Onward Spring 2021 – Day of Break: The Church’s Finest Hour
BOOKS
Pursuing God’s Will Together:
A Discernment Practice for Leadership Groups
by Ruth Haley Barton
Meetings can sap our energy, rupture community, and thoroughly demoralize us. They can go on forever with no resolution. Or they can rush along without consensus just to “get through the agenda.” What if there was another way? Church boards and other Christian leadership teams have long relied on models adapted from the business world. Ruth Haley Barton helps teams transition to a much more suitable model―the spiritual community that discerns God’s will together. This book will help you discover personal and group practices that will lead you into a new way of experiencing community and listening to God together.
Follow the Cloud: Hearing God’s Voice One Next Step at a Time
by John Stickl
There is a big difference between being set free and living free.
How do I know what to do with my life? How do I hear God’s voice? Maybe the answer is easier than we think. When God led the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land, he gave them a cloud to follow. He led them in an intimately personal, ever-present way one next step at a time. He led them without revealing the whole picture because he wanted them to follow by faith.
Joining God, Remaking Church, Changing the World: The New Shape of the Church in Our Time
by Alan J. Roxburgh
Exhausted with trying to “fix” the church? It’s time to turn in a new direction: back to the Holy Spirit. In this insightful book, internationally renowned scholar and leader Alan Roxburgh urges Christians to follow the Spirit into our neighborhoods, re-engage with the mission of God, and re-imagine the whole enterprise of church.
VIDEOS
Giants in the Land: Communal Discernment & Racism
Moderated by Marion Platt
Pray and join us for a conversation about race and justice at the intersection of the Christian faith.
Watch Video: youtu.be/H6_jGj-xSCo
ARTICLES
Discernment as a Way of Life
by Ruth Haley Barton
Discernment is much more than mere decision making; it is, first of all, a habit, a way of seeing that can permeate our whole life. As it makes clear in John 9, it is the movement from seeing things merely from a human perspective to seeing from a spiritual vantage point, continually looking for evidence of the work of God in order to join him in it.
Discernment is a quality of attentiveness to God that, over time, develops into the ability to sense God’s heart and purpose in any given moment. We become familiar with the tone, quality, and content of God’s voice. We notice how God is present for us in the moment. We wonder, Where is God unfolding his work of love and redemption? and What is my most authentic response?
Read Full Article: christianitytoday.com/women-leaders/2012/june/discernment-as-way-of-life.html
Onward
Onward is a magazine for news, stories, and updates from the members of the NAB family. It is published three times a year.
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