December 6, 2006

In this issue:

Leadership and the Small Membership Church

People come before things, mission comes before vision, and vision comes before resources.

Kirbyjon Caldwell

Printable Version

Leadership and the Small Membership Church
By Lovett H. Weems, Jr.

Understanding the unique leadership context of smaller congregations is vital to the future of the church. According to the U.S. Congregational Life Survey, the average worship attendance of a U.S. church is ninety persons; thus the majority of churches are “small” by the often-used definition of a hundred or fewer in worship.

I have always been close to the concerns of smaller congregations. I grew up in a rural Mississippi church that was part of a three-point circuit. I spent the early years of my ministry in similar circuits or in open country and small town churches.

Inside the Organic Church:
Learning from 12 Emerging Congregations
By Bob Whitesel (Abingdon Press: 2006)

Review by Matt Miofsky

Bob Whitesel’s latest book, Inside the Organic Church: Learning from 12 Emerging Congregations, is a helpful guide for pastors unfamiliar with the emerging church as well as those well versed in the conversation. Similar to other books about the emerging church movement, it begins with a discussion of postmodernity and the appropriate moniker for this movement/conversation. The book’s strength, however, is not its framing of the emerging conversation, but rather its depth and care in sharing the stories of twelve innovative congregations.

The Right Question

Leaders do not need answers.
Leaders must have the right questions.

A pastor went to a vital church with strong participation. After a short time, however, it became clear that the congregation did not reflect the town’s population. Meeting with existing small groups, and acknowledging that each of them knew the community far better than the newly arrived pastor, the pastor asked:

When we gather for worship on Sundays, who is missing?

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Editors: Lovett H. Weems, Jr . and Ann A. Michel
Production and distribution: Joe Arnold

Inside the Organic Church: Learning from 12 Emerging Congregations By Bob Whitesel (Abingdon Press: 2006)

Inside the Organic Church:
Learning from 12 Emerging Congregations
By Bob Whitesel (Abingdon Press: 2006)