Big Gospel in Small Places by Stephen Witmer

A Big Gospel in Small Places: Why Ministry in Forgotten Communities Matters by Stephen Witmer, foreword by Raymond C. Ortlund Jr.

Book Description

Jesus loves small, insignificant places. In recent years, Christian ministries have increasingly prioritized urban areas. Big cities and suburbs are considered more strategic, more influential, and more desirable places to live and work. After all, they're the centers for culture, arts, and education. More and more people are leaving small places and moving to big ones. As a ministry strategy, focusing on big places makes sense.

But the gospel of Jesus is often unstrategic. In this book, pastor Stephen Witmer lays out an integrated theological vision for small-place ministry. Filled with helpful information about small places and with stories and practical advice from his own ministry, Witmer's book offers a compelling, comprehensive vision for small-place ministry today.

Jesus loves small places, and when we care deeply about them and invest in them over time, our ministry becomes a unique picture of the gospel—one that the world badly needs to see.

My Blurb

What a gospel-centered, Christ-exalting, globally-minded book on small town ministry! This book took theological guts to write, but Stephen Witmer, a pastor in a small place in New England, is uniquely positioned to write on the topic. In recent years Christian leaders have increasingly prioritized ministry in influential city centers, and Stephen tackles the subject head-on. He reminds us that those of us ministering in small places are not ‘on the junior varsity team,’ but ‘need a gospel-shaped theological vision to see both ourselves and our places as God does.’ He also notes that small places are not just in the USA, but all over the world—almost 50% of the globe. As one who ministers cross-culturally in villages in Africa and across the world, I am blessed by Witmer’s biblical vision, theological integration, practical wisdom, autobiographic candor, and mission and biographical insights in A Big Gospel in Small Places. What a gift to the global church!