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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.
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,”…
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…
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…
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…
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…
What are the qualities of effective smaller churches? David Ray explores eleven key qualities of dynamic and faithful smaller churches that he observed across 21…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
When small church lay and clergy leaders gather, the first comments you often hear reflect an understandable anger, defensiveness, and dread of an imminent future.…
Lewis Parks examines basic concepts of family systems theory as a positive framework to understand the dynamics of small membership churches. While teaching pastoral care…
A small membership church finds a distinctive gift in offering a multicultural environment for children and learning. I have found an important starting point for…
Drawing on Anthony Pappas’s work, Lovett Weems names factors important in helping small churches embrace change and new people. Anthony Pappas is area minister for…
A pastor who went to a 100-year-old church in serious decline tells a story of renewal that came about by focusing on strengths not what’s…
This article is reprinted by permission from Leading Ideas, a free e-newsletter from the Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary available at churchleadership.com.