Small Church Doesn’t Mean Small Minded

– December 5, 2018

When I first entered the ministry, I fell for the allure of the “big” church.  You probably know what I am talking about.  The ‘big’ church measured everything by bodies in the building and butts in the seats on Sundays.  The impulse that lies behind this metric is that only ‘big’ churches are ‘real’ churches.  Every other church is just too backward or lacking in redemptive passion to be effective or serious about God’s mission.  I want to dispel that idea a bit with this post.  I have served in very large churches that were also short on vision and conversely I have served in smaller churches [250 or less -such as the one I pastor today at around 80-90 peoples] that have big visions.  It does not necessarily follow that ‘big‘ church = ‘big’ vision nor that ‘small’ church = ‘small’ vision.  Some of the most vibrant missional churches I have either led or visited were on the smaller side of the numerical equation.  Does that make the ‘small’ church better than the ‘big’ church?  By no means!

The reality is that NO TRUE CHURCH SHOULD BE SMALL MINDED!  People are quick to square up a church based on its numerical size but that would be a silly assumption to make.  For example, our little church of 80 organized a Thanksgiving Food Drive that provided 150 families at the local school where we meet with a full (and I mean FULL) meal, turkey and all.  The total retail cost of this drive came close to $10,000.  That was a bill our little church could not afford but God provided amazing partnerships with local community organizations and stores to make this vision come to fruition.  This was a God thing…not a Grace Church thing!

The value of a church should not first be on the numbers of people we see in the seats on Sundays or the even the baptisms we have each year.  Yes, people matter and we need to pursue them, but we need to do so in a better way.  This “better” way is to train and deploy our people and resources for the glory of God in the city.  I have said it often that we don’t have a value of becoming a “big” church but lest I be misunderstood, neither do we have a value to be a ‘small’ church!  Our goal is to be a large-hearted/ big vision church and avoid drifting into being a small-minded church.

MARKERS OF A SMALL-MINDED CHURCH

  1. Lack of Redemptive Perspective: The Gospel of Jesus is the Good News that the God of the Universe who set all things into order in eternity has been working on our behalf to bring about the redemption, reconciliation, and restoration the world has been longing for since the garden.  When churches don’t set their minds and hearts on this central reality, they drift into small-mindedness and survival mode.
  2. Lack of Relational Fortitude: A church is a family of redeemed believers in Jesus.  This idea of family is important.  It denotes interconnectedness and covenantal committedness.  This means that membership means something for a church that takes the Gospel seriously.  It also means that the vision and strength of the church lie in the pews, not in the eldership and diaconate.  Everyone pulls together so as to play our part in the mission of God for our particular context and space.
  3. Lack of Participation in lieu of Consumerism: A church is a missionary organization that trains and deploys it’s people for the mission of God both through church ministries and beyond into the neighborhood and workplaces in which we live.  Sadly, many churches try to make such a good first impression so as to make the entrance into the church easy that many people never move forward into full participation in the leadership and mission of the church.

MARKS OF A LARGE-HEARTED/BIG VISION CHURCH

  1. GOSPEL EMPOWERMENT: At Grace Church, our mission is to “PREACH Jesus and LIVE as a Spirit-filled Family of Missionaries.  However your church says it, the Gospel is of first importance to the church (1 Cor. 12).  Everything we do must roll downstream of a full-throated Gospel vision for congregational and community engagement.
  2. MISSIONAL OWNERSHIP: Every believer is called to be a disciple-maker.  This is Jesus’ command and commision in Matthew 28.  To be a disciple-maker is to align your rhythms of life so as to invest and participate in the lives of the people God has sovereignly brought into your life.
  3. RELATIONAL INTENTIONALITY: The relational strength of a church is not in its programming but in the covenantal commitment between the members (and even habitual non-members).  Each member at Grace Church has covenanted together to help his/her brothers and sisters to grow in Christ!  Typically, most churches need teachers for classes and group leaders.  But more than that, our homes are powerful tools to be deployed for the good of the church and our unbelieving neighbors.
  4. SACRIFICIAL LIVING: The pathway forward for our young and for any church is the sacrificial commitment of the people in the pews on Sunday.  This means that programs, staff, and buildings cost money and need people to lead them.  Each person who covenants with a church must agree to carry the load in a sacrificial way so as to see the church continue to advance the Gospel.

So you see that none of these marks are unilaterally marks of a big or small church.  There are many big churches that lack a redemptive, relational and participatory culture.  Likewise, there are many small churches have hearts that stir up sacrificial living, missional ownership, and relational intentionality.

No church should ever be small-minded.  The Bible simply doesn’t lay out that option for us.  May God help us as we continue to press into multiplying churches that make disciples that make more disciples.