Being Aware

Small churches tend to be better at welcoming people. Most church folk really are generous people living busy lives, and it takes time to really know someone. Small churches can get "cliquey" too, but it's hard to not be noticed in a congregation of 50.

My membership in in a church of 2500, and it's easy to get lost. I left a couple of years ago and it was several months before my "friends" knew I was gone. I'm back now, and they've taken steps to at least greet people who walk in the door, and the new pastor stands by the door in the 'mall' area and makes himself available to talk.

In the Messianic fellowship I'm helping start, we know one another and watch out for each other, but it's not yet "church", meaning we only see each other every other Friday unless it's in some other association. (hmmm - maybe I need to suggest more interaction!)

I talk to people all the time about getting lost in large churches. Walk in, walk out, leave no footprints. That's why my connections are loose, and why I'm spending Sunday evenings helping revitalize a struggling small church.

I find that in doing, my being comes clearer. James 2:18 is my motivation and the smile of my heavenly daddy is my reward. I don't get that when I just sit.

People want to serve

I was walking the neighborhood this afternoon. The GracePlace restart has its first service tomorrow, and I needed to be among the future congregation.

Traditionally, I'd be stuffing a flyer in every door. I'd be posting notices on every bulletin board I can find. But today, God said to walk the neighborhood and pass out flyers to people. Most people will take a flyer and look at it. A couple talked with me. One lady had moved here from N Carolina, and had been having trouble finding a church. The big church was too big and full of cliques. Lots of very small, dying churches. Not many mid-sized, active congregations. She said it would be exciting helping create the right kind of churches.

What I have found is that most people want at least to be listened to. The church I was in when I began this research was systematically excluding anyone who wasn't in the inner circle. The deacons are the ruling body. They choose who gets to join their body. They choose all the committee members, including the committee that chooses teachers. And despite all the tricks and gimmicks they've tried, attendance is flat. In fact, it takes constant effort to STAY flat.

Research shows that most people would volunteer more if asked, and given meaningful jobs that matter. Our job as leaders is to listen, and to find places to use them.

How big should a church be - contrarian view

Whenever I look for ways to improve spiritual vitality of a church, I find most of the links move me toward size growth. One approach even teaches you to "launch large." Megachurches get all the attention, and seem able to attract the remnants of small churches as they dwindle in size.

With so much emphasis on size, what is the value of smaller churches? Do they have a future?

Richard H Bliese says that small churches - rather than a relic of the past - are especially valuable in a post-modern culture. He says that small churches "can go places and risk ministries that larger churches would find undesirable or impossible." They can operate on the margins, to be bold, to be nimble.

Bliese suggsts we must abandon traditional ideas of what church is and redesign around relationships. It will need "meaningful worship, worship in which people sense God’s presence and grace-filled activity." It also needs "meaningful opportunities for building and practicing Christian fellowship."

In short, small churches have a continuing role in the kingdom. They must of course be willing to step forward. In many cases, small churches like being small, they are comfortable being comfortable. But for the church willing to stretch themselves, they can find areas of need in the margins. One local church here holds a weekly lunch for the workers in the adjacent industrial park. A few others pass out day-old bread or open a clothes closet. Some coordinate local participation in national charity events.

And help the out of touch and unchurched find community and hear a Gospel in their own non-church language.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to spend more time being relevant than maintaining the structure of a large organization. Start by reading Richard Bliese's article.