Leadership in Small Churches inspires and equips men and women who are called to serve in churches of less than 100 people, which are the majority of churches in the United States. Small churches in the United States suffer from a lack of leadership. On the one hand, there is a shortage of leaders. On the other hand, leaders who serve faithfully sometimes feel ill-equipped to carry out their calling due to inadequate training, especially a lack of training specific to small churches. This ...

Synergistic Collaborations is a valuable resource for Christian ministers and social workers seeking to extend outreach ministries and new ways to collaborate with community organizations as they serve hurting people. This unique book combines case studies, theological reflections, reality dialogue questions, personal experiences, and research that broaden readers' understanding of the synergistic relationship that naturally exists between pastoral care ministry and social work pr...

This fresh perspective on the church explores its essential nature as a community of people governed by the Word and led and taught by the Spirit.

Attract kids to church, the logic often goes, and you get parents in the pews. All that's left, then, is to get the kids out of the way. Here children's ministers David Csinos and Ivy Beckwith draw on research in human development and spiritual formation to show how children become disciples and churches become centers of lifelong discipleship. For too long, the local church has focused primarily on programs for children rather than ways of doing ministry with children. But in light of eme...

HOW DOES THE CHURCH REACH THE UNCHURCHED?We live in an increasingly post-Christian culture. More and more we find ourselves on the margins as less and less people have any intention of ever attending church. What used to work doesn’t work anymore and we need to adapt.Helping us to see the way forward, this book offers practical ideas and personal stories for engaging with Western society. Find out how to effectively reach people in the context of everyday l...

What does it take to have fruitful ministry over the long haul?The stresses of pastoring are well known and can be a match for even the best-prepared, most experienced in ministry--multiple tasks, long hours, taxing responsibilities and, yes, some challenging personalities. Too often the results can be burnout, being run out or just feeling worn out.To find out how pastors can thrive as well as survive, the authors undertook a five-year in-depth research project among worki...

Across North America, many pastors are excited to see churches growing as they achieve their mission to connect the message of the gospel with the community at large. Still others are equally frustrated, following the exact same model for outreach but with lesser results. Indeed, just because a "missional breakthrough" occurs in one place doesn’t mean it will happen the same way elsewhere.One size does not fit all, but there are cultural codes that must be broken for all churches t...

Starting Right: Thinking Theologically About Youth Ministry is the first academic textbook that introduces youth ministry students (whether undergraduate or graduate level) to a marriage of solid research, real life, and accessible design. Whereas most college-level texts may reflect a thorough (though impenetrable) mastery of the field, they tend to expect readers to plow through unnecessarily thick prose and bland design because “it’s good for them.” Youth Specialties doesn’t agree. In t...

In a time when churches are focusing on finding strategies and techniques to guarantee success, a movement toward the missional church is emerging. Missional churches are communities created by the Spirit with a unique nature and identity. Purpose and strategies of the church are derivative dimensions, the activities that flow naturally from the church that is focused on Spirit-led ministry.The Ministry of the Missional Church leads pastors, ministry leaders, and layperson...

One of the most volatile issues facing the Western Church is also one of the least discussed: homosexuality. Many pastors, church members, and congregations have become tired of the debate surrounding this topic but do not really understand the issues. Pulling away from this controversy doesn’t seem to help; it keeps cropping up.Ninety percent of pastors are aware of members or visitors to their churches who struggle with homosexual tendencies, and the same percentage of churchgoers know a...

With nearly fifty years combined global church-planting experience, Craig Ott and Gene Wilson are well qualified to write a comprehensive, up-to-date guide for cross-cultural church planting. Combining substantive biblical principles and missiological understanding with practical insights, this book walks readers through the various models and development phases of church planting. Advocating methods that lead to church multiplication, the authors emphasize the role of the missionary churc...

Churches over the past generations have been weakened by a failure to meet both the physical and spiritual needs of their communities. Many have adopted a narrow vision, focusing on only one aspect of ministry. But in today's environment of faith-based opportunities many Christians are eager to start reaching out to their world with both Good News and good works, and therefore they are searching for appropriate ways to integrate both into their ministry.In Churches That Make a D...