THE JOY OF THE SMALL CHURCH

I’ve been ministering (we still call it PREACHING in my parts) in churches since I was a 16 year old boy. I was completely unaware of things like; soteriology, eschatology, or even much about theology, when I stepped into my first pulpit, and I’m not really sure I’m really very knowledgeable now. One thing I knew then and I have no doubts about now, God called me to preach. My preaching has taken many ups and down, as the years have come and gone. There were years I didn’t preach in a single church. There were years I preached almost every week. I’ve served as a pastor, in a couple of different churches, and as the guest preacher on numerous occasions, too many to count now after 30+ years of preaching. I’ve preached to hundreds (and that could have been as many as thousands, and potentially hundreds of thousands, when I had my radio preaching ministry) and I’ve preached to a few.

Early on, as human nature will mislead us, I thought that success was having the biggest crowds possible. I changed my attitude, after much prayer, about the ‘size of the crowd’ mentality that can damage a preacher’s confidence and ministry. I began to see, as I ministered mostly in small churches, the great gift and privilege preaching is. Many young preachers fall into the trap of thinking ‘size of crowd=great preachers’, and there is nothing farther from the truth. It could be argued Hitler was a preacher of sorts and got a lot of people to listen to his ‘sermons’ and even more, got them to act on his ‘message’. Now, least any one get all in a twiddle, preachers with big churches are not like Hitler, it’s JUST an illustration. This is not meant to be a critique or attack on the ‘large’ churches, either. I know Jesus wasn’t talking about little churches when He said, “O ye of little faith.” No, this is just a little advice to the young preacher (and old too) that are seeking for opportunities, don’t neglect the ‘little’ churches.

So what are some of the things I learned in preaching to smaller congregations, to pass along?

ONE PERSON IS IMPORTANT

One person, a soul, is of infinite worth to God, is my first point. Philip was preaching an awesome ‘revival’ in the first century Samaria. The Bible describes the result of his preaching, (Acts 8:5-8 ESV) “Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6 And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was much joy in that city.” In the midst of this revival we have this statement, (vs. 26) “Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place.”

Of course the man Philip would meet was a eunuch from Ethiopia. Philip shared the Good News with him and we read of his conversion and baptism. This was a real strange thing for God to do, Philip was in the midst of a historic (!) revival and God sent him to ONE man. OF course, tradition tells us this Ethiopian would be the instrument of great revival in his homeland. This is an even stronger point to emphasize this argument. You never know that one person in the congregation that God uses you to bless goes on to lead hundreds if not thousands to the Lord. There is no telling if the next Moody, Graham, or Spurgeon may come from a small congregation you share God’s Word with.

SIZE IS NOT WHAT DEFINES A CHURCH

There is no biblical basis for the size of a congregation being a certain number. The best argument anyone has for a set amount is, (Matthew 18:20 KJV) “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” The context of that verse is not about the size of the church, but more about its authority. Even if it is speaking of the structure of the church, two or three is all it takes. I have had the experience of preaching to not much more than two or three. What constitutes a church? I think it is safe to say it is simply a gathering of believers. One site defines a church as, “Local church, the body made up of a church congregation, its members and clergy” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church).

Of course, when talking in the grand scheme of things ‘church’ could be used to identify the whole of Christendom. But for our discussion, we are talking about local congregations. Merriam’s defines church (in the local sense) as, “a particular Christian group” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/church). A group is simply more than one, and if the preacher is preaching to anyone, there would be more than one (!). There is no reason to belittle or dismiss a small congregation as less church than one of 100 or 1000. A small church needs exhortation, instruction, doctrine, and all that good preaching can give. The size of the congregation shouldn’t make the sermon better or worse, there should be no effect of what the amount of people that we are talking to. The truths we expound and declare, as we preach, are true to two or twenty-two thousand.

INTIMACY

There is a sense of intimacy with the congregation that a small church provides the preacher. It is easy to see the reaction, fell the pulse, and gage the effects your message is having on those listening. There is no way a preacher preaching to a crowd of thousands can scan every face in the crowd, I have, when preaching to a church of just a few. There is a sense of intimacy, as you read these words, as Paul described preaching to the churches at Galatia, (Galatians 4:13 KJV) “Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.” There is something to be said about preaching and almost being able to touch, literally, each member of the congregation. There is also the sense of symbolically touching each member of the congregation, too.

There is a sense of intimacy, not only for the preacher toward the congregation, but the congregation toward the preacher. I’ve been a member of the small congregations, too. The preacher preaching in the small church feels like he is preaching right to you, as he delivers God’s Word. Notice Paul’s words to the church at Thessalonica, (1 Thessalonians 2:9 KJV) “For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.” This laboring must have felt close, as Paul appeals to the notion, for the appeal to be significant. Paul is appealing to the idea that he was among them, and in a smaller congregation, in ‘amongst them’ is close and personal. There are certain benefits to the preacher being so close to you, as it surely feels like a true bond is made.

CONCLUSION

The last thing I want you to come away with, from this article, is the idea God can’t or won’t use ‘big’ churches. Far be it from me, to believe God can’t use whatever means He wishes to bring about His purposes. God can and does use mega churches, large churches, and, of course, small ones, too. There can be untold blessings you can receive as you bring the message of God to the congregation God has allowed you to serve, no matter the size.