Alive and Kicking by Marvin Anderson, PhD., March 2008
Using seven lenses for assessment, Alive and Kicking [PDF: 78 pp/363 KB] brings together the history of rural ministry in the United Church, current research on rural ministry, and stories of rural congregations across Canada.
Alive and Kicking

The Indispensable Guide for Smaller Churches by David Ray; published in 2003 The Pilgrim Press

Like other books by David Ray this one is a small and rural church classic! Several rural ministers have told me this one is, as the title says, indispensable. David Ray was a minister in and consultant to rural churches for over 30 years. From this rich experience he shares a wealth of learning and knowledge. As it says in the preface “The reader will find here a theology that defines the crucial role of smaller faith communities in a world grown too large, too fast, and too impersonal. There are enough theoretical tools to help the practitioner craft a ministry that specifically fits her or his setting and congregation. In addition to new approaches to worship, education, care giving, and mission, the reader will find substantive chapters on morale and self-esteem, finances in smaller churches, and attracting and keeping new people.” This is a must have fro the Rural Book Shelf.

Christianity for the Rest of Us by Diana Butler Bass; published in 2006 by HarperCollins

Diana Butler Bass set out on a quest. Hearing from many that the mainline church was dying and the evangelical church had captured the secret to life she went on a three year journey to discover healthy, thriving, vital mainline churches. This book is eminently readable. Butler Bass is a story teller and in profiling the mainline churches that she visited she identifies the ten signposts of renewal. Using these signposts she helps the reader understand how aspects like hospitality, healing and contemplation to name just three can become sources of transformation in individual lives, congregations and the world. Butler Bass writes from an American, urban context but the discoveries she identifies can be very useful to those of us looking for and working toward transformation in our small rural churches.

Holy Conversation Strategic Planning as a Spiritual Practise for Congregations by Gil Rendle and Alice Mann; published in 2003 by The Alban Institute

This book could easily be a handbook for a minister, a church board or a visioning committee as they contemplate the future. Rendle and Mann write out of years of experience in congregational ministry. This book offer tools and strategies to help congregations have conversation and do planning about who they are and where they are going. There are many suggestions and resources included so that the reader could pick and choose approaches appropriate to the context. Using terminology of strategic planning this is not a business model but a model for discernment and planning in the congregational setting. Their list of Resources at the back of the book is well worth the price of the book!

Who Is Our Church? Imagining Congregational Identity by Janet R. Cawley; published in 2006 by The Alban Institute

A book by a Canadian! A book by a United Church Minister! Janet Cawley comes to this writing after years of ministry to congregations in transition in the United Church of Canada. This book is designed to be used by a congregation as the congregation does an honest appraisal of who they are. Using the scriptural image from Corinthians of the church as the body of Christ she invokes a sense of play as she offers tools for a congregation to begin to identify itself and describe what their body looks and acts like. The book helps a congregation develop a way to look at itself so that it can get a clear understanding of identity and from that develop a mission. The Appendix provides a Workshop Outline and a Sample Worksheet. This would be a good book for a Visioning Committee that wants to offer opportunity to congregational conversation.

Clergy Renewal the Alban Guide to Sabbatical Planning by A. Richard Bullock and Richard J. Bruesehoff; published in 2000 by The Alban Institute

The United Church of Canada has made Sabbatical a part of ministry for those serving in the same pastoral charge every five years. This book is written for members of the congregation to assist in developing the understanding of sabbatical as part of the spiritual growth for the congregation as well as for the minister. The book not only offers the theological and spiritual aspect of sabbatical but also provides practical planning ideas for the minister's time away. This book has some limitations for us because it is written from an American context; nonetheless there is some useful material here.

Journeying Toward Renewal - A spiritual Companion for Pastoral Sabbaticals by Melissa Bane Sevier; published in 2002 by The Alban Institute

This is a good book for ministers considering or planning a sabbatical. Sevier wrote this book as a result of her own experience of sabbatical. Writing from her own experience she offers very helpful information when preparing for your sabbatical, for the time away and for the re-entry and reflection time after the sabbatical. If you are thinking about your sabbatical this book could be a helpful guide.

Small, Strong Congregations by Kennon L. Callahan; Jossey-Bass Publishing

Ken Callahan is best known for his book Twelve Keys to an Effective Church . In Small, Strong Congregations Callahan affirms small congregations. He states that in the twenty-first century many people will be drawn to the small, strong congregation and that the majority of congregations are small ones. This book gives practical advice for leaders looking to strengthen their congregations and includes practical tools to assess the strength and needs for the small congregation. This is a useful book.

Wonderful Worship on Smaller Churches by David R. Ray; published in 2000 by The Pilgrim Press

David Ray has written several books for the small congregation and this one, Wonderful Worship for Smaller Churches follows on the success of The Big Small Church Book . In this book Ray outlines the Twelve Principles for Understanding Worship with Fewer than One Hundred and then builds on these principles by offering 15 Practices. Ray provides a very readable book with useful tools for worship leaders in small churches. This is a good book for valuing, understanding and developing worship that works in the small church.

Can Our Church Live? Redeveloping Congregations in Decline by Alice Mann; published in 1999 by The Alban Institute

While this book is not written specifically for small or rural churches it offers wisdom that could be useful to the small rural church. Mann begins by talking about the Congregation's Life Cycle and how to assess what has happened in the church and in the community. She then offers tools direction as to how to reconnect the congregation with the context and how to take steps forward. This is an easily readable book and has suggestions that are applicable to the small rural church.

Discerning Your Congregation's Future A Strategic and Spiritual Approach by Roy Oswald and Robert Friedrich Jr.; published in 1996 by The Alban Institute

This book is ten years old but it still offers congregational leaders and members good process tools with a spiritual dimension that are fresh and useable. This book sees the congregation as a Spiritual community not just an organization. As they say in the preface, “This book is for the congregation that wants to stop drifting and to establish a corporate direction. We need to state right up front, however, that this is not yet another book on the need for the leader to have and impart a vision to the people. Quite the opposite. We are committed to a theology and methodology that places the entire congregation in the centre of the visioning process.”

Ending With Hope A Resource for Closing Congregations
Edited by Beth Ann Gaede; published 2002 by The Alban Institute

Gaede collects a essays and reflections from contributors from eight denominations and includes ministers, lay leaders, and denominational staff who have ‘been there' as congregation have worked through the painful closing process. The book is in Three Parts. Part One explores the decisions and dynamics in closings. Part Two provides some stories about closings and Part Three gives resources for leaders that include rituals for closing and assistance for decision about the physical resources of building and artifacts. This book is a valuable resource for congregations who are determining their future and feel that one option might be disbanding and closing. It does not sugar-coat the painful reality of that decision n but in a healthy way explores what it means for the community, the congregational members and the minister.