While big isn't everything, small without good reason isn't good too
Khen Lim
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Whatever
the size, God loves all His churches and for all intents and purposes, there’s
much going for small churches. Like a compact car that is great as a city
runabout but limited for long-distance tour-ing, some small churches should
only remain small for the right reasons. Let’s look briefly at ten reasons why
they should not:
On the other hand, there are small churches that struggle more
than others. For them, it looks like the more they try, the more they seem to
regress and the harder it appears. The dividends don’t seem apparent regardless
of the effort they expend.
Before I go on, I want to qualify the word ‘grow’ here. Growth
doesn’t have to refer purely to a numeric value. In other words, it doesn’t
have to be about size alone. At any rate, big isn’t always good and small isn’t
always a failure. Therefore in this context, to grow is to reach people for the
sake of Christ, to share the Gospel with them and to pave the way for them to
accept His salvation.
For example, if you reach out and maybe even start new
churches, your local church might not expand in numbers but it certainly is
‘growing.’ Conversely in a small town with a declining population, a church
that stays the same size could be said to be ‘growing’ as well albeit in a
different way. Growth must, therefore, be seen from different contexts
depending on the situation.
Perhaps therefore, we could consider ten possible reasons why
churches otherwise remain small no matter what they do (and don’t do):
1. Resolutely small
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“I like my church small,” some might discretely say. Some
churches have an exclusive ambience but a subtle one. They don’t like change or
interruption. They like things the way they are – status quo. Everything is so
perfect that they see anything different – like a newcomer – as, perhaps, a bit
of a threat.
Newcomers feel the snub when they discover the information is
often hard to find and not many people seem keen to help. When a church is set
up on a first-name basis, newcomers won’t know who John or Frank or Robbie or
Beth is. For that matter, if there are five different people called Mike in the
church, how would a newcomer know to go to? And who is Mike anyway?
Or when the congregation is noticeably made up of impenetrable
cliques that are all but impossible to join in. Of course, none of this is
apparent during the service. It is only after church is over that the newcomer
may find it an uphill challenge to mingle if or when he suddenly finds that
people have huddled into their own little cliques, impervious of whether or not
anyone else is interested to join in. Everyone seems so impatient to get
together and talk that they fail to notice how to welcome someone new into
their own little world.
Because these are not overt signs, all these issues can go
unnoticed. When newcomers find they have to make so much effort on their own
just to orientate themselves to a church’s programs and activities to the point
that they are forced to learn who those who are in charge are (and not the
other way around), that is not healthy for any church of any size, let alone a
small one.
While this alone does not necessarily sink a small church, it
is a troubling source of problem that can be very damaging.
2. High pastor turnover
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Churches that frequently swap pastors can’t be a good thing.
Before getting comfortable with one, you find yourself unsettled and have to go
through the same process again with a new pastor.
In one Anglican setup I know, the choice of pastor is decided
by a domineering and influential family who believe they own the church and
therefore, have the right to wield more power than anyone else. All it took for
one pastor to be forced out was to ‘offend’ the family over the issue of the
worship ministry. Inevitably, he was thrown to a small town where apparently,
he and his family are actually happier and more at peace with themselves.
In this real-life example, the family has been running the
rule over the whole church for decades and it doesn’t appear to have waned in
recent times. With the head of that family being a well-known lawyer and all
his children having pretensions of following him into the law firm, there is no
sign that they will loosen their grip over the poor church.
In another church with over half a century of history, more
than two dozen pastors have come and gone over a gamut of issues, large and
small. Many a times, the pastors could not see eye to eye with the elders or
the deacons, resulting in a stand-off that, out of sheer pride, no one cared to
resolve. Leaving things the way they had become, inevitably conditions became
too untenable for the pastor to continue. Over time, many other pastors
underwent the same ordeal, resulting in one resignation after another.
Over those years, it was not difficult to see that, this had
turned into an instability within the church that was impossible to hide any
further from the congregation. In time, it proved to be a stumbling block to
actual growth manifested in ugly fights over ministry leadership where
different egotistical families struggled to elbow their children into position
or accusations over poorly-managed programs levelled at those who felt unfairly
victimised or people getting overly sensitive and personally offended by the
pastoral direction, believing that the pastor was giving them a dressing down
at the pulpit.
In time, it wasn’t just the pastors who left or were forced to
be replaced but also the members who found the whole experience, so
unpalatable.
