One Church, Many Congregations: The Key Church Strategy (Ministry for the Third Millennium Series)

The Key Church strategy recognizes cultural diversity in North America and presents the Christian message in a way that respects and communicates the indigenous concerns of different cultural groups. At the heart of the "key church strategy" is the belief that a church can be comprised of many congregations, meeting separately yet ministering together, in a variety of different settings--a strategy that has been adopted by 300 churches in 27 states. In the Foreword, Lyle E. Schaller calls it "one of the most innovative, practical, and effective approaches to outreach ministries I have encountered in nearly four decades of working with congregations."

With cohort J. V. Thomas, Timothy Ahlen has been a pastor and officer of denominational outreach agencies, and together developed the Key Church Strategy while serving in the latter capacity with the (Southern) Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Lyle E. Schaller was the country's leading interpreter of congregational systems and their vitality. He was the author of dozens of books, including From Geography to Affinity, also published by Abingdon Press. He lived in Naperville, Illinois.