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Call it burnout. Call it enlightenment. Call it whatever you like--it's plaguing the contemporary church. Andrew Byers calls it cynicism--the state we all too easily arrive at after passing through disillusionment. Too many saints in the making are having their wings clipped in this painful process. But wait--there's hope. Disillusionment is, at its heart, the dispersal of illusions, pointing us ...
The Next Mile resources are designed to assist local churches and agencies plan and conduct effective ministry. Participants in the short-term mission experience include the goer, sender, local church, goer's family, mentor, host and those to whom the STMer ministers. The mission experience that is well-planned and carried out will affect the life of each participant in their continuing journey ...
Can the Christian life be lived alone?
When her husband left Christianity several years into their marriage, Stina Kielsmeier-Cook was left "spiritually single"—struggling to live the Christian life on her own, taking her kids to church by herself, and wrestling with her own questions and doubts.
In this memoir, Kielsmeier-Cook tells the story of her mixed-faith marriage ...
How should one proclaim of the gospel of Jesus Christ in a secular age?
For many Christians, the traditional approach of apologetics has grown stale. In light of the current secular climate, as described by Charles Taylor and others, rhetorical strategies that previously served the church and apologists well are no longer effective.
Justin Bailey seeks to address this ...
Sexual identity has become an idol in both the culture at large and in the Christian subculture. And yet concepts like "gay" or "straight" are relatively recent developments in human history. We let ourselves be defined by socially constructed notions of sexual identity and sexual orientation--even though these may not be the only or best ways to think about sexuality. Anthropologist Jenell ...
False teachers had infiltrated the churches in Galatia, attacking Paul's authority as well as the gospel he preached. So Paul's letter to the Galatians is not only a defense of his authority as an apostle, but also a celebration of the remarkable grace offered through Jesus Christ. John Stott's teachings from The Message of Galatians are offered here as brief devotional readings suitable ...
Number of Studies: 9
Nothing cripples a church's effectiveness like internal strife. In Philippi, Paul addressed a congregation whose private struggles were compounded by opposition and suffering from without. Paul's strategy was to write them a letter of friendship and moral exhortation, reminding them of their "partnership in the gospel," their mutual suffering for the cause of Christ, and their need to "stand firm ...
Fascination with the end times is not just a recent phenomenon. The young church at Thessalonica, having taken root during Paul's brief stay there, pondered when the end might come as well. Paul, in order to instruct them more fully, wrote them two letters, which taken together expound the "already-and-not-yet" character of the end times. His instruction and counsel can serve us well today. Throughout ...
We live in a land where truth is subjective, individualized, and culturally conditioned. That same troubling thinking had invaded the churches led by Timothy and Titus, so Paul's pastoral letters to them focus on the objective and universal truth revealed in Jesus. John Stott's teachings from The Message of 1 Timothy and Titus and The Message of 2 Timothy are offered here as ...
Number of Studies: 13
One of the greatest gifts that Christ has given us is each other. Through Christ's body, the church, we discover our unique gifts and experience worship, healing and power. In this ten-session LifeGuide® Bible Study, Rob Suggs leads us to grow in community—loving and nurturing one another, and in reflecting Christ's love to the world around us. For over three decades LifeGuide Bible ...
Number of Studies: 10