Speaking to Fewer than Seventy-five

Preaching with the Small Congregation by Laurence A. Wagley, Abingdon, $10.95

Reviewed by Grant Lovejoy, instructor, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas

Intuitively we know the sermon should take the size of the congregation into consideration. After all, researchers have confirmed that the small church is not just a miniature large church. Until recently, though, no one had suggested how preaching could build on the unique strengths of the small church. Now Laurence Wagley has written Preaching with the Small Congregation to do just that. He tells how pastors of congregations with average attendance under seventy-five can develop a style customized for the small church.

Wagley, professor of preaching and worship at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, started this research to encourage and assist his students who were pastors of small congregations-like the one in which he had grown up.

"We live in a culture that values ...