Church Leadership Strategies, Small Churches

Temporary link for the York/Harding Lecture handout – York, Energize Workshop, Small Churches 2024

LEADING THE SMALL CHURCH

Part of the ministry resources on Church Leadership and Renewal

Small churches are unique, presenting special challenges to leaders. Since the vast majority of churches are small, good materials are needed to affirm the strengths and embrace the opportunities of these contexts. The ministry resources below may help. Each is categorized under specific issues. Remember to see the bottom of the page for a list of related ministry resources.

Top Resources on Small Churches

Perspectives on the Small Church

Building Small Church Morale

Intentional Growth and Development of the Small Church

Special Concerns in Small Church Ministry

Related Ministry Resources

Top Resources on Small Churches

First, consult Karl Vaters excellent resources for small church ministry, including several books, a podcast, and an active web community.

Web community, Karlvaters.com – features a podcast, blog, books, and other resources specifically designed for the unique blessings and challenges associated with small church ministry.
Books:
- Karl Vaters, De-sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became a Science, Then an Obsession, and What’s Next (Moody Publishers, 2024). A thorough evaluation of the church growth movement and its residual effect on size expectations for churches. Does not disparage or defer to any size church, but presents benchmarks for church health that are less dependent on size.
- Karl Vaters, Small Church Essentials: Field-Tested Principles for Leading a Healthy Congregation of Under 250 (Moody Publishers), 2018. Encourages embracing small churches as normal and not broken (i.e., most ministry occurs in small churches). Describes the unique and promising qualities as well as the chronic issues and challenges of small churches. Presents strategies for vision, planning, ministry development, mentoring and discipleship that are specifically tailored for small churches.
- Karl Vaters, 100 Days to a Healthier Church: A Step-by-Step Guide for Pastors and Leadership Teams (Moody Publishers, 2020). Provides a helpful guide to discern congregational culture, target a “break-through” project to cultivate missional momentum and imagination, train a volunteer team, then assess and consider implications for the future. Do not let the title of the book suggest a “fool-proof” 100-day plan for church revitalization. It is simply a customizable working parameter that provides a place to start. Vaters realizes churches could walk through his suggestions in a shorter or longer period and that the goals he provides must be tailored contextually.
- Karl Vaters, The Grasshopper Myth: Big Churches, Small Churches and The Small Thinking that Divides Us (New Small Church, 2013). Offers reasonable, inspiring perspective on the normalcy of small churches and how to break free from narratives of scarcity and deficiency to imagine new possibilities.

Second, given the somewhat inherent intergenerational nature of small churches, consult good resources on how to be more intentional on that front. The two top resources are by Holly Catterton Allen, Intergenerational Christian Formation: Bringing the Whole Church Together in Ministry, Community, and Worship (IVP Academic, 2023), and Forming Resilient Children: The Role of Spiritual Formation in Healthy Development (IVP Academic, 2021).

Third, for a disciple-making strategy that has achieved good traction in small churches, see Bobby Harrington, Carl Williamson, and Alicia Williamson, Trust and Follow Jesus: Conversations to Fuel Discipleship (Renew.org, 2023).

Fourth, scroll to the section below on “Intentional Growth and Development of the Small Church.” Emphasize David Ray, Kennon Callahan, and Anthony Pappas. Ray is like an encyclopedia on small church, Callahan gives the best articulation of the principle of doing one or a few things very well, and Pappas’ concept of small church as “folk society” is a game-changer.

Perspectives on the Small Church

Bill Kemp, Holy Places, Small Spaces: A Hopeful Future for the Small Membership Church – Gives the most comprehensive demographic analysis and sociological data on the place of small churches in the American religious landscape.
Anthony Pappas, Editor, Inside the Small Church (Harvesting the Learning Series) – Discusses how to realize the benefit of small church qualities such as deeper involvement, more intimate community, etc.

Building Small Church Morale

First Read:

Brandon J. O’Brien, The Strategically Small Church: Intimate, Nimble, Authentic, and Effective – Excellent encouragement for small churches to capitalize on their uniqueness in five areas.