Like they say, ‘a rolling stone gathers no moss.’
3. Monopolisers rule
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A friend of ours whose family recently migrated to New Zealand
tells us that the church they attend has a dynastial rule presided by a married
couple who reportedly make all the important decisions plus finance without
being contested. Needless to say, the choice of pastor was also theirs to make.
At one time when the church was pastor-less, the husband put
out their feelers looking for a replacement but the requirements were so lofty
and unrealistic that it was next to impossible to fulfil. Many people
apparently worked out that this was just a scheme for him and his wife to
control the pulpit and of course, to tailor the messages according to how they
like.
In time to come, the family led by the husband ‘volunteered’
to ‘take care’ of the pastor-less congregation while the search was on but the
search was never going to be successful and eventually, the married couple set
themselves up as the unrivalled authority and it did not take long for
autocracy to set in. The longer the church allowed this to continue, the more
entrenched the autocratic couple became.
From there, only a few steps separated them from ultimately
controlling everything in the church where they defined the direction,
established the initiatives, indulge in whatever ventures and determining what
is and isn’t good for the future of the church.
And eventually too, those who found this much to their
distaste left, often with nary a whimper for fear of being persecuted. Meanwhile
such a church will always stay small because it is easier for autocratic
leaders to exert their control and influence.
But when good people leave the church, there remains that lack
of courage to stand up and question the very things that need to be questioned
about the leadership such as, “Why was this done?” or “Who else was involved in
the decision that took the church in this direction?” or even “Why aren’t the
church members involved or informed?”
Autocratic church leaders cannot stand to be questioned.
Therefore, when a congregation stands up to ask for accountability, they have
nowhere to hide or go. Painted to a corner, such leaders may reply, “You won’t
understand” to which you should then say, “Try me.”
4. Untrustworthy leaders
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If a church finds itself wrangling over the pettiest of
details concerning finances or even simply arrangements, then this is a case of
members not trusting their leaders. The same distrustful looks can take place
even in committee meetings where the nature of the bickering makes it obvious.
In one small church I had come across many years ago, the
treasurer told me how he was always forced to account for every cent spent in
the monthly statements. This tediousness was obviously tiresome to deal with
since church positions have always been on a voluntary basis. The treasurer found
herself asking why she even bothered to take up the responsibility.
Predictably, the ones who showed such distrust were often those who never
wanted to be elected to positions of responsibility. That way, they could squarely
aim at any of the leaders with impunity.
In another church, the dissension between the young and the
old spilled over to a fight over the quality of the worship services. The
leaders who appointed the young musicians and decided on the worship program
were chastised by many among the older congregation for ignoring their worship
needs. In return, the young musicians accused the older church members of
refusing to learn new song materials.
In another church, the fight over money became so bad among
the committee members and the leaders that some upright elders decided to come
together and wrote a cheque to cover the shortfall just so that they did not
have to go on enduring the strife that was threatening to tear them apart.
When stuff like this happens, it’s difficult to see a small
church moving forward as for every step it takes to move forward, something
will invariably drag it back a few.
5. Not good enough
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Inferiority complex is a difficult one to shrug off for small
churches. It doesn’t take much to bring ruin to vulnerable churches. It can be
caused by meagre finances, nonchalant pew warmers, the lack of skilled manpower
etc. Any of these can be used as an excuse that a small church is just not big
enough, not experienced enough, not skilled enough, not resourceful enough or
simply not good enough to get anything worthwhile done.
The small church has the feeling it can’t muster enough to get
their act together because they’re not big enough to make any appreciable
impact. A small church with an inferiority complex or a compelling sense of
negativity often finds itself paralysed with myriad inabilities no matter which
way it looks at things. Nothing will ever work for them. Not even if they
tried. The ‘been there, done that’ attitude is both frustrating and
insufferable.
Worse is when small churches compare enviously with their
larger counterparts. Unsurprisingly the larger churches will compare in the
same vein to the mega-churches. This unhealthy comparison brings up two
possible outcomes – it offers excuses not to even bother trying or it drives
out whatever self-confidence that is left – and in both cases, we forget about
Christ.
So I think the key to it all is to ask Jesus, “What would You
have us do, Lord?” Remember when Peter asked, “Lord, what about John here? What
do You want him to do?”
Jesus’ answer was a beauty – He said, “What is that to you?
