In this issue:

Leading the Small Membership Church

Growing Generous Givers: One Congregation’s Story

The Right Question

A mark of the future leader is a generous degree of linguistic intelligence—the capacity and the inclination to use words well.

Howard Gardner

Small membership churches have a history of making do without a lot of leadership from persons outside. Many were started by laypersons gathered in homes, sometimes in response to some traveling evangelist’s preaching, but often by their own initiative. Through the years, most small membership churches have been subject to frequent turnover of clergy leadership. Is it any wonder that many of them develop a spirit of robust self-reliance? Any wonder that they are cautious at best and suspicious at worst when the new preacher comes to town?

Some might argue that this is not a problem. They would say that terms like leader and leadership more properly belong to a corporate model of an organization, a model that belongs to larger-membership churches. They suggest that the preferred term describing a pastor in a small membership church is friend, shepherd, or even lover.  

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Growing Generous Givers: One Congregation’s Story
By Steve Price

In June 1997, my wife, Catherine, and I were appointed to co-pastor a new church start in Bradenton, Florida. On Easter Sunday 1998, Harvest United Methodist was born. From its beginnings, a consistent pattern of generous response and bold faith has characterized each financial opportunity or challenge the congregation has faced.

By June 2000, Harvest was financially self-supporting. In 2002, the congregation began participating fully in connectional giving and has paid 100 percent of its denominational apportionments every year since. The next year, just over 100 families made financial commitments enabling the church to construct a facility with ample space for newcomers. Total congregational giving and the average giving per worship attendee have increased every year over the life of the church. Even in the current economic downturn, the congregation, now with 1,100 members, was able to launch a much-needed building expansion in late 2008, and giving for the first quarter 2009 is up from the previous year.

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The Right Question

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

Decision-making is not easy. These questions might serve as an outline for approaching what appears to be a complex situation.

What is the main goal of the decision?
What information do we need before deciding?
How will we get this information?

Editors:  Lovett H. Weems, Jr. and Ann A. Michel
Production and distribution: Carol Follett