Toxic Churches - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Toxic Churches write by Marc Du Pont. This book was released on 2004-01-01. Toxic Churches available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Spiritual abuse devastates its victims perhaps more than any other form of violation, because it targets those who are most unprepared and vulnerable. This book aims to reach out to those who have given their time, money and talents to the Body of Christ, only to find themselves hurting, frustrated and confused.
Toxic Church
Toxic Church - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Toxic Church write by Chris Creech. This book was released on 2019-10. Toxic Church available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Every year, thousands of pastors are forced from their ministries, many never to return. Studies reveal that forced terminations, once having occurred in a local church, often repeat themselves in the same church, demonstrating a pattern of dysfunction and difficulty within those fellowships. In Toxic Church, Creech examines how the patterns of family dysfunction find their way into the life of the local church, often producing severe conflict, causing division, enabling sin, and even ending the ministry of the pastor and possibly even the local church. Creech outlines a plan for recognizing dysfunction within the church family, diagnosing the root causes of that dysfunction and taking steps to protect the church and the pastor from what many now call the epidemic caused by toxic churches and the clergy killers within them.
Toxic Charity
Toxic Charity - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Toxic Charity write by Robert D. Lupton. This book was released on 2011-10-11. Toxic Charity available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Public service is a way of life for Americans; giving is a part of our national character. But compassionate instincts and generous spirits aren’t enough, says veteran urban activist Robert D. Lupton. In this groundbreaking guide, he reveals the disturbing truth about charity: all too much of it has become toxic, devastating to the very people it’s meant to help. In his four decades of urban ministry, Lupton has experienced firsthand how our good intentions can have unintended, dire consequences. Our free food and clothing distribution encourages ever-growing handout lines, diminishing the dignity of the poor while increasing their dependency. We converge on inner-city neighborhoods to plant flowers and pick up trash, battering the pride of residents who have the capacity (and responsibility) to beautify their own environment. We fly off on mission trips to poverty-stricken villages, hearts full of pity and suitcases bulging with giveaways—trips that one Nicaraguan leader describes as effective only in “turning my people into beggars.” In Toxic Charity, Lupton urges individuals, churches, and organizations to step away from these spontaneous, often destructive acts of compassion toward thoughtful paths to community development. He delivers proven strategies for moving from toxic charity to transformative charity. Proposing a powerful “Oath for Compassionate Service” and spotlighting real-life examples of people serving not just with their hearts but with proven strategies and tested tactics, Lupton offers all the tools and inspiration we need to develop healthy, community-driven programs that produce deep, measurable, and lasting change. Everyone who volunteers or donates to charity needs to wrestle with this book.
A Church Called Tov
A Church Called Tov - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook A Church Called Tov write by Scot McKnight. This book was released on 2020-10-06. A Church Called Tov available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. “Scot and Laura do an amazing job of teaching us what a good church looks like.” —Beth Moore What is the way forward for the church? Tragically, in recent years, Christians have gotten used to revelations of abuses of many kinds in our most respected churches—from Willow Creek to Harvest, from Southern Baptist pastors to Sovereign Grace churches. Respected author and theologian Scot McKnight and former Willow Creek member Laura Barringer wrote this book to paint a pathway forward for the church. We need a better way. The sad truth is that churches of all shapes and sizes are susceptible to abuses of power, sexual abuse, and spiritual abuse. Abuses occur most frequently when Christians neglect to create a culture that resists abuse and promotes healing, safety, and spiritual growth. How do we keep these devastating events from repeating themselves? We need a map to get us from where we are today to where we ought to be as the body of Christ. That map is in a mysterious and beautiful little Hebrew word in Scripture that we translate “good,” the word tov. In this book, McKnight and Barringer explore the concept of tov—unpacking its richness and how it can help Christians and churches rise up to fulfill their true calling as imitators of Jesus.
Where the Light Fell
Where the Light Fell - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Where the Light Fell write by Philip Yancey. This book was released on 2023-03-14. Where the Light Fell available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. In this searing meditation on the bonds of family and the allure of extremist faith, one of today’s most celebrated Christian writers recounts his unexpected journey from a strict fundamentalist upbringing to a life of compassion and grace—a revelatory memoir that “invites comparison to Hillbilly Elegy” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). “Searing, heartrending . . . This stunning tale reminds us that the only way to keep living is to ask God for the impossible: love, forgiveness, and hope.”—Kate Bowler, New York Times bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason Raised by an impoverished widow who earned room and board as a Bible teacher in 1950s Atlanta, Philip Yancey and his brother, Marshall, found ways to venture out beyond the confines of their eight-foot-wide trailer. But when Yancey was in college, he uncovered a shocking secret about his father’s death—a secret that began to illuminate the motivations that drove his mother to extreme, often hostile religious convictions and a belief that her sons had been ordained for a divine cause. Searching for answers, Yancey dives into his family origins, taking us on an evocative journey from the backwoods of the Bible Belt to the bustling streets of Philadelphia; from trailer parks to church sanctuaries; from family oddballs to fire-and-brimstone preachers and childhood awakenings through nature, music, and literature. In time, the weight of religious and family pressure sent both sons on opposite paths—one toward healing from the impact of what he calls a “toxic faith,” the other into a self-destructive spiral. Where the Light Fell is a gripping family narrative set against a turbulent time in post–World War II America, shaped by the collision of Southern fundamentalism with the mounting pressures of the civil rights movement and Sixties-era forces of social change. In piecing together his fragmented personal history and his search for redemption, Yancey gives testament to the enduring power of our hunger for truth and the possibility of faith rooted in grace instead of fear. “I truly believe this is the one book I was put on earth to write,” says Yancey. “So many of the strands from my childhood—racial hostility, political division, culture wars—have resurfaced in modern form. Looking back points me forward.”