Other Helpful Resources:

Stephen E. Burt and Hazel Ann Roper, The Little Church that Could: Raising Small Church Esteem (Small Church in Action Series) – Compares churches that are corporately depressed (“little church that couldn’t”) to those with high esteem (“little church that could”), and suggests what is necessary to make the shift.
Kirk and Rose Farnsworth, All Churches Great and Small: 60 Ideas for Improving Your Church’s Ministry — Elevates small churches as the preferred model for missional effectiveness.
Shawn McMullen, Unleashing the Potential of the Smaller Church: Vision and Strategy for Life-Changing Ministry — A collection of articles from exemplary small church ministers in Churches of Christ / Christian Churches. Encourages small church ministers toward a more hopeful self-image and commit to long ministries in one location.
Gene Williams, In the Shadow of the Steeple: The Vital Role of the Smaller Church in a Mega-Church World — Encourages churches to confidently focus on the capabilities unique to small congregations.

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Intentional Growth and Development of the Small Church

First Reads:

Kennon L. Callahan, Small, Strong Congregations: Creating Strengths and Health for Your Congregation — Presents one of the most realistic, usable, and hopeful strategies for small church development, based on a rubric of eight distinctive qualities afforded by their size.
Anthony G. Pappas, Entering the World of the Small Church: A Guide for Leaders, Revised and Expanded Edition – The quintessential primer on understanding small church dynamics through the metaphor of God’s Tribe. He explains the metaphor theologically and theoretically, and demonstrates how this informs the way leadership is done in such environments.
Carl S. Dudley, Effective Small Churches in the Twenty-First Century, Revised Edition — Based on one of the most inclusive studies of faith communities in the U.S. Affirms churches under 100 and suggests developmental strategies in areas such as worship, growth, pastor/people relations, church events, vision, etc.
David Ray, The Indispensable Guide for Smaller Churches – Takes the best concepts covered by most other authors on the subject and ties them into the closest thing to an encyclopedia of small church development.
Size Dynamics / Size Transitions (Resource Guide) – This is an important aspect of leadership in churches of all sizes, but especially for small congregations.

Other Helpful Resources:

Dennis Bickers, The Healthy Small Church: Diagnosis and Treatment for the Big Issues – Presents a health-based model of small church development, assuming that if a church is healthy, it grows and thrives as naturally as any healthy living organism.
Dennis Bickers, Intentional Ministry in a Not-So-Mega Church: Becoming a Missional Community — Focuses on creating missional vs. maintenance congregational cultures in small-membership churches.
Steve R. Bierly, Help for the Small-Church Pastor: Unlocking the Potential of Your Congregation — A strong call for small church leaders to appreciate the unique dynamics of their congregations and tailor their approaches toward responsible revitalization.
Ron Crandall, Turnaround and Beyond: A Hopeful Future for the Small Membership Church — A theoretically rich, research-based summarization of growth factors based on a study of over 100 successful small church pastors.
Glenn C. Daman, Shepherding the Small Church, 2nd edition: A Leadership Guide for the Majority of Today’s Churches — A substantive workbook presenting a five-step developmental strategy for effective ministry in the small membership church.
Glenn D. Daman, Leading the Small Church, How to Develop a Transformational Ministry – The sequel to Sheperding the Small Church, encourages ministers to lead through spiritual activities like preaching and discipleship instead of professional leadership strategies.
Bill Kemp, The Church Transition Workbook: Getting Your Church in Gear – A comprehensive guide equipping the entire congregation to work together on renewal in ways that not only benefit the congregation but also rebuild trust in ministerial leadership. Not limited to small churches.
Ron Klassen & John Koessler, No Little Places: The Untapped Potential of the Small Town Church — Exposes myths about small church limitations and discusses helpful strategies such as long-term pastorates, adaptation to rural or “rurban” culture, building on small church strengths, and adapting leadership styles.
Gary L. McIntosh, There’s Hope for Your Church: First Steps to Restoring Health and Growth – A distillation of McIntosh’s four decades of consultations with over 1,000 churches on the universal principles and practices of church renewal. Not addressed to small churches exclusively, but a good read regardless of church size. See especially Appendix on Rebirthing Churches.
Shawn McMullen, Releasing the Power of the Smaller Church — Articles from twelve leading small church practitioners among Churches of Christ / Christian Churches describing circumstances that were pivotal for development of aspects of ministry in their context.
Jeffrey H. Patton, If It Could Happen Here: Turning the Small Membership Church Around — Discusses the six “levers” that were instrumental in the turnaround of two declining rural Pennsylvania churches.
Lyle E. Schaller, The Middle-Sized Church: Problems and Prescriptions — Addresses the unique issues of 100-200 member churches. Describes eight characteristics of “congregational culture,” that reveal the distinctive differences between small and middle-sized churches.
Lyle E. Schaller, Small Congregation, Big Potential: Ministry in the Small Membership Church — Suggests creative “out of the box” ways for small churches to capitalize on their unique strengths.
Lyle E. Schaller, The Small Membership Church: Scenarios for Tomorrow (Ministry for the Third Millennium) — Learned observations on the future of small churches, especially his 44 alternative courses of action, or “scenarios for tomorrow.”
Lyle E. Schaller, The Small Church is Different — Somewhat outdated, but includes what is still one of the best surveys on twelve alternatives for small church staffing and the criteria for evaluating their effectiveness in one’s context.

