Glenn C. Daman, Shepherding the Small Church, 2nd Edition: A Leadership Guide for the Majority of Today’s Churches. Kregel Academic and Professional, 2007.
Companion volumes:
Referenced in: Small Church Leadership
LifeandLeadership.com Summary
Daman presents a five-step developmental strategy for effective ministry in the small membership church.
- Step one is to UNDERSTAND – know the culture, both the surrounding community and unique congregational identity.
- Step two is to KNOW – develop the theological foundation of the church, affirming the church as a distinct entity defined by its covenant relationship with God for the purpose of conforming people to the image of Christ, not fundamentally a social, political, educational, community service, or counseling center.
- Step three is to BE – develop the foundational character of the people who attend, based on the Pauline agenda in Ephesians 4:12-13 to transform people into the character and image of Christ as they obey the two commands of loving God and loving others.
- Step four is to DO – develop the mission of the church to proclaim the gospel of Christ, transform others into faithful disciples, and recruit those disciples for the service of the kingdom of God.
- Step five is to ENVISION – develop the church’s vision or the strategy for accomplishing its biblical mission and purpose.
This is an excellent resource for at least four reasons.
- First, Daman operates from a responsible biblical basis throughout this book.
- Second, this is actually a guide, a great workbook to help a leadership team evaluate and formulate an effective ministry within the small church. Appendix A provides worksheets for this purpose. Appendix B offers model mission, vision, and values statements. Appendix C is a model congregation assessment questionnaire.
- Third, those familiar with strategic and cyclical planning will see that this is actually a biblically informed planning process that is scaled into a usable format for small churches.
- Fourth, it is an excellent integration of theology, spiritual formation, discipleship, and intentional congregational development. The result is a very substantive tool for the advancement of the small-membership church.
From the Publisher
This second edition is an indispensable source of advice and encouragement for the small church pastor, including how to formulate a mission while understanding the cultures of the community and the church. Chapter-by-chapter suggestions and several appendixes of helpful assessment tools help pastors and lay leadership work through the book together.
From the Back Cover
Seventy-five percent of American churches have an attendance of less than 150, yet they often find themselves in the shadow of a few mega-churches with boundless entrepreneurial skills and ministry resources. When the pastors of the typically-sized church attend church growth and leadership conferences, they can easily come away discouraged, disillusioned, and finding little help to impact their ministries.
Glenn Daman is an experienced small church pastor and ministry director who knows that effectiveness is not determined by numbers, programs, and buildings. Instead it is defined by faithful service that results in transformed lives – one person at a time.
He offers several keys to effective church ministry – no matter the number of members – including:
- Understanding the cultures of the community and the church
- Developing a theological foundation
- Learning to love God and love others
- Developing a mission of reaching, teaching, and recruiting
- Uniting the Body through vision
Designed for pastors and lay leadership to work through together, Shepherding the Small Church includes chapter-by-chapter suggestions for implementation as well as several appendices of helpful assessment tools. It is an indispensable source of advice and encouragement for the pastor of the majority of American churches.
About the Author
Glenn Daman (D.Min., Trinity Evangelical Divinity School; M.A. in New Testament Studies and M.A. in Old Testament Studies, Western Seminary) serves as Director for Small Church Health, Western Seminary. He also ministers as senior pastor of Cascade Locks Community Church in Cascade Locks, Oregon, and First Baptist Church in Stevenson, Washington.
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