Love Big, Be Well: Letters to a Small-Town Church

In this new book by Winn Collier, you might think letters written by a pastor to his small church congregation would be irrelevant to the modern, urban variety churches in larger city areas but, you would be so wrong. In fact, reading this book would be more about getting a chance to remember what we can be robbed of in this crazy high tech, global world and why this has to do with our deepest need for friendships that matter and mean something as we journey through life. In this book, a pastor finds himself called to a more rural church and as he writes these letters to his congregation, he shares so much wisdom through the stories of people he meets in this church as he gets to know them and the community they inhabit.Winn is also a pastor so this is not someone just making stuff up. Over the years of his own pastoring and learning, this wonderful gift of writing has emerged and I was personally excited to see this new book. I have followed Winn’s blog posts for a couple years now because I find them to be so thoughtful and insightful. This book gives his writing gift a chance to be shared and I would strongly recommend it for anyone because the simplicity of the story-telling of each chapter reveals an ability to capture the treasures of our humanity and our need for each other as we live out life together wherever we find ourselves. Friendship is a root that grows and Winn shows us how this can become a rock on which a pastor can build his calling. Nurturing relationships is a lost art in our world and I had to pause after reading each chapter to take in the simple but profound truth in each story he captures so well. Winn has a way with words and he always takes me by surprise in ways that wake me up. This book can do that and more. It is worth the read if only to help anyone who reads it remember what makes us all truly human. Oh, and like I said, there is also a really good dose of wisdom sprinkled lavishly in words throughout these letters and that just seems so hard to find these days.

. . . if, that is, “the doctor” were diagnosing the state of the American Christian church experience. Only better. Better than a diagnosis. Better than a prescription. In *Love Big, Be Well: Letters to a Small-Town Church*, Winn Collier draws us personally into the kind of church experience that perhaps few of us have known yet one for which most of us are longing.By the time I finished this book, my soul was so thoroughly overwhelmed by its beauty, its truth, its hope that I simply had to sit in silence to try to hold onto the blessing. Since other readers have already supplied thorough reviews of this book, I will join my own simple thoughts to theirs to provide additional notes in the paean of praise for *Love Big, Be Well*.This most recent gift from Collier’s pen is an epistolary novel. Using the vehicle of physical letters - not emails, not texts, not even Facebook messages but letters - written by Pastor Jonas McAnn to his new congregation at Granby Presbyterian Church, Collier gradually introduces us to various members of the church, their stories and struggles in the faith.Collier skillfully discusses what it is to belong to Christ – and to each other – as McAnn writes about some essentials of church experience: - how liturgy carries us into God’s story while assuring us that we are part of a family, a large family spanning millennia; - the multi-dimensional nature of prayer, “a communal act more than an individual one”; - how praying the creeds moves us beyond our individualistic faith to join “the faith of the church”; - the scary nature of baptism as it relates to the mystery of death; - that friendship lies at the heart of church life!But, make no mistake; this is not a preachy novel listing dos and don’ts for church members. Quite the opposite. It is about entering deeply into love – as a receiver, as a giver. God’s love. Human love. And trusting that love to hold us and to hold us together.

I purchased this book because it offered something that is rare, a book about ministry in a small church during ordinary life. I understood from the beginning that this was not Christian fiction in the normal sense, playing out a story scene by scene. Instead it is fiction in the style of Screwtape Letters, with a fictional character talking about life from his point of view. Collier makes some good points using a compelling writing style. Mainly this book talks about the church as a place to belong, to like each other, bear with one another's foibles, and go through the contradictions of life together. He emphasizes the importance of friendship in ministry rather than showmanship from the platform and pulpit. I appreciate his this emphasis and the personal view of small church ministry.One flaw in the book constantly distracted me from the message and made me sorely tempted to lower my rating by a star. He speaks of a pastor or Christians using expletives with a sort of fondness, like it makes them more human and thus more likable. Three times he uses the word "expletive" in this way, once using an expletive over injustice as a public blessing spoken in a church service. He uses coarse language twice, God's name in vain once, and a "to hell with everything else" besides, simply as a conversational tool. I fail to see how this language can be a virtue to any pastor or Christian. Why would a pastor or serious Christian use this kind of language, ever? Why would a Christian writer use language like this to endear you to a fictional pastor and the ministry? I am stumped.

Sometimes pastoral messages come bound in evangelical jargon and authorised version english.Collier just says it from the heart, speaks straight through his letters to his own congregation, and through this compilation will speak to you.I read this during a bewildering time in my Christian walk, recommended by my husband, and I found it refreshing. Humour and straight-talking always lead back to focus on how we the church of a living God should be a loving church in community. Read it and ponder over Winn's words.

Winn writes a series of letters from a pastor to his congregation in this wonderful novel. He tells the story through recounting conversations he has with people in the community as well as some of his own experiences that he attempts to explain to the congregation. I found much to take away from this book and definitely had parts that will sit with me for awhile. I have been a big fan of some of the blogging that Winn has done and have found this to reflect the heart that he shared in that previous writing.

Wonderful book about ministry and meaningful relationship. Have bought a few more copies to share.