There are many books on how to grow your church, many are well written and have useful information for most churches.  Some are books every church should read and would benefit from.  In this area, we will include the reviews for a number of excellent books to help Pastors and church leaders grow their churches!  Please take the time to read at least one or two of these excellent resources to help you grow your church.

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Authors - James Furr, Mike Bonem & Jim Herrington
Publisher - Jossey-Bass

Leading Congregational Change
	Leading Congregational Change Workbook

• Favorite Features:
• Makes the point, "If you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll keep getting what you've been getting.  Can you live with that?"  -  excellent!
• makes the vital point to measure effectiveness, not by increase in numbers compared to previous year, but rather by impact on community - excellent!
• encourages pastors that "change does not happen without conflict" . . . you must have conflict management skills
• identifies two types of conflict
• life threatening - loose sight of vision, murmur against leadership, disobey God, concerned with own comfort rather than achieving God's plan
• life giving conflict - seeking God's will to a significant disagreement so a better solution is found, bringing greater effectiveness
• focuses on core requirement of "Spiritual and Relational vitality
• must have unity and community
• must encounter God's Holiness
• must experience God's Grace
• must embrace unity
• must engage community
• illustrates concepts and steps with stories of other churches - excellent!
• explains steps to take to lay the groundwork
• need for mission statement to show urgency
• each stage/point includes suggested steps to follow, benefits and challenges you may encounter - excellent!
• help determining and communicating the vision
• emphasizes the danger of under communicating the vision
• shows the importance of telling the truth about where a church in decline really is - even if it is hard to face
• explains the team approach to effective ministry
• shows the need to be intentional for real change and transformation to take place
• time is necessary for change
• workbook allows pastors and church leaders to work through concepts in the book and connect them to their own church - excellent!
• each chapter in workbook includes "suggested actions to foster change"
• Bible studies
• questions
• activities
• worksheets, self assessment surveys
• resource organizations
• questionnaires, inventories, data gathering resources
• congregational self assessment

    Obviously there are many things I found to be extremely well explained and presented for pastors/lay leaders to be able to translate to their own churches the things these authors found to work in their church/setting.  I truly recommend this book as a "must read" for churches serious about making the changes their congregation needs to make to be genuinely effective in fulfilling the mission God has given them.  Extremely well done James, Mike, Jim and Jossey-Bass!

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Author - Dary Northrop
Publisher - Group Publishing

Garage-Door Evangelism Opening Your Church to the Community

• Favorite Features:
• presents the idea of challenging churches to let the community see them as they really are
• challenge to be authentic
• outlines key leadership traits for pastors
• vulnerability
• transparency
• trust
• willingness
• to say, "I'm sorry"
• share success
• accept responsibility
• be accountable
• give it away
• Garage-Door openers at the end of each chapter to help you think it through and apply
• emphasis on how the spouse is a pastor's greatest helper
• helpful information on how to effectively organize for growth
• five main priorities of the church and how to initiate change
• worship
• fellowship
• discipleship - equipping/mentoring people
• evangelism
• ministry
• looks at the source of power - the Holy Spirit

    I really like the focus of this book on how the church can/should reach out to the community around it and the helpful, practical and real information to aid a church in doing so!  Extremely well done Dary and Group Publishing!

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Author - Dr. Lynn Anderson
Publisher - Howard Publishing

They Smell Like Sheep

• Favorite Features:
• examines and explains the Biblical design for spiritual leadership - shepherding, mentoring and equipping
• explains what a shepherd is
• shows how if a shepherd spends time with and is trusted by his flock - he will smell like sheep
• shows how the role of a shepherd was modeled by Jesus and is rooted in relationships with their sheep
• relationships require availability, commitment and trust for a flock to exist
• shepherds need to emulate the intentionality of Christ, His relational approach and commitment
• defines what mentoring is
• mentors "show the way and give us the heart to go on"
• information on how to mentor
• explains ineffective assimilation and inadequate equipping
• explains the need for designated equippers to assimilate and help people make meaningful connections
• six things the healthiest churches do to equip people for ministry
• explains what an elder is
• shows the 22 relationship building functions God has for spiritual leaders
• provides discussion questions for each chapter
• provides Scripture for each chapter

    This book is a must read for pastors/elders/leaders in the church to help them understand their vital role as a shepherd/mentor for the "flock" God has placed in their church!  Extremely well done Lynn and Howard Publishing!

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Author - Erwin Raphael McManus
Publisher - Group Publishing

an unStoppable force

• Favorite Features:
• explains how and why a church should be "active and engaged with it's community"
• "Fuel for Thought" questions at the end of each chapter
• covers important information, such as:
• relationships as the core of effective, real church life cycle
• serving, not surviving as the goal
• vital need for our ministry to reflect the needs and culture of the unchurched community around us
• how to mobilize the church to engage our world
• value of innovation and technology
• explains why the church must be a "refuge for the world, not from it"
• shows the need to always have room for more
• "To cry out to God and ask Him to act is an invitation for God to bring radical change in our lives  . . . God is continually inviting us to believe His future is better than any past we have experienced with Him"  -  excellent!
• shows how to "build a change mentality into your congregation"
• shows how to determine the ethos of your church
• shows how to encourage and develop the people in the church
• shows how to develop community in your church
• explains the value of "stories"
• emphasizes the vitalness of expressing love to the community
• explains the ideal church environment
• shows how to make a successful transition into the community

    Again, this is an excellent book to help pastors better understand the why and how of moving into the community and beyond the "comfortable" sameness of the church walls!  Extremely well done Erwin and Group Publishing!

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Authors - Richard Southern & Robert Norton
Publisher - Jossey-Bass

Cracking Your Congregation's Code

• Favorite Features:
• designed to help a church discover:
• who it is
• why it exists
• what it is doing
• where it would like to go
• emphasis on churches being a living organism rather than an organization
• focus on the mission and vision of the church
• explains the four key systems of the church
• welcoming
• nurturing
• empowering
• serving
• explains need for strategic mapping as opposed to strategic planning as mapping allows for flexibility
• strongly stands for "moving forward on projects that promote your core values, and discard those that do not"
• presents the need to determine core values, mission and vision
• mission statement tells why you are there
• four qualities of a good mission statement
• key component of a mission statement
• shows how the Pastor is the main vision caster
• looks at how to welcome and attract newcomers
• explains types of follow up
• how and why nurturing and empowering your volunteers
• emphasizes the need for the servant-leader
• stresses for small groups to work they must be a safe place
• presents common questions and answers about small groups
• looks at supporting, encouraging and thanking volunteers - excellent
• provides direction to develop a strategic map
• presents core values survey and surveys to help you determine where your church is with  the four key systems of the church and how to assess the results
• provides outline and worksheet to develop a strategic map

    This book outlines the basics for church growth from determining your core values, mission and vision, to how to support and nurture your volunteers.  Very nicely done Richard, Robert and Jossey-Bass!

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Author - Leonard Sweet
Publisher - Group Publishing

Aqua Church
	The Aqua Church Challenge

• Favorite Features:
• gives a variety of options to make the 12 session leadership training most effective for your church
• the book explains each leadership art so it can be understood and worked in your church
• each chapter begins with identifying the leadership art and ends with identifying an "aqua church", asking questions and suggesting activities to help you better relate the principle to your church
• the training sessions are active, interactive and completely written out with step by step directions
• I like the emphasis on being "culture-compatable"
• helps church leaders think through how they can be and stay culturally relevant in our post modern culture by:
• keeping our focus on Jesus
• knowing our Bible
• understanding how to make tradition work for, not against us
• being willing to take the right risks
• bringing genuine worship into the church
• developing, understanding and following a vision
• resting
• communicating with our culture
• building a solid leadership team and a "relationship-driven church
• being genuinely creative
• the challenge to continue learning and growing

    This resource provides you the resources to take your leadership team through the steps necessary to build a strong, culturally relevant "aqua church" that impacts your community for Christ!  Very nicely done Leonard and Group Publishing!

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Authors - H. B. London, Jr. and Neil Wiseman
Publisher - Regal Books

Becoming Your Favorite Church

• Favorite Features:
• shows how Jesus took ordinary people and made them into a team that changed the world and that the church can still do this today
• emphasis on how "God owns the church"
• shows why churches are more effective with ministry teams and how to develop the team like Jesus did
• walks through 10 habits of highly effective lay leaders
• emphasizes the need to put people in leadership based on gifts and abilities - not their popularity
• stresses need to honor and follow your Pastor
• 49 ways to love your Pastor - excellent ideas!
• looks at a pastor's "rights" and how lay people can support/encourage/respect them
• many chapters end with renewal strategies for lay leaders - excellent!

    I highly recommend this book for pastors and lay leaders - it is definitely a must read.  The information is presented in an easy to follow and easy to understand how to implement fashion - if churches did as this book said, they would become a "favorite church" to the people in their church and community!  Extremely well done H. B., Neil and Regal Books!

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Authors - George Gallup Jr. & 
Dr. Michael Lindsay
Publisher - Group Publishing

The Gallup Guide

• Favorite Features:
• reproducible resources
• web access for downloadable surveys
• effective tool to aid churches in gaining an accurate understanding of what the people in their church/community believe, enabling church leaders to plan effectively how to meet needs/reach out
• information on -
• how to plan/prepare a survey
• how to collect information
• how to determine and design the questions
• sample questionnaires
• how to reduce the potential for error
• processing the data
• analyzing the data
• reporting results and taking action

    This book has tremendously helpful information that is truly usable to help church leaders learn how and where they can truly impact their church and community for Christ!  Extremely well done George, Michael and Group Publishing!

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Author - Steve Sjogren
Publisher - Group Publishing

The Perfectly Imperfect Church

• Favorite Features:
• focuses on church health as a measure of success rather than church growth - excellent!
• encourages leaders to strive for churches of 300 - 500 people that reproduce themselves all over the community, rather than a mega-church of 1000 or more
• looks at 13 simple steps to be a perfectly imperfect church
• five steps to move your church toward simplicity
• 12 steps to becoming more upward-focused
• three steps to becoming more outward
• eight steps to becoming a "fun" church
• seven steps to increase safety and comfort
• excellent, do-able follow-up plan to let visitors know you knew they were there
• six steps to become more inclusive
• 11 steps to build atmosphere
• two steps to increase the level of generosity at your church
• four ideas to help your church become more true

    This book is definitely one church leaders would benefit from by reading, taking to heart and implementing in their church.  We do need to move away from the mega-church mentality in our churches and focus on becoming a church where people know each other - including the pastor!  Extremely well done Steve and Group Publishing!

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Pastor's Study Table of Contents

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