Intentional Ministry in a Not-so-Mega Church is the latest release by Dennis Bickers, an American Baptist Area Minister in Indiana with a passion for small churches and small town ministry.
Bickers' recent release attempts to sythesize a lot of the "missional church" conversation with ministry in small churches. A bivocational pastor for 20 years, he has a passion for the rural church, and that also shows on every page of the book.
Bickers'book is not for everyone. I think even he would make this point. The author is trying to write a book to struggling, Bible-based conservative churches and their leaders. He urges these churches to look beyond their desire to simply survive, and to look for ways to focus more of their energy toward meaningful ministry in their communities. He takes the missional church scholarship, much of which is written for a suburban middle-sized church, and breaks it down into bite-sized pieces that can make sense for the common person sitting in a pew every Sunday. The kind of person that knows that there is something wrong with the way his church is doing things, but does not know quite how to help turn the church family that he loves so much around.
Filled with straight-shooting talk, and a lot of common sense, this book should be read by anyone who is a leader in conservative, small town church. For those familiar with the missional or emerging church conversation, it will be a helpful reminder of some basic principles. For those unfamiliar with the crux of missional church talk, this will be a helpful guide for the journey.
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