Customer Reviews

The Very Large Church: New Rules for Leaders

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If it is a book by Lyle Schaller, then it is a book you ought to buy! No one in church assessment, analysis, consulting, and speaking can compare to what Lyle has to offer. He is the Cal Ripken and Energizer Bunny of church and denominational prognostication. Steal enough time from your busy schedule to thoroughly read this book.

When you take the time to read this book you will discover the details concerning three crucial issues surrounding congregations that have more than 800 in average weekly attendance: 1. We need more of them to reach the generations born after 1965. 2. A new rule book is needed to understand the congregation of more than 800 in attendance. The old rules do not apply. 3. Consumerism has changed the congregational game plan, and big congregations are a must during the third millennium.

Very large congregations have a can do attitude about new spiritual and strategic opportunities they believe are presented to them by God. They seemingly have no limits to the resources they have faith that God will provide through them.

This book is an excellent follow-up to earlier books by Schaller where he heralds the full-service, seven-days-per-week, family-focused congregation. One such book, published by Abingdon Press in 1992, is The Seven-Day-A-Week Church.

Lyle Schaller is a keen observer of churches, large and small. In this volume, he provides a contemporary update on the very large church.

As senior pastor a very large church, I have found this latest work to be an invaluable resource to help lay leaders and new staff understand. Schaller is able to bring the reader "inside" the day to day life of the very large church.

I found this book to accurately depict the changing landscape of the church in America. We need to raise the bar and create "high expectation" environments in the church that challenge people to high performance. We need "vision leaders" that inspire us to "do the impossible".. Great Book..

This book would be very helpful for anyone interested in helping his/her church grow. Also gives solid reasons why many churches are dying.

Illustrates trends in church with trends in the business world...i.e. large offers more choice for the consumer.

User friendly format makes for easy, quick reading.