Living As a Church
There’s plenty of material out there on living the Christian life. But there’s not so much, from what we can tell, on living together as a church.
To help with that deficit, 9Marks is using this issue to present pastors and churches with what we believe is a useful tool, a short class on living together as a local church. If you’ve never provided your congregation with an opportunity to meditate together on what it means to live together as a church, we hope you’ll take a look at this material. Teach it yourself; let a young man you’re discipling teach it; or let it prompt you to write your own class. The thirteen classes below were originally taught in a Sunday School format, but feel free to change and adapt the material for whatever format best serves your purposes—small group, weekend retreat, maybe even a sermon series. All free.
Thanks from 9Marks goes to CHBC elders Jamie Dunlop and Papu Sandhu, as well as Third Avenue Baptist Church elder Greg Gilbert, for writing and re-writing this material.
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Class I: Introduction
By Jamie Dunlop
Unity, God’s Goal for the Church Read more >
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Class II: Church Membership
By Jamie Dunlop
The Context for Unity Read more >
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Class III: Preaching
By Jamie Dunlop
The Foundation of Unity Read more >
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Class IV: Corporate Prayer
By Jamie Dunlop
God's Power Creates Unity Read more >
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Class IX: Church Discipline
By Jamie Dunlop
Preserving God-Glorifying Unity Read more >
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Class V: Church Government
Godly Authority Fostering Unity Read more >
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Class VI: Fellowship
By Jamie Dunlop
Building a Bond of Unity Read more >
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Class VII: Discontentment
By Jamie Dunlop
A Test of Unity Read more >
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Class VIII: Church Leadership
By Jamie Dunlop
Submission for the Sake of Unity Read more >
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Class XI: Serving and Giving
By Jamie Dunlop
Sacrifice for the Sake of Unity Read more >
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Class XII: Worship
By Jamie Dunlop
Praising God in Unity Read more >
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Class XIII: Corporate Evangelism
By Greg Gilbert
A Harvest of Unity Read more >
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God Helps Those Who Help Themselves?
By Brad Wheeler
What are our roles and responsibilities in the process of conversion, and what are God’s? Read more >
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Sample Sunday School Class-On Corporate Prayer
By Jamie Dunlop
You have walked into a class on prayer this morning. That's probably not too surprising if you've been around churches for long—you've probably had a number of classes on prayer over the years. But let me explain what's going to be different about this class. We're going to be looking at the role that corporate prayer has to play in our life as a church. Not your life individually. Individual prayer is crucial—but that's not the topic of this class. Our prayer together as a church is the topic here. Read more >
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Book Review: The Living Church: Convictions of a Life Long Pastor
Reviewed by Jonathan Leeman
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Book Review: The Hip Hop Church
Reviewed by Thabiti Anyabwile
No one can dispute the rapid and worldwide expansion of hip hop culture over the last twenty years. It is a cultural phenomenon largely unanticipated, even frightening to some onlookers. Hip Hop culture exerts tremendous shaping influence on products ranging from apparel to automobiles, from fashion to films, and everything beyond. OVERVIEW Read more >
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Book Review: The Market-Driven Church
Reviewed by Michael McKinley
There’s a certain genre of Christian writing that seeks to analyze the problems with American culture from the perspective of a friendly outsider and then observe the way the church has embraced or reflected those problems, like Os Guinness’ Fit Bodies, Fat Minds or David Wells’ No Place For Truth. Udo Middleman’s The Market-Driven Church fits more or less into this category. Read more >
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Book Review: They Like Jesus But Not the Church, by Dan Kimball
Reviewed by Kevin McFaddenI enjoyed this book, and I didn’t think I would. Read more >
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Book Review: The Irresistible Revolution, by Shane Claiborne
Reviewed by Shane WalkerShane Claiborne, the author of The Irresistible Revolution, is a man of great moral clarity and bravery. He not only espouses and evangelizes for communal living, public protest, and pacifism, he lives it. Read more >
