Free Sailboat Church: Helping Your Church Rethink Its Mission And Practice Ebooks Online
Is your church a rowboat church or a sailboat church? Rowboat churches depend largely on human effort. When church budgets shrink and membership declines, rowboat churches frantically row harder against a current, often frustrated and disappointed at their efforts. Sailboat churches, on the other hand, take up the oars, hoist sails, and rely on the Holy Spirit to guide them. Arguing that churches should be "sailboats," Joan S. Gray encourages readers to shift concern from the many daily, practical concerns of their local church to fresh ideas that can be found using the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The book includes forty days of sailing prayers, quotes from Scripture, brief reflection questions, and an extensive bibliography that is arranged by theme. Perfect for groups to read together, this book will help leaders reframe their church's mission and practice with the Holy Spirit as their guide.
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press (March 12, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0664259588
ISBN-13: 978-0664259587
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.4 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #252,932 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #72 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Christian Denominations & Sects > Protestantism > Presbyterian #171 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Churches & Church Leadership > Church Growth #685 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Churches & Church Leadership > Pastoral Resources
This book is about doing Church either the “rowboat” way or the “sailboat” way. Using the metaphor of rowing vs sailing, the author tries to emphasize the key point that God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply. The Church is not meant to be one that is anchored on human wisdom. It is meant to be led by the Spirit, empowered by God’s wisdom, and enthusiastically lived out according to the wind of the Spirit, to sail where God wants to sail.Gray, an elder of the Presbyterian Church first points out the follies of the “rowing” mentality. Despite the best efforts, money, human wisdom, non-stop energy and resources poured into doing Church, Churches that “row” will quickly lead to discouragement, distressed leadership, and declining churches. The root of the problem is human wisdom and human strength to do the ministry that needs God’s power.Going back to the early Church in Acts, Gray points out the main difference in terms of “attitude” not numbers. Do church members serve out of their own strength and cleverness? Is Church merely a human religious organization? Are lives transformed? Do Churches believe in the supernatural, the spiritual reality of the kingdom of God? No. The rowing mentality is the tendency to fix things as if we are the masters of our own future. Such a mentality believes that the right person hired will lead to the right result planned. The right resources poured in will lead to the right fruits. Success becomes the key measurement yardstick rather than spiritual transformation.Gray proposes a “divine-human partnership” for churches. Human effort is just one part. Rather than results driven, churches must prioritize their relationship with Jesus as the top.
Sailboat Church: Helping Your Church Rethink Its Mission and Practice The Digital Transformation Playbook: Rethink Your Business for the Digital Age (Columbia Business School Publishing) The Little Sailboat (Lois Lenski Books) The Mission of God's People: A Biblical Theology of the Church's Mission (Biblical Theology for Life) MINECRAFT: Diary of a Minecraft Bounty Hunter 10 (Mission 'Evil Dinnerbone') ((Mission 4 'Evil Dinnerbone' Part 1)) Polity, Practice, and the Mission of The United Methodist Church: 2006 Edition Church History, Volume One: From Christ to the Pre-Reformation: The Rise and Growth of the Church in Its Cultural, Intellectual, and Political Context Playing to the Gallery: Helping Contemporary Art in Its Struggle to Be Understood Renovate or Die: 10 Ways to Focus Your Church on Mission Growing an Engaged Church: How to Stop "Doing Church" and Start Being the Church Again Who Runs the Church?: 4 Views on Church Government (Counterpoints: Church Life) Prophets Male and Female: Gender and Prophecy in the Hebrew Bible, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Ancient Near East (Ancient Israel and Its ... Literature Ancient Israel and Its Litera) Helping Our Children Grow in Faith: How the Church Can Nurture the Spiritual Development of Kids The Way and Its Power: Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching and Its Place in Chinese Thought (UNESCO collection of representative works) The Periodic Table: Its Story and Its Significance Bellydance: A Guide to Middle Eastern Dance, Its Music, Its Culture and Costume A 1000 Word History Of The Penny Black Stamp: On The 175th Anniversary Of Its Invention Celebrate The World's First Adhesive Stamp And Its Story Proclaiming the Great Ends of the Church: Mission and Ministry for Presbyterians Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church What Is the Mission of the Church?: Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission
