In this compelling book about diversity and community, McKnight shares his personal experiences and his study of the Apostle Paul to answer this significant question: What is the church supposed to be? Local churches matter far more than we often know because they determine what Christian life looks like for you. The church McKnight grew up in was a fellowship of sames and likes. Mostly white, same beliefs about everything, same tastes in music and worship and sermons and lifestyle. But the church God designed, says McKnight, is meant to be a fellowship of di­fference and di­fferents. A mixture of people from all across the map and spectrum: men and women, rich and poor, black and white, and everything in between. A Fellowship of Differents explores the church as God’s world-changing social experiment of bringing unlikes and differents to the table to share life with one another as a new kind of family, showing the world what love, justice, peace, reconciliation, and life together is designed by God to be.

In a narrative that has urgent significance for every church congregation facing the racial dilemma of mid-twentieth century America, Howard Thurman tells the dramatic story of the founding of the first fully integrated church in the United States--the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. Dr. Thurman, cofounder and long time minister, gives a complete and intimate picture of the beginnings of Fellowship Church, its early problems, experiments, and successful attainment of complete interracial unity. In simple, moving terms he describes the everyday events of church life--worship services, choir practice, church school, etc. - against the background of a multiracial congregation. Through his genius the reader experiences the anxious moments of forming new patterns of organization, the thrill of new and unexpected allies, of vistas opening into the future.

Now with bonus journaling space! A twenty-day prayerful walk to spiritual well-being from the author of the bestsellers The Power of a Praying Wife and The Power of a Praying Parent. Praying God’s Will for Your Life is not a book about finding the right person to marry or deciding on a career. It is a book about a way of life and a heart attitude that are God’s will for everyone who knows Him. That way of life encompasses three important components: An intimate relationship with God A solid foundation in God’s truth A commitment to obedience As she has in previous bestselling books—The Power of a Praying Wife and The Power of a Praying Parent—Stormie invites you to discover the power of prayer, this time encouraging you to pray for yourself as you deepen your walk with God. Accept her challenge to pray for yourself in these areas every day for twenty days, and watch how God changes your life as you move into the center of His will. As you experience the power of God's will in your daily faith journey, take advantage of the bonus Prayer Journal, which offers Stormie's own words of encouragement and plenty of space for reflection and listing prayer requests and answered prayers.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER “Engrossing...studded with wisdom about long-held bonds.” —People, Book of the Week “Enthralling, masterfully written...rich with social and psychological insights.” —The New York Times Book Review “A magnificent storytelling feat.” —The Boston Globe The “utterly engrossing, sweeping” (Time) story of a lifelong friendship between two very different “superbly depicted” (The Wall Street Journal) women with shared histories, divisive loyalties, hidden sorrows, and eighty years of summers on a pristine point of land on the coast of Maine, set across the arc of the 20th century. Celebrated children’s book author Agnes Lee is determined to secure her legacy—to complete what she knows will be the final volume of her pseudonymously written Franklin Square novels; and even more consuming, to permanently protect the peninsula of majestic coast in Maine known as Fellowship Point. To donate the land to a trust, Agnes must convince shareholders to dissolve a generations-old partnership. And one of those shareholders is her best friend, Polly. Polly Wister has led a different kind of life than Agnes: that of a well-off married woman with children, defined by her devotion to her husband, a philosophy professor with an inflated sense of stature. She strives to create beauty and harmony in her home, in her friendships, and in her family. Polly soon finds her loyalties torn between the wishes of her best friend and the wishes of her three sons—but what is it that Polly wants herself? Agnes’s designs are further muddied when an enterprising young book editor named Maud Silver sets out to convince Agnes to write her memoirs. Agnes’s resistance cannot prevent long-buried memories and secrets from coming to light with far-reaching repercussions for all. “An ambitious and satisfying tale” (The Washington Post), Fellowship Point reads like a 19th-century epic, but it is entirely contemporary in its “reflections on aging, writing, stewardship, legacies, independence, and responsibility. At its heart, Fellowship Point is about caring for the places and people we love...This magnificent novel affirms that change and growth are possible at any age” (The Christian Science Monitor).

...The Fellowship of the Mystery... by Tom Mackey Barnes

Discover the true depth of what forgiveness is, what it demands of you, and how it sets you free. Forgiveness offers an alternative to an endless cycle of resentment and revenge that we often see in this world, but it can be difficult to understand its true power without first understanding God’s scandalous grace and forgiveness of us. In The Scandal of Forgiveness—an adaptation of the bestselling book What’s So Amazing About Grace?—author Philip Yancey will take you on an exploration of forgiveness and its clear connection to the gospel. You’ll learn how: Forgiveness is more powerful than getting even. The idea of forgiveness shatters the “eye for an eye” logic of the world. To see and shed the illusions surrounding grace and forgiveness. To accept the full impact of grace and what it means to be a grace-full Christian. The Scandal of Forgiveness reveals how you can adopt the forgiveness the world is searching for. You’ll learn how to authentically forgive and grow closer in your relationship with God

The first book in the Studies in I John series. The modern-day church desperately needs to grasp the lessons of First John and Dr. Lloyd-Jones' discussion of this dynamic book of the Bible is sure to produce spiritual renewal and deeply committed living. An inspiring new series from a highly respected Christian author.