How does a congregation best serve its own neighborhood? This practical guide for congregations and parishes addresses this question by reviewing the growth of the ecumenically oriented community ministry movement in recent years. David Bos believes ...

More Stories of Mission

Marj Carpenter--storyteller, journalist, and former moderator for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)--has traveled the world seeking out Presbyterians doing mission work. Now she invites everyone to faraway places like Korea, Bolivia, and the Ivory Coa...

The Church Beyond Itself

Campus Ministry is an earnest advocacy for recognizing and strengthening campus ministry as essential to the church's mission. Donald Shockley presents a theology of campus mission based on the growing need for the church to reach beyond itself and t...

Recovering the Message and Mission of Jesus

Pastor and author Mike Slaughter challenges church leaders to look at the future of their congregations and make tough but necessary choices in order to reconnect with the true message and mission of Jesus: to bring good news to the poor, relase to t...

Renewal in the Midst of Crisis

This book looks at the experiences of people with AIDS as a means of examining the way Christianity views the problem and deals with it on both personal and community levels. This book begins by sharing the experience and ministry of those living wit...

Churches Making Their Way Forward

Using as their guide the story of the two disciples who meet the risen Christ on the road to Emmaus, Donna Sinclair and Christopher White move congregations beyond a search for silver bullet solutions, beyond a preoccupation with technique and progra...

A Reader on Urban Ministry

This book compiles essays by over thirty urban pastors, community organizers, seminary professors, and church leaders. Their essays seek to present creative opportunities for urban ministries to bring hope and renewal to their congregations and commu...

Exploring the challenges that both the churched and the unchurched have faced regarding giving and receiving the word of God, Bob Ekblad encourages us all to learn to read the Bible together as a whole. In this compelling book, he reflects on how Chr...

The New Role of Progressive Christians

Convinced that several crucial historical trends are moving in the wrong direction, John Cobb Jr. and his coauthors urge Christians to live in countercultural ways--as individuals and as communities. Consumerism, inequality, imperialism, and global w...

How Churches are Saving Our Cities

Revelation and Renewal tells of churches that infused new life into urban communities. It is the story of brave men and women who refused to walk away from an apparently hopeless situation. Their inspiring example of faith-based social action present...

This work challenges pastors, seminarians, and active members of the laity to rethink the social character of their ministry. Dieter Hessel calls on parish communities to "meet human need with good Samaritan love while acting for justice with prophet...

Practical Advice for Authentic Ministry

Over half of all North Americans live in the suburbs. In The Suburban Church, retired pastor Arthur H. DeKruyter encourages Christians to "go where the people congregate" and illustrates how to plant, grow, and renew suburban congregations. Throughou...

Celebrating the World Communion of Reformed Churches

More than twenty-five revered pastors, theologians, and ecumenists contributed essays for this volume. These writings celebrate what it means to live in unity and communion in the twenty-first century and stress the importance of ecumenism in working...

Mission Stories from Around the World

In To the Ends of the Earth Marj Carpenter, in her engaging and unbridled style, shares the stories of the people she has encountered and events she has witnessed as a missionary. Carpenter's stories will produce both laughter and tears, as well as a...

Lessons in Change from Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Hope

In Transforming the Mainline Church, Robert Chesnut provides valuable lessons for inner-city churches. He urges congregations to be more open to diversity, to emphasize the arts and music, to support entrepreneurial leadership, and to move beyond den...