The Resilient Small Church
We often think of large churches as strong and small churches as weak. But Lovett H. Weems Jr. shares a powerful example of how size…
Browsing: Small Churches
Articles
4 Key Lessons for Vital Small Church Ministry
David Gilmore says the size of a congregation need not be a determining factor in its ability to connect with its neighbors. Small congregations who…
Change and the Small Church
Roy L. Spore believes that decline and death are not inevitable for smaller rural churches. While smaller churches are often skeptical of change imposed from…
Creating Powerful Worship in Small Congregations
Do you want amazing worship on a small church budget? Lewis Center Director F. Douglas Powe Jr. interviews Teresa Stewart, a blogger and creator of…
Episode 92: “Creating Powerful Worship in Small Congregations” featuring Teresa Stewart
Do you want amazing worship on a small church budget? Teresa Stewart, a blogger and creator of the website Paper Bag Cathedrals, shares ways small congregations can enliven their worship.
Building Thriving Rural Congregations
How can rural churches break free from the false narratives and unrealistic metrics that obscure their potential vitality? Allen Stanton lays out a new vision…
Episode 87: “Building Thriving Rural Congregations” featuring Allen Stanton
How can rural churches break free from false narratives and unrealistic metrics? Allen Stanton lays out a new vision for healthy rural congregations as valued stakeholders and potent agents of change within their communities.
3 Unique Gifts of the Rural Church
Allen Stanton says rural churches are uniquely positioned to be agents of change within their communities. Most are trusted long-term community stakeholders, and on any…
Is Closing a Church Ever a Good Thing?
Tim Snyder of the Lewis Center Staff writes that closing a church often brings conflict, denial, and shame. But death is a natural passage in…
Episode 49: “What is Messy Church?” featuring Johannah Myers
Looking for a creative, new way to bring people of all ages into a space where they can meet Jesus? In this episode we speak with Johannah Myers about Messy Church, a global movement born of the desire to reach individuals and families not attracted to traditional Sunday morning services.
To the Point: Doing Community Ministry in the Small Church
Editor’s note: This information adapted from an article by Joy F. Skjegstad which appeared previously in Leading Ideas. This To the Point version has been edited for…
Should a Church Close?
Sustainability is increasingly difficult for the ever increasing number of churches worshipping small numbers each week. Lovett Weems captures the dilemma for church leaders and…
To the Point: A New Way to View Small Church Vitality
Editor’s note: This information adapted from an article by Dr. Lewis A. Parks which appeared in Leading Ideas on October 14, 2015. This To the Point version…
What Happened in One Small Church Mattered
Roger Lovette shares the touching story of returning to the first church he ever served, thirty years later, to find they had finally acted on…
2 Churches — 1 Pastor
It is increasingly common for a congregation to share a pastor with another congregation and for pastors to be serving more than one church. Lew…
Episode 15: “Leading in Small Church or Multi-Church Settings” featuring Lew Parks
Are you a pastor serving more than one church? Or a leader in a congregation that’s part of a multi-church ministry? Listen as Lewis Center Director F. Douglas Powe speaks with Dr. Lew Parks, a small church vitality expert. They explore perspectives and practices that can help ministry flourish even in a church that doesn’t have its own pastor — or a pastor who doesn’t serve just one church.
What is Your Signature Ministry?
In their book Small Church Check Up, Kay Kotan and Phil Schroeder say stable, smaller churches can remain vital by focusing on a “signature ministry,”…
Closing a Congregation as an Act of Faithfulness
Minnesota Pastor Lee Ann Pomrenke reflects on the painful reality of having to bring a congregation or a ministry to an end. While there is…
Leadership and the Small Membership Church
Understanding the unique leadership context of smaller congregations is vital to the future of the church, says Lovett H. Weems, Jr. Leaders of small churches…
The Case of a Small Church in an Oversized Building
Lewis A. Parks, author of Small on Purpose, describes how smaller congregations can easily squander their last resources for ministry attempting to keep up with…
Small Church as Surrogate Family
Lewis A. Parks, author of Small on Purpose, says the small church offers a surrogate family for those whose basic family unit is dispersed or…
A New Way to View Vitality in Smaller Congregations
I spend my working days as a pastor trying to name reality for my congregation as we wind a precarious way between the heights of…
Intergenerational Ministry and the Small Church
Church leaders typically consider it a liability when they are unable to provide focused age-specific ministry to every demographic in the congregation. But in large…
Doing Community Ministry in the Small Church
Sometimes I interact with small congregations that assume that any significant community ministry effort is beyond their reach. They often keenly feel their limitations as…
Small Churches, Belonging, and the Harley-Davidson Funeral
There is much confusion among churches today resulting from the painful reality that much of our sense of belonging was dependent upon the status and…
Review of Imagining the Small Church: Celebrating a Simpler Path
A previous generation of students such as Carl Dudley, David Ray, and Anthony Pappas have catalogued the unique culture of the small church, here defined…
The One Room (Church) Schoolhouse
My mother attended a one room schoolhouse for all but the last two years of her public education. As a Baby Boomer, I grew up…
The Soul of a Small Church
These are anxious times for the lay and clergy leaders of small congregations. The repercussions of a disappointing economy, aging and shrinking membership, and a…
A Better Script for Small Churches
I have served as pastor of small, mid-size, and large churches. And some of them grew, especially the larger ones. Large churches that grow larger…
Preaching in the Small Membership Church
Lew Parks’s newest book is ostensibly a preaching primer with good, solid advice on some of the basics, such as selecting a good biblical translation…