Pillars of Faith

Pillars of Faith PDF

Author: Nancy Tatom Ammerman

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 9780520938335

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At the close of the twentieth century the United States was, by all accounts, among the most religious of modern Western nations. Pillars of Faith describes the diversity of tradition and the commonality of organizational strategy that characterize the more than 300,000 congregations in the United States, arguing that they provide the social bonds, spiritual traditions, and community connections that are vital to an increasingly diverse society. Nancy Tatom Ammerman follows several traditions--Mainline Protestant, Conservative Protestant, African American Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox, Jewish, Sectarian, and other religions--as they establish discernible patterns of congregational life that fit their own history, tradition, and relationship to American society. Her methodologically sophisticated study balances survey research with interviews conducted with people from ninety-one different religious traditions and ethnographic observations that yield new information on many dimensions of American congregational life. Her book is the first to depict the complex resource base supporting American congregations, the enormous web of partners with whom congregations work, and the range of institutional patterns they exhibit. Contrary to many gloomy forecasts, Pillars of Faith: American Congregations and Their Partners argues that organized religion in the United States is robust and vigorous--and that it can handle the increasing demands of escalating diversity and mobility the future is sure to bring.

Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life

Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life PDF

Author: Robert Spitzer

Publisher: Ignatius Press

Published: 2009-09-03

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 1681491842

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Saint Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, espoused the ideal of becoming "contemplatives in action." He was convinced that contemplation (the deep awareness and appropriation of the unconditional love of God) should affect our actions, and that our actions need to be brought back to contemplation. These five dimensions of the spiritual life: (1) the Holy Eucharist, (2) spontaneous prayer, (3) the Beatitudes, (4) partnership with the Holy Spirit, and (5) the contemplative life itself, generally do not develop simultaneously or even in parallel ways. Some develop very quickly, but do not achieve significant depth; while others develop quite slowly, but seem to be almost unending in the depth of wisdom, trust, hope, virtue, and love they engender. The best way of explaining this is to look at each of the pillars individually. Before doing this, however, it is indispensable for each of us to acknowledge (at least intellectually) the fundamental basis for Christian contemplation, namely, the unconditional Love of God. Jesus taught us to address God as Abba. If God really is Abba; if His love is like the father of the prodigal son; if Jesus' passion and Eucharist are confirmations of that unconditional Love; if God really did so love the world that He sent His only begotten Son into the world not to condemn us, but to save us and bring us to eternal life (Jn 3:16-19); if nothing really can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Rm 8:31-39); and if God really has prepared us "to grasp fully, with all the holy ones, the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ's love, and experience this love which surpasses all understanding, so that we may attain to the fullness of God Himself" (Eph 3:18-20), then God's love is unconditional, and it is, therefore, the foundation for unconditional trust and unconditional hope. There can be nothing more important than contemplating, affirming, appropriating, and living in this Unconditional Love. This is the purpose of contemplation; indeed, the purpose of the spiritual life itself.

The Twelve Pillars of the Christian Faith

The Twelve Pillars of the Christian Faith PDF

Author: Frederick Serjeant

Publisher:

Published: 2018-06-17

Total Pages: 143

ISBN-13: 9781983006241

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The Twelve Pillars represent 12 key doctrines or teachings that are basic to true faith for every Christian. These 12 doctrines stand or fall together. They all relate to each other and are essential to a true "Gospel of Grace". . There are many today who are deluded by false 'gospels'. These 12 'pillars' may be seen be a test of the true way of salvation as revealed in the New Testament. They are entitled: The Sovereignty of God, The Gospel of Grace, The Five 'Solas' and The Five Doctrines of Grace, This book may be used to teach new disciples so that they may be grounded in the Faith and enabled to share that faith with others. It will also be of great help to those who have been believers for many years, but seem not to have grown in their understanding of Bible-based Christian Doctrine or in faith itself.

Pillars of Faith

Pillars of Faith PDF

Author: Dr. Brian J. Bailey

Publisher: Zion Christian Publishers

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 1596651342

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In his thought-provoking book Pillars of Faith, Dr. Bailey opens up our understanding of God’s principles of faith. As we journey with him on the path to a more perfect way of faith, we are challenged afresh to enter into new realms of the Spirit where mountains are moved and faith becomes action!

The Pillars of Christian Character

The Pillars of Christian Character PDF

Author: John MacArthur

Publisher: Crossway

Published: 1998-05-13

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 1433517760

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"To love [God] with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." –Jesus' words in Mark 12:33 Without question the crucial issue in living the Christian life is the condition of your heart. Actions may be temporarily deceiving, but ultimately our outward behavior will reflect what's inside, because our internal attitudes form who we really are. Those inner attitudes are also what God deems most important. In this book one of Christianity's most respected Bible teachers and pastors examines the foundational attitudes, or "pillars," of Christian character as outlined in God's Word. Pillars such as genuine faith, obedience, humility, selfless love, forgiveness, self-discipline, gratitude, and worship. To some degree each trait, on its own, marks a person as one of God's own and reveals an active, living faith. Each is an essential element of mature Christianity. But there is transforming power when you combine them in your everyday living as God commands. Your character will be grounded in godliness; you will see things from an eternal perspective; and your faith, your actions, your witness to others will be revitalized from the inside out.

Pillars

Pillars PDF

Author: Rachel Pieh Jones

Publisher:

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 9781636080062

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Personal friendships with Somali Muslims overcome the prejudices and expand the faith of a typical American Evangelical Christian living in the Horn of Africa. When Rachel Pieh Jones moved from Minnesota to rural Somalia with her husband and twin toddlers eighteen years ago, she was secure in a faith that defined who was right and who was wrong, who was saved and who needed saving. She had been taught that Islam was evil, full of lies and darkness, and that the world would be better without it. Luckily, locals show compassion for this blundering outsider who can't keep her headscarf on or her toddlers from tripping over AK-47s. After the murder of several foreigners forces them to evacuate, the Joneses resettle in nearby Djibouti. Jones recounts, often entertainingly, the personal encounters and growing friendships that gradually dismantle her unspoken fears and prejudices and deepen her appreciation for Islam. Unexpectedly, along the way she also gains a far richer understanding of her own Christian faith. Grouping her stories around the five pillars of Islam - creed, prayer, fasting, giving, and pilgrimage - Jones shows how her Muslim friends' devotion to these pillars leads her to rediscover ancient Christian practices her own religious tradition has lost or neglected. Jones brings the reader along as she reexamines her assumptions about faith and God through the lens of Islam and Somali culture. Are God and Allah the same? What happens when one's ideas about God and the Bible crumble and the only people around are Muslims? What happens is that she discovers that Jesus is more generous, daring, and loving than she ever imagined.

Pillars of Faith - Teacher's Manual PDF

Pillars of Faith - Teacher's Manual PDF PDF

Author: Dr. Brian J. Bailey

Publisher: Zion Christian Publishers

Published: 2020-01-16

Total Pages: 112

ISBN-13: 1596650370

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In his thought-provoking book Pillars of Faith, Dr. Bailey opens up our understanding of God’s principles of faith. As we journey with him on the path to a more perfect way of faith, we are challenged afresh to enter into new realms of the Spirit where mountains are moved and faith becomes action!