No one lives in a community that couldn't be better. But no one wakes up one day and magically knows exactly how to make the improvement happen. Congregational leaders have unique challenges and opportunities to strengthen and make more vibrant the places that they live. Engaging with the local context, rather than simply with one's congregation, enlarges pastoral imagination and can graft new life into the roots of moribund churches.

This book is a guide for congregational leaders – including, (but not only) parish pastors -- who want to know how to learn about, engage, lead, and respond to their communities. There are countless ways to think up new programs for social engagement, or interventions to call attention to social problems. But this book helps leaders identify where their lever to move an obstacle is longest, where the most beauty and verdancy can be brought about to places that need it.