The most beautiful way to introduce your little one to the incredible story of salvation history! This is the Church will dazzle you with its detailed, stained-glass illustrations and tempt you to countless readings with its rhythmic story. Through this unique picture book, which is destined to become a classic found in all Catholic homes, you and your little one will fall more deeply in love with Jesus Christ, Our Savior and King, who died and then rose and founded a Church, the Catholic Church, to share God's love with the world. If you're already a fan of Katie Warner and Meg Whalen's beautiful children's books, this one will not disappoint . . . and is likely to become your new favorite.

Here is the church, here is the steeple . . . This update to the classic children's rhyme is an introduction to church for a new era, a whirlwind tour through all the wonderful things church can be and do and mean. From megachurches to little chapels to underground meetings, from welcoming to helping to feeding the hungry, church can be and do a lot of things. But ultimately that old rhyme said it best: the church is the people! With gently rhyming text by Sarah Raymond Cunningham and the vibrant and diverse illustrations of Ariel Landy, This Is the Church is an ideal gift for baptisms, confirmations, or any occasion in which children are welcomed into the life of the body of Christ.

The unexpectedly entertaining story of how the Church of England lost its place at the centre of English public life - now updated with new material by the authors including comments on the book's controversial first publication. 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.

What role do varied understandings of the church play in the doctrine and interpretation of Scripture? In The Church’s Book, Brad East explores recent accounts of the Bible and its exegesis in modern theology and traces the differences made by divergent, and sometimes opposed, theological accounts of the church. Surveying first the work of Karl Barth, then that of John Webster, Robert Jenson, and John Howard Yoder (following an excursus on interpreting Yoder’s work in light of his abuse), East delineates the distinct understandings of Scripture embedded in the different traditions that these notable scholars represent. In doing so, he offers new insight into the current impasse between Christians in their understandings of Scripture—one determined far less by hermeneutical approaches than by ecclesiological disagreements. East’s study is especially significant amid the current prominence of the theological interpretation of Scripture, which broadly assumes that the Bible ought to be read in a way that foregrounds confessional convictions and interests. As East discusses in the introduction to his book, that approach to Scripture cannot be separated from questions of ecclesiology—in other words, how we interpret the Bible theologically is dependent upon the context in which we interpret it.

Our culture is changing at a dizzying rate. But the church seems to be left behind, caught in subcultural backwaters that have little or no impact on mainstream society. Based on the quantitative research of his group, Percept, Regele analyzes the forces in our culture and discusses how the church can fulfill its mission in the face of them.

In this "blueprint for survival," Christian sociologist George Barna evaluates the moral and spiritual decline of society and the corresponding stagnation within the Church. Using hard data, Barna unveils the status quo and argues convincingly that the Church must re-invent itself or face virtual oblivion by the mid-21st century.

The Church That Works: Democracy vs. Theocracy is a focus on how giving back His church releases followers of Jesus Christ to serve and unleashes God's power to back them. When authority rises from the people, the enabling power for ministry goes no higher than their heads. When authority flows from the Head of the Church through the offices He gave, it brings His power, all power in Heaven and earth, to bear on human needs. The church that works wins its own children, reaches its neighbors, blesses its community, and makes God known to its generation, and the next, around the world. That church necessarily will be one in which the people, not just the clergy, do the work of the ministry. More than a body of believers, the church is a body of Christian workers. When the people falter in ministry, the church fails in its mission. The church cannot work if the people who are called to lead are forced to follow or if those called to follow are trying to lead. The Church That Works explores giving Real Power to the People.

Social justice and mission are hot topics today: there's a wonderful resurgence of motivated Christians passionate about spreading the gospel and caring for the needs of others. But in our zeal to get sharing and serving, many are unclear on gospel and mission. Yes, we are called to spend ourselves for the sake of others, but what is the church's unique priority as it engages the world? DeYoung and Gilbert write to help Christians "articulate and live out their views on the mission of the church in ways that are theologically faithful, exegetically careful, and personally sustainable." Looking at the Bible's teaching on evangelism, social justice, and shalom, they explore the what, why, and how of the church's mission. From defining "mission", to examining key passages on social justice and their application, to setting our efforts in the context of God's rule, DeYoung and Gilbert bring a wise, studied perspective to the missional conversation. Readers in all spheres of ministry will grow in their understanding of the mission of the church and gain a renewed sense of urgency for Jesus' call to preach the Word and make disciples.