Local Church Ministry

This page is designed to provide resources on ministry in the local church to those without easy access to a theological library. Many of the links below connect you to scanned, published books and articles made available by Google Books (often 75% of content). This virtual bibliography collects these materials on one page.

NB: For bibliographic management and notetaking while reading, Zotero is highly recommended ("a free, easy-to-use Mozilla Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources"). For page snapshots and printing of Google Book pages, try Microsoft's snipping tool (paste text into Word -- or Zotero).

Introduction/Foundations

Anderson, Ray. Ministry on the Fireline. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993.
Banks, Robert. Paul's Idea of Community. Rev. ed. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together. New York: Harper & Row, 1954.
Brauch, Manfred T. Toward the Renewal of the Church: A Biblical Perspective. Valley Forge, PA: Office of Evangelism, 1988.
Brunner, Emil. The Misunderstanding of the Church. Trans. Harold Knight. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1953.
Budde, Michael L., and Robert W. Brimlow, eds., The Church as Counterculture. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2000. Includes essays by Rodney Clapp, Walter Brueggeman, Stanley Hauerwas, and others.
Clapp, Rodney. A Peculiar People: The Church as Culture in a Post-Christian Society. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996.
Dawn, Marva J. A Royal “Waste” of Time: The Splendor of Worshiping God and Being Church for the World. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.
Dulles, Avery. Models of the Church. New York: Doubleday, 1974. Expanded ed., 1987.
Hanson, Paul D. The People Called: The Growth of Community in the Bible. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986, 1987.
Vanier, Jean. Community and Growth: Our Pilgrimage Together. New York: Paulist Press, 1979.
Wright, Christopher J. H. The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2006.

Renewal

Bloesch, Donald G. Wellsprings of Renewal. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974.
Lovelace, Richard F. Dynamics of Spiritual Life: An Evangelical Theology of Renewal. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1979.
Ogden, Greg. The New Reformation: Returning the Ministry to the People of God. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990.
Schaller, Lyle E. Discontinuity and Hope: Radical Change and the Path to the Future. Nashville: Abingdon, 1999.
Smith, Hannah Whitall. The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life. New York: Fleming H. Revell (various editions).
Werning, Waldo J. Renewal for the 21st Century Church. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1988.
White, John. When the Spirit Comes with Power. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988.

Historical Perspectives

Chenu, Marie-Dominique. Nature, Man, and Society in the Twelfth Century. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1968.
Clarke, Andrew D. Serve the Community of the Church: Christians as Leaders and Ministers. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.
Donovan, Vincent. Christianity Rediscovered. Orbis, 1978.
Drane, John. The McDonaldization of the Church: Consumer Culture and the Church’s Future. Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 2001.
Durnbaugh, Donald F. The Believers' Church: The History and Character of Radical Protestantism. New York: Macmillan, 1986.
Fernández-Armesto, Felipe, and Derek Wilson. Reformations: A Radical Interpretation of Christianity and the World (1500–2000). New York: Scribner, 1996.
Franklin, Robert Michael. Liberating Visions: Human Fulfillment and Social Justice in African-American Thought. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1990.
Johnson, Paul E. African American Christianity: Essay in History. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1994.
Kelley, Dean M. Why Conservative Churches are Growing. New York: Harper and Row, 1972. Especially pp. 47–77, 174–79. The classic analysis of why mainline Protestantism declined in the 1960s and 1970s. Reissued, 1995, by Mercer Univ. Press.
Lincoln, C. Eric, and Lawrence H. Mamiya. The Black Church in the African American Experience. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1990.
Olin, John C. The Catholic Reformation: Savonarola to Ignatius Loyola. New York: Fordham University Press, 1992.
Pohl, Christine D. Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.
Raboteau, Albert. Slave Religion: The “Invisible Institution” in the Antebellum South. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.
Russell, Paul A. Lay Theology in the Reformation: Popular Pamphleteers in Southwest Germany 1521–1525. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1986.
Stark, Rodney. The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996.

Practical Models

Barreiro, Alvaro. Basic Ecclesial Communities: The Evangelization of the Poor. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1982.
Bowman, Ray, and Eddy Hall. When Not to Build: An Architect’s Unconventional Wisdom for the Growing Church. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1992, 2000.
Cole, Neil. Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens. Jossey-Bass, 2005.
Cook, Guillermo. The Expectation of the Poor: Latin American Base Ecclesial Communities in Protestant Perspective. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1985.
Cymbala, Jim. Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire: What Happens When God’s Spirit Invades the Heart of His People. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997.
Garrison, Becky. Rising from the Ashes: Rethinking Church. New York: Seabury, 2006.
Getz, Gene A. Building Up One Another. Wheaton, IL: Victor, 1976.
Greenleaf, Robert K. Servant Leadership. New York: Paulist Press, 1977.
Greenleaf, Robert K. The Servant as Religious Leader. Peterborough, NH: Windy Row Press, 1982.
Hopewell, James F. Congregation: Stories and Structures. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987.
Hybels, Lynne and Bill. Rediscovering Church: The Story and Vision of Willow Creek Community Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995.
Kimball, Dan. The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003.
Meyer, Richard C. One-Anothering: Biblical Building Blocks for Small Groups. San Diego, CA: LuraMedia, 1990.
Miller, C. John. Outgrowing the Ingrown Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986.
Morganthaler, Sally. Worship Evangelism: Inviting Unbelievers into the Presence of God. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995.
Nelson, Gary V. Borderland Churches: A Congregation's Introduction to Missional Living. Chalice Press, 2008.
Nelson, Gary V., Gordon W. King, and Terry G. Smith. Going Global: A Congregation’s Introduction to Mission beyond Our Borders. Chalice Press, 2011.
Posterski, Don, and Gary Nelson. Future Faith Churches: Reconnecting with the Power of the Gospel for the 21st Century. WoodLake, 1997.
Rainer, Thom S., and Eric Geiger. Simple Church: Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2006.
Sider, Ronald J., Philip N. Olson, and Heidi Rolland Unruh. Churches That Make a Difference: Reaching Your Community with Good News and Good Works. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2002.
Snyder, Howard A. The Community of the King. Rev. ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2004.
Stevens, R. Paul. The Equipper's Guide to Every-Member Ministry. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992.
White, James Emery. Rethinking the Church: A Challenge to Creative Redesign in an Age of Transition. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1997.