Essential Church

Small Church Essentials is for leaders of smaller congregations. It encourages them to steward their role well, debunking myths about small churches while offering principles for leading a dynamic, healthy small church. Based on the popular six-hour lecture that Karl Vaters delivers to church leaders across the country, Small Church Essentials will affirm small church leaders and show them how to identify what they do well and how to do it even better.

Since a global pandemic abruptly closed places of worship, many Christians have skipped church life, even neglecting virtual services. But this was a trend even before COVID-19. Polarizing issues, including political and racial strife, convinced some people to pull away from the church and one another. Now it’s time to recommit to gathering as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Where can a person go to learn how to become a better team player? Your choices are definitely limited. John C. Maxwell takes the pain out of knowing what makes a team tick. If you want to have a better team, you have to develop better players. Great team players, like great teams, are formed...

Churches are losing both members and vitality as increasing numbers of young people disengage. Based on groundbreaking research with over 250 of the nation's leading congregations, Growing Young provides a strategy any church can use to involve and retain teenagers and young adults. It profiles innovative churches that are engaging 15- to 29-year-olds and as a result are growing—spiritually, emotionally, missionally, and numerically.

In Hero Maker, you will learn how to bring real change to your church and community by developing the practical skills to help others reach their leadership potential. Drawing on five powerful practices found in the ministry of Jesus, Hero Maker presents the key steps of apprenticeship that will...

In his previous books, Dallas Willard has laid out the principal ideas for a revolutionary understanding of what the Christian life is really about. This volume collects articles, talks, and interviews where Willard explains the practical application of his ideas. Answering such questions as...

Modern readers of the New Testament often notice its varying ideas about women. Some passages encouraged women to be submissive and remain silent. Yet in others, women characters owned property, headed households, or spoke with approval. Women in the New Testament World helps listeners understand this conflicting evidence. It argues that social norms of the time encouraged traditional feminine virtues. However, as Susan Hylen argues, women in the culture enacted these virtues in a variety of ways, including active leadership in households, associations, and cities.  

An overview of the life and controversial teachings of W. Carl Ketcherside (1908–1989), as reflected in his journal, Mission Messenger, and the numerous books he published over the years. Much of what Ketcherside wrote can be found in the writings of the fathers of the Stone-Campbell restoration movement, from which this book quotes extensively in support of his position. It is significant to note that division among Christians in early nineteenth-century America arose from differences in doctrinal deductions or interpretations, as expressed in various creeds. The Campbells proposed that ...

If you long to reach kids and see their lives changed by God, this updated, comprehensive guide shows you how. Purpose Driven Youth Ministry will do for youth ministry what Rick Warren's Gold Medallion award–winning The Purpose Driven Church is doing for pastoral ministry. It's an...

John C. Maxwell breaks down the personal characteristics necessary for becoming an effective team player. Leadership expert John C. Maxwell follows his bestselling The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork with this powerfully succinct companion book. Stating that great team players are developed...

This book is designed to give hope and guidance to churches: leaders, ministers, and members. Anyone who wants to believe again.

Equip yourself with practical Christian leadership tools to guide a growing congregation and conquer ministry burnout. Whether you feel undertrained or overwhelmed by daily pastoral demands, this encouraging audio experience offers immediate relief. Find clarity and renewed spiritual health as...

Christian Theology - Church History - Saint Augustine - Christian Philosophy - Spiritual Classics - Patristics - Religious Biography - History of Ideas What turns a restless young man into one of the most influential voices in Western thought? Saint Augustine Made Easy brings together four accessible, elegant, and deeply engaging books for readers who want to understand Augustine of Hippo without getting lost in academic complexity. This box follows the full arc of a life marked by ambition, doubt, desire, conversion, controversy, and an unending search for truth. In Saint Augustine, Life, ...

From the leadership of Proverbs 31 Ministries comes this essential book for every Christian woman who wants a more balanced life. Using the principles of the Proverbs 31 woman, the authors invite the reader to learn seven vital ways she can prioritize her life: Revere Jesus Christ as Lord. Love...

Discover Your Roots Whether you drive a truck, wait tables, work in an office, or ferry the kids to and from soccer practice, Chuck Swindoll understands that your world is practical, earthy, tough, and relentless. Growing Deep in the Christian Life takes theology out of the ivory tower and...

Too often, Christians wait for some extraordinary move of the Spirit to correct all their spiritual ills. Although such a revival is possible, it is not the way God ordinarily grows His church. In The Essential Means of Grace , Paul Washer considers the three prominent gifts God provided for...

The church is at a crossroads. Attendance is shrinking, trust is eroding, and younger generations are quietly stepping away—not from spirituality, but from institutions that no longer feel spiritually alive. The Church’s Path from Institutional Decline to Spiritual Rebirth is a clear, courageous guide for leaders, seekers, and communities ready to face this moment with honesty and hope. Drawing on decades of ministry, governance experience, and scholarly research, Reverend Rachel Love, Ph.D. names the core behaviors and assumptions that have quietly undermined the church’s ability to ...

How can we (created beings) know God (the Creator)? Throughout history, the church has recognized the importance of studying and understanding God’s attributes. As the Creator of all things, God is unique and cannot be compared to any of his creatures, so to know him, believers turn to the...

How do you save a sinking ship? When Dr. Jason K. Allen arrived on the campus of Midwestern Seminary, it was in rough shape. The faculty, the facilities, and the reputation of the school were all flailing. How did he lead this seminary to become the fastest growing and one of the largest...

30 Years of Research. 3 Years of Development. The Definitive Case for the First Priestess of the Church. What if the most vital component of the spiritual path was intentionally obscured? For two thousand years, a "Masculine Frequency" mandate has governed our understanding of the sacred. By shifting the historical narrative of Mary Magdalene and Mary the Mother, the early Establishment did more than change a story—they altered the very way we connect with the Divine. They bypassed the essential "Sacred Feminine" of spiritual authority. In The Forbidden Bride of Jesus, Valentino St. ...