Ministry Leadership

As rural America continues to undergo massive economic and demographic shifts, rural churches are uniquely positioned to provide community leadership. Leading a rural congregation requires a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing these communities, as well as a strong theological and community-focused identity. Allen T. Stanton describes how in establishing this identity, rural leaders build a meaningful and vital ministry. Reclaiming Rural explores the myths and realities of rural places, and how those common narratives impact the leadership of rural churches.

Following Sherwood Lingenfelter's successful books on ministering, teaching, and leading cross-culturally (with combined sales of over 200,000 copies), Teamwork Cross-Culturally casts a vision for how teams made up of diverse peoples can serve in unity as the body of Christ despite the complicated problems that arise.

In Steering Through Chaos, Pastor Scott Wilson helps church leaders plan for healthy changes by making strategic choices that please God and grow your ministry. Since challenges tend to multiply during times of transition, Wilson shares wise insight on building new facilities, changing staff structure, adding services, becoming a multisite ministry, and more. During the struggles of transition, doubts inevitably arise. At those moments, leaders need assurance that they have a real and authentic vision from God. Wilson encourages you to follow the call and to lead with confidence and courage.

When I was called to pastor my first church, I was certain of only one thing—I was in over my head! This small church had nearly closed its doors. They were running about 35 on a Sunday, were steeped in tradition, and I was bi-vocational. I had a dream of revitalizing our church to become a healthy, evangelistically effective church that was fulfilling the Great Commandment and the Great Commission but wasn’t sure how to do it. The D.R.E.A.M. Church shares the strategies that our church and thousands of others have used to experience healthy, long-term growth.

Like many who will pick up this book, I am a believer in Jesus Christ. I grew up and currently participate in the American Church scene. I have been to churches in shopping plazas, historic towns, major metropolitan areas, suburbs, cultural hubs, bilingual demographics, and much more. While each has its virtues, singing with their own cadence and tempo, it is always the same tune.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly every church in the US has had to adopt new ministry strategies, including digital technologies they may have avoided before. In Hybrid Church, James Emery White asks churches to see this as a positive and keep a dual physical and digital strategy to reach a post-Christian culture in a digital age.

Every leader wants to finish well, but sometimes the challenges and discouragements in life become too much to handle. Overwhelmed, we settle for less than God's best. Whether you are just beginning your ministry journey or you are a seasoned veteran who is feeling tired, ineffective, or ready to quit...maybe it's time for a Leadership Awakening! Your life can be marked by God's goodness all the way to the finish line. Don't allow yourself to become a casualty on the battlefield of Christian leadership.

From personal experiences in his ministry through comedy, Brad Stine has chosen 11 concepts to consider as a Christian. Are they really true, or do we just believe them to be credible - even though there's no biblical support for them? More importantly, how does the belief in their veracity affect non-believers if we're wrong? Brad has carefully considered these ideas, as well as lived many of them.

"Show me your ways, o Lord; teach me your paths" (Psalm 25:4 NKJV). Have you noticed most things that remain significant today are remnants from the "old" ways? Ancient Paths has been designed to draw you back to the unique routes of those who have followed God and began to chase the narrow way. These age-old examples are the less traveled routes that you will begin to tread and where transformation will occur. Michelle Gehrt shares supernatural insights into what life is like when we are walking out our destinies that God has purposed for us.

This time, Mirosław Wlekły meets rebellious Catholics. He travelled the world from Argentina to Birma, from Brazil to Liban, from the Dominican Republic to England. The fruit of his travels is “Ruckus!”, which can be heard as a story about an attempt to return to the roots of Christianity, or like a report about the state of the world and fortitude, which raises the question - will we ever be ready for a ruckus in the Polish Church?

Though exceptions do exist, the reality is that church in America is failing one life at a time. Somewhere between pathetically predictable and shamefully entertaining, sadly sentimental and rarely authentic, church has become worst of all...godless. Vertical Church points to a new day where God is the seeker, and we are the ones found. In Vertical Church God shows up, and that changes everything.

On the outside, many of today’s businesspeople appear strong and in charge. On the inside, however, many struggle with five obstacles that deter them from the success God intended: pain, financial slavery, lack of confidence, busyness/distractions, and fear. God Is My Success shows that your adversity holds the key to your destiny and to the accomplishment God planned for you. God doesn’t promise a life free of adversity. He does, however, promise to be with you in your adversity. As you partner with God to overcome your obstacles, you’ll discover that ultimately, God Himself is your success.

In an audiobook eagerly awaited by her growing retinue of fans, she brings listeners inside the world's oldest Christian faith, illuminating Eastern Orthodoxy in a manner similar to Kathleen Norris's exploration of Benedictine spirituality. An ex-hippie and former social radical, the author often writes humorously about her unusual road from Woodstock to the altar of an Orthodox church, where she is the pastor's wife.

Der Wahl des neuen Papstes ist eine Revolution, eine Umwälzung von gewaltiger Bedeutung, im Vatikan vorausgegangen, die ihren Schatten auf alle folgenden Ereignisse geworfen hat. Was hat Benedikt XVI. tatsächlich zum Rücktritt, zum ersten Rücktritt eines Papstes seit über 700 Jahren, bewogen?

Moments after our pastor exited the building that afternoon in 2008, most of the congregation sat in shock. A tiny but powerful minority wore victorious smiles at the minister's ousting. The lady to my left wept. Her pleading question kept me awake all night. "Why did our pastor have to leave?" Polls reveal startling statistics regarding pastoral ministry: 91 percent of ministers know three to four others who've been forced out of pastoral positions.

In Deep Church, Belcher brings the best insights of all sides to forge a third way between emerging and traditional. In a fair and evenhanded way, Belcher explores the proposals of such emerging church leaders as Tony Jones, Brian McLaren and Doug Pagitt. He offers measured appreciation and affirmation as well as balanced critique.

You can be young, passionate about Jesus Christ, surrounded by diversity, engaged in a postmodern world, and reared in evangelicalism and not be an emergent Christian. In fact I want to argue that it would be better if you weren't. The Emergent Church is a strong voice in today's Christian community. And they're talking about good things: caring for the poor, peace for all men, loving Jesus. They're doing church a new way, not content to fit the mold. Again, all good. But there's more to the movement than that.

The Externally Focused Quest: Becoming the Best Church for the Community is designed for church leaders who want to transform their churches to become less internally focused and more oriented to the world around them. The book includes clear guidelines on the changes congregations must adopt to become truly outwardly focused. This book is not about getting all churches to have an annual day of community service as a tactic, but changing the core of who they are and how they see themselves as a part of their community.

Outreach to those who struggle with same-sex attraction is severely lacking in most churches. As a result, most Christians learn more about homosexuality from movies, the internet, television, and so-called diversity training than they learn in their own congregations. Many people who struggle with same-sex attraction are torn by the debate while yearning to hear the redemptive truth of the Bible and be touched by the unyielding love of Christ. Author Bill Campbell believes that Christians can have a significant positive influence on how the larger culture frames the issue of same-sex attraction. He combines twenty years of study with current surveys and research by national leaders of ministries to homosexuals.

Many of us spend our entire leadership life lost in performance and striving for success. In effect, we work to earn what God wants to give us for free - grace. Like many of you, Jan Greenwood's journey has included pain and failures, but it has also included healing and triumphs. By God's grace, she discovered some life-transforming leadership principles that help her lead and mentor effectively. If you grasp these 10 secrets, you can take your limited experience, resources, or influence and find greater wholeness, health, and leadership success.