Book: The Strategically Small Church

Brandon J. O'Brien is editor at large for Leadership Journal and has written a book, released this month, titled "The Strategically Small Church." It seems to be a wonderful analysis of the benefits and opportunities facing a small congregation. The issue is that many small congregations look to mega churches for inspiration and ideas in ministry. O'Brien responds, "The trouble is, operating like a big church can undermine the inherent strengths of being small."

He goes on to say:

For example, as I explain in the book, research suggests that one of the factors that contributes to whether or not young people stay active in church after high school is intergenerational relationships. The students who have more and deeper relationships with adults other than their parents are much more likely to remain in the church in college and beyond. Now, smaller congregations offer tons of opportunity for developing these intergenerational relationships. But the hallmark of large churches is age-segmented ministry, programs designed to separate children from youth, youth from adults, young adults from seniors. When small churches imitate this model, they undercut their advantage for fostering intergenerational relationships.

We have not read the book, yet, but there are a few pastors who will be reading it, so we will follow up with some reviews and opinions about the content of the book when they finish reading it. This topic seems to fit many of our congregations and where they are in terms of size and ministry focus. But, again, we are not promoting the book since no one that we know has read it, yet. We are only inviting a discussion and thoughts on this topic and this book seems to have touched on a relevant issue within our congregations. Please share your thoughts and opinions with us if you have read this book.

Here are some links related to Brandon O'Brien and this book

• Free download of the First Chapter of the book (PDF)
• Interview with Ed Stetzer
• Interview with Wrecked.org
• Audio interview with Chris Fabry of Moody Radio

In the meantime, if you are interested in diving into this you can order it through Amazon by clicking the following link:
Strategically Small Church, The: Intimate, Nimble, Authentic, and Effective by Brandon J. O'Brien.
(By using this link, Faith & Fellowship will receive a portion of the profits through our Amazon Associates account. Thank you.)