Bøger af Jonathan Leeman

Churches are currently facing a host of difficult issues―potential shut-downs and restrictions due to COVID-19, political dissension among members, racial division, church abuse scandals, and the list continues. While some attendees have temporarily turned to virtual church services, others are wondering if committing to a local church is worth the trouble. Is it really that important to gather each week?Written for anyone struggling to answer this question, Collin Hansen and Jonathan Leeman help readers rediscover why the church is essential. Rediscover Church starts from the ground up, examining topics such as the mission of the church, the importance of preaching and teaching, church membership, church discipline, and how to love members who are different. This book is a timely reminder that the church is more than just a livestream―it is an essential fellowship of God's people furthering God's mission.

Churches are currently facing a host of difficult issuesΓÇòpotential shut-downs and restrictions due to COVID-19, political dissension among members, racial division, church abuse scandals, and the list continues. While some attendees have temporarily turned to virtual church services, others are wondering if committing to a local church is worth the trouble. Is it really that important to gather each week?Written for anyone struggling to answer this question, Collin Hansen and Jonathan Leeman help readers rediscover why the church is essential. Rediscover Church starts from the ground up, examining topics such as the mission of the church, the importance of preaching and teaching, church membership, church discipline, and how to love members who are different. This book is a timely reminder that the church is more than just a livestreamΓÇòit is an essential fellowship of God''s people furthering God''s mission.

This book is a timely reminder that the church is more than just a livestream―it is an essential fellowship of God's people furthering God's mission.

Churches are currently facing a host of difficult issues―potential shut-downs and restrictions due to COVID-19, political dissension among members, racial division, church abuse scandals, and the list continues. While some attendees have temporarily turned to virtual church services, others are wondering if committing to a local church is worth the trouble. Is it really that important to gather each week?Written for anyone struggling to answer this question, Collin Hansen and Jonathan Leeman help readers rediscover why the church is essential. Rediscover Church starts from the ground up, examining topics such as the mission of the church, the importance of preaching and teaching, church membership, church discipline, and how to love members who are different. This book is a timely reminder that the church is more than just a livestream―it is an essential fellowship of God's people furthering God's mission.

Why We Need the Church Now More than EverChurches are currently facing a host of difficult issuesΓÇòpotential shut-downs and restrictions due to COVID-19, political dissension among members, racial division, church abuse scandals, and the list continues. While some attendees have temporarily turned to virtual church services, others are wondering if committing to a local church is worth the trouble. Is it really that important to gather each week? Written for anyone struggling to answer this question, Collin Hansen and Jonathan Leeman help readers rediscover why the church is essential. Rediscover Church starts from the ground up, examining topics such as the mission of the church, the importance of preaching and teaching, church membership, church discipline, and how to love members who are different. This book is a timely reminder that the church is more than just a livestreamΓÇòit is an essential fellowship of God''s people furthering God''s mission.

Why should you join a church? Becoming a member of a church is an important, and often neglected, part of the Christian life. Yet the trend these days is one of shunning the practice of organized religion and showing a distaste or fear of commitment, especially of institutions. Jonathan Leeman addresses these issues with a straightforward explanation of what church membership is and why it''s important. Giving the local church its proper due, Leeman has built a compelling case for committing to the local body.

Our culture''s view of loveΓÇòwith no boundaries or judgments or conditionsΓÇò justifies whatever our hearts want and whatever our hearts feel, rejecting any authority that gets in the way. Falsely heralded as the only path to true self-expression and self-realization, this kind of love diminishesΓÇòif not completely redefinesΓÇòthe holy love of God revealed in the Bible.In this book, Jonathan Leeman directs us toward a biblical definition of love by answering critical questions: How is love commonly misunderstood? What is God''s love like and why is it offensive? And how does all of this relate to the church? In an age of consumerism, individualism, and tribalism, Leeman demonstrates how God showcases his holy love and authority to a watching world through the lives of his people living in true community with one another as the church.

It's a question hundreds of pastors ask every day: What is the best way to grow?A lot of books give a lot of answers, but the best one comes from Scripture. Word-Centered Church brings that answer into sharp focus. Written by Jonathan Leeman, editorial director for the reputable ministry 9Marks, Word-Centered Church offers a thorough treatment of one of God's greatest concerns: growing His people and growing His church. Theological and practical, Word-Centered Church focuses on how the church hears, responds to, discusses, implements, and is transformed by Scripture. It's not about high-octane production, superstar personalities, or postmodern entreaties, but stuff that is really old, really good, and really powerful.Word-Centered Church is the ministry-model book that churches need, because it advances the model God designed. For anyone who wants to grow or help others grow, Word-Centered Church is indispensable.

Church discipline is painful, but often necessary, and should always be loving. In this addition to the 9Marks Church Questions series, Jonathan Leeman presents succinct biblical answers to various questions posited about the nature and application of church discipline.

Jonathan Leeman, editorial director at the ministry 9Marks, helps Christians discover the most effective path forward amid battling worldviews: living as citizens of another kingdom and offering the world a totally new kind of politics.

What should church members do when they disagree on political issues? In this short volume, readers will discover that the gospel creates unity amid diversity, not uniformity, as they learn how to engage with those who disagree on political issues. Part of the 9Marks Church Questions series.

