Written for those who are trying to nurture authentic faith communities and for those who have struggled to retain their faith, The Tangible Kingdom offers theological answers and real-life stories that demonstrate how the best ancient church practices can re-emerge in today's culture, through any church of any size. In this remarkable book, Hugh Halter and Matt Smay "two missional leaders and church planters" outline an innovative model for creating thriving grass-roots faith communities. The Tangible Kingdom offers new hope for church leaders, pastors, church planters, and churchgoers who are looking for practical new ways to re-orient their lives to fit God's mission today.
Churches have
tried all kinds of ways to attract new and younger members - revised vision
statements, hipper worship, contemporary music, livelier sermons, bigger and
better auditoriums. But there are still so many people who aren't being
reached, who don't want to come to church. And the truth is that attendance at
church on Sundays does not necessarily transform lives; God's presence in our
hearts is what changes us. Leaders and laypeople everywhere are realizing that
they need new and more powerful ways to help them spread God's Word. According
to international church starter and pastor Neil Cole, if we want to connect
with young people and those who are not coming to church, we must go where
people congregate. Cole shows readers how to plant the seeds of the Kingdom of
God in the places where life happens and where culture is formed - restaurants,
bars, coffeehouses, parks, locker rooms,and neighborhoods.
It's 1998 and Richard Stearns' heart is breaking as he sits in a mud hut and listens to the story of an orphaned child in Rakai, Uganda. His journey to this place took more than a long flight from the United States to Africa. It took answering God's call on his life, a call that hurtled him out of his presidential corner office at Lenox-America's finest tableware company-to this humble corner of Uganda. This is a story of how a corporate CEO faced his own struggle to obey God whatever the cost, and his passionate call for Christians to change the world by actively living out their faith. Using his own journey as an example, Stearns explores the hole that exists in our understanding of the Gospel. Two thousand years ago, twelve people changed the world. Stearns believes it can happen again.