This study provides a survey of Japanese house church leaders, coupled with sociological analysis of leadership patterns in Japan focused primarily on the leadership of voluntary organisations and a historical review of house church movements, to determine the form and function of leaders and leadership within these movements. The key findings were that leadership is a function and not a role, is often coterminous with disciple-making, and can be characterized primary in terms of the maintainance of group cohesion.

Since the beginning of missionary efforts in Japan in the sixteenth century, the Japanese church has experienced periods of quiet flourishing and periods of intense persecution. Arguably, however, it has never managed to take root as a truly indigenous church-despite great effort toward that aim. In Multiplying Churches in Japanese Soil, John Mehn asks the question: Why? What factors have contributed to the Japanese remaining largely unreached? Mehn examines the current state of affairs and then, with some careful analysis and case study, delves into effective models and leadership for planting churches in Japan that not only grow, but are also equipped to reproduce and multiply. Within these pages, discover mission strategy, kingdom perspective, and hope for the church in Japanese soil.

Spiritual training for leaders passionate about fulfilling the Great Commission. Developed on the mission field, learners discover keys to effective leadership, different leadership styles, and a reproducible plan to imitate Christ as they facilitate groups, churches, and missional networks.

Meticulously researched and drawing on original source materials written in eight different languages, this study fills a lacuna in the historiography of Christianity in Japan, which up to now has paid little or no attention to the experience of women. Focusing on the century between the introduction of Christianity in Japan by Portuguese Jesuit missionaries in 1549 and the Japanese government's commitment to the eradication of Christianity in the mid-seventeenth century, this book outlines how women provided crucial leadership in the spread, nurture, and maintenance of the faith through various apostolic ministries. The author's research on the religious backgrounds of women from different schools of late medieval Japanese Shinto-Buddhism sheds light on individual women's choices to embrace or reject the Reformed Catholicism of the Jesuits, and explores the continuity and discontinuity of their religious expressions. The book is divided into four sections devoted to an in-depth study of different types of apostolates: nuns (women who took up monastic vocations), witches (the women leaders of the Shinto-Buddhist tradition who resisted Jesuit teachings), catechists (women who engaged in ministries of persuasion and conversion), and sisters (women devoted to missions of mercy). Analyzing primary sources including Jesuit histories, letters and reports, especially Luís Fróis' História de Japão, hagiography and family chronicles, each section provides a broad understanding of how these women, in the context of misogynistic society and theology, utilized resources from their traditional religions to new Christian adaptations and specific religio-social issues, creating unique hybrids of Catholicism and Buddhism. The inclusion of Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese texts, many available for the first time in English, and the dramatic conclusion that women were largely responsible for the trajectory of Christianity in early modern Japan, makes this book an essential reading for scholars of women's history, religious history, history of Christianity, and Asian history.

Spiritual training for leaders passionate about fulfilling the Great Commission. Developed on the mission field, learners discover keys to effective leadership, different leadership styles, and a reproducible plan to imitate Christ as they facilitate groups, churches, and missional networks.

The Stone-Campbell Movement: A Global History tells the story of Christians from around the globe and across time who have sought to witness faithfully to the gospel of reconciliation. Transcending theological differences by drawing from all the major streams of the movement, this foundational book documents the movement's humble beginnings on the American frontier and growth into international churches of the twenty-first century.

Lead a small church? New Testament Church Dynamics is perfect for you!Unlike many church growth books, we present proven, Biblical strategies to grow your church both spiritually and numerically.These are not theories cooked up in an ivory tower. Our network of churches lives these principles out in multiple cultures and countries around the globe.By following Scriptural strategies, our unity, participation, purity, community, size, love, and evangelistic fervor have grown dramatically.Our joy is helping leaders of small churches follow Christ's model for church practice and planting.