This book considers a series of biblical and pastoral arguments against both the multisite and multiservice church model, making the claim that maintaining a single assembly best embodies the unity the church possesses in Jesus Christ.

Why should you join a church? Becoming a member of a church is an important, and often neglected, part of the Christian life. Yet the trend these days is one of shunning the practice of organized religion and showing a distaste or fear of commitment, especially of institutions. Jonathan Leeman addresses these issues with a straightforward explanation of what church membership is and why it’s important. Giving the local church its proper due, Leeman has built a compelling case for committing to the local body.

Congregational authority is less about the meetings and more about the mission.Congregationalism has a bad rap for well-known reasons: inefficient meetings, upstart members, browbeaten ministers. But biblical congregationalism isn't so much about the meetings. It's about empowering the whole church to promote and protect the gospel. Pastors lead and equip. Members get to work strengthening one another and pursuing Christ's mission in the world.

In this twentieth anniversary edition, we've compiled some of the most essential articles-sev-eral for each of the nine marks. Read it yourself, and then hand it out to your fellow church leaders.

Why should you join a church? Becoming a member of a church is an important, and often neglected, part of the Christian life. Yet the trend these days is one of shunning the practice of organized religion and showing a distaste or fear of commitment, especially of institutions. Jonathan Leeman addresses these issues with a straightforward explanation of what church membership is and why it's important. Giving the local church its proper due, Leeman has built a compelling case for committing to the local body.

9Marks is deeply interested in the doctrine of conversion (it’s the fourth mark) because it’s tightly tied to the doctrine of the church. If the church is a house, conversion is the timber. The timber you use will dramatically affect the kind of house you get. Will you include the timber of divine sovereignty? Human responsibility? Repentance? Faith? Start with Jared Wilson’s reflections on the beauty of the doctrine and Owen Strachan’s historical observations. Thomas Schreiner and Steve Wellum also help us to get our doctrine right. This is critical, friends. Owen’s piece especially will help you to see why, as will Bobby Jamieson’s instructive book review on Revival and Revivalism. Once you’ve got the doctrine right, you need to think about how it connects to the life of the church. For that purpose we’ve called in Jeramie Rinne, Michael Lawrence, Mike Mckinley, and Shai Linne. Zach Schlegel’s review of Finally Alive might also surprise you with its pastoral insight.There is underestimated power in the doctrine of conversion, but only if we get it right. Have you? Have your people? Does it show up in the habits, practices, and structures of your church’s life together?

Evangelicals are good and maybe getting better at talking about the Christian mind, the Christian heart, even the Christian hands and feet. We want to think, feel, and act as Christians. But what about the skeleton? No one really talks about that. If a skeleton holds things together, what is the structure that holds the Christian life together and gives it its shape?That brings us to this episode of the 9Marks’ “Polity is Kool Show.” Today we turn to the theme of church membership. And, boy, do we have a show for you. Several brothers give us a biblical, historical, and sociological look. Several more of us consider the importance of membership. And then a few more offer wise pastoral advice on implementing membership in your church.

Why should you join a church? Becoming a member of a church is an important, and often neglected, part of the Christian life. Yet the trend these days is one of shunning the practice of organized religion and showing a distaste or fear of commitment, especially of institutions. Jonathan Leeman addresses these issues with a straightforward explanation of what church membership is and why it’s important. Giving the local church its proper due, Leeman has built a compelling case for committing to the local body.

Just as it is a parent’s job to discipline his or her children, so it is your job, Christian, to participate in the discipline of your church. Did you know that? This is as basic to being a Christian and a church member as it is for a parent to discipline a child. It is part and parcel of following Jesus: “If your brother sins against you, go and rebuke him in private. (Matt. 18:15).The purpose of this Journal is to help you grab hold of this job responsibility of yours, whether you are a church leader or member. The practice can be abused. Move very slowly. Take every case on its own. Be sure to only act in love. Err toward grace. But move forward in obedience, knowing that all the ways of the Lord are righteous and good.

It’s the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, and right now there’s no shortage of material being published on the topic. Why might this 9Marks Journal possibly add to the pile? We asked our contributors to consider the Reformation’s relevance specifically to the local church and the pastor. Why should pastors care?

Why should you join a church? Becoming a member of a church is an important, and often neglected, part of the Christian life. Yet the trend these days is one of shunning the practice of organized religion and showing a distaste or fear of commitment, especially of institutions. Jonathan Leeman addresses these issues with a straightforward explanation of what church membership is and why it’s important. Giving the local church its proper due, Leeman has built a compelling case for committing to the local body.

Until this world is ended, the gospel will be challenged from places high and low. It will be tweaked and twisted, denounced and denied. And most fundamentally, Christ calls local churches—not seminaries, not presbyteries, not synods, not theologians, not publishers, and not even eJournals—to defend the gospel. It’s the people in the pews and the pulpits whom these apostles address.Insofar as God permits, this issue of the 9Marks eJournal aims to equip local churches and pastors to do just that—defend the gospel. The sweet news is, defending the gospel means meditating on it. Start with Powlison, and you’ll see exactly what I mean.