Evangelical Free Church of America
Midwest District

Pastor's Bibliolography

This page is a collection of resources that we’re continually adding to in order to gather informative resources for a variety of current topics facing us, including controversial ones.

This is not an advocacy page but a repository. Not all resources here are endorsed, but they are included as relevant, if even advocating a contrary position to those typically or categorically held by Free church pastors. We do try to filter out under-researched opinion pieces.

Some of these resources will contradict each other. Some of them will assert things you don’t agree with. You can consider the resources you don’t agree with as ways to learn how others see and interpret the issues so that you can strengthen your own case.

Please feel free to recommend new resources to add to this list by contacting us at mwd@efcamidwest.org.

Soul Care for Pastors

Pastor transition planning:

Pastors' Wives:

General Church Resources

Trends:

  • Thom Rainer's predicted church trends 2022: click HERE.

Conflict Resolution:

  • Church Conflicts: The Cross, Apocalyptic, and Political Resistance, by Ernst Käsemann. Click HERE.

Evangelism:

  • Multiplying Kingdom Communities - Overview (click HERE). Contact Colby to get information on how to connect with Keith Dunn.

Disciplemaking:

  • "Are we making disciples or not?" - from the EFCA blog, click HERE.
  • Campus to Church Movements - CM2 Bridge Initiative - click HERE.
  • Disciplemaking journals - by Eric Douglass, click HERE.
  • Rooted - https://www.experiencerooted.com/events/
  • Walking in Humility, by our own Michael Vincent - click HERE.
  • Work Matters: Connecting Sunday Worship to Monday Work, by our own Tom Nelson - click HERE.

Disciplemaking Pathway samples:

  • Appleton Gospel Church - click HERE
  • Forest Lakes District - click HERE
  • Minden EFC Leadership Pathway - click HERE
  • Northern Lights EFC - click HERE
  • Risen Church EFCA - click HERE

Disciplemaking with Teens:

  • Bible Instruction Course - by Ed Bender and Jim Forestrom. It follows the old 12 pt EFCA statement of Faith. Updates to the new statement of faith are available (still tracking down where).
  • BRICK - Built Right In Christ's Kingdom. Click HERE. There is also a leader's guide.
  • Coming soon: Bible Survey, Doctrine and Christian Living by Warren Coe (Former President of Village School of the Bible, and EFCA pastor). Will be available at NextStep Resources.

Elder/Leadership Training:

Men's Ministry:

Children's Ministry:

  • What is Heaven Like? by our own Richard Eng. An illustrated children's book on what heaven is like. Click HERE.

Pastor Transitions: 

Search committees / Salaries:

Small Church / Rural Church Resources

Establishing a pastoral residency program

  • Made to Flourish Pastoral Residencies - resources and coaching to establish a pastoral residency program in your church. The website is HERE and an informational booklet is HERE.

Alternative Training

Church Finances and Buildings

Tax resources

ECFA’s e-books for churches (note: ECFA, not EFCA) 

Church buildings

  • Alternative ideas for church buildings - click HERE.
Self-evaluation Tools for Churches

American Church Group's most requested forms 

  • There are so many additional forms, resources and checklists on Brotherhood Mutual’s Safety Library online. You can also access Legal Assist where you can submit your questions directly to Brotherhood Mutual’s legal team for additional guidance. 
  1. Facility Use Agreement Form
  2. Participation Waiver Form
  3. Driver Screening Form
  4. Equipment Use Agreement
  5. Short-Term Trip Agreement
  6. Notice of Injury Form
  7. Photo Use Agreement
  8. Property Inventory
  9. Volunteer Application
  10. Volunteer Renewal Application  
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School / Trinity International University
  • TEDS - Click HERE.
  • TIU - Click HERE.
  • TEDS Chapel Series - Click HERE. At TEDS, we’re not afraid of difficult theological discussions. This spring the TEDS chapel and lecture series, hear from respected theologians and pastors on why they remain faithful to the Gospel and how the Gospel thwarts the ideologies of the world. Information is also available on these platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin
LGBTQ+, Gender, and Sexuality Issues, the Equality Act


Race Issues, CRT, BLM
  • Be The Bridge, by LaTasha Morrison
  • Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth by Thaddeus Williams, click HERE.
  • Embracing the New Samaria, by Alex Mandes, director of the EFCA All Peoples ministry. Click HERE. Don't forget the study guide.
  • Project 378. An approach to the discussing race from the biblical perspective using the EFCA Statement of Faith. Coming Summer 2022.
  • Stuck in the Present by David George Moore (CRT and other current issues)
  • The Myth of Equality, by Greg Wystma
  • One Blood, John Perkins
  • “What Happened to You?” by Andrew Sullivan (CRT) - https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/what-happened-to-you-e5f 
The Church in the Public Square (kind of a grab-bag category)

Granting religious exemptions for masks

Blockchain, NFT, Crypto

Events and other resources hosted by our churches for the church at large or featuring our pastors
  • Historical biographies: Vance Christie has written several historical biographies of many people of faith. Click HERE to see a list.


From the Pastoral Team

All Peoples Ministries (Abdel Gonzalez)

Credentialing and Doctrine (Phil Green)

Global Initiatives (Kerry Relihan)

  • Miraculous Movements, Jerry Trousdale - Disciple Making Movements are described. Chapter 13 is a great outline for how to apply this in your own setting. This book is about some ministries that I am currently in touch with and which ReachGlobal is partnering to reach Unreached People Groups in Africa.  
  • The Kingdom Unleashed Jerry Trousdale & Glenn Sunshine - This is a more in depth look at God’s Kingdom movements that are exploding around the world.  Useful to consider how to make it happen here in the US too. 
  • Check out the website - stratus.earth - to get a flavor of what is happening around the world among the people groups within the various nations.  Great tool for prayer or to see where your missionaries areSpeak with me if you are curious about or interested in using multitrack tech to support and fill-in your team, most useful when doing contemporary music. 

 Multiplication (Mike Sechler)


NextGen Ministries (Lige Reed)


Worship Arts (Donald Adams)