Category: Books

  • Recommended Works on Ecclesiology by Academics

    Guder, Darrell L., ed. Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.

    Sweet, Leonard, ed. and Andy Crouch, Michael Horton, Frederica Mathews-Green, Brian D. McLaren, and Erwin Raphael McManus. The Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives. El Cajon: emergentYS, 2003.

    Volf, Miroslav. After Our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.

  • Recommended Old Books by Pastors Describing How They Do Ministry

    Baxter, Richard. The Reformed Pastor: A Pattern for Personal Growth and Ministry. Abridged and edited by James M. Houston. 1656. Multnomah, 1982.

  • Influential Books by Contemporary Mostly-American Pastors Describing How They Do Ministry.

    I have given you denomination, website, and attendance if I could find the data.

    Anderson, Leith. Dying for Change. Bethany House Publishers, 1998.

    ________________. Leadership That Works: Hope and Direction for Church and Parachurch Leaders in Today’s Complex World. Bethany House Publishers, 2002.

    http://www.wooddale.org/ Wooddale Church; non-denominational but is associated with Baptist General Conference; Minnesota; 4000 attendance; six daughter churches.

    Bell, Rob. Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005.

    http://www.mhbcmi.org/findex.html Mars Hill Bible Church. Non-denominational; Michigan. 10,000 attendance. Emergent.

    Bisagno, John R. Letters to Timothy: A Handbook for Pastors. Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001.

    http://www.houstonsfirst.org/ Houston’s First Baptist Church. Retired in 2000. 8,000 attendance.

    Cladis, George. Leading the Team-Based Church: How Pastors and Church Staffs Can Grow Together into a Powerful Fellowship of Leaders. Jossey-Bass, 1999.

    Former pastor at http://www.westminster-okc.org/index2.html and http://www.norotonchurch.org/ Medium sized PCUSA churches.

    Cole, Neil. Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens. Jossey-Bass, 2005.

    http://www.cmaresources.org/ Church Multiplication Associates. Founder of Awakening Chapels – house churches targeting younger people in urban settings.

    Cymbala, Jim with Stephen Sorenson. The Church God Blesses. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002.

    Brooklyn. Brooklyn Tabernacle. 10,000 attendance. http://www.brooklyntabernacle.org/ Non-denom.

    Driscoll, Mark. The Radical Reformission : Reaching Out without Selling Out. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004.

    ________________. Confessions of a Reformission Rev: Hard Lessons From an Emerging Missional Church. Zondervan, 2006.

    Mars Hill Church, Seattle. http://www.marshillchurch.org/ Acts 29 church planting network. http://www.acts29network.org/ Emergent. Non-denominational roots with PCA theology.

    Frazee, Randy. The Connecting Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001.

    Now a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church. Was Senior Pastor at Pantego Bible Church in Fort Worth, Texas from 1990-2005. http://www.pantego.org/index.cfm Non-denom. Megachurch.

    Hansen, David. The Art of Pastoring: Ministry Without All the Answers. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1994.

    http://www.kenwoodbaptist.com/index.html Kenwood Baptist Church. American Baptist. Cincinnati, OH. Attendance 500.

    Hull, Bill. The Disciple Making Pastor. Grand Rapids: Fleming H. Revell, 1988.

    Was pastor in Evangelical Free Churches. Now works with http://www.tnetwork.com/index.htm 

    Hybels, Bill. Courageous Leadership. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002.

    http://www.willowcreek.org/ Founding Pastor; South Barrington, IL. 17,500 attendance.

    Kimball, Dan. The Emerging Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003.

    http://www.vintagefaith.com/ and blog: http://dankimball.typepad.com/ and Vintage Faith Church http://www.vintagechurch.org/ 400-500 attendance. Non-denom. Emergent.

    Lewis, Robert with Rob Wilkins. The Church of Irresistible Influence. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001.

    Lewis is former pastor of http://www.fbclr.org/ Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, AK. Non-denom. 2,000 attendance.

