Indispensable Guide For Smaller Churches

This book complements the author's earlier titles from The Pilgrim Press, "The Big Small Church Book, and "Wonderful Worship in Smaller Churches". Ray expands on the earlier works by treating such subjects as communal theology, theories, and tools for understanding smaller churches, worship, education, and finance. His vision is to lead even smaller churches toward the year 2030.

Even as so-called megachurches capture the attention of many church watchers, small congregations continue to dominate America's religious landscape in both rural and urban settings. Although sometimes obscured by their larger siblings, these small churches play a prominent role and hold a unique place in both local and national cultures. How can leaders help to keep these often at-risk churches alive and to meet their potential for ministry? Small-church expert Tony Pappas has gathered a cornucopia of essays into an indispensable book for anyone interested in the rich life of these small but significant congregations. Drawing on classic and updated articles by a variety of writers from his own small-church newsletter The Five Stones; from Alban journals Action Information and Congregations; and adding new pieces developed especially for this volume, Pappas provides timeless ideas on learning to value, pastor, develop, and lead the small church. In addition to time-honored articles by the editor, other contributors to this volume include Sherry and Douglas Alan Walrath, Gary Farley, Lawrence W. Farris, Loren Mead, Caroline Westerhoff, Steven Burt, Carl Dudley, David Ray, James Lowery, and a host of others known for their work-and love-for the small church. Readers of Inside the Small Church will come away with a renewed love and appreciation for these vital congregations as well as with new skills for ministry.

Christian Education is part of the vital ministry of all churches, but especially of small membership churches. In a culture that places great value on numbers, small membership churches often mistakenly see themselves at a disadvantage. Small membership churches can create wonderful opportunities to form and disciple faithful followers of Jesus Christ. In offering viable Christian Education, the role of the pastor is critical. This book invites pastors to lead their small membership churches to develop an imaginative and holistic vision of Christian Education. Read the Introduction

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

The vast majority of United Methodist churches are small membership churches that can be and are vital places of ministry that matter. Most are situated in areas where there are people outside any faith community and have great potential for ministry. This Guideline will help you be an effective leader in your smaller church. This is one of the twenty-six Guidelines that cover church leadership areas including Church Council and Pastor-Parish Relations; the administrative areas of Finance and Trustees; and ministry areas focused on nurture, outreach, and witness including Worship, Evangelism, S.

"Wonderful Worship in Smaller Churches provides insightful, practical, and functional principals. This resource includes essential theories about worship in smaller churches; practical and provocative theology; twelve principles in understanding small church worship; fifteen practices for planning worship with fewer than 100 people; and questions and suggestions for congregational study and planning. This book provides further assistance and information for small churches by including a vast list of resources." "Ray, who calls on his thirty years of experience in pastoring small churches, has written yet another best-seller for use by clergy, denominational staff, seminarians, pastors, and lay leaders. This is a must-have book that should be on the shelf of anyone working in and with smaller churches."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Dudley's work in Making the Small Church Effective (1978) broke new ground in understanding the dynamics of life in the small congregation. In this revised edition, Dudley revisits the small church, posing new questions reflective of the considerable changes that have swept over small churches in the last two decades. Among the most significant recent developments are shifts in institutional loyalty and individual's sense of identity in relation to larger groups and organizations. Dudley explores the key components that contribute to a small congregation's sense of unity and that motivate its members to more faithfully live out their faith.