Happy Church

Most Christians resist the idea that we are to pursue happiness. We are more comfortable with the idea of finding joy or being blessed. But seeking happiness seems too superficial or too flighty for people of faith.In Happy Church, Tim McConnell offers a radical call for Christians to reclaim happiness. Happiness flows from the joy of the Lord and being glad in Christ. When the church expresses happiness, we are making a countercultural choice that the world cannot help but notice. 'It's time to bring the happy back,' he says. 'It's time to get serious about happiness.'This is a book to read with your small group or congregation, with discussion questions to help you become happy together. You'll discover that God's call to the church is to radiate happiness-because we live in a world that desperately needs it.

Tim McConnell (PhD, University of Virginia) is lead pastor of First Presbyterian Church (ECO) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is the author of Happy Church and Illumination in Basil of Caesarea's Doctrine of the Holy Spirit. He has served as a chaplain in the US Army Reserve, worked as the director of graduate ministries for the Center for Christian Study in Charlottesville, Virginia, and has taught Christian history and theology at undergraduate and seminary settings. Tim currently serves on the national Theological Task Force for his church, ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians.Born in Germany to a military family, Tim was raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He came to Christ through Young Life and has been devoted to ministry since, promoting the love and knowledge of God to the best of his ability. He holds degrees from Northwestern University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Oxford University, and the University of Virginia. Tim lives in Colorado Springs with his wife Abigail and four children.