Christian ministries increasingly prioritize urban areas—big cities and suburbs are considered more strategic, more influential, and more desirable places to live and work. As a ministry strategy, focusing on big places makes sense. But the gospel of Jesus is often unstrategic. Pastor Stephen Witmer, using helpful stories and practical advice, lays out an integrated theological vision for small-place ministry today.

No function of the pastor is as visible and stress inducing as preaching. But few pastors feel adequately prepared for this high-stakes responsibility when they begin their ministries. Forged by her experiences as a pastor, preaching professor and college chaplain, Mary Hulst provides practical tips for all pastors, whether ministry newcomers or seasoned professionals.

As our culture begins to reckon with the limits of a digital world, it's time for the church to do the same. In our efforts to stay relevant in our digital age, have we begun to move away from transcendence? Pastor Jay Kim grapples with the ramifications of a digital church, from worship and Christian community to how we engage Scripture.

Church planting is not just about gathering new communities of people who are already Christians. Planting churches flows naturally out of making disciples. In this concise guide, pastor J. D. Payne explains the process and stages of church planting, with biblical foundations and practical steps for planting teams both domestically and internationally.

How should the local church think about justice? Adam Gustine provides a theological vision for the church's identity as a just people, where God's character and the pursuit of shalom infuses every aspect of our congregational DNA. In this renewed vision, the church becomes a prophetic alternative to the broken systems of the world and a parable of God's intentions for human flourishing and societal transformation.

Do you find yourself wondering how to get new volunteers onboard for your ministry? Youth leaders Mark DeVries and Nate Stratman have heard all the reasons why leaders fail to get and keep volunteers. That's why they have developed this 30-day on-ramp to creating a volunteer team, with all of the needed tools included and a money-back guarantee.

Do you ever feel that you are leading in uncharted territory? Pastor and consultant Tod Bolsinger draws on decades of expertise guiding churches and organizations in this expanded practical leadership resource, offering illuminating insights and practical tools to help you reimagine what effective church leadership looks like in our rapidly changing world.

Attract kids to church, the logic often goes, and you get parents in the pews. All that's left is to get the kids out of the way. Here children's ministers David Csinos and Ivy Beckwith draw on research in human development and spiritual formation to show how children become disciples and churches become centers of lifelong discipleship.

Drawing on her background in environmental engineering and her current pastoral role, Heather Zempel assesses the perils and possibilities inherent in small groups and other environments for Christian community. The book helps leaders begin to see the inherent "mess" of such gatherings as raw material for arriving at something beautiful.

Missiologist and church planter JR Woodward offers a blueprint for a church in search of a missional culture. Expanding on the biblical principles giving life to the missional movement worldwide, Woodward calls not for small tweaks to the church?s image but for a recasting of the very environment that shapes us.