What Every Pastor Should Know: 101 Indispensable Rules of Thumb for Leading Your Church

by Gary L. McIntosh, Charles Arn

Pastors and church leaders are constantly faced with strategic questions. How much staff does the church need? How many workers are needed in the nursery this month? When is the right time to start a second worship service? How many people should we train for evangelism this year? How does seating and parking impact worship attendance? When church leaders have questions about planning, running, or growing their churches, they need answers fast!

What Every Pastor Should Know offers pastors and leaders 101 valuable rules and "sacred" laws to help answer real-life ministry questions. From advertising to facilities to visitation, this valuable book offers the practical help that leaders need, just when they need it most. This comprehensive guide will become one of the most valuable books in a leader's library. Never again will they wonder if they based critical decisions on the right information. They'll get the answers they're looking for all in one place.

Genres: Leadership, Church, Nonfiction, Religion, Christianity

270 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2013

Reviews

[Ben Duncan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The subtitle says that the book contains 101 "indispensable" rules of thumb for leading your church. Hardly. My count provided me with exactly 14 that I thought were really good ideas. Many of the other "rules of thumb" were utterly man-centered and reduced leading a church to marketing and gimmicks. Others were so inane that their inclusion in a list of supposed "indispensable" rules was laughable. Still other "rules of thumb" pertained to matters unchangeable by a pastor of an established church - things like parking lot size definitively limiting your growth, the relative percentage of the building space that should be designated as fellowship space, etc.

This book would have received only 1 star from me, but the 14 rules of thumb I thought were good were *that* good.

[Andrea Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this up since we had been given two copies along our ordination pathway so far. Good solid tips, tricks, food for thought etc. Not all points are applicable in all situations. One has to be very aware of the temperament of your particular congregation before diving into some of these.

Enjoyable, easy read. Affirming when you discover something you're already doing and challenging when you discover somethings that you're not.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a lot of good stuff in this book, and I mean A LOT. There’s way too much information here to digest over the normal course of reading a book. I recommend it be used as more of a reference manual that can be looked to when instruction for a particular ministry area is needed. Also, be discerning about what “Rules” will work in your particular ministry context. Some will and some won’t. Overall, a good read that is helpful.

[pastor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Great book I like the other strategies offered in this book. I would recommend it to American friends. The rating is because the context is USA. Thank You very much for

Great book I like the other strategies offered in this book. I would recommend it to American friends. The rating is because the context is USA. Thank You very much for writing this book

[Christopher Sweet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, Practical Knowledge

This is a great resource for the pastor. While we must be careful about viewing the content as a “recipe” for growing a church, we should apply the concepts to however the Holy Spirit is leading each church to minister.

[Symon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every pastor needs to read this book. It contains ALOT of strategic information pertaining to church formation, vision, admin and operation (in the western setting) . I personally found this book amazing.

[Craig Ford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nuts and bolds of ministry. Lots of things to think about in terms of logistics. Perhaps too logistical?

[Robert Conder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good reference book to help in the ministry of the church. Well written and great rules to follow.

[Kevin Casto · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very useful book in guiding one along the path of leading and guiding a church. I thought the it was a bit too data focused at the beginning but very helpful and inspirational by the end.

[David Wood · Rating 3 out of 5]

What Every Pastor Should Know: 101 Indispensable Rules of Thumb for Leading your Church is a helpful book for pastors. It really is. Throughout the book, authors Gary McIntosh and Charles Arn leave no pastoral stone unturned. Want visitors to stick around? Go to section two. Want to develop your Christian Education? Follow the advice in Section 6. Every rule is filled with practical advice on how to grow a church. Perhaps it is because I have read too much Eugene Peterson that, as a pastor, I found myself feeling uneasy at times. Sure, following rule#_, _, and _ will produce increased growth in numbers and retention, but I found myself more and more like a salesman learning practiced sales techniques which would invariably bring about the 7-8% growth rate every church needs.

So, yes, I would recommend this book especially to pastors who are starting out in ministry. There is lots of practical wisdom throughout its pages. However, with your free hand, I would also recommend holding Eugene Peterson's The Contemplative Pastor. The two need to be held together.

Book has been provided courtesy of Graf-Martin Communications and BakerBooks in exchange for an honest review."

[Todd Mckeever · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I was nervous before starting to read it that it was going to be a basic 1,2,3 step type book but, it was not. I enjoyed the flow of the book from the "introduction" of each rule, then to the "explanation" and finally the "What you can do about it".

The "What you can do about it" section usually had some good practical ideas, some I knew, some I had allowed to slip off my radar over time, and some I hadn't thought about. Bottom-line for me was at the end of this book I went back through to my highlighted areas and combined all the to-do's that I picked up from the book and ended up with a really solid 'To-do" list.

[Caleb Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of advice to keep by your desk. As page 12 says, "Think of this book as a reference." 101 (words of) "Advice," not rules. That is what this book really is. Change the word rule for advice and you will get information out of this book. Remember we don't need a list of rules to follow we need the Holy Spirit leading aka advice.

[Paul · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was highly disappointed with this book. Pastor, leave this book alone.
"101 Indispensable Rules of Thumb for Leading Your Church"
I take the word "indispensable" to mean "absolutely necessary". I would have been happier with the title being "101 Suggested Rules of Thumb for Leading Your Non-profit Organization.

[Willie Deuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read, and one that a pastor should keep around because it has some sound advice in it. Not exactly as indispensable as the title states, but still a handy reference. Advice is not given in a linear fashion but rather in chunks; you can skim or pick-and-choose, or even open to a random page and away you go.

[Duncan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book full of practical wisdom for pastor's. Though many are not applicable in some places like here. Still there is more on how to priotitze evangelism in a church and making a visitor come back and feel at home with the new church.

[Sam Anderson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I recommend that you don't read this book. Some helpful information here and there but not much. Might be good for a program driven church. While the book tries to make church "better" it lacks biblical support. Oh and it basically says church membership isn't needed.

[Jonathan Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

fantastic repository of pragmatic guides to the profession of feeding Jesus' sheep.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Practical down to earth advice and tips on how to apply it

[Kelsey Keating · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lacking in consideration in several areas. You can't treat every church by a formula. However, other areas are strong and can be tweaked and applied to serve those intended.