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Annotated edition · now available

How to Build a Church

By Constans L. Goodell, D.D. (1830–1886), with three chapters by Mrs. C. L. Goodell and an introduction by E. B. Webb. First published by the Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society, Boston, 1883.

In 1882, after ten years as pastor of Pilgrim Church, St. Louis, Goodell was asked to write a series of articles for the Advance on how to build a church. They were gathered into this book the following year. Goodell called these pages “only hints and suggestions,” but his biographer, A. H. Currier, a professor of pastoral theology at Oberlin, judged that they “contain the substance of an extended treatise on Pastoral Theology.”

Short, practical, and urgent, the book sets its tone in the very first sentence: “To build a church, the supreme object must be the salvation of men.” Though more than 140 years old, its concerns could have been written yesterday: churches that no longer see conversions, young people drifting away, men missing from the pews, and pastors busy with everything but the main thing.

This annotated edition presents the complete text of 1883, unabridged and newly typeset. It adds a new Publisher’s Foreword with a short biography of Goodell, and questions for study and discussion, with Scripture references, after the Introduction and each chapter.

Source text: Boston, 1883. Public domain in the U.S. The Publisher’s Foreword and study questions are © 2026 The Upward Call Press. Scripture references are to the New King James Version.

Edition details

Complete and unabridged Annotated with study questions 5 × 8 in. paperback Free eBook (PDF and EPUB)
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Paperback ISBN 979-8-9822421-0-5. eBook: PDF, 79 pages, 1.2 MB, or EPUB, 0.9 MB.
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Contents

  1. Publisher’s Foreword to the New Edition
  2. Preface
  3. Introduction, by E. B. Webb
  4. I. The Pastor Saving Souls
  5. II. The Pastor in the Pulpit
  6. III. The Pastor in the Parish
  7. IV. The Pastor among the Youth
  8. V. The Pastor in the Prayer-Meeting
  9. VI. The Pastor Dealing with Skepticism
  10. VII. The Pastor in Revivals
  11. by Mrs. C. L. Goodell
  12. VIII. The Privilege of Teaching God’s Word
  13. IX. The Influence of Ministers’ Wives
  14. X. Woman’s Work in Home Evangelization

Sample · questions after Chapter I

For Study and Discussion

  1. Goodell insists that “to build a church, the supreme object must be the salvation of men.” How would your weekly priorities, staff meetings, and budget look different if this were truly non-negotiable? Matthew 28:19–20; Acts 2:47; Romans 10:13–15
  2. He identifies four sources of converts: the family, the Sunday-school, unsaved church-goers, and the great outside world. Which of these streams is currently weakest in your church, and what concrete strategy could reopen it? Deuteronomy 6:6–7; Acts 16:31–34; Luke 14:23
  3. “Men are built by what they build.” In what ways does a sustained focus on soul-winning shape the character and spiritual vitality of the pastor and the congregation more than other worthy activities? Proverbs 11:30; 1 Corinthians 9:19–23; Colossians 1:28–29

Written for pastors’ reading groups, church leadership teams, classes, and individual reflection.

“Worthy to be called the Great-Heart of our Western pulpit.” William M. Taylor, Broadway Tabernacle, New York