You follow Me!”
6. No oars, no rudder
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Stagnation in a small church isn’t just about the numbers.
It’s also about a sense of loss and of being aimlessly wandering with no plans
to go and no aims in sight. “We do what we can,” one might say but ‘what we
can’ is often limited because their vision holds no hope.
The Bible offers us clues as to how we identify our priorities
(Acts 6:1-4, NLT) as a church:
“But as the believers
rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking
believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their
widows were being discriminated against the daily distribution of food. So the
Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, ‘We apostles should
spend our time teaching the Word of God, not running a food program. And so, brothers,
select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom.
We will give them this responsibility. Then we apostles can spend our time in
prayer and teaching the Word.’”
The verse helps us to see where the real priorities lie. It wasn’t
in the food program but instead, the big picture was to invest in the ‘Word of
God’ through ‘prayer’ and ‘teaching the Word.’ The question then is what is the
focus of the small church that is allegedly stagnant?
When I checked the Internet to see what leaders believe are
the problems with small churches that do not grow, many point to a lack of
focus. Small churches, they say, need to train their efforts on the one or two
things they do very well in and excel in them. Clearly therefore, the problem
is trying to be everything to everyone.
So if a particular small church is very good with certain
ministry work, then that is where it should focus on and that must be the
direction it should head towards. Some small churches are actually very good
with teaching while others may be in worship or community work. Whatever it is,
the gifting is of God’s and the Lord’s message might be visible but well under
our noses and we’re too blind to see.
7. Spiritually unhealthy
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Unhealthy practices in church are known to happen and none are
immune to them. However when it happens in small – and vulnerable – churches,
the effects may be more critical because it may cause irreversible destruction.
Practices that are widely accepted as unhealthy for churches
include constant changes in pastoral leadership, acrimonies among the leaders
and/or the congregation, never-ending bickering that may turn sour with
dangerous repercussions, vacuous and needless rumour-mongering among the
idle-minded and harmful politicking that threatens to split the church and so
on. Perhaps these are churches that have forgotten about Romans 12.
Paul in Romans offers a great blueprint for church-building
and management. We can see this in three parts in chapter 12.
The first two verses tell us to ‘be a living and holy
sacrifice; the kind He will find acceptable’ instead of mimicking the conduct
of the world. Rather we should be allowing God to ‘transform you into a new
person by changing the way you think.’
In verses 3 to 8, Paul encourages us to identify our place of
service and take it up responsibly so that we may then utilise the spiritual
gifts that our gracious God has given us in ‘serving others’ and to ‘serve them
well.’
And then in verse 9 to 13 and in fact, all the way to the end
of the chapter, the apostle outlines the relationships within a healthy and
loving fellowship of believers:
“Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate
what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine
affection and take delight in honouring each other. Never be lazy but work hard
and serve the Lord enthusiastically. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient
in trouble and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help
them. Always be eager to practise hospitality.”
A congregation that is committed to Christ in more than just
lip service is always one that is spiritually healthy. A small church that is
demonstrably using spiritual gifts that are divinely given in the Lord’s
service will empower a fellowship that is sweet, active, loving and devoted.
8. Questionable fellowship
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Some churches make it difficult to feel loved and there may be
more reasons for this than we assume.
Cliques in church may engender comfort among selected portions
of the congregation but for newcomers, they are alienating and non-inclusive.
Because cliques are self-serving, visitors may be ignored and then, follow-ups
are not done. Therefore people can be made to feel cold and unwelcome.
Fellowship quality in church isn’t well served if the
programming for church services is monotonous and remain unchanged for too
long. Everything becomes a mere obligation to fulfil and the feeling of
mechanical clockwork orderliness is overwhelming. Things are done only because
they have to be done. Worship
services are too predictable and lifeless and there is no effort made to
enliven them. There is no joy in the faces of the congregation during services.
Everything looks as stale as a one-year-old slice of bread.
Small churches that allow this to happen will see their
numbers decline, let alone grow, leading to fallow grounds with no effort to
want to bear good fruit (Jer 4:3, Hos 10:12).
The key feature of any fallow ground is that it is
unproductive and the reason lies in the hard crust that makes up its uppermost
surface. This hard crust would require more than just deep ploughing to loosen
and then turn the soil over but it will also demand highly laborious effort
just to prepare it in readiness for any planting to take place.
