Character development for communities of faith Mark Olson believes that trying to meet unrealistic expectations for church growth, along with expectations that pastors be all things to all people, has resulted in low morale, even burnout, among clergy and dissension within congregations. Olson's book argues that church-growth models exemplify and exacerbate the tendencies of the modern age and Constantinian Christianity, holding the church hostage to technique and marketing. These assumptions se...
Who Runs the Church? (Counterpoints: Church Life)
Churches have split and denominations have formed over the issue of church government. While many Christians can explain their church's form of rule or defend it because of its "tried and true" traditions, few people understand their church's administrative customs from a biblical perspective. Who Runs the Church? explores questions such as: What model for governing the church does the Bible provide, and is such a model given for practical or spiritual reasons? Is there room for different metho...
Pope Benedict XVI and the Sexual Abuse Crisis: Working for Redemption and Renewal
by Gregory Erlandson and Matthew Bunson
Das AEbtissinnenamt in Den Unterelsassischen Frauenstiften Vom 14. Bis Zum 16. Jahrhundert
by Sabine Klapp
Curious Church Customs and Cognate Subjects
by William Andrews and John Charles Cox
A Formula for Parish Practice (Lutheran Quarterly Books)
by Timothy J. Wengert
This book combines a rich description of the (Lutheran) Formula of Concord (1577) with experiences in today's Lutheran parishes to demonstrate how confessional texts may still come to life in modern Christian congregations. Timothy Wengert takes the Formula of Concord, traditionally used as ammunition in doctrinal disagreements, back to its historical home, the local congregation, giving pastors, students, and theologians a glimpse into the original debates over each article. The most up-to-date...
Several recent studies reveal that churches are haemorrhaging, losing members at a life-threatening rate. Intrigued and disturbed by what appears to be an epidemic, Julia Duin amassed research on the issue, interviewing many who have left the church. These are her findings.