Peter Bush and Christine O‘Reilly, Where 20 or 30 are Gathered: Leading Worship in the Small Church. Alban Institute, 2006.
Referenced in: Small Church Leadership
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
This is in the same genre as David Ray’s Wonderful Worship in Smaller Churches, which is still probably the best single volume on the subject. Yet, Bush and O’Reilly offer some unique contributions on topics not covered by others. They target churches with 50 or fewer in attendance. Also, they include helpful chapters on issues such as best worship practices in a multi-point charge (a minister serving more than one church), and best practices when there is no settled minister.
From the Publisher
While worship is the primary purpose of all churches, worship in the small church is distinctive. Whether a house church, a new church plant, a rural church along a country road, or a city church whose neighborhood demographics have shifted, these small faith communities present unique opportunities and challenges for worship leaders.
Bush and O’Reilly draw on their passion and experience equipping lay people to plan and lead worship to answer the question, what makes for effective worship leadership in family-size congregations, where fewer than 50 people gather Sunday by Sunday to worship? Addressing the needs of small churches in rural, suburban, and urban contexts, the authors discuss the characteristics of family-size congregations, the variety of ways they are organized, the joys and challenges of worship and preaching in small congregations, and best worship practices in small congregations. The challenges of the multi-point or yoked pastoral charge and of congregations without clergy receive special consideration.
About the Author
Christine O’Reilly has served the Thedford and Watford Pastoral Charge in southwestern Ontario for the last eighteen years as Teaching Elder. She has a D.Min. in Rural Ministry from Austin Theological Seminary.
Peter Bush has been the Teaching Elder at Knox Presbyterian Church in Mitchell, Ontario, for ten years. Christine and Peter have co-directed three Worship Renewal Grant Projects that focused on training lay people to plan and lead worship services and to preach.
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