Small Congregation, Big Potential

2010-10-01
Small Congregation, Big Potential

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  • Author: Lyle E Schaller
  • Publisher: Abingdon Press
  • ISBN: 1426731868
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 225

Kindle Edition There are many questions that leaders of small-membership congregations ask themselves about their church's future. Lyle Schaller suggests that two in particular should rise to the top of the list. First, what's the right size of for a church? Is the small congregation averaging two or three dozen people at worship a legitimate order of God's creation? You bet it is, says Schaller. Second, should these congregations make their plans on the basis of few resources and fewer options, or should they see themselves as possessed of pools of talent and expanding possibilities? If you are convinced that the former is true, then this book is not for you. If, however, you are among those who believe that small-membership churches are distinctive places of Christian witness and service, spreading the gospel and living in service to the world in ways that other, larger churches are not, then this book is for you. In it you will find the right questions to ask as you seek to lead a small-membership congregation, and solid, practical guidance for doing so.

Small Church Essentials

2018-03-06
Small Church Essentials

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  • Author: Karl Vaters
  • Publisher: Moody Publishers
  • ISBN: 0802496369
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 256

Do you lead a small church? Big churches get all the love. Articles, books, conferences—they mostly feature leaders of large congregations. Yet big churches are a small part of the ecclesial landscape. In fact, more than 90 percent of churches have fewer than 200 people. That means small churches play a big part in what God is doing. Small Church Essentials is for leaders of these smaller congregations. It encourages them to steward their role well, debunking myths about small churches while offering principles for leading a dynamic, healthy small church. Based on the popular six-hour lecture that Karl Vaters delivers to church leaders across the country, Small Church Essentials will affirm small church leaders and show them how to identify what they do well, and how to do it even better. Readers will: Be assured that leading a small congregation does not make them ministry failures Come away inspired to lead with passion, regardless the size of their church Have field-tested principles for leading a church in their context Possess new metrics for biblically measuring vitality in small churches Have a toolkit of resources to use in their everyday ministry Karl Vaters has been a small church pastor for 30 years, is the author of The Grasshopper Myth: Big Churches, Small Churches, and the Small Thinking that Divides Us (2013), and travels extensively to churches and conferences to speak about leading a small church well. If you are pastoring a small church, this book will be a breath of fresh air. It will affirm your calling while giving you fresh tools to help you lead. It will help you: Stop believing lies about small churches Lead your church to fulfill the role only small churches can Understand your congregation’s strengths and weaknesses Turn around a dying or unhealthy church Identify good trends and bad in church and culture

Small Church, Big Impact (Ebook Shorts)

2011-08-01
Small Church, Big Impact (Ebook Shorts)

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  • Author: Brandon J. O'Brien
  • Publisher: Baker Books
  • ISBN: 144127071X
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 55

By gathering stories about effective churches from small-church pastors, Brandon O'Brien demonstrates that a church's success is not contingent on its size. This is a selection from Brandon O'Brien's book, The Strategically Small Church.

Big Lessons from Little Places

2015-03-01
Big Lessons from Little Places

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  • Author: Kay Collier McLaughlin
  • Publisher: Church Publishing, Inc.
  • ISBN: 0819231681
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 141

"Churchwide discussions on structure and growth tend to focus on the importance of increasing “butts in the pews and bucks in the plates.” Suggestions have been made on merging smaller dioceses to create larger ones and closing the doors of congregations which do not have Sunday attendance of at least 200. This is a model of scarcity without consideration of the value and abundance to be found in small churches. Discover the roles, possibilities, promise, and potential of being a small church! Travel with Kay Collier McLauglin as she takes the back roads and byways of the United States, visiting small churches that are making a difference in their community. Each chapter tells a story about an example of faithfulness in the life of a small congregation and relates that story to the essentials of faithful living and being church. The book challenges the decision-makers in the Episcopal Church to think beyond traditional measures and shortterm economic fixes to discover the life-giving opportunities and models presented by the smallest congregations.

The Gifts of the Small Church

2010-09-01
The Gifts of the Small Church

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  • Author: Dr. Jason Byassee
  • Publisher: Abingdon Press
  • ISBN: 1426727321
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 204

Dizzying changes have taken place in American religious life in the last half century. Yet in spite of that fact, taking a snapshot of a “typical” Christian church in America would reveal a surprising number of small-to-mid-sized congregations, rooted in a local neighborhood or community, tied to a specific denomination, where most of the members know each others’ names, and hence are blessed (and cursed) with being the church together. In this clear-eyed, humorous appraisal, Jason Byassee contends that the “church around the corner” occupies a particular place in the divine economy, that it is especially capable of forming us in the virtues, perspectives, and habits that make up the Christian life. Not that he romanticizes these churches, however. Having been a rural, small membership church pastor, Byassee knows too well the particular vices and temptations to which they are subject. But he also knows the particular graces they’ve been given, graces like the “prayer ladies,” those pillars of the congregation who, “when one told you she was praying for you it meant something. When one hugged you, you remembered all week. When one cooked for you the casserole tasted like love. And when you were around them you were in the presence of Jesus.” Anyone who serves, or belongs to, a “church around the corner” will find their ministry strengthened by this enlivening, inspiring book.

The Grasshopper Myth

2013-01-10
The Grasshopper Myth

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  • Author: Karl Vaters
  • Publisher:
  • ISBN: 9780988443907
  • Category : Small churches
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 212

90% of the churches in the world have less than 200 people. What if that's not a bad thing? What if smallness is an advantage God wants us to use, not a problem to fix?

How to Thrive As a Small-Church Pastor

1998
How to Thrive As a Small-Church Pastor

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  • Author: Steve R. Bierly
  • Publisher: Zondervan
  • ISBN: 9780310216551
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 194

Practical and encouraging wisdom to help small-church pastors understand why they often feel the way they do abounds in this book, as well as tips on how to recover personal well-being and the joy of a small-church ministry.

Exponential Groups

2017-02-01
Exponential Groups

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  • Author: Allen White
  • Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers
  • ISBN: 1683070348
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 270

This book brims with effective strategies for recruiting leaders, connecting members into groups, coaching groups for success, and giving people something to say yes to, even when they have rejected church-wide campaigns previously offered by their churches. Keys to effective, ongoing groups include leadership training, ongoing coaching, appropriate recordkeeping, as well as a sequence of aligned series rather than just a single occasional campaign. This book provides fundamentals that will insure ongoing success proven principles used effectively in hundreds of churches across North America. Readers of Exponential Groupswill learn how to connect their unconnected members into community, recruit the group leaders needed to connect and grow their congregation, coach group leaders for a sustainable group structure that will serve their church for years to come, understand how to maintain current discipleship strategies, and implement new strategies without alienating their members or derailing their current systems.

Wisdom from Lyle E. Schaller

2012-10-01
Wisdom from Lyle E. Schaller

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  • Author: Lyle E. Schaller
  • Publisher: Abingdon Press
  • ISBN: 1426761627
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 217

One poll declared him the most influential American church leader of the last 100 years. Lyle E. Schaller has written literally millions of words of insight and advice for church leaders. His books alone number nearly 60 titles and span 40 years of publication, beginning in 1964. Now, this single volume makes available his best insights, organized by topic and framed with fascinating background perspective of Schaller himself. This volume both introduces Schaller to a new generation of church leaders and is a handy resource for those who grew up on Schaller's writing and count him as a major ministry influence.

Pastoral Care in the Small Membership Church

2005-05-01
Pastoral Care in the Small Membership Church

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  • Author: James L. Killen JR.
  • Publisher: Abingdon Press
  • ISBN: 1426763352
  • Category : Religion
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 115

An introduction to pastoral care for pastors of small membership churches.“If you spend your whole life serving small membership churches and doing it well, yours will have been a life well spent.” Small membership churches have a real advantage when it comes to incorporating people into a fellowship where they are known and where their needs are met. These churches and their pastors have an opportunity for excellence in this area, and should make the most of it. Good pastoral care can be the key to effectiveness in all of the other ministries of the church.From getting acquainted with your congregation, weddings and funerals, picking up on subtle cues in a conversation to not-so-subtle conflicts, Killen shares insights from years of ministry in a small membership church setting.James L. Killen, Jr. is a retired elder of the Texas Conference, contributor to Circuit Rider, and author of Who Do You Say That I Am? A Personal Reader.