Praise for small churches
God doesn’t call us all to be big. But God calls us all to have big faith.
Something happened here this weekend…
A little while ago, several of us local pastors got together with the seeds of an idea. This Sunday, our idea blossomed into reality. Together, we all took a leap of faith and cancelled our traditional morning worship services. We decided to try something new. Folding chairs and tables were piled into trucks. Gas grills were transported on utility trailers. Pop-up tents were erected in the sunny backyard of my very own parsonage. A local bluegrass band set up their equipment and began to tune.
This Sunday, seven small churches joined forces to collaborate in one community-wide worship event. Picnic and Praise! Together, we heard the Word of God preached. We lifted up God’s name to the rhythmic twang of live gospel music. Across denominational divides, we feasted together as one at the Lord’s Table… and then later, we feasted some more on freshly grilled burgers and dogs with mountains of potluck-style sides and desserts, enthusiastically offered up by our congregants.
You see, on a typical worship service in summertime, many of our congregations will see an average of only about twenty to thirty attendees. Some will see far less. We’ve hosted ecumenical worship services together before, often resulting in an intimate smattering of attendees. However, last Sunday afternoon was quite different. We had one hundred and forty people gather together, proudly representing each and every single one of our local churches.
Something happened here.
For one, we were graced with a refreshingly thought-provoking sermon.
During our planning sessions, we pastors decided that we wanted the focal point of this event to be a compassionate word for our congregations, particularly for the smallness of our congregations. After all, small churches wield big struggles. We live in a societal moment generally ungracious toward churches with light membership rolls. Declining attendance leads to hasty judgments of “ineffective” and “unsuccessful”, cringeworthy terms unfairly employed in ministry contexts.
Tell me. How do you quantify the “effectiveness” of a congregation in the hearts and minds of the people it touches? How can you measure the “success” of a church body in its witness to the word and work of God?
In her sermon, my friend and colleague gently reminded us that we aren’t chosen by God because of our size. In Deuteronomy 7:7, Moses reminds Israel of God’s covenant promise with them. Moses says, “It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you — for you were the fewest of all peoples.” Instead, Moses reminds them, “It was because the Lord loved you…”
Israel is the smallest of the nations. And now, God is about to lead them into the Promise Land, surrounded by other, far larger nations: the Hittites, the Canaanites, the Amorites, etc. Make no mistake, the genocidal implications of God’s commands to the Israelites concerning these other nations are horrific. Texts like these must be read with great care and understood not in isolation, but in the broader context of God’s message of love throughout the whole of scripture. My colleague mastered this brilliantly in her sermon. For the underlying encouragement Moses offers to his people in this passage is still a word of hope for us today.
Israel is chosen, not because they are the biggest or the best. Israel is chosen simply because they are beloved of God. And Moses reminds them that this alone is enough.
I confess, I’ve felt discouraged lately. Over the years, I have watched my own church attendance wane. When we notice those vacant pews, when we feel the lightness of the collection plate, we wonder why. After all, small churches can grow. So we are constantly preoccupied with such tantalizing stories of growth. There once was a dying congregation with only a few, faithful families left. Those few families got together and, after much fervent prayer, decided in one miraculous, watershed moment to pool all their money together, try some new things, and after a short time, the church had burgeoned into a large, vibrant congregation that is now thinking of buying a bigger building…or a few.
Oh absolutely, those are riveting and truly inspirational stories. They just aren’t the stories of most congregations.
Most congregations are probably very similar to one of our seven, small churches that got together this past Sunday afternoon. Was it an amazing day that far exceeded all of our expectations? Without a doubt! Was it “successful?” Errm, sure. Will it be the turning point for all of these small churches to now start on an extraordinary journey to great, booming church growth? Probably not.
But guess what? That’s okay. God doesn’t call us to be big. God calls us to have big faith.
And I think that’s just what happened on Sunday. We were blessed to witness all of our small churches have some incredibly big faith. Many congregations from different denominations trusted in one another and trusted in God enough to do something that had never been done here before. Many faithful servants of God, from many backgrounds and many neighborhoods, were blessed to be blessings to one another and to their surrounding community. Small churches, despite our declining memberships and resources, united together to show grace and compassion to one another, to celebrate and to love one another, simply because we all are beloved of God.
And yes, friends. That is most certainly enough!