    Lewis, Robert and Wayne Cordeiro with Warren Bird. Culture Shift: Transforming Your Church from the Inside Out. Jossey-Bass, 2005.

    Cordeiro is Senior Pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship O’ahu, a Foursquare church in Honolulu, Hawaii. http://www.enewhope.org/index.php 9,000 attendance.

    Mallory, Sue. The Equipping Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001.

    Executive Director of Group Publishing’s Church Volunteer Central. http://shop.grouppublishing.com/cvc/index.asp Was director of lay ministries at Brentwood Presbyterian Church http://www.bpcusa.org/index.asp PCUSA, 1200 members. Los Angeles.

    McLaren, Brian. The Church on the Other Side. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003.

    Founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church http://www.crcc.org/ No longer Senior Pastor. Non-denom. Personal website: http://www.anewkindofchristian.com/ Maryland. Emergent.

    McManus, Erwin Raphael. An Unstoppable Force: Daring to Become the Church God Had in Mind. Group, 2001.

    Personal website: http://www.erwinmcmanus.com/ Mosaic church http://www.mosaic.org/ Southern Baptist. Megachurch. Los Angeles. Emergent.

    Mittelberg, Mark and Bill Hybels. Building a Contagious Church: Revolutionizing the Way We View and Do Evangelism. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000.

    See Hybels above. Mittelberg is Executive Director of Evangelism for the Willow Creek Association. http://www.willowcreek.com/

    Pagitt, Doug. Church Re-Imagined: The Spiritual Formation of People in Communities of Faith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005.

    Personal blog: http://pagitt.typepad.com/ Solomon’s Porch: http://www.solomonsporch.com/index.html Minneapolis.

    Peterson, Eugene H. Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987.

    ________________. The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction. Eerdmans, 1993.

    Founding pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland. PCUSA; 300 attendance. Left in 1992 to be professor at Regent College.

    Rusaw, Rick and Eric Swanson. The Externally Focused Church. Group, 2004.

    Rusaw is Senior Minister at LifeBridge Christian Church in Longmont, Colorado. 3,000 attendance. Non-denom. http://www.lbcc.org/templates/cla23bl/default.asp?id=22545
    Swanson worked with Campus Crusade for Christ for twenty-five years before moving to the Leadership Network.
    http://www.leadnet.org/ 

    Scazzero, Peter with Warren Bird. The Emotionally Healthy Church: A Strategy for Discipleship That Actually Changes Lives. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003.

    Senior pastor at New Life Fellowship. http://www.newlifefellowship.org/ Queens, NY. Four other churches planted.

    Stanley, Andy, Lane Jones and Reggie Joiner. The Seven Practices of Effective Ministry. Multnomah, 2004.

    Stanley is pastor of http://www.northpoint.org/ North Point Community Church. 14,000 attendance. Georgia. Nondenom.

    Stanley, Andy and Ed Young. Can We Do That? 24 Innovative Practices That Will Change the Way You Do Church. Howard, 2002.

    Young is http://www.fellowshipchurch.com/fcweb/home.aspx 16,000 attendance; Grapevine, TX. Southern Baptist.

    Stevens, Tim and Tony Morgan. Simply Strategic Stuff: Help for Leaders Drowning in the Details of Running a Church. Group, 2003.

    Granger Community Church, Indiana. 4,300 attendance. http://www.gccwired.com/ United Methodist Church.

    Taylor, Steve. The Out of Bounds Church? Learning to Create a Community of Faith in a Culture of Change. Zondervan, 2005.

    Personal blog: http://www.emergentkiwi.org.nz/ Pastor of Opawa Baptist Church http://www.opawa.org.nz/ New Zealand. Medium-size.

    Waltz, Mark L. First Impressions: Creating Wow Experiences In Your Church. Group, 2004.

    See Granger Community Church under Stevens.

    Warren, Rick. The Purpose Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message & Mission. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995.

    http://www.saddleback.com/flash/default.htm 15,000 attendance; California. Southern Baptist.