{"id":32558,"date":"2022-09-10T16:14:16","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/the-power-of-small\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T16:14:16","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:14:16","slug":"the-power-of-small","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/the-power-of-small\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Small"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Church size no barrier to thinking big<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By Lisa Cannon Green<\/em><\/p>\n

Your worship leader only knows three chords. If you pay the part-time secretary, you can\u2019t afford to fix the leaky roof. Without more volunteers, the mission trip will be in trouble.<\/p>\n

Welcome to the small church, the fast-growing segment that triggers hand-wringing among the \u201cbigger is better\u201d crowd. The median congregation in America has fallen to 80 weekly attendees, according to American Congregations 2015: Thriving and Surviving a sobering report in January from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research that questions the vitality of small congregations.<\/p>\n

Those in the trenches, however, say the undeniable struggles of small churches are a source of power that can\u2019t be matched by the megachurch.<\/p>\n

The worship leader with his handful of chords will grow quickly as a leader, using skills that wouldn\u2019t have gotten him onto the platform at a large church, says Karl Vaters, a small church pastor and founder of NewSmallChurch.com.<\/p>\n

A financial pinch can nudge small churches into partnerships with other ministries that ultimately strengthen both, says consultant and former small church pastor David Gould.<\/p>\n

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And hesitant volunteers are likely to grow in faith and commitment by stepping up to meet the church\u2019s need, Vaters says.<\/p>\n

In fact, small churches\u2014multiplying like cells of the body\u2014are key to the growth of God\u2019s kingdom, says Elmer Towns, co-founder of Liberty University.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll churches are small when they begin,\u201d says Towns, pointing to Matthew 18:20: \u201cFor where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there among them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Jesus is there, it\u2019s the body of Christ, and therefore a small church is as powerful as Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reaching millennials<\/h3>\n

Americans are more open to attending small churches than megachurches, Lifeway Research shows. Only 8 percent rule out churches of fewer than 100, while 29 percent say they would never go to a megachurch.<\/p>\n

And the leading edge of the millennial generation\u2014Americans 25-34 years old\u2014shows more openness to small churches than those entering middle age, according to the 2014 survey. Only 5 percent of Americans 25-34 say they would never go to a church of fewer than 100, compared to 12 percent of those ages 35-44.<\/p>\n

Millennials\u2019 receptivity to small churches makes sense to Vaters, who says mobility and technology have distanced young Americans from their communities. \u201cWe don\u2019t get to know our neighbors, because we\u2019re fully entertained with the screens in our own living room and the phone in our own pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result, Vaters says, millennials are looking for personal relationships\u2014the specialty of the small church.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandparents\u2019 generation took relationships for granted and needed to build structures,\u201d Vaters says. \u201cHaving a building and a full-time pastor meant stability and status for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy children\u2019s generation takes the structures for granted and needs to build relationships\u2014so their churches are going to reflect that.\u201d<\/p>\n

This shift in focus doesn\u2019t mean millennials are less committed to the cause of Christ, Vaters says. Rather, they\u2019re less committed to the church as an institution and more committed to actively helping the vulnerable and the hurting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will show up and give passionately for hands-on service to those less fortunate than themselves,\u201d he says. \u201cThey will take their entire vacation to go to an orphanage in Mexico, where they will work in miserable conditions for two weeks. My parents\u2019 generation would not have done that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Towns also sees mobility and technology changing the future of the American church. As people move to new communities, congregations struggle to replace them in the pews, he says. He sees young Americans shifting toward online worship. \u201cIn the eyes of the millennials, who live online, that\u2019s the latest church.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Vaters, he sees hope in small congregations\u2014particularly in young, energetic church plants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe greatest thing today is church planting, because we win souls,\u201d says Towns. \u201cPeople come to a new church and get saved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big struggles<\/h3>\n

The Hartford Institute\u2019s Faith Communities Today report in January noted with concern that nearly 58 percent of congregations now have fewer than 100 people at weekend worship services. That\u2019s up from 49 percent just five years earlier.<\/p>\n

Small church leaders say they\u2019ve seen the effects\u2014tight budgets and fewer people to do the work of the ministry. Gould, for example, spent five years living with his wife and three children in the back of the Sunday school wing at First Wesleyan Church in Nashville, Tennessee, which at the time had no parsonage. The family slept in converted classrooms and cooked in the basement kitchen.<\/p>\n

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See also  3 Practical Steps for Reaching the Mission Field in Your Neighborhood<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Living inside the inner-city church had its perks, Gould says: \u201cIt put us right there in the midst of the community, so we heard the same gunshots our neighbors did. It bought us a lot of credibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, even the staunchest supporters of small churches acknowledge the pain of limited resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt many small churches, once you pay the pastor and maybe a part-time secretary, you\u2019ve pretty much used up all of your funds,\u201d says Doug Akers, manager of special operations for church partnerships at Lifeway Christian Resources.<\/p>\n

Paying the bills is small churches\u2019 biggest challenge today, Vaters says, and he expects it to get tougher in the years ahead.<\/p>\n

Small advantages<\/h3>\n

Despite the struggles, advocates cite many advantages of small churches, starting with personal relationships.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou go in and everyone knows your name,\u201d Akers says. \u201cThere\u2019s a closer-knit fellowship. I chose to leave a large church to go to a small church, and one reason is to have that sense of belonging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Small churches have always been the foundation of Christianity, notes Bruce Raley, who was volunteer founding pastor in 2013 for Creekside Fellowship in Castalian Springs, Tennessee, population 556.<\/p>\n

The first church was birthed from 120 people who made a difference, and thousands of smaller churches are still making that difference.<\/p>\n

Leaders in small churches may question their potential for influence. Proportionally, however, small churches may have the potential for the greatest influence, Raley says. He points out three distinctive traits of small churches:<\/p>\n