This is an in-depth look at the power teams bring to congregational work. Wimberly demonstrates that younger generations in particular are much happier working in a team, rather than a committee environment. Congregations using teams are able to mobilize members across generations for both short and long term tasks. After clarifying the differences between teams and committees, readers learn the important steps needed to set-up new teams. Leaders who simply create a team without attention to the formation process increase the likelihood of team failure. Using real-world examples and case studies, Wimberly addresses problems teams can expect to experience, as well as ways to resolve those issues. He highlights the surprising similarities between how teams and congregations function, both positively and negatively, providing keen insights from the business world and showing how they can be used to solve issues in congregations. Here readers will find both the theory and practice of making a successful transition to a congregation doing its work through highly motivated, efficient teams.

Since the 1930s, organizing movements for social justice in the U.S. have largely been built on secular assumptions. But what if Christians were to shape their organizing around the implications of the truth that God is real and Jesus is risen? Reverend Alexia Salvatierra and theologian Peter Heltzel propose a model of organizing that arises from their Christian convictions, with implications for all faiths.

Working with volunteers can be a rewarding and exciting experience—for them as well as for those who recruit, train, and maintain their services. However, if church leaders are honest, they know there are times that it can be frustrating. They know that volunteers are essential, vital to creating growth and new ministries, and are the key to introducing youth and children to Jesus Christ. They have the welcoming smiles at the door, they serve the food, pray for needs, stuff bulletins, organize missions trips, and on and on. If they want to see their church grow, it must be a volunteering church, a church that runs on volunteers. The Volunteer Church was developed out of the ministry of Leith Anderson at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, where a vital and vibrant volunteer program boasting 4,000 participants grew under the leadership of Jill Fox. The principles and training have been applied in churches of all sizes and denominations in seminar settings across the country as well as at Wooddale Church. In The Volunteer Church, leaders will Learn how to effectively recruit and train volunteers Discover how to build sustainable, long-lasting ministries led by volunteers Find methods for encouraging and maintaining your volunteers for success Know how to build teams of volunteers Understand how to find the right service that fits a willing volunteer If you lead a church and are exhausted by the lack of volunteer help, or if you are a volunteer and dream of adding numbers to your team, this book is for you. If you are on a church staff and know that a new ministry is needed but volunteers and training are required to make it happen, here you will find the resources to recruit, inspire, train, and maintain the church’s most vital workforce.

This is a book for pacesetters -- church leaders who desire to help their churches break free of the things that turn them in on themselves. It is a masterly mix of biblical principle, objective analysis, and personal experience.

Since its inception, the Alban Institute has earned a reputation as a leader in addressing congregational conflict management issues through its research, consulting services, educational events, and particularly its publications. Drawing on this rich heritage, the first title in our new "Harvesting the Learnings" anthology series gathers 20 classic Alban works on congregational conflict into a single, indispensable volume. Conflict Management in Congregations harvests the collected wisdom of many of the key thinkers on this topic, including such past and present Alban consultants as Speed Leas, George Parsons, Margaret Bruehl, Gil Rendle, Alice Mann, and Roy Pneumann. Much of the material found here has long been unavailable but is still much in demand. Divided into three sections that explore the dynamics of conflict, conflict management techniques, and dealing with conflict in specific contexts, this book serves as a comprehensive primer that no pastor or congregational leader will want to be without.

This first book in the Church-Based Counseling series provides a framework for guiding churches through the process of building a volunteer-led counseling ministry.

God loves justice and He is clear in Scripture about wanting His people to care for the poor. While the church once played an integral role in meeting the needs of society, we have taken a back seat to such issues like poverty and caring for the marginalized. It has been said that if everyone in the church gave, there would be no world hunger. What if we actually put that to the test? What if the church cared deeply for their community and was courageously generous to those living in poverty in order to build the Kingdom of God here on Earth? Moved by Compassion helps pastors and church leaders understand: -God's perspective about issues related to poverty-God's design and purpose for our resources-The responsibility of the church to care for the poor and marginalized-How to shift the culture as it relates to church finance and generosity-Practical ways to start reaching those in needJesus told us that whatever we do to the "least of these," we are actually doing for Him. Moved by Compassion teaches you how to mobilize your church by reconnecting with Jesus' heart for the poor in your community so that in doing so, your city can be transformed.