Customer Reviews

No Little Places: The Untapped Potential of the Small-Town Church

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The authors of this book say that while in some ways seminary trained them for pastoring small-town churches, in other ways it did not. Why not? Because their seminaries assumed a suburban model of doing church. Those models, when transplanted to the small-town environment, just don't work.

The authors both gave into the temptation to treat the small-town church as a smaller version of the suburban church before figuring out that the small-town church isn't just a miniature version of the suburban church. It has its own characteristics and will thrive only when it focuses on being itself, on doing what it does best--intimacy and involvement.

I like the way the authors learned to approach pastoring in the small town as cross-cultural ministry, realizing they had to become students of the local culture, just as missionaries to other countries do. An eye-opener for me was the challenge of pastoring in the "rurban" community, a traditional farm community that is now becoming a bedroom community for commuting professionals. How can a church reach out to include these professionals while also remaining relevant to the farm community? It's a challenge, but a doable challenge. This book also has a good chapter on how to lead the decision-making process in the small-town church. (It's a lot different from in the larger church.) There's plenty of practical wisdom in this one to make it worth a read. As a church consultant, whenever I do a consultation with a small-town church, I almost always give the pastor a copy of this one.

This is the kind of book that makes you say 'I wish I had read this before....' The book is very practical and very helpful for young pastors and/or pastors-to-be (semianry students). I wish I had read this before I became pastor of my first church. I bought copies to give to young pastors in our area. Small places have great value in the maturing and development of young pastors!

If you are a pastor of a big or small church you must read this book. Very sound biblicaly.

This is a book for any pastor who desires to minister in a small town, or thinks he may desire to minister in a small town. It's a good read for the purpose of helping the man count the cost, but also for the purpose of giving the pastor vision.

For those who are planted as pastors already in a small town, this book will inspire new vision and a different way of looking at ministry and the people in the fellowship. They are God's jewels!

I've been in pastoral ministry for over 33 years, and am committed to the value and place of the small church in the world. I'd been used to much larger church ministry, in a much larger community than my present position. This book was very helpful... not just to me, but it can also be helpful for those pastoring larger churches. I highly recommend it.