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Thomas Oden calls for a radical reassessment of early church tradition by directing our attention to Africa, where a memory of St. Mark survives as the North African founder of the church in Alexandria. The result is an illuminating portrait that challenges long-standing assumptions in the West.

The Leadership Ellipse

Great ministers don't just happen. Great falls from ministry don't just happen either. A complex mix of factors both internal and external test the limits of your ability to minister wholeheartedly over the long haul. Senior pastor Brad Hoffmann and licensed professional counselor Michael Todd Wilson work with pastors removed from their place of service. The common experiences of these pastors revealed patterns that consistently contributed to burnout, ineffectiveness and moral failure. If such patterns can be predicted, the authors reasoned, can they be prevented?Preventing Ministry Failure is a personal guidebook for pastors and other caregivers to prepare them to withstand common pressures and to flourish in the ministry God has called them to. Work through the exercises and reflections individually or in conversation with your peers, and you'll find yourself better equipped for the challenges of vocational ministry, and more conscious of the presence of God leading you on and restoring your soul.

In order to reach today's youth with the gospel, you need to hear what they're saying and understand where they're coming from. Walt Mueller translates contemporary youth culture into a functional ministry resource for pastors, educators and parents.

In this revised edition of his small group guidebook, Jeffrey Arnold discusses the basic components and dynamics of small groups and offers training and resources to help you get started in effective small group ministry.

Bob Sjogren and Gerald Robison reflect on the God-given traits of cats ("you exist to serve me") and dogs ("I exist to serve you"), and point out the same dichotomy at work in the theological attitudes of many Christians. Unlike the house pet, however, human beings are capable of rethinking their relationship with the Master.

Ever since John Winthrop told his fellow colonists in 1630 that they were about to establish a City upon a Hill, the idea of having a special place in history has captured the American imagination. Through centuries of crises and opportunities, many have taken up this theme to inspire the nation. But others have criticized the notion because it implies a sense of superiority which can fuel racism, warmongering and even idolatry. In this remarkable book, John Wilsey traces the historical development of exceptionalism, including its theological meaning and implications for civil religion. From seventeenth-century Puritans to twentieth-century industrialists, from politicians to educators, exceptionalism does not appear as a monolithic concept to be either totally rejected or devotedly embraced. While it can lead to abuses, it can also point to constructive civil engagement and human flourishing. This book considers historically and theologically what makes the difference. Neither the term nor the idea of American exceptionalism is going away. John Wilsey?s careful history and analysis will therefore prove an important touchstone for discussions of American identity in the decades to come.

Ideas have consequences. And sometimes those ideas can be squeezed in to slogans, slapped on bumper stickers and tweeted into cyberspace. These compact messages coming at us from all directions often compress in a few words entire ethical systems. It turns out that there's a lot more to the ideas behind these slogans--ideas that need to be sorted out before we make important moral decisions as individuals or as societies. In this revised and expanded edition of Steve Wilkens's widely-used text, the author has updated his introductions to basic ethical systems:cultural relativismethical egoismutilitarianismbehaviorismsituation ethicsKantian ethicsvirtue ethicsnatural law ethicsdivine command theoryHe has also added two new chapters:evolutionary ethicsnarrative ethicsWith clarity and wit Wilkens unpacks the complicated ideas behind the slogans and offers Christian evaluations of each.

One of the biggest challenges in global mission work is money?not merely the need for it, but working through cross-cultural differences surrounding how funds are used and accounted for. Cross-cultural missteps regarding financial issues can derail partnerships between supporting churches and agencies and national leaders on the ground. North Americans don?t understand how cultural expectations of patronage shape how financial support is perceived and understood, and Western money often comes with subtle strings attached. So local mission work is hampered by perceived paternalism, and donors are frustrated with lack of results or accountability. How do we build financial partnerships for effective mission without fostering neo-colonialism?Cross-cultural specialist Mary Lederleitner brings missiological and financial expertise to explain how global mission efforts can be funded with integrity, mutuality and transparency. Bringing together social science research, biblical principles and on-the-ground examples, she presents best practices for handling funding and finance. Cross-cultural partnerships can foster dignity, build capacity and work toward long-term sustainability. Lederleitner also addresses particular problems like misallocation of funds, embezzlement and fraud. This book is an essential guide for all who partner in global mission, whether pastors of supporting churches or missionaries and funding agencies.

