The larger the organization of any kind, the smaller the percentage that will handle the actual work. In a small church, everyone is needed to work and, if it's a "great small church," everyone is put to work.
A small church uses volunteers everywhere--in the office, cleaning the buildings, mowing the lawn, teaching children, leading choirs, playing the piano. A small church will not hire a painting contractor to refurbish the buildings; it will have a "work day" and the members will do it all on a Saturday. A small church, one that does it right, will come closer than most to fulfilling Romans 12:3-8 where each member uses his/her spiritual gifts to do the work God gives to them.
A small church can excel at fellowship
My personal prescription for Christian fellowship is: each member of the church loves the Lord, likes each other, and welcomes the newcomer to their midst. When they work together, they have fun doing it. If a newcomer feels intimidated on walking into a huge religious edifice, he will feel more comfortable entering a small, humbler church building. A small church can take advantage of this.
Instead of bemoaning the absence of stained glass windows and pipe organs and vaulted ceilings, the members of a small church will recognize that those can be negatives to an unchurched fellow entering for the first time. He is far more likely to feel at home in New Home Church No. 2 than the First-Metro Church. The danger with small churches, of course, is that they will have great fellowship within their own membership but freeze out the newcomer. The members have known each other for so long, they may function more like a large Sunday School class than a Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
At the invitation of the pastor, I was visiting Bridgeton Baptist Church a few miles from my house. The church sits in a lovely middle-class neighborhood but has not grown in years. The pastor was trying to find the key to bringing in new people. "If we don't," he said, "this church is going to die within one generation." The forty or fifty members seemed to average 60 in age. That morning, I met several of them and enjoyed their fellowship. Later, I told the pastor, "What your people see as its problem, you should turn to an advantage."The problem, most of them felt, was the age of the members.
Bearing in mind the Lord is faithful and He will look after His flock. In Matthew 16, 13-26 we read:
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" 14 And they said, "Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets." 15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven." 20 Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ.
Inspired by this article: In praise of Small Churches! by JOE MCKEEVER - Original publication date: February 23, 2010
What about you, my dear readers, it would be lovely to hear from you !