Small stagnant churches can be like fallow ground especially
if its congregation lacks meaningful fellowship steeped in real love, which
should remind all of us of Jesus’ words in John 13:35 (NLT), “Your love for one
another will prove to the world that you are My disciples.”
What Jesus says is that those of us who are close to Christ
will know to love one another in deep fellowship. What this means is that a
congregation that is void of love is so removed from the Lord (James 4:8) that
it cannot be in anything but a backslidden state.
9. The rot has set in
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In many parts of Australia, I have seen once-great churches
become corporate offices. Some of them have turned into occasional Sunday flea
markets and the odd local computer bazaars. The beautiful stained glass are
still there but the significance of the building as houses of God has since
been lost.
Lately in America and also in Europe, disused and abandoned churches
have been taken over by Muslims who after destroying the crosses in and around
its buildings, then turn them into mosques. You can read plenty of this on the
Internet. Even Wikipedia has an entry specifically on this infamous topic.
Jane Perlez in her April 2007 article in The New York Times
called, ‘Old Church Becomes Mosque in Uneasy Britain,’ writes,
“In areas that have experienced Muslim immigration such as
parts of Europe and North America, some church buildings and those of other
religious congregations, that have fallen into disuse have been converted into
mosques following a sale of the property. In London, the Brick Lane Mosque has
previously served as a synagogue.”
Churches in disrepair show strong signs that the rot has begun
to set in. This is physical negligence and can appear in many forms. Apart from
unpainted walls and neglected weathered surfaces, it can also be threadbare
carpeting, a piano that has seen better days, torn cushions and worn-out
chairs. The roof might be leaking and lights no longer work but no one cared to
replace them.
However, the word ‘disrepair’ isn’t just about physical negligence
although that in itself is unacceptable. Churches that are in spiritual
disrepair would be very indicative of a decay that is even more significant
than its exterior appearances. Evidence of this emerges when activities and
programs are cancelled either because of lack of interest or outright poor
attendances. In London, I visited a Methodist church that looked so beautiful
on the outside but on a Sunday morning, there was less than a handful of
members attending service.
A dying small church does not tend to its business. It is just
left to die a lonely death. So when someone from such a church says, “They have
a way of working out for the best,” believe me, it’s a disguised death wish to
which you should then ask back, “Sir, your church is so uncomfortably close to
death. Pray tell, do tell me how that’s going to work out for the best.”
10. No prayers, big worry
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In 1 Samuel 28:6, Saul was complaining that no matter how hard
he tried, God didn’t seem to listen to his prayer but it didn’t occur to him
that it was he who set into motion his rebellion against the Lord. On the other
hand, in Luke 18:2-8 (NLT), Jesus told His disciples to never give up praying,
by telling them a story:
“There was a judge in a certain city…who neither feared God
nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying,
‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a
while but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people
but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice
because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”
Jesus then explained in verses 6 to 8, saying, “Learn a lesson
from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t
you think God will surely give justice to His chosen people who cry out to Him
day and night? Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, He will grant justice
to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will He find on the
earth who have faith?”
As it is, a small church is already thin in numbers and if
there is no desire to pray strongly as well, then there’s little to be said
about its future. Basically if a church doesn’t pray or doesn’t encourage her
congregation to pray, what then? If no one in church bothers to turn up for
prayer meetings, then what? If the pastor of the church invites members to come
forward to be prayed for and no one does, how then?
A prayer-less church is a church worth worrying about. That’s
like running a car across a desert with an engine that is about to give up the
ghost. In either case, survival is wishful thinking.
New wineskin for new wine
In Mark 2:21-22 (NLT), Jesus asks His disciples, “Who would
patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away
from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before. And no one puts
new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the
wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.”
Tackling any of the ten reasons given here doesn’t guarantee growth
in a small stagnant church. It might help but it might not be enough. And that
primarily is because each small church has its own unique problems that may
require a different level of understanding and possibly, a more exquisite
approach.
However these ten reasons might wake us up to put a check on
any problem that might threaten to run away from our church. It might come at
the right time to stop the rot and put a halt to the otherwise demise of a
perfectly good church. And in that sense, I encourage you to consider these
reasons and how they may offer food for thought as to invocation, self-examination
and deep reflection. Pray that God will inflame your heart’s desire to be
deeply and sincerely prayerful.
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