The apostle Paul is recognized as the paramount example of what it means to be a Christian missionary committed to the cause of Christ. In his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, we read of the struggles he endured in establishing the church in Corinth. These struggles gave rise to his expose of his own paradoxical life and ministry, based on his firm conviction that strength only comes through weakness. Paul, in his confessed weakness, poured out his life as a participant in the sufferings...

Every year, more congregations in North America close their doors. Can a near-dead church be revived and renewed? Marketing campaigns or managerial innovation aren't going to work. We need theological and pastoral answers that come from the on-the-ground realities of churches. Joseph Lear has seen first-hand God breathe new life into a dying congregation. Resurrecting Worship is a pastoral theology of renewal for the local church, offered through the story of one near-dead congregation bec...

Since the 1960s, biblical scholars have noted a relationship between eschatology and ethics in Luke-Acts, but to date there has been no substantive study of the relationship between these themes. What Shall We Do? offers such a study. Lear observes and develops a logic that Luke--Acts presents that begins with eschatological expectation and ends with a particular pattern of life, especially with regard to possessions. He makes the bold claim that Luke has not given up on eschatological exp...