Pastors and church leaders can use the normal activities of church life to touch the innermost lives of their flock, fostering spiritual growth and building up the body of Christ.

The pastor's and treasurer's essential handbook to all aspects of church finance. Building on a stewardship model, this guide outlines sound, up-to-date financial practices.

A survey of the essential elements for exercising pastoral leadership in an era of change.

As many as 100 billion neurons make up the human nervous system - a system that is incredibly complex, and a fundamental part of what makes us who we are. But there is far more to human beings than biology. Many academic disciplines study the human condition and there are many schools of thought within that study. We must also appreciate that the study of human nature did not begin in contemporary times. History is full of texts that offer detailed explorations of the human condition. However, no consensus has yet emerged. Consensus or not, those working towards religious and spiritual formation pursue the transformation of their communities. This book offers a fuller understanding of some of the common views of human nature and also insights into how we might utilise this knowledge in our ministries - ministries that strive towards the spiritual being and becoming of our world.

Who decides what your church (local or denominational) will look like twenty-five or thirty years from now? How can you ensure that your church will continue to fulfill its God-given purpose in the next generation? What can be done now to reverse negative trends in ministry such as pastoral burnout? Much of the answer to these questions about pastors and other local church leaders is tied to the training they receive. Training Spirit-Filled Local Church Leaders for the Twenty-First Century encourages all stakeholders in ministry training—educators, pastors and other local church leaders, church members, and those who sense God is calling them to ministry—to prayerfully consider the foundational issues that determine the effectiveness and relevance of a ministry training program. These foundational issues are: •What is the local church, really? •What is spiritual leadership? •What is ministry training? •What is the role of the Holy Spirit in all this? •What did effective training look like in the past, and what might it look like in the twenty-first century?

Wiersbe crystallizes the unchanging principles of preaching and applies them in practical and creative ways to ministry in the new century.

In this classic work of spiritual theology, historian Richard Lovelace presents a history of spiritual renewals in light of biblical models. Drawing from the best of different Protestant traditions, Dynamics of Spiritual Life lays out a comprehensive approach to the renewal of the church. In the first half of the book, Lovelace surveys awakening movements since the Reformation, particularly emphasizing Jonathan Edwards's theology of renewal. He then goes deeper into specific elements of such movements and their significance for both doctrinal reformation and spiritual renewal. Lovelace examines such practical issues as renewal of the local congregation, ways revivals go wrong, prospects for closing the "sanctification gap," the historical role of evangelical movements in promoting both unity and division, and Christian approaches to the arts. With scholarly and pastoral insight, he offers a powerful vision of renewal that can unify various models across traditions, combining individual and corporate spirituality, social activism, and evangelism. For over forty years, this well-loved book has helped Christians understand the spiritual movement they are a part of and guided leaders in planting and pastoring churches. This expanded edition features a new forewordby Timothy Keller.