In 1992 Dick Gruber's Children's Church: Turning Your Circus into a Service hit the market, challenging children's leaders worldwide. Gruber's experience and insight have provided godly direction for the children's church service to generations of children's leaders. The practical application of that work is still being realized in churches today. In Cultivating a Cutting-Edge Children's Church, Gruber has reviewed and updated the core of his first book, adding more insights, more information, and more inspiration for children's leaders of today and for those of the future. This book will help the children's church leader develop a life-changing service in which boys and girls will be inspired to worship, develop ministry gifts, and respond to the work of God's Holy Spirit. Gruber's heart for children and those who serve them is evident on every page of this writing.

Story, Formation, and Culture brings together a myriad of scholars, researchers, and ministry leaders into conversation about how we can effectively nurture the spirituality of children. Built around the three themes of story, formation, and culture, this volume blends cutting-edge research and insights with attention to how we can bring theory into practice in our ministries with children. The work of children's spiritual formation is often a marginalized component in the church's overall ministry. This volume seeks to equip pastors, leaders, and scholars with cutting-edge research and practices that effectively strengthen their ministries with children.

This title draws on the work of Sheffield Children's Centre, a well-known community cooperative, where cutting edge practice and recognised models of good practice have emerged from community participation.

If the church is to thrive in the twenty-first century, it will have to take on a new form as it ministers to the 120 million unchurched people in the United States. Planting Growing Churches for the 21st Century is still virtually the only available text on church planting in North America and beyond. In this third edition, readers will find material on the importance of healthy, biblical change in our churches, updated appendixes, insight on our postmodern ministry context, and strategies for reaching new population demographics such as Generations X and Y. Pastors, ministry leaders, and church planters will find the information and advice found in this book invaluable as they carry out their ministries.

Annotation. Debates over the ethics of war, economic redistribution, resource consumption and the rights and responsibilities associated with membership of a political community are just some of the major conflicts of principle identified and analyzed by Thomas Kane which characterize world politics today.

The world has changed, and we minister in places we have never been in before. As the world screams for our focus, it's essential to become attentive to God, our congregation, and our community. Kevin Ford and Jim Singleton call for attentive churches with attentive leaders to discern cultural and organizational change and pivot accordingly.

A professor of early childhood education looks beyond excuses to explain why black students are not being educated as well as whites and offers novel solutions on how to close this achievment gap.

Imagine what it would be like to have two highly respected pastors agree to help you tackle every tough situation that you and your church will face in the coming years. That is exactly what you have in this one-of-a-kind resource from Dr. Warren Wiersbe and Howard Sugden. Pulled from decades of pastoral experience, Wiersbe and Sugden provide answers that you won't find in seminaries—answers that both new and experienced pastors need to know to survive and thrive in ministry.

A growing church is a living church, but much of the attention in church growth today is focused on making big churches bigger. This encouraging new book shows members of small and medium-sized congregations how to revive and expand their ministries as well. Churches of every size tend to plateau in attendance and never break free of their self-imposed limitations or 'growth barriers'. This book gives detailed, practical instructions for breaking through those barriers to new levels of impact and service in the community. The EveryChurch Guide to Growth rallies church leaders and members to develop plans for strength and solid growth in the future.