Theologians have long assumed that Karl Barth's doctrine of election is supralapsarian. Challenging decades of scholarship, Shao Kai Tseng argues that despite Barth's stated favor of supralapsarianism, his mature lapsarian theology is complex and dialectical, critically reappropriating both supra- and infralapsarian patterns of thinking. Barth can be described as basically infralapsarian because he sees the object of election as fallen humankind and understands the incarnation as God's act of taking on human nature in its condition of fallenness. Tseng shows that most of Barth's Reformed critics have not understood his doctrine of election accurately enough to recognize his affinity to infralapsarianism and, conversely, that most Barthians have not understood Reformed-orthodox formulations of election with sufficient accuracy in their disagreement with the tradition. Karl Barth's Infralapsarian Theology offers a clear understanding of both the historic Lapsarian Controversy and Barth's distinct form of lapsarianism, providing a charitable dialogue partner to aid mutual understanding between Barth and evangelicals.

The 2015 Missiology Lectures at Fuller Theological Seminary marked the fiftieth anniversary of the School of Intercultural Studies. The papers from that conference explore the developments and transformations in the study and practice of mission, as contributors chart the current shape of mission studies and its prospects in the twenty-first century.

It's tough to be a pastor. Pastors face demands and pressures on every side, from the challenges of church ministry to the realities of spiritual warfare. But you can make a difference. Your prayers provide a lifeline for your pastor's spiritual health and ministry effectiveness. Eddie Byun offers a handy, practical guide to praying for pastors. He shares stories of how congregational intercession changes things, with specific guidelines for prayers for protection, rest, anointing, integrity and more. God calls us to pray for our leaders. When we do, their ministry is strengthened, the kingdom is advanced and lives and communities are transformed.

John Stott's teaching on Romans reveals how its message transforms our thinking and convicts our hearts as we discover the power of the gospel for every area of our life and our world. Here Stott's The Message of Romans is offered in brief readings suitable for daily use along with weekly studies, covering Romans 9-16.

Modern PsychopathologiesModern PsychopathologiesModern Psychotherapies

Everybody likes Jesus. Don't they?We overlook that Jesus wasJudgmental-preaching hellfire far more than the apostle PaulUncompromising-telling people to hate their familiesChauvinistic-excluding women from leadershipRacist-insulting people from other ethnic groupsAnti-environmental-cursing a fig tree and affirming animal sacrificeAngry-overturning tables and chasing moneychangers in the templeHe demanded moral perfection, told people to cut off body parts, made prophecies that haven't come true, and defied religious and political authorities. While we tend to ignore this troubling behavior, the people around Jesus didn't. Some believed him so dangerous that they found a way to have him killed. The Jesus everybody likes, says Mark Strauss, is not the Jesus found in the Gospels. He's a figure we've created in our own minds. Strauss believes that when we unpack the puzzling paradoxes of the man from Galilee, we find greater insight into his countercultural message and mission than we could ever have imagined.

Counseling Couples in Conflict

Gender and sexual identity are immensely complicated topics. An expert on human sexuality, Mark Yarhouse offers a Christian perspective of transgender identity that eschews simplistic answers, engages the latest research and listens to people's stories. This accessible guide challenges Christians to rise above the politics and come alongside individuals navigating these issues.

Weaving together classic cases outlined in Hope-Focused Marriage Counseling and over seventy-five brand new practical interventions, Jennifer Ripley and Everett Worthington Jr. expand and deepen their theoretical approach while providing new practical interventions for couple counseling and enrichment.

The past 30 years has seen a theoretical and clinical renaissance in psychoanalysis, as well as a flourishing of Christian engagement in the fields of psychology and anthropology. This volume of essays stages a new conversation between Christianity and psychoanalysis that opens up new ways of thinking about the rich mosaic of human experience.

What implications does the Christian story have for the vision, mission or sense of purpose that shapes business engagement?What parts of business can be affirmed and practiced "e;as is"e; and what parts need to be rejected or transformed? What challenges exist as attempts are made to live out Christian ideals in a broken world characterized by tight margins, fierce competition and short-term investor pressures? How do Christian values inform specific functional areas of business such as the management of people, marketing and environmental sustainability?