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Special Concerns in Small Church Ministry

Administration in the Small Church:

John H. Tyson, Administration in the Small Membership Church (Ministry in the Small Membership Church Series) – Helps ministers create and maintain effective structures that will enable them to spend most of their time on what they truly value.
Douglas Alan Walrath, Making It Work: Administration in the Small Church (Small Church in Action Series)

Bi-Vocational Ministry:

Dennis W. Bickers, The Bivocational Pastor: Two Jobs, One Ministry – Conveys a special focus on the person who does bivocational ministry.
Dennis W. Bickers, The Work of the Bivocational Minister — The best and must succinct primer the nature of bi-vocational ministry, along with helpful “how-tos.”
Terry W. Dorsett, Developing Leadership Teams in the Bivocational Church – Good advice on how to train others to preach and provide pastoral care.

Children and Youth Ministry in the Small Church:

Holly Catterton Allen, Intergenerational Christian Formation: Bringing the Whole Church Together in Ministry, Community, and Worship, and Forming Resilient Children: The Role of Spiritual Formation for Healthy Development – The top resources by an internationally recognized expert in the field of intergenerational ministry.
Marcey Balcomb, Single Digit Youth Groups: Working With Fewer Than 10 Teens – Provides a hopeful and respectful guide to building a vibrant youth ministry with as little as a handful of various-aged teens.
Marcey Balcomb, Single Digit Youth Groups 2: More Activities, Plus Mission Ideas — A follow up on the previous volume for volunteers in churches with as little as one or two youth.
Rick Chromey, Energizing Children’s Ministry in the Smaller Church (Energizing Small Churches Network) – Covers the full scope of issues on creating vibrant children’s ministries in small membership churches.
Rick Chromey, Youth Ministry in Small Churches – Addresses the challenges and opportunities of youth ministry in churches of 100 members or less.
Rich Grassel, Help! I’m a Small Church Youth Worker: Achieving Big-Time Success in a Non-Mega Ministry — Good ideas overall, with special feature of three main approaches or program models that a youth worker may adopt depending on the context. Good supplement to volumes above.

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Christian Education in the Small Church:

Holly Catterton Allen, Intergenerational Christian Formation: Bringing the Whole Church Together in Ministry, Community, and Worship, and Forming Resilient Children: The Role of Spiritual Formation for Healthy Development – The top resources by an internationally recognized expert in the field of intergenerational ministry.
Donald L. Griggs and Judy M. Walrath, Christian Education in the Small Church (Small Church in Action Series)
Karen B. Tye, Christian Education in the Small Membership Church (Ministry in the Small Membership Church Series) – Comprehensive, practical book on all phases of planning, implementing, and improving religious education in the small-size church.

