Heather Zempel oversees the community life at a multisite church in Washington, D.C., a challenging population with one of the highest relocation rates in the United States. And yet under her leadership, National Community Church has become a model for creative, dynamic, deep small group ministry. Drawing from her background as an environmental engineer (including such bizarre experiences as monitoring a pig lagoon and the unintended slaughter of a hundred innocent fish), Heather Zempel assesses the perils and possibilities inherent in small groups and other environments for Christian community. The book helps leaders begin to see the inherent "mess" of such gatherings as raw material for arriving at something beautiful. Read this book and discover fresh insights into how we can support one another's unique paths to maturity in Christ while maintaining cohesion as a community and blessing the world around us.
"If you'd benefit from isnight to the failed experiments another church/pastor has encountered in developing small groups, though certainly not exclusively, there is plenty of that here. Despite all the mess and failures, there is a beauty to the portrait given here of a group of people who understand and accept the messiness of doing life together and want to learn to grow in and out of it."
Adam Griffin, YouthWorker Journal, January/February 2013
"Honest, practical and rooted in experience, Heather's direction takes us to those earthy places that we face in day-to-day relational ministry. Her words go beyond platitudes and lead us down paths that point to wholeness in the midst of the reality of messy community. This book offers a fresh angle and creative hope to group leaders and pastors. Embracing this counsel will advance your community forward into deeper expressions and experiences of community. Buy it! Sit with it. Pray throughit."
M. Scott Boren, consultant, trainer, and author of Missional Small Groups
"Zempel openly shares her experiences-both good and bad-as discipleship pastor at National Community Church in Washington, D.C., and invites small-group leaders to embrace the mess of community life."
