I have been a pastor in 3 churches. One had about 300 adherents, another 500 (both with multiple congregations) and now one with an average of 75. I have visited churches with tens of thousands as well as those with a dozen. The largest congregation I have pastored is about 250 people. I appreciate those large churches who share the gospel widely and have resources that they generously share with the Christian community in their areas. At the same time I also understand the challenges they face in the complexities of connecting and building intimate community with such a large number of people to care for. I have, however, discovered the secret genius of the small church.
We live in a world that measures success in three categories: influence, size and money. In each of these areas, more and bigger are signs of effectiveness and significance. The temptations that the church (local, denominational and global) faces is in adopting these metrics of evaluation. They smack of the three temptations of the devil challenges Jesus with in the desert for bread (“If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread”), spectacle (“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down [from the temple, for the angels will not allow you to strike your foot upon a stone.]”) and influence (“All this I will give you if you would bow to me”).
When we began our church plant, I used to feel a fair bit of angst every time someone asked (and inevitably everyone did), “How big is your church?” We started with 20 people in a living room and within a year grew to about 50. In two years we were at about 60. Then we plateaued at this number for eight years. People asked whether there was something wrong since we weren’t growing any bigger. The opinions of church growth theorists as well as church planting gurus kept coming up. I was even told by several folks that comments about myself and our community had circulated about how inconsequential and ineffective we were because we remained small. At times our leaders and congregation grew restless as other church plants grew into the hundreds while we remained in double digits.
Despite all of this, there was something in the back of my mind that steadied me. Early in my ministry, I would hold groups to pray and worship. The numbers would vary from large to small. I never knew how many would show up. I fretted over this for a while but I then got the sense of what really mattered. I could not control the numbers but I was responsible for my own role. Every soul mattered whether it was one or a hundred. I was tasked with being faithful, not popular. I discovered, therefore that the less people were present, the more attention I was able to give people for their questions as well as to learn their stories.This was also reinforced by a person I deeply admire who by the world’s standards was likely one of the worst church planters in history. This minister began as most church planters did, calling together a core team to meet regularly. In fact they devoted time every day to be together to form friendship and community. In time, this gifted preacher began to speak more often and the community began to draw more and more people. Miracles also began to occur where folks were healed and delivered from truly demonic powers.
But this young minister tended to avoid the limelight. He would serve and then withdraw to rest and pray, even from his core team. He spoke truth to power and even truth to those who wanted to idolize him. Within two years his popular base grew to the point where they wanted him to enter into politics at the highest order. At this he declined and walked away. His continued resistance to spectacle, popularity and power saw his base dwindle to almost nothing in the third year. Those who had high hopes for his work and ministry moved on. One of his inner circle saw the writing on the wall betrayed him to his detractors and at the point when his enemies came to take him down, his core team abandoned him. It was assumed that he was nothing more than a flash in the pan. He should have applied better church planting strategies and leveraged his popularity or charisma. The day after his being betrayed and abandoned by those closest to him, he was crucified. Jesus sucked as a church planter but he is my model of ministry. He is my Lord.
The role of the church is not to get bigger. It is to make disciples. Of all of Jesus’ teachings I find these words troubling: “Unless a person is willing to take up their cross daily and follow me, they are not worthy of being my disciple.” Even more disturbing is when he says, “Narrow is the gate and small is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” What does this say about our mass oriented evangelism? Certainly God desires that everyone be saved but his methodologies have always been personal and intimate. Herein lies the genius of God and the small church.
Small churches function on the basis of healthy friendship and family while large churches function on the basis of effective organizational polity and marketing. Small churches do not focus on efficiency but on relationship. Their success is not in numbers but in depth of intimacy. There is no place for consumers in a small church because they simply do not have the resources to meet everyone’s desires. The gifts and activities of a small church are very focused. They are boutique, artisanal, unique and diverse as a group. This is the alternative that appeals even to our current culture that is glutted with faceless corporate vendors. Small churches are not concerned with uniformity and therefore allow for a natural diversity. There is no central power but instead a sense of affiliation and friendship with other churches. Among independent churches there is no requirement to toe the sectarian line but room for exploration and dialogue over the myriad of contemporary issues and challenges in regard to theology, mission and practice.
Are there dangers to being a small independent church community? Absolutely. As in large churches, the key to health is leadership. Humble leadership, wise leadership, character driven leadership is necessary in a small church. It also helps to have a more presbyterian style leadership where there is a plurality of mature leaders who lead the congregation in a consultative manner. This means that although a smaller group makes policy decisions, they are attentive to the congregation. I have discovered this to be a vital form of leadership that allows for timely decision making and is able to weed out errant ideas while attending to relevant ones. No one person can hold up the church whether they are in the congregation or in the leadership. One other note on leadership is that the leaders must be friends. The way the leadership goes, so goes the church. This is not a new idea. This is Jesus’ methodology.
A second danger faced by small churches, particularly independent ones like ours, is that of theological orthodoxy. Since there is no governing body above a small independent church, the danger of theological and policy errors are possible. There are a few safeguards for this. The first is an internal one. It is to ensure that the preaching and teaching elders, the lead or senior pastor in particular, is an astute theologian. By this I do not mean they need to be a seminary professor but that their theology is solid in formation, articulation and expression. Such leaders take a long time to shape so mentoring and apprenticeship is required to form such leaders. They need to be open minded and discerning. Spiritual discernment is an absolute requirement in this leadership model. The second safeguard is an external one. An independent church of any size needs to be in relationship with and willing to be accountable to other churches. As such, church associations are very helpful. Friendships between churches are healthy, especially among pastors and leaders. This does not mean absolute agreement is required, but the willingness to listen to concerns and seek guidance in a collegial manner helps. This is not about forming lobbies and power bases but again, it is about the way of Jesus.
In the end, the Kingdom is served both by large churches and small churches in the global view of things, however, the small church vastly outnumbers the large church in terms of reach, diversity and effectiveness. If we focus only on our own individual churches, then perhaps we are concerned about being small. But in the grand scheme of things, this is actually the way of the Kingdom.
A while ago I had the opportunity to sit down with a dear friend who is a house church leader in a closed country on the other side of the globe. As we shared together we discovered that we had much more in common in regard to practices and values than we had with any large North American megachurch. There were no celebrity pastors, no unwieldy political structures, no resources to speak of. Just friendship, Bible centred teaching and a tenacious love for Jesus. At that moment we had the profound awareness that we were one Church connecting the twenty-first century to the first century. This is the Church that Jesus, the “most unsuccessful church planter of all time,” built. We follow in his footsteps and in the footsteps of all the faithful throughout time and space.