"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."--Luke 19:10 NIVWeek after week you sit peacefully in church. You think everything is OK. But do you really hear the groaning of our lost world? Can you hear the cries of young girls with unwanted pregnancies, the hateful words from the couple who once vowed to love one another, the tired excuses of the overworked, the driven, the defeated?Or, are their cries muffled by the gossip in the next pew, the self-seeking prayers, the unforgiving attitudes barely hidden behind a faade of outward holiness?Out of this chaos, hear a Voice of hope. It comes from One who seeks to rescue the wounded, liberate the enslaved, revive the disheartened. But His message is not just for the lost world; it's for the lost in church.If lately you've been feeling more hypocritical than holy, more apathetic than authentic, more critical than caring, If limits on what or how much you will forgive have crept in, If you've been seeking the gifts rather than the Giver, If you've found yourself spreading gossip instead of grace, If you realize the intimacy you once had with God has dried up...Then journey with Jonathan Cash as his transparent words help to truly satisfy the longing in your heart and renew your relationship with the Lord. Your heavenly Father longs to restore your spirit and show you how to live as you find your way home.

Close to 60 percent of young people who went to church as teens drop out after high school. Now the bestselling author of unChristian trains his researcher's eye on these young believers. Where Kinnaman's first book unChristian showed the world what outsiders aged 16-29 think of Christianity, You Lost Me shows why younger Christians aged 16-29 are leaving the church and rethinking their faith. Based on new research, You Lost Me shows pastors, church leaders, and parents how we have failed to equip young people to live "in but not of" the world and how this has serious long-term consequences. More importantly, Kinnaman offers ideas on how to help young people develop and maintain a vibrant faith that they embrace over a lifetime.

The Church of England still seemed an essential part of Englishness, and even of the British state, when Mrs Thatcher was elected in 1979. The decades which followed saw a seismic shift in the foundations of the C of E, leading to the loss of more than half its members and much of its influence. In England today 'religion' has become a toxic brand, and Anglicanism something done by other people. How did this happen? Is there any way back? This 'relentlessly honest' and surprisingly entertaining book tells the dramatic and contentious story of the disappearance of the Church of England from the centre of public life. The authors – religious correspondent Andrew Brown and academic Linda Woodhead – watched this closely, one from the inside and one from the outside. That Was the Church, That Was shows what happened and explains why.

In this groundbreaking book, renowned religion scholar Philip Jenkins offers a lost history, revealing that, for centuries, Christianity's center was actually in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, with significant communities extending as far as China. The Lost History of Christianity unveils a vast and forgotten network of the world's largest and most influential Christian churches that existed to the east of the Roman Empire. These churches and their leaders ruled the Middle East for centuries and became the chief administrators and academics in the new Muslim empire. The author recounts the shocking history of how these churches—those that had the closest link to Jesus and the early church—died. Jenkins takes a stand against current scholars who assert that variant, alternative Christianities disappeared in the fourth and fifth centuries on the heels of a newly formed hierarchy under Constantine, intent on crushing unorthodox views. In reality, Jenkins says, the largest churches in the world were the “heretics” who lost the orthodoxy battles. These so-called heretics were in fact the most influential Christian groups throughout Asia, and their influence lasted an additional one thousand years beyond their supposed demise. Jenkins offers a new lens through which to view our world today, including the current conflicts in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Without this lost history, we lack an important element for understanding our collective religious past. By understanding the forgotten catastrophe that befell Christianity, we can appreciate the surprising new births that are occurring in our own time, once again making Christianity a true world religion.

Have you ever wanted something more from your faith? More than religion? More than church? One lost and forgotten biblical word, "ekklesia," holds the key to a more vibrant and life-changing Christianity. --Modern English language Bibles quote Jesus as saying, "I will build My church." However, the earliest Bibles have Jesus saying, "I will build my ekklesia." For hundreds of years, this Bible word-switch has misdirected the way the body of Christ meets for worship. --So what does ekklesia mean? Ekklesia was the name of the city council in ancient Greek city-states. It was a democratic, interactive, participatory body of equal citizens sharing their concerns and needs with one another. --In the Western world, traditional church is in decline. Religious categories now include millions who are "Dones" (done with church) and "Nones" (have no church affiliation). --Perhaps it is time for more than church. Steve Simms invites you to go "beyond church" and experience ekklesia, HEAVEN's CITY COUNCIL, not as a theological concept, but as a practical and living reality.

People are leaving the church J.D. Greear pastors. Big givers. Key volunteers. Some of his best leaders and friends. And that’s exactly how he wants it to be. When Jesus gave his disciples the Great Commission, he revealed that the key for reaching the world with the gospel is found in sending, not gathering. Though many churches focus time and energy on attracting people and counting numbers, the real mission of the church isn’t how many people you can gather. It’s about training up disciples and then sending them out. The true measure of success for a church should be its sending capacity, not its seating capacity. But there is a cost to this. To see ministry multiply, we must release the seeds God has placed in our hands. And to do that, we must ask ourselves whether we are concerned more with building our kingdom or God’s. In Gaining By Losing, J.D. Greear unpacks ten plumb lines that you can use to reorient your church’s priorities around God’s mission to reach a lost world. The good news is that you don’t need to choose between gathering or sending. Effective churches can, and must, do both.

Drawing on the wisdom gleaned from thriving mega-churches and innovative business leaders while anchoring their vision in the Eucharistic center of Catholic faith, Fr. Michael White and lay associate Tom Corcoran present the compelling and inspiring story to how they brought their parish back to life. Rebuilt: Awakening the Faithful, Reaching the Lost, and Making Church Matter is a story of stopping everything and changing focus. When their parish reached a breaking point, White and Corcoran asked themselves how they could make the Church matter to Catholics, and they realized the answer was at the heart of the Gospel. Their faithful response not only tripled their weekend mass attendance, but also yielded increased giving, flourishing ministries, and a vibrant, solidly Catholic spiritual revival. White and Corcoran invite all Catholic leaders to share the vision, borrow their strategies, and rebuild their own parishes. They offer a wealth of guidance for anyone with the courage to hear them.

Examines how the complex issues of the world's culture has influenced the ministry and message of the Christian church on such topics as salvation, worship, the Bible, and sin.

Presented here are two volumes of apocryphal writings reflecting the life and time of the Old and New Testaments. Stories told by contemporary fiction writers of historical Bible times in fascinating and beautiful style.

The church is not dead, nor does it need to be abandoned as some think. It is still a body that can best demonstrate the heart of God to a needy world. Many have looked at the church with all its flaws and turned their backs on it saying it has passed its prime. The main reason for this is that the church has lost its love for one another and consequently for God. While the church may serve God, try to please God, and make efforts to obey God, love is sadly missing. This lack of love for one another manifests itself through church splits, lack of loyalty, ostracizing those who disagree, turning on one another over insignificant reasons, church hopping, firing pastors, etc. Experiencing God's Love in the Church seeks to challenge believers to renew their commitment to loving one another, and in so doing, returning to what Christ intended His body to look like. When the world sees God’s people truly loving one another, they will then be more apt to see how the Father sent the Son as a demonstration of His love for them.