Community
Spiritual Life
Development Library
USA Western Territory
The 3 Colors of Community: How the 7 Communal Qualities
of Healthy Small Groups Can Help You Overcome the 7
Deadly Sins –Christian A. Schwarz
The 3 Colors of Community presents an altogether new way
of approaching small groups. Rather than being preoccupied
with the technical aspects of small group ministry, this book
focuses on the qualities that are fundamental for any sort of
Christian community, be it a family, a prayer meeting, a
Bible study group, a task force, or a choir. Based on
comprehensive research, The 3 Colors of Community
portrays seven qualities that all healthy communities have
in common. Applying these principles not only generates
enthusiastic responses from the participants, but also
sustainable effects in their lives.
The 3 Colors of Your Spirituality: 9 Spiritual Styles: How do
you most naturally connect with God? –Christian A. Schwarz
The author argues that too many churches do not
encourage congregants to discover their spiritual style. In
this book, Schwarz identifies nine different styles:
 Sensory - Enjoying the works of God
 Rational - Understanding the nature of God
 Doctrinal - Thinking correctly about God
 Scripture-driven - Applying the Word of God
 Sharing - Passing on the grace of God
 Ascetic - Developing discipline for God
 Enthusiastic - Celebrating the power of God
 Mystical - Resting in the presence of God
 Sacramental - Expressing the incarnation of God
This book includes a self-test to help participants identify
their spiritual style.
The Church Comes Home –Robert & Julia Banks
In our modern dislocated society many are searching for a
church experience that offers true Christian sharing,
nurturing, and discipleship, in addition to teaching and
worship. For many such people the answer is found in the
home church: a small, committed group of often diverse
people who meet together in homes to pray, eat, sing,
study, and share their lives. “The Church Comes Home" is a
handbook for those interested in home churches. It is both
visionary and practical. It describes how home churches can
be formed, how they should grow, and how networks of
home churches can develop. It examines issues" for
example, how to make decisions; how to determine
doctrine; how to include children, singles, elders; and how
to reach out to the community at large" and offers practical
suggestions for their resolution.
Conflict Style Assessment: A Guide to Identifying &
Correcting Your Negative Habits of Handling Conflict –Jim
Van Yperen
The Bible tells us that we are to respond to conflict using
the truth with love. Unfortunately, we all tend to overemphasize one aspect of this equation. Passive and evasive
people tend to emphasize love at the expense of truth.
Aggressive and defensive people tend to speak the truth at
the expense of love. All four responses are wrong! This
assessment will help you determine what your conflict style
is and how you respond to conflict. Not only will this help
you understand yourself better, it is a valuable tool to
learning why others respond the way they do. Once we
understand ourselves, we can then ask God to help us “fill in
the blanks,” so that we can respond in a more godly
manner.
Confronting Dysfunction -Charles R. Ridley & Steven J.
Goodwin
Few of us are as healthy as we ought to be. In essence,
where there are people, there is the potential for
dysfunction. Unfortunately, even though it is pervasive and
exacts a high cost, many Christian leaders do not
understand this phenomenon. Yet, they regularly are forced
to grapple with dysfunction in their various spheres of
ministry and on levels ranging from individuals to factions,
whole congregations, and denominations.
We have a twofold purpose in this Leadership File: First, we
want to help leaders understand the nature of human
dysfunction. Second, we want to equip them to confront
dysfunction.
The church has been sent by Jesus Christ to bind up the
brokenhearted, and it has been empowered with the keys
of the kingdom. These marching orders compel religious
leaders to deliberately confront dysfunction and promote
individual and corporate health.
Do Something: Make Your Life Count –Miles McPherson
With powerful true stories, illustrations from the life of
Christ, and specific activities for readers to engage, DO
Something is a hopeful and practical book that shows how
to live out faith in a way that improves people's lives. With
transparency and humility, Miles McPherson shares his own
shortcomings as a young pastor trying to connect with
people in need. Stressing the importance of hurting with
people before you can do something for them, McPherson
takes readers through the 5 P's of making their lives count:
preparation, purpose, pain, power, and passion. By putting
into practice the principles found in this book, readers will
experience spiritual fulfillment as they see that they can
make a real difference in the lives of those around them.
Kindle: $9.39 Nook: $10.49
Focusing Worship –Jeff Merry
This resource is designed to empower worship leaders and
worship teams as they seek to lead their people to God
through authentic worship. As you work through each
chapter you will develop a clearer understanding of
worship. You will discover the role each person plays in
making worship meaningful, practical ways to build an
effective worship team, creative ideas to help you improve
your worship experience and how we can bring joy to the
heart of God through authentic worship. This kit contains
four CDs and a notebook. It is especially helpful for churches
that do not have a worship leader as paid staff but rely on
member volunteers to coordinate worship in the church.
The Good and Beautiful Community: Following the Spirit,
Extending Grace, Demonstrating Love –James Bryan Smith
"Apprentices of Jesus are not part-time do-gooders," Smith
writes. "They live in continuous contact with the kingdom of
God…” Yet many times we've gotten it wrong, tending to
emphasize personal faith over social justice or vice versa. In
these pages Jim Smith shows us how to bring spiritual
formation and community engagement together, and then
once again offers spiritual practices that root new, true
narratives about God and the world in our souls. His insight
and humility as a fellow learner with us will lead us to live in
authentic ways as a good and beautiful community of
Christ-followers, shining the light of the Spirit into every
relationship.
Kindle: $9.20 Nook: $10.49
Healing the Heart of Your Church –Dr. Kenneth Quick
Frequently, there are problems rooted in a church’s history
and pattern of behaving that derail any leadership attempt
to lead the church to significant church growth. The
frustrated pastor usually has no clue where that brick wall
came or how to remove it.
The premise of this book is that the Lord of the Church does
not let much else happen corporately (dynamic spiritual
growth, God’s kind of love demonstrated in relationships,
revival or renewal, to name a few) until these wrongs are
righted and the wounds receive attention.
The author shares his story of how the Lord helped him lead
his church through the corporate healing process. He gives
biblical guidelines on why this is necessary and how you can
do it too. Healing topics include Past Shame, Sinful
reactivity, Splits, Pastors who abuse, and Churches that
abuse pastors.
Insight Inventory: Understanding Yourself and Others –
Patrick Handley PH.D.
This NEW Edition coordinates with the NEW Focused Living
Kit DVD Curriculum.
The INSIGHT Inventory was designed as an easy-to-use,
statistically valid personality assessment which can be used
to help participants learn more about themselves and
improve teamwork, leadership, and communications.
The accompanying training video is fast-paced and fun-towatch as well as educative. Employees don't just read about
their results, but are instead guided through a step-by-step
process that helps them understand and apply the
information. The instructions in their booklets also give
users the opportunity to write their responses to a series of
questions, place check marks by particularly descriptive
terms, and discover practical ways to apply the information.
Living the Mission –A Renovare Resource
Living the Mission explores what it means to be a Christian
today. By examining the early church's struggle in the wake
of Jesus' devastating death and awe-inspiring resurrection in
the book of Acts, we learn how we can follow Jesus, how
Jesus is still with us in the Holy Spirit, and how we are called
to form communities into which we are forever inviting
others. Conveniently organized for individual or group
study, Living the Mission explores the heart of what it
means to follow Jesus and be a part of his church.
Kindle: $9.78 Nook: $10.99
The Missional Journey –Robert E. Logan
This book brings together many ideas surrounding the topic
of what it is to be missional. Logan brings insights and solid
biblical content to bear on this conversation and provides us
with a gift that describes the work of the church clearly no
matter what model or definition the reader has of the
church. It’s not about us or our unique paradigm of the
church. It’s all about the Kingdom of God and are we doing
the work that Jesus entrusted to us as his disciples
Kindle: $9.99 Nook: $9.99
Moving from I to We: Recovering the Biblical Vision for
Stewarding the Church –Dr. Paul R. Ford
If you think you’re frustrated with church leadership in
America, imagine how God must feel. Dr. Paul R. Ford
illumines key Scripture passages to exhort readers to go
back to the Spirit-led form of leadership God intends for the
accomplishment of his kingdom work. By proving that
leadership in the body of Christ is to be a series of functions
to be fulfilled by a group of people, not just key leaders,
Ford inspires a collective sigh of relief and energizes us to
move forward God’s way. What a difference that would
make!
Kindle: $8.49 Nook: $8.49
The Path of Revival: Restoring Our Nation, One Church at a
Time –Mark Barnard
Has America lost God's blessing?
As we survey the Church in America, we see a nation full of
local churches in dire need of corporate revival. Many are
unaware of their need. Our nation's decaying culture spirals
down in concert with weak churches, leaving them isolated
and irrelevant as true change agents. Unless these churches
gain new spiritual vibrancy, nothing will stop the
secularization that suffocates Christ's bride ... if we long to
see this nation blessed and influence the world for Christ,
we must avoid the fate suffered by the churches in Europe.
They could never regain their spiritual footing. Now they are
irrelevant in their cultures. We still have time, but probably
not long.
Soul Shift: the Measure of a Life Transformed -Steve DeNeff
& David Drury
Learn seven key shifts that God's Spirit causes in the hearts,
minds, and behaviors of Christians that will empower and
unite your church for growth and ministry. SoulShift will
move you and your church from performance-driven
religion to life-transforming relationship . . . for the rest of
your lives!
http://www.collegewes.com/soulshift
http://www.wesleyan.org/soulshift
Kindle: $9.99 Nook: $9.99
To Know As We Are Known: Education as a Spiritual Journey
–Parker J. Palmer
This primer on authentic education explores how mind and
heart can work together in the learning process. Moving
beyond the bankruptcy of our current model of education,
Parker Palmer finds the soul of education through a lifelong
cultivation of the wisdom each of us possesses and can
share to benefit others.
Kindle: $7.99 Nook: $9.99
Transform One: One Life, One Church, One Community:
Utilizing the I, We, They, All-Of-Us Process –Contributors
include Jack Stephenson, Phil Maynard, Terry Walling, &
David Wetzler
Transform One is a comprehensive church transformation
process built around personal, corporate and community
transformation. We refer to it as the I-WE-THEY Process.
We have developed this video driven curriculum to help
leaders experience personal transformation and lead selfexamined lives so they might be better equipped to lead the
church through corporate transformation.
The kit includes facilitator notes, eight DVD's, a PowerPoint
CD, samples of all books, workbooks and assessment tools
used in the process (a total of ten books and assessments in
all).