Worshiping In The Small Membership Church

Offers pastors new inspiration and fresh worship encounters with God.Worship is the most important time in the life of the gathered faithful. Inspirational and accessible, this book is will help pastors and worship leaders fully ground worship in scripture and tradition while being responsive to current times.Included: practical worship helps for the Christian year, tips to involve the congregation in leadership and participation, ways to incorporate music and other arts in worship, and select ideas for congregations of up to one hundred.A sample basic worship library

There is much value in "thinking small," say William H. Willimon and Robert L. Wilson. The importance of the small-membership church is illuminated in this thoughtful and insightful assessment. In Preaching and Worship in the Small Church, authors Willimon and Wilson identify the problems facing small churches and offer well-grounded advice for solving them. The need for this is seen in the fact that from one-half to two-thirds of Protestant churches in the United States are small (fewer than two hundred members). These tightly knit little communities of faith focus mainly on the very basic and much-overlooked fundamentals of Christian theology. As the authors note, "It is in such family-like churches that true worship renewal will occur, long before their larger counterparts will taste of this fresh new wine." This is an affirming book: "It affirms the role and basic values of the small church. It affirms the centrality of Word and Sacrament. It affirms the role of the pastor of the small congregation. It affirms the laity and their values. On this foundation of authentic affirmation can be built creative and inspiring ministries, as the laity and the minister serve God together, in and through the small church."

While worship is the primary purpose of all churches, worship in the small church is distinctive. Whether a house church, a new church plant, a rural church along a country road, or a city church whose neighborhood demographics have shifted, these small faith communities present unique opportunities and challenges for worship leaders. Peter Bush and Christine O'Reilly draw on their passion and experience equipping lay people to plan and lead worship to answer the question, what makes for effective worship

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 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 for Leading Your Congregation 2017-2020 that cover church leadership areas including Church Council and Small Membership Church; the administrative areas of Finance and Trustees; and ministry areas focused on nurture, outreach, and witness including Worship, Evangelism, Stewardship, Christian Education, age-level ministries, Communications, and more.

Small membership churches are the perfect size for a variety of worship experiences. The authors use their many years of worshiping in and working with small membership churches to focus on creating transforming worship within small membership churches and their particular strengths. Wallace and Heck state: Living in the tension, of small numbers and large hopes, of knowing our congregations and wanting to include others, of long-time faith and newborn Christians, gives us energy for the work of encountering the living God through the risen Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit in worship. This book provides readers with a variety of tools for worship in small congregations, such as resources for worship planning, plans for the church year, altar settings, hospitality, children's sermons, ushering, serving communion, and many of the best practices in worship. Taking seriously the gifts of ministry in small membership congregations will change how members participate in the body of Christ.

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

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.