Accurate and strategic evidence that the decline of the mainline, progressive church can be slowed and even reversed, despite the challenges it is facing.

Transitional ministry can be tremendously helpful for congregations in times of change, and yet, to be successful today transitional ministers and churches need to take into account the major changes in the religious landscape. From the decline of mainline churches to the rise of those who don’t identify with any religious tradition, the religious scene has changed dramatically since transitional ministry began three decades ago, and to remain vital today, the practice of transitional mini...

Logos Book of the Year; Leadership Journal Leadership Book Award WinnerCreate a Leadership Team Led by the SpiritMeetings can sap our energy, rupture community, and thoroughly demoralize us. They can go on forever with no resolution. Or they can rush along without consensus just to "get through the agenda." What if there was another way?Church boards and other Christian leadership teams have long relied on models adapted from the bu...

Some may object to my dogmatic assertions; but I do not apologise for them. Every preacher should believe strongly in his own method; and if I cannot persuade all of the rightness of mine, I can at least stimulate them to think and to consider other possibilities. I can say quite honestly that I would not cross the road to listen to myself preaching, and the preachers whom I have enjoyed most have been very different indeed in their method and style. But my business is not to describe them...

Bestselling author and master communicator Charles Swindoll has been effectively speaking to others for over fifty years. In SAYING IT WELL: Touching Others With Your Words he shares his secrets on how to talk so people will listen.Filled with techniques, stories, and models that clearly explain the formulas for successful speaking, Swindoll teaches readers the foundational principles for how to communicate, from preparing for a speech, organizing thoughts, and filtering o...

This is a classic that has stood the test of time. For forty-five years, seminary students and pastors have benefited from the principles found in this book. Two of Koller's popular texts, Expository Preaching without Notes and Sermons Preached without Notes, are combined in a single volume that allows preachers to prepare and deliver sermons without being tied to a manuscript or even outlines or notes. Among the eighteen topics discussed are the biblical conception of preaching, the advan...

How can a pastor, whether fresh out of training or with many years of experience, be effective in his ministry?Thomas Murphy, a renowned Presbyterian minister from the late 1800s set out to answer that question in this book.Being effective starts with the pastor's close personal relationship with God, so Murphy spends time exhorting pastors to make their relationship with God paramount in their ministry and teaching them how they should cultivate it over time.Murphy...

"Some churches now advertise courses on how to pray. How ridiculous! That is like giving a course on how to fall in love." —A. W. TozerTozer understood prayer as few do: as a way of life. Now readers can share that same grand vision.Prayer combines the best of Tozer on prayer into one volume. Tozer was captured by the great wonder of God, and he regarded prayer as the primary means of coming into His presence. But if our everyday life is filled wit...

Over the past ten years, the North American mission field has experienced dramatic changes, which in turn have required congregations, middle judicatories, and denominations to adapt. Among these adaptations is an expectation for clear goals and quantified progress towards those goals. Church leaders who have never needed to measure their goals and progress with metrics may find this change daunting. The use of metrics-denominational and middle judicatory dashboards, and the tracking of co...

T. Scott Daniels, pastor of a Los Angeles megachurch, contends that corporate bodies like churches form an individual spiritual personality of sorts. Cultural influences can impact the collective spirit or attitude of a congregation, either hindering it from becoming all God intends it to be or setting it free to glorify God.In this practical work, Daniels examines the nature of the seven representative "angels" of the churches addressed in Revelation to show how congregations can ...

We are all spread too thin, taking on more than we can handle, trying to do so much—almost as if we are afraid that if we were to take a moment of rest, we might discover that all our busyness is covering up an essential lack in our lives.But God never meant for us to be so busy. God desires for us to have rest and peace. Brady Boyd shows you how to live a life that embraces stillness and solitude, so you can find the peace that God wants for you.Brady Boyd...

Many preachers ignore preaching from the Old Testament because they feel it is outdated in light of the New Testament and difficult to expound. On the other hand, some preachers will preach from the Old Testament frequently but fail to handle it correctly, turning it into moralistic rules or symbolic lessons for our spiritual life. In How to Preach and Teach the Old Testament for All Its Worth, Christopher J. H. Wright proclaims that preachers must not ignore the Old Testament. It...