Includes bibliographical references.

Framing the agenda for testing the spirits / Patrick Keifert -- The return of the congregation to theological education / Patrick Keifert -- The Bible and theological education: a report and reflections on a journey / Patrick Keifert -- Congregations, democracy, and the action of God in Philippians 1-2 / David Fredrickson -- God, civil society, and congregations as public moral companions / Gary Simpson -- Word-dwelling, deep listening, and faith-based moral conversation in congregations: a nested vision for learning new habits / Pat Taylor Ellison -- Discerning the will of God: congregational use of Scripture through the lens of the cross / Ronald W. Duty -- Scripture, Christian imagination, and the testimony of experience in moral conversation / Ronald W. Duty -- Doing faith-based conversation: metaphors for congregations and their leaders / Pat Taylor Ellison -- The dialectic of idolatry and profanation: on discerning the Spirit in congregational studies / Lois Malcolm -- The use of Scripture in congregational research / Donald H. Juel.