Grab your Bible, a cup of something warm, and settle in with this diverse collection of classic and contemporary poetry, meant to stir your imagination and deepen your experience of scripture in the season ahead.Corresponding with the Revised Common Lectionary Year A (November 2025-May 2026), this volume includes 4 classic and 4 contemporary poems for every week of the church year, from Advent through Pentecost Sunday.Poets include Paul Laurence Dunbar, Emily Dickinson, Mar...

Readers' Choice Award WinnerBest Books About the Church from Byron Borger, Hearts and Minds BookstoreFast food. Fast cars. Fast and furious. Fast forward. Fast . . . church?The church is oftenidealized (or demonized) as the last bastion of a bygone era, dragging our feet as we're pulled into new moralities and new spiritualities. We guard our doctrine and our piety with great vigilance. But we often fail to notice how quickly we're ...

A moving account of how one church learned to center their life together around the practice of conversation and became a beacon of hope along the way.Englewood Christian Church was once a thriving megachurch, but as its surrounding urban neighborhood declined, so did the church.Today, both the church and neighborhood are thriving, and ECC's impact far outweighs the size of its congregation. The ECC story upends the common wisdom ab...

Many young idealists, after a few failures, burn out and return to status quo lives. Not so with the seven radicals in this book, who met in an interracial house church and intentional community on Chicago's West Side during the civil rights era. Here you will make the acquaintance of a Church of the Brethren pastoral couple who tried to bring communal life to the black ghetto; a fashionable socialite who trashed her curlers and joined the simple life; an elite Stanford graduate who cast h...

High-speed internet. Rapid rewards. Quick thinking. Fast food. Fast . . . church?Slow Church by Chris Smith and John Pattison has been eagerly received by a people who are ready to be invited out of franchise faith and back into the kingdom of God. This eleven-session study guide provides an opportunity to reflect on the message of this groundbreaking book both individually and in community. Each session featuresA guide to lectio divinaSuggested vi...

In today's highly charged social and political environment, we often don't know how to talk well with others--especially with people whose backgrounds differ from our own. C. Christopher Smith, coauthor of the critically acclaimed and influential Slow Church, addresses why conversation has become such a challenge in the 21st century and argues that it is perhaps the most-needed spiritual practice of our individualistic age. Smith likens practicing conversation to the working of the human b...

2014 Readers' Choice Award Winner 2014 Best Books About the Church from Byron Borger, Hearts and Minds Bookstore Fast food. Fast cars. Fast and furious. Fast forward. Fast . . . church? The church is often idealized (or demonized) as the last bastion of a bygone era, dragging our feet as we're pulled into new moralities and new spiritualities. We guard our doctrine and our piety with great vigilance. But we often fail to notice how quickly we're capitulating, in the structures and practice...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERFind hope and grace when you are feeling cynical about the church and faith.Are you struggling to connect with your church community? Do you find yourself questioning the core beliefs that you once held dear? Searching for Sunday, from New York Times bestselling author Rachel Held Evans is a heartfelt ode to the past and a hopeful gaze into the future of what it means to be a part ...

In Simply Jesus, bestselling author and leading Bible scholar N.T. Wright summarizes 200 years of modern Biblical scholarship and models how Christians can best retell the story of Jesus today. In a style similar to C.S. Lewis’s popular works, Wright breaks down the barriers that prevent Christians from fully engaging with the story of Jesus. For believers confronting the challenge of connecting with their faith today, and for readers of Timothy Keller’s The Reason for God

More than 1.5 million copies sold! What if you discovered that the life you already have is the life you've always wanted? What if joy and gratefulness is possible right where you are??New York Times?bestselling author Ann Voskamp invites you to embrace everyday blessings and embark on the transformative journey of thankfulness and chronicling God's gifts.How can you find joy in the midst of deadlines, debt, drama, and even the death of loved ones? What does the Ch...

Practical and Gospel-centered thoughts on how to have a fruitful ministry by one of America's leading and most beloved pastor.Many church leaders are struggling to adapt to a culture that values individuality above loyalty to a group or institution. There have been so many "church growth" and "effective ministry" books in the past few decades that it's hard to know where to start or which ones will provide useful and honest insight.Based on over twenty year...

“This beautiful book is rich with wit and humanness and honesty and loving detail….I cannot overstate how liberating and transforming I have found Leaving Church to be.” —Frederick Buechner, author of Beyond Words“This is an astonishing book. . . . Taylor is a better writer than LaMott and a better theologian than Norris. In a word, she is the best there is.” —Living ChurchBarbara Brown Taylor, once hailed as one of America’s most effective and beloved pre...