Cynthia Woolever is Professor of Sociology of Religious Organizations at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut. As a sociologist and consultant, she has over twenty years of experience working with congregations, judicatories, and seminaries. She is coauthor of A Field Guide to U.S. Congregations and Beyond the Ordinary: 10 Strengths of U.S. Congregations, both published by WJK. Deborah Bruce is Associate Research Manager in the Research Services office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). She has co-authored articles published in Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion and the Journal of Beliefs and Values.

"This is an easily read book, one that is filled with statistics and interpretations of data, but there are also charts and even cartoons. Taken together this book gives us a sense of what is happening in the church today, and therefore, Woolever and Bruce have done an excellent job providing us with a field guide that church people, including its leaders, will find useful."--Robert D. Cornwall, Sharing the Practice, Vol. 33/2, Summer 2010, p. 20