Real Good Church, by Molly Phinney Baskette

First Church in Somerville, Massachusetts, went from an attendance of 35 to 130 in ten years, with as many as 350 people showing up for Easter. In a chatty, somewhat repetitive manner, Baskette shares the many little things the church did to turn things around. It picked the low-hanging fruit, such as replacing internal signage that sent the message that nothing exciting had happened there in a while, and it celebrated small victories. Baskette spent more time with newbies and encouraged the “healthy” members to help the “sick” ones. Rather than focus on the congregation’s low self-esteem, she built up its “God esteem.”