Small Church Essentials

Field-Tested Principles for Leading a Healthy Congregation of Under 250

By: Karl Vaters

Narrated by: George W. Sarris

Do you lead a small church?

Big churches get all the love. Articles, books, conferences - they mostly feature leaders of large congregations. Yet big churches are a small part of the ecclesial landscape. In fact, more than 90 percent of churches have fewer than 200 people. That means small churches play a big part in what God is doing.

Small Church Essentials is for leaders of these smaller congregations. It encourages them to steward their role well, debunking myths about small churches while offering principles for leading a dynamic, healthy small church. Based on the popular six-hour lecture that Karl Vaters delivers to church leaders across the country, Small Church Essentials will affirm small church leaders and show them how to identify what they do well and how to do it even better.

Listeners will:

• Be assured that leading a small congregation does not make them ministry failures
• Come away inspired to lead with passion, regardless the size of their church
• Have field-tested principles for leading a church in their context
• Possess new metrics for biblically measuring vitality in small churches
• Have a toolkit of resources to use in their everyday ministry

Karl Vaters has been a small church pastor for 30 years and is the author of The Grasshopper Myth: Big Churches, Small Churches, and the Small Thinking That Divides Us (2013). He travels extensively to churches and conferences to speak about leading a small church well.

If you are pastoring a small church, this book will be a breath of fresh air. It will affirm your calling while giving you fresh tools to help you lead. It will help you:

• Stop believing lies about small churches
• Lead your church to fulfill the role only small churches can
• Understand your congregation’s strengths and weaknesses
• Turn around a dying or unhealthy church
• Identify good trends and bad in church and culture

©2018 eChristian (P)2018 eChristian

Encouraging

Very helpful advice from a pastor who has experienced the ups and downs of shepherding a small church. My church is about 20 people and the recommendation to keep it simple, focus on the essentials and prioritize mentoring is a relief.

Grateful for this book!

I am a Pastor of a small passionate, community loving, unreasonably generous Church. Unfortunately, when some hear the word small, nothing that comes after it matters in the ministry world which is a shame. I loved this book and the ideas discussed because it’s a reminder that no matter the size we are called to lead well what God has entrusted to us. I have recommended this book to so many Pastor friends of mine. It was so good!

Excellent Observations

Karl does a great job providing insight and focus where it belongs - the health of the church. He doesn’t discredit large churches, but points out the differences between small and large. He provides plenty of examples and practical advice for small church pastors and leaders. We are going through this book as ministry leaders in our church. It is worth the read.

You will have to take into account that there are a few ministry examples Karl used that seemed safe in 2018 but may not be so today. He has it covered though, but challenging the church to be authentic.

Excellent and practical

Vaters gives practical direction and argument for effective small churches.

This isn’t a strategy book, it’s a book about heart and honoring Jesus.

Splendid!

Exceptionally revealing, impressive and impactful. I could not stop listening till I got to the end. Really practical and time tested.

Small churches can also be healthy churches

I knew much of through experience, but it was very helpful to have it all in one place. I wish my seminary would have made this required reading instead of all those books on church structure that has nothing to do with my ministry context.

Good listen and great advice!

Good book for pastors or anyone in church leadership roles. I found it helpful and insightful to learn how to not focus on growth as a goal but Ministry and growth or outreach as the end-result.

Small churches please read

This book had great insight and encouragement to those of us who struggle thinking we need to be bigger to make a difference!!!

this is a re-read to keep on the shelf

a breath of fresh air for leaders of smaller congregations. you probably want a print copy to mark up and highlight as well

Really good paradigm shifting ideas for all church leaders

I was hesitant to commit to this book because I didn’t want to settle for small church thinking. But this book really attacks the myth that bigger is always better and identifies a lot of leadership strengths that can be exercised in a smaller setting. Vaters really challenges the notion the numerical growth is the only measure for church health and I think there’s a lot more of us that need to hear what he has to say.