Christian Educ
Sitewide Banner Message
The Well Bookstore is open for in-person shopping Monday thru Thursday 9am-4pm and Sundays from 8:30am-12:45pm (curbside pickup not available). All orders placed online or over the phone after noon on Thursdays will not be processed until the following Monday.
How to Inspire and Equip the Members of Your Church to Love and Serve Their Community
Every pastor wants to impact their local community.
But pastors make up a small subset of the entire church, and many find themselves stretched too thin — especially now.
More than four out of five pastors tell Barna they prefer lay initiatives to new church programs, but fewer than one in 10 pastors is confident that their church is good at developing new leaders.
If you’re looking for ways to inspire and equip the people in your church to share God’s love with your community, we’d be honored to help.
Together with our partners at Lutheran Hour Ministries, we’ve set out to answer questions such as:
- What possibilities exist in the gifts of church members?
- What motivates Christians to make a hopeful difference in their neighborhoods?
- What’s the most fruitful way of connecting individual Christians with a heart for their neighbors to their community?
- How do you build trust in communities where Christians and the Church don’t have a great reputation?
- What’s the role of congregations and ministry leaders in this effort?
We’ve combined careful research with insights from ministry leaders and packaged them all in a report called:
Better Together: How Christians Can Be a Welcome Influence in Their Neighborhoods.
You can raise up leaders in your congregation who will make a positive difference in the community.
It’s challenging work, but the results can be life changing — because in life and in ministry, we really are better together.
Equipping Children's Ministry Volunteers
Whether you are part of your church's children's ministry, or thinking about serving in children's ministry, the Children's Ministry Volunteer Handbook is for you!
Too often, people view children's ministry as a place to drop off the kids so the adults can listen to the sermon, uninterrupted. They fail to see the power and potential of children's ministry.
In Matthew 19:13-14, Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." While we may see the naivete of children as a detriment, Jesus sees it as a strength--there is beauty in the simplicity of the gospel. Investing in children's ministry is a worthwhile and crucial part of the church.
This practical handbook features insights from six authors, all experts in the field of children's ministry, with over 100 years of combined experience. They will help guide you through the challenges and joys of children's ministry--and how it is vital to the Kingdom of God.
This book is for those seeking to discern God's call to ministry. It is an introduction into the meaning of that call, the vision for ministry, and the opportunities The United Methodist Church offers to live out that call. For United Methodists, this call is grounded in a Wesleyan understanding of servant ministry and servant leadership that affirms that all Christians are ministers by virtue of their baptism.
Have you ever wondered how pastors first received God's call to become a minister? Would you be surprised to know that it is often in the local church culture that it becomes apparent that God wants them to be in ministry? In The Madison Effect: An Inspiring Culture of Call, Gary Robbins explores an inspirational culture of call within a small church in Madison, Kansas. From this one church, sixteen individuals have gone into ministry or mission work. Gary Robbins was inspired by the Madison church to write this book about what churches can do to recognize and nurture individuals into a life of service as pastors or lay volunteers. This book poses the necessary questions to allow The Madison Effect to grow within your church. Robbins discusses congregational accountability and issues that clergy can't address. Whether this book is used as a resource for adult education, church visioning or staff training, how to create a robust culture of call is an important dialogue for churches to prayerfully discuss.