RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN THE
           SMALL MEMBERSHIP CHURCH

Summary: This book is generally recognized as the most important, most comprehensive, and most practical book on all phases of planning, implementing, and improving religious education in the small-size church. Using the best research and up-to-date practices, it develops exciting possibilities and helpful procedures to maximize religious education opportunities in small church settings. It also contains a huge wall chart which summarizes a great deal of helpful information on smaller churches.

Spirit of the Book: The spirit of the book is a love for and a prizing of the smaller church. Instead of attempting to view religious education in the small membership church as a mini-model of the larger church, this lovely book recognizes with profound respect that small churches are quite different from larger churches and thus require a religious education practice quite different from that of the large church.

What this Book Gives You: If you work as a religious educator or as a pastor in a small church (under 300 members), this book is a must for you. It gives you virtually everything you need to know about being successful in small church ministry. It helps you to make religious education in the small church alive, wide-ranging, and successful. As a special bonus, the volume contains a huge wall chart profiling six basic kinds of small-sized churches will be of great help to you..

Distinctiveness: Why this Book is Special: The distinctiveness of this volume is that it intentionally develops religious education model which is expressly designed for the smaller church. Hence this book avoids the unfortunate and all too prevalent tendency to impose a large church model on small church practice. The huge and highly informative wall chart which comes packaged with this book also makes this volume highly distinctive in its field.

Major Features: A major feature of this book is its inclusiveness, both geographical and denominational. It deals with religious education in all locales and not just in rural areas. There are many small churches in the suburbs, exurbs, and even in metropolitan areas. Also, this volume treats religious education in smaller churches from a wide spectrum of denominations. Every faith group has small membership churches.

Chapters
1. Overview of Religious Education in the Small Membership Church
2. Recent Trends in Research and Programs in the Small Church
3. What Sociology Tells Us About the Small Membership Church
4. Educational Ministry, CCD, and Sunday School in the Small Church
5. Worship and Sacred Space in the Small Membership Church
6. Administration and Leadership in the Small Membership Church
7. Lay Religious Education Leadership in the Small Membership Church
8. Curriculum in the Small Membership Church
9. Managing Conflict in the Small Membership Church
10. The Future of Religious Education in the Small Membership Church
Plus: Huge Wall Chart Profiling Six Major Kinds of Small Churches

Contributors: Contributors to this impressive volume include some highly authoritative experts: William Willimon, Pamela Mitchell, D. Campbell Wyckoff, Ronald Cram, Donald Bossart, Gary Farley, Bob Johnson, Susanne Johnson, James Cushman, and Nancy Foltz.

Praise for this Book: Great praise for this book:

CARL DUDLEY of the Center for Church Ministries (Chicago) and author of MAKING THE SMALL CHURCH EFFECTIVE writes: "This wonderful book appreciates both the strengths and the struggles of small churches, and offers useful suggestions from the hands-on experience of ten experts. I highly recommend it for all who care about small churches, from the cutting edge of scholarship to practical methods in the trenches."

WARREN HARTMAN, General Board of the United Methodist Church states: "This may well be the definitive text of this decade on religious education in small membership churches. It provides a realistic lens, many practical suggestions, and a new vision hope and promise for religious education in small churches. This book is one to read now and kept in readiness as a valuable resource for the future."

STEVEN BURT, small church consultant and author of LEADERSHIP IN THE SMALL CHURCH says: "A book long overdue! This volume develops a distinctive rationale, program, and set of procedures for the small church as distinct from the large church."

Price and Such:
234 pages List Price: $21.95 ISBN 0-89135-077-2

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