Equipping Members for Ministry in the Small Church:

Steve Burt, Activating Leadership in the Small Church: Clergy and Laity Working Together (Small Church in Action Series)

Encouragement for Small Church Ministers:

Steve R. Bierly, How to Thrive as a Small-Church Pastor: A Guide to Spiritual and Emotional Well-Being — Deals with the unique stresses experienced by those who lead churches of 150 or less.

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Evangelism in the Small Church:

Royal Speidel, Evangelism in the Small Membership Church

Giving and Stewardship in the Small Church:

Anthony Pappas, Money, Motivation, and Mission in the Small Church

Leadership Development in the Small Church:

Glenn C. Daman, Developing Leaders for the Small Church: A Guide to Spiritual Transformation for the Church Board – Good insight from one of the most respected authors on small church development.
Terry W. Dorsett, Developing Leadership Teams in the Bivocational Church – Provides step-by-step advice on how to train others in two areas: preaching and pastoral care.

Mission in the Small Church:

Anthony Pappas and Scott Planting, Mission: The Small Church Reaches Out (Small Church in Action Series) — Describes how small churches can engage mission provided their leaders capitalize on the unique dynamics of their congregations.

Pastoral Care in the Small Church:

Rural and Small Town Ministry Settings:

Lawrence W. Farris, Dynamics of Small Town Ministry – Combines sociological and congregational studies with his own experience to provide a substantive guide to the special opportunities of challenges of ministry in a small town.
Kent R. Hunter, The Lord’s Harvest and the Rural Church: A New Look at Ministry in the Agri-Culture — A good introductory exposure to rural ministry.
L. Shannon Jung and David Poling-Goldenne, Editors, Discovering Hope: Building Vitality in Rural Congregations – Describe the best practices of twenty-six carefully chosen effective rural congregations from among the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA).
L. Shannon Jung and Mary A. Agria, Editors, Rural Congregational Studies: A Guide for Good Shepherds — A comprehensive, one-of-a-kind resource that helps leaders understand the unique dynamics of rural ministry.
L. Shannon Jung, et al., Rural Ministry: The Shape of Renewal to Come — Excellent insight into how rural churches may be uniquely positioned to advance kingdom values.
Kevin Ruffcorn, Rural Evangelism: Catching the Vision – Includes an appendix with helpful worksheets for leaders and interested members to use the book in their local contexts.

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Size Transitions in the Small Church (See separate page on Size Transitions):

Spiritual Formation in the Small Church:

David Canada, Spiritual Leadership in the Small-Membership Church (Ministry in the Small Membership Church Series) — Argues that the congregation’s spiritual growth is an outgrowth of the leader’s personal development, and that the two ways this most tangibly expresses itself are inclusiveness and hospitality.

Worship in the Small Church:

David R. Ray, Wonderful Worship in Smaller Churches – The best overall guide to worship in churches with fewer than 100 in attendance.
Peter Bush and Christine O’Reilly, Where 20 or 30 are Gathered: Leading Worship in the Small Church — Targets churches with 50 or fewer in attendance.
Robin Knowles Wallace and Terry R. Heck, Worshiping in Small Membership Churches (Ministry in the Small Membership Church Series)
Bruce G. Epperly and Daryl Hollinger, From a Mustard Seed: Enlivening Worship in the Small Church — A practical theologian and musician team up to provide a thoughtful perspective on worship. Helpful chapters on creating a blended style, theology of worship, relationships between preacher and worship leader, etc.

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Related Ministry Resources

See Other Resources on Church Leadership and Renewal:

Ministry Resources on Related Areas

See Resources on Over 100 Areas of Christian Ministry:

Ministry Resources for Church Leaders – Index

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