Do we need a lot of quite small churches, or a lesser number of medium to large sized churches? The answer to that question is decided by answering the question, ‘What is church for, and how will it achieve its goal?’ As a background to this question is the commonly held assumption that churches should grow, getting bigger and bigger. If a church gets bigger then the inference is that it is better than it was before. The one word commonly used to describe a growing church is ‘successful’. Many Pastors think about, dream about and strategise for a bigger church than the one they have at the moment. Conferences, books and webinars feed these dreams. To be fair, even though some of the “church growth” material is focussed on how to make your church a nice place that people want to come to (real coffee, doughnuts, vibrant worship, contemporary preaching etc) most of the accent is more serious and is aimed at reaching the lost. Are big(ger) churches the best way to do this?
We have already established that believers need to demonstrate the alternative civilisation which is the Kingdom of God on earth. As they do that, new believers are added and out of the ever expanding pool of believers, Jesus builds His church. This was the pattern from day one in the Book of Acts. The Church, is a community of believers who live Kingdom, turn the world upside down and in the process reach every tribe, tongue, culture, area and neighbourhood.
I would suggest that small church does this better and here’s why:
- Small church is easy to start
- Small church is flexible – it can fit round people’s circumstances easily. (Flexible is good in places of persecution too)
- Small church is cheap, the cost is virtually nil – meeting in homes, no building costs, no expensive equipment, no salaries.
- Small church is easily placed where people live – you can have one in every street if you need to
- Small church makes for close relationships, real encouragement and openness, practical discipleship and a home for new believers.
[There are perceived disadvantages of small church and I will look at those at the end of this article.]
Larger or Big Church, however, is generally perceived as the ideal in the West. Here are some of the reasons for that position, and why I disagree.
- We are used to the model of a larger church. A lot of our buildings are built to accommodate a hundred people or more. Having church buildings for meetings first started around AD 300, and then followed the practice of a professional leadership – Priests. However, just because we have always done it this way, doesn’t mean that it is the best way.
- We have in recent years been taught ‘Church Growth’ endlessly. Churches plan to grow. The bigger the better. But, is bigger better? It certainly is in the world, where size confers muscle power and influence. Jesus made some sharp comments about the difference between how we do things and how the Gentile Rulers do things.
- There is the assumption that a small church is ineffective. Granted, one small church of 12 people in a town might make little difference, but Jesus’ intention, I suggest, is to have myriad small churches that will proliferate all over the town. Churches like this that meet in homes all over town, are true family and carry the Presence of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit They burst with life and anointing and will make far more impression on a town than one or two big churches.
- The perception is that a church needs to be bigger in order to be financially viable. That is true if you consider it essential to have a building, pay staff and have lots of expensive equipment. But those things are not essential. More of that later.
- There is a need for a church to be bigger so it can afford to pay a full time leader, and as the church grows, to pay other staff. Here, we get into a circular argument. The church needs to grow so that there is enough income from tithes ( another sacred cow that needs to go – more later!) to pay a Senior Pastor/Leader. Once the church has grown, it needs a Senior Pastor/Leader to lead it. Because it becomes a full time job, there is a full time salary to be found. The church then needs to stay large to afford the salary.
- Finally, it is suggested that big churches originate in the book of Acts. As someone once said to me, ‘don’t you know that Ephesus was a big church?’ ‘Oh, and by the way the church started off meeting in the Temple Courts’. Dealing with the last point first, the church started meeting in the Temple Courts in the first few days as they were working out how to structure the thousands of new believers. The same verse says that they met in homes too, and that became the norm. To answer the point about the church in Ephesus, the first thing to note is that Ephesus was a major city of about one million people. There wasn’t one big church, but many small churches, meeting in homes. They all had the same head, Jesus. Together they were ‘The Church in Ephesus’. There was real unity. In Acts 20 Paul meets the Ephesians Elders at Miletus, to say goodbye to them before he journeyed to Jerusalem and then Rome. We read this through the lenses of our times and imagine that these are 10 or 12 Elders who lead a (The?) large church in Ephesus. No. These were Elders from many of the small churches in Ephesus that together functioned as one Church in that city.
The concept of larger churches is founded on tradition and propped up by a pragmatic need to make the larger church that you have opted for work. I am sure there is a place for larger churches, but my proposition is that small family sized churches are more faithful to the New Testament model and generally could be more effective. I do believe that this is something very much on God’s heart for the days ahead.
A worldly approach to establishing the Kingdom of God would be to build big and impressive buildings that make a statement, to gather people centrally in substantial numbers, to constantly seek to improve on developing a ‘presence’ in society. The aim would be to influence society from the top down and therefore the Church would need to be respectable in order for it to be accepted and listened to. It’s leaders would need to be Professional, trained, qualified and educated in order to have the respect of their peers in society. In this way, the Church could hope to christianise society.
A Kingdom approach to establishing the kingdom would be quite the opposite, more like the little bit of yeast that Jesus spoke about that works its way quietly but powerfully through the whole dough. The Kingdom approach doesn’t need big buildings and doesn’t need to impress or make statements. It has no need to be “respectable “ or Professional. Qualifications and education take second place to “having been with Jesus” (Acts 4 v 13).
Now let’s deal with the perceived disadvantages of having many small churches rather than a few larger ones, because those of us who have spent years in the established institutional church will pretty quickly think that we can spot some potential gaps.
- In the multitude of small churches scenario (10 to 15 people – enough to meet in a home) we won’t be able to have the corporate worship that so many of us are used to enjoying on a Sunday morning. Very true, and unless you are lucky enough to have a musician among you then any sung worship might seem out of the question. Surely this is a point where we need skilled help? Er no. We think we do because we have been conditioned by our recent past. As far as singing worship songs goes, look at Matthew 26 v 30; after the last supper, the disciples sang a hymn (perhaps a psalm). No musicians, no sound desk, no trained vocalist; they just sang from the heart. We do need to be careful to remember that from God’s perspective, worship is a heart attitude, not a musical one. It amuses me that a Worship leader is there to lead the singing rather than to lead people to changed hearts and lives. Singing lasts for 35 minutes, a changed life lasts all week. Having said all that, there is a place for corporate musical worship, and the place for that to really come into its own is when the multitudes of small churches come together to celebrate their King. This could be every couple of months or so. The purpose would be to celebrate King Jesus and what He is doing in their town and in their midst. One additional benefit would be that the small churches get a sense of the scale of the Body of Christ that they are part of.
- What about good preaching and teaching. Surely that will be lost in a small church scenario? Let’s start by asking two questions: What do you want? and What is needed? Also let’s bear in mind that a reasonably sized institutional church is not a guