How to Thrive as a Small-Church Pastor [Paperback]

Steve R. Bierly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998

Pastoring a small church is no small job. It can be physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausting. Read this book for a relief . . . And a turning point. Steve R. Bierly offers the seasoned reassurance of one who has been in the trenches of small-church pastoring. He understands your unique needs and problems not just as a pastor, but as a person. And he shows that, by God's grace, you can fulfill your calling and thrive in the face of its challenges. With humor and fatherly wisdom, Bierly helps you reframe your perspectives on - God - Your ministry - Your relationships - Your personal needs . . . And more. Drawing on years of experience, he offers assurance that you're not alone, a fresh outlook on the successes of your ministry, and an upbeat, practical approach to spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being. How to Thrive as a Small-Church Pastor will help you face realistically the rigors of your vocation . . . and reclaim your first love of ministry.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Steve Bierly knows firsthand the needs and concerns of small-church pastors. He also knows how to meet the needs, handle the concerns, and thrive as a pastor with a congregation of 150 or less. Drawing on his twelve years of small-church experience, Bierly helps pastors reframe their perspective of God, ministry, relationships, their own needs, and more. He offers seasoned, fatherly counsel--assurance to small-church pastors that they're not alone; a fresh outlook on the successes of their ministries; and an upbeat, practical approach to spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being. Filled with good humor, here is help for small-church pastors to face the rigors of their vocation realistically and reclaim their first love of ministry.

From the Author

Steve R. Bierly is the pastor of the Cobblestone Church in Schenectady, New York. He is the author of Help for the Small-Church Pastor, which has received strong praise in reviews and periodicals

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 187 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310216559
• ISBN-13: 978-0310216551
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,008,549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Steve R. Bierly is the pastor of American Reformed Church in Hull, Iowa, where he lives with his wife, Deborah, and two children. He is the author of Help for the Small-Church Pastor and How to Thrive as a Small-Church Pastor.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Committment to the Small-Church Pastor, May 24, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Gardena, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Thrive as a Small-Church Pastor (Paperback)

Steve Bierly does an excellent and proficient job of expressing the very unique and strategic struggles that the Small-Church Pastor encounters.

Bierly uses a wealth of experience and illustrations any Small-Church Pastor (or anyone associated with Ministry) would instantely recall as a "me too" experience.

Because of the subject matter, there is a great deal of emotion that happens between the writer, the Spirit of God and the reader.

Ultimately, the book accomplishes a chief objective as A Guide to Spiritual and Emotional Well-Being [for the Small-Church Pastor].

I've already ordered [from Amazon] and had a copy of this book shipped to another Pastor friend of mine.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Humorous Homily on Helping the Small Church Pastor Thrive, June 14, 2006

By 

Marc Axelrod (Potter, Wi USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Thrive as a Small-Church Pastor (Paperback)

Steve Bierly is pastor of the American Reformed Church in Hull, Iowa, and God has given him a gift for being able to minister to the small church as well as to the small church pastor. With an infectious sense of humor, he discusses the things that can cause a small church pastor to become frustrated or stressed out, then he gives compassionate counsel on how to be good to yourself as you are being the best you can be for God.

He talks about how small churchaholics often think about their churches and their ministries all the time, often plaguing themselves with guilt along the way. He gives some telltale signs in chapter one: Wanting to isolate yourself from others, getting burned out from being around people, temptation to think more or less of yourself than you ought, and the temptation to get upset with God over the powers of darkness that people face in their lives.

Bierly also mentions how small church pastors feel like failures when their ideas are not embraced right away, and how they often get frustrated that they visit the same people over and over again who tell the same old tales over and over again, and how it often appears that our ministries are not making a difference in peoples' lives.

But help is on the way! Bierly reminds the small church pastor that it is God's church, that megachurch paradigms won't always fly in the small church, and that God is at work behind the scenes in peoples' lives and we need to stop focusing solely on the negative.

Bierly also recommends having outside hobbies, getting proper rest, eating right, and spending regular time with family and friends. In short, he suggests that as pastors, we need to pastor ourselves.

He also says that small church pastors often feel guilty because they weren't able to do everything they had planned out in their schedule books. He says that everytime we are called to make unscheduled hospital calls or attend unplanned meetings, or counsel someone that wasn't scheduled in advance, to write these things down in the planner and check them off as a reminder that we are getting done the things that God would have us to do that week, even if we didn't plan it to be that way ourselves.

He also says to be true to yourself. It doesn't say anywhere in the Bible that you have to have a regular quiet time first thing in the morning every single day. He even suggests (horror of horrors) that your exegetical and sermon preparation time can be incorporated as part of your quiet time with God. After all, why punish yourself and make you feel guilty for not having an 'official' quiet time when you have been studying and meditating upon His Word all week long?

Finally, Bierly reminds us that small church pastors are not Messiahs, that we need partners in ministry, and that we are to put bugs in peoples' ears, and let ideas simmer rather than trying to ram our agendas through.

The book made me laugh and it made me glad to be alive alive as a small church pastor. Bierly was my pastor while I read this wonderful book. Thank you Steve, and thank you Lord Jesus!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Helpful, October 29, 2010

By 

Dr. Terry W. Dorsett "Author of Developing Le... (Barre, Vermont) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Thrive as a Small-Church Pastor (Paperback)

Far too many small church pastors have been content to drift along maintaining the status quo until they can find a bigger (and theoretically better???) church to move to. But this books helps the small church pastor realize he does not have to drift along, he can thrive right where he is. Great book.