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.
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.
