Discipleship

Compelled by Love: The Most Excellent Way to Missional Living

Understand what it means to be compelled by love. In the book entitled Compelled by Love, trusted missiologist Ed Stetzer and coauthor and pastor Philip Nation challenge readers to look at love within the context of God, the church, and the lives of individual believers. Selected as the 2008–2009 emphasis book for WMU®, a million-member nonprofit missions organization, Compelled by Love will give readers a basic theological grounding and a platform for personal application as they understand what missional living is all about—it is simply the calling to love others. Look at the love of God; begin to truly understand what is at the center of the church’s foundation, commission, and direction; but most importantly, understand your role within the mission of God as you integrate love into all aspects of your missional calling.

Finding Freedom in Jesus: The 21 Attributes of Your Identity in Christ

Finding Freedom in Jesus explores 21 biblical terms that reveal our identity as believers in Christ, empowering us to grow and be transformed by the truth. These terms serve as guiding principles, helping us overcome past hurts, habits, and negative self-perceptions, so we can fully embrace our true identity in Christ. We all carry wounds from the words and actions of others, but it’s crucial to remember how our Creator sees us. Instead of dwelling on distorted images of pain, we need to look into a God-centered mirror that reflects His viewpoint.

Following the Master: A Biblical Theology of Discipleship

In Following the Master, Michael J. Wilkins addresses questions that perplex the church today- not by offering another discipleship program or manual but by presenting a comprehensive biblical theology of discipleship. Following the Master compares other forms of master-disciple relationships in existence in the ancient Judaism and Greco-Roman world, traces Jesus’ steps as he called and developed disciples, and Mediterranean world as it followed Jesus’ command to make disciples. Following the Master lays the groundwork necessary for developing biblical discipleship ministries in the church, on the mission field, and in parachurch ministries. It is essential reading for all pastors, students, and Christian workers.

In His Image: Reflecting Christ in Everyday Life

The ultimate goal of discipleship is to be like Jesus. But is that even possible? Our difficulty often lies in not clearly understanding who Jesus is, not recognizing the resources available to us as God’s children, or not believing who we are to be as Christ’s followers. This book can help define our identity in Christ and refuel our passion to be like Him.

Knowing Grace: Cultivating a Lifestyle of Godliness

There are many fine written works describing the need, purpose, and methods of spiritual disciplines. Knowing Grace complements these by fostering and deepening the reader’s engagement with God through various means of grace. By using this terminology, “means of grace” a rightful emphasis is placed on God’s initiation, invitation, and empowering to engage with Him in ways that foster a greater sensitivity to His movements, stirrings, nudges and voice.

Pastoral Confessions: The Healing Path to Faithful Ministry

Discover how personal vulnerability can revitalize your soul, ministry, and church. This book is a timely and unexpectedly honest exploration of pastoral sin. Learn to identify the root causes of pastoral sin, embrace the practice of confession, and find healing in forgiveness. It helps pastors maintain an open and honest relationships with themselves, God, an their congregations to facilitate repentance and restoration Many pastors are tempted to conceal their sin rather than risk vulnerability or disqualification from ministry. But this is spiritually dangerous, for both the pastor and the church. Unconfessed sin leads to guilt, shame, exhaustion, and loneliness. Instead, God invites pastors to confess, repent, and be healed, just like every other Christian. With great vulnerability and refreshing honesty, Jamin Goggin writes of those temptations and sins that uniquely plague the pastoral vocation. He shows pastors how to integrate regular confession to God and others, leading to a more hopeful, fruitful, and virtuous life and ministry.

Set Adrift: Deconstructing What You Believe Without Sinking Your Faith

The number of Christians leaving the church today is significant. Many feel there is no place for them within the faith—they no longer feel at home in their church community or tradition. For various reasons, they are unsettled by the version of Christianity they’ve inherited. Stripping away the nonessential aspects of Christianity, Sean McDowell and John Marriott will help you navigate the jarring questions and cultural challenges that lead many to walk away from the faith. You’ll come to recognize that there are other ways Christians throughout history have understood what faithfulness to Jesus looks like. Each chapter provides practical advice on how to disassemble, rethink, and reassemble beliefs that are truly Christian and culturally and personally relevant. The authors of this book can personally identify with the process of disillusionment that many young believers go through. They wrote Set Adrift as people who had to navigate their own way back through the fog of deconstruction. They wrote it to offer their own personal suggestions for what to do when you’re not sure what to believe anymore.

Walking in the Spirit

If you want to live the life of abundance promised by Jesus, you must learn what it means to walk with the Holy Spirit. Here is a wise, biblical, and practical guide to living life in the Spirit as outlined in Romans 8. Filled with real-life examples and engaging personal stories, Berding offers an invaluable message to many of us who either ignore, forget, or want to know more of the Spirit’s role in the Christian life.