Small Church Essentials

Small Church Essentials PDF Author: Karl Vaters
Publisher: Moody Publishers
ISBN: 0802496369
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
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 Essentials

Small Church Essentials PDF Author: Karl Vaters
Publisher: Moody Publishers
ISBN: 0802496369
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Get Book Here

Book Description
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 Gifts of the Small Church

The Gifts of the Small Church PDF Author: Jason Byassee
Publisher: Abingdon Press
ISBN: 0687466598
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
Why the small- to mid-sized church remains God's best means to make disciples of Jesus Christ

The Strategically Small Church

The Strategically Small Church PDF Author: Brandon J. O'Brien
Publisher: Bethany House
ISBN: 0764207830
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
Pastor and Leadership journal editor shows how small churches are uniquely equipped for success in today's culture, offering encouragement and help to pastors and leaders.

Imagining the Small Church

Imagining the Small Church PDF Author: Steve Willis
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1566995558
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 116

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Book Description
Imagining the Small Church: Celebrating a Simpler Path bears witness to what God is doing in small churches. Steve Willis tells stories from the small churches he has pastored in rural, town, and urban settings and dares to imagine that their way of being has something to teach all churches in this time of change in the American Christian Church. Willis tells us in the introduction, 'This book boasts no ten or fifteen steps to a successful small church. Instead, I hope to encourage you to give up on steps altogether and even to give up on success, at least how success is usually measured. I also hope to help the reader imagine the small church differently; to see with new eyes the joys and pleasures of living small and sustainably.' The joys and sorrows Willis helps us see through the compelling stories of faith in the small church puts flesh and bones on the possibilities that lie ahead for congregations in the future as well as the here and now. From the foreword by Tony Pappas: 'In Imagining the Small Church, pastor, writer, and lover of small things Steve Willis takes us on a narrative and imaginative journey. Some readers will have a sense that what Willis is describing simply names what they have already known in their hearts about their small churches. For them the journey will cover some familiar ground, explore some territory from a fresh angle, but deposit them nearly home again, hopefully with just a bit more awareness and appreciation. For others, though, Willis will take them on a long journey to a far and foreign place. They probably won't bother to finish reading it, and they will miss his invitation to find pastoring a small church extremely rewarding and meaningful. They will find this a strange book weird, off-center, and impractical; unlivable in the twenty-first century and undesirable in any event. This is because Willis is taking on the ethos, the values of our age, and claiming that it needn't be so. We can live on a different basis. We can live on the basis of gospel values.' There will be a variety of paths as the Church seeks new ways of being in this time. Willis knows this. In Imagining the Small Church he presents us with one that embraces a life of faith on the periphery and challenges church leaders to do the same.

Making the Small Church Effective

Making the Small Church Effective PDF Author: Carl S. Dudley
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780687230440
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
What makes the small church so reliably steady, closely intimate, and beautifully simple -- a worthy model of the Christian church? Carl S. Dudley affirms the main cause as lying within the minds of the church members.

The Grasshopper Myth

The Grasshopper Myth PDF Author: Karl Vaters
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780988443907
Category : Small churches
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
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?

Inside the Small Church

Inside the Small Church PDF Author: Anthony G. Pappas
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1566995620
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
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.

Small on Purpose

Small on Purpose PDF Author: Lewis A. Parks
Publisher: Abingdon Press
ISBN: 1501827332
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 126

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Book Description
Small on Purpose: Life in a Significant Church is a joyful and honest look at the kingdom-enriching characteristics of small congregations. Lewis Parks demonstrates how to see and build upon those strengths. His premise is not better/worse. Instead, Parks shows us how life in a small congregation is profoundly significant and the important role these churches play. This book includes clear instructions on how leaders can streamline ministry to maximize the unique and powerful contributions small churches make in their communities. This book is inspiring and practical, a refreshing point of view for the church and church leaders. “Small on Purpose reimagines what it means to be a congregation of ninety, sixty, or thirty by not focusing on size. I especially appreciate Lewis Parks’s attention to why ‘soul care’ is critical for congregations under 150 as a means of discipleship and outreach. Parks sees soul care as a countercultural act that creates meaning for many who are seeking family-like relationships. This book challenges all congregations to take seriously the small things they are doing—like soul care—as a compelling way to move into the future.” —F. Douglas Powe Jr., Managing Director for The Institute for Community Engagement, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington DC; author of New Wine, New Wineskins and Not Safe for Church from Abingdon Press “Lewis Parks writes with pitch-perfect tone about the life of small churches. He appeals to the experience of smaller congregations as gathering places of worship and service. There he sees signs of the Spirit moving, of tradition revivified through song and word, of pastoral care shared across a congregation. Above all, he offers transformative words and perspectives with which small churches can claim their distinctive witness.” —Thomas Edward Frank, University Professor and Chair of the Department of History, Wake Forest College, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC “In a time when the culture is becoming more and more individualistic, Lew Parks strikes a chord for the great value of the gathered community of faith that is strengthened week by week through their faithfulness to the gospel and to one another. Gather in your small church and read this together. Your life and your community will be enriched.” —Bill McAlilly, Bishop, Nashville Area Episcopal Office, The United Methodist Church

Maximizing the Midsize Church

Maximizing the Midsize Church PDF Author: David J. Peter
Publisher: Kregel Ministry
ISBN: 9780825445651
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
Nearly one in four congregations in the United States is a midsize church (150-400 worshippers per week), and the midsize church has its own distinctive culture, dynamics, and characteristics. Drawing on years of research and pastoral ministry, David J. Peter has written a comprehensive handbook for pastors and staff who direct these churches. Peter covers the most important issues leaders encounter, including: - The important role they play in advancing the kingdom of God - Common cultural characteristics - Typical problems and productive solutions - Advantages over both small and large churches, and how to capitalize on them - Practices for developing healthy programs - The responsibilities of the pastor - Guidance for hiring staff and recruiting volunteers Pastors of midsize congregations will find effective resources and encouragement for successful leadership.

Tribal Church

Tribal Church PDF Author: Steve Stroope
Publisher: B&H Books
ISBN: 9781433673443
Category : Christian leadership
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A nationally respected pastor explains how church leaders desiring big ministry impact must first guide the smaller tribes in their congregations, so a ripple effect of outreach and change occurs. Also applicable to family and business leadership.