exception clause for a gay “neighbor”—or for that matter, any other “neighbor” we might find it hard to relate to. Jesus was able to love these people and yet still hold on to his beliefs. So can you. Even when it’s messy. “Messy Grace is an important contribution to the conversation about sexual identity for churches and leaders. Caleb's story is surprising and unique, and he weaves it together compellingly. He states his views clearly, leaves room for disagreement, and champions love no matter where you are in this conversation.” —Jud Wilhite, Sr. Pastor, Central Christian Church

Rich Wounds

Rich Wounds PDF

Author: David Mathis

Publisher: The Good Book Company

Published: 2022-02-01

Total Pages: 170

ISBN-13: 1784986887

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Profound reflections on the cross that help you to meditate on and marvel at the sacrificial love of Jesus. This book can be used as a devotional, especially during Lent and Easter. These profound reflections on the cross from David Mathis, author of The Christmas We Didn’t Expect, will help you to meditate on and marvel at Jesus’ life, sacrificial death, and spectacular resurrection-enabling you to treasure anew who Jesus is and what he has done. Many of us are so familiar with the Easter story that it becomes easy to miss subtle details and difficult to really enjoy its meaning. This book will help you to pause and marvel at Jesus, whose now-glorified wounds are a sign of his unfailing love and the decisive victory that he has won: “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) This book can be used as a devotional. The chapters on Holy Week make it especially helpful during the Lent season and at Easter.

One God in Three Persons

One God in Three Persons PDF

Author: Bruce A. Ware

Publisher: Crossway Books

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781433528422

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Twelve evangelical scholars offer a comprehensive defense of the eternal submission of the Son and the Spirit to the Father, exploring the issue from exegetical, theological, historical, and pastoral perspectives.

After You Believe

After You Believe PDF

Author: N. T. Wright

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2010-03-02

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 0061730556

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From the author of the acclaimed Simply Christian and Surprised by Hope comes a book that addresses the question that has plagued humans for centuries—what is our purpose? As Christians, what are we to do with that ambiguous time between baptism and the funeral? It's easy to become preoccupied with who gets into heaven; the real challenge is how we are going to live in the here and now. Wright dispels the common misconception that Christian living is nothing more than a checklist of dos and don'ts. Nor is it a prescription to "follow your heart" wherever it may lead. Instead, After You Believe reveals the Bible's call for a revolution—a transformation of character that takes us beyond our earthly pursuit of money, sex, and power into a virtuous state of living that allows us to reflect God and live more worshipful, fulfilling lives. We are all spiritual seekers, intuitively knowing there is more to life than we suspect. This is a book for anyone who is hoping there is something more while we're here on Earth. There is. We are being called to join the revolution, and Wright insightfully encourages readers to find new purpose and clarity by taking us on an eye-opening journey through key biblical passages that promise to radically alter the work of the church and the direction of our lives.

The Poetics of Grace: Christian Ethics as Theodicy

The Poetics of Grace: Christian Ethics as Theodicy PDF

Author: Jeph Holloway

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2013-04-09

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1621896196

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What is God doing about a world marked by conflict and division? What about a world in which our technologies promise great good but also threaten our existence? What is God doing in a world where the demands for accumulation and acquisition create division and despair? Can Christians hope to be of positive influence in a world that does not always support, reflect, or even understand Christian commitments? Christian ethics often raises such questions as these, and the possible answers vary widely. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians is a tremendous resource for exploring a faithful response to perhaps the toughest question of all: what is God doing about evil? The role of Christian ethics is to take seriously the challenge that, whatever God is doing, God calls us to participate in a distinctive task that embraces our own commitments and labors within the divine purpose. Ephesians says that God has taken the initiative to pursue that purpose and, remarkably, offers that we ourselves are part of the answer to the question, what is God doing about evil?

Moved by God to Act

Moved by God to Act PDF

Author: Wm. Carter Aikin

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2014-01-03

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 1630871141

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Moved by God to Act offers a fresh description of Christian moral action as a moment of connection between divine and human agency. Through an ecumenical consideration of a variety of resources, this book gives an accessible description of the work of God's grace not only in individual Christian agency but also within the dynamics of Christian community. Moved by God to Act brings the contemporary theological ethics of community into dialogue with the pneumatology of Thomas Aquinas. The ethic emerging from this dialogue lifts up the centrality of God's grace in Christian community while at the same time offering a detailed articulation of the human being as naturally and beautifully drawn into cooperation with God's grace in the ethical life. The book concludes by showing how Aquinas stands in substantial harmony with the contemporary authors discussed, offering a proper description of God's agency in individual Christian human agency and the dynamics of the "body" of the Christian community to which the contemporary discourse so rightly points. Moved by God to Act is an attempt to speak to the work of God in the life and day-to-day action of Christians and Christian communities as moved to act by the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of the Soil

The Spirit of the Soil PDF

Author: Paul B. Thompson

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-05-25

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 1317196872

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In this second edition of The Spirit of the Soil: Agriculture and Environmental Ethics, Paul B. Thompson reviews four worldviews that shape competing visions for agriculture. Productionists have sought increasing yields—to make two seeds grow where only one grew before—while traditional visions of good farming have stressed stewardship. These traditional visions have been challenged by two more worldviews: a call for a total cost accounting for farming and an advocacy for a holistic perspective. Thompson argues that an environmentally defensible systems approach must draw upon all four worldviews, recognizing their flaws and synthesizing their strengths in a new vision of sustainable agriculture. This classic 1995 study has been thoroughly revised and significantly expanded in its second edition with up-to-date examples of agriculture’s impact on the environment. These include extensive discussions of new pesticides and the effects of animal agriculture on climate and other areas of the environment. In addition, a new final chapter discusses sustainability, which has become a dominant idea within environmental studies and agrarian political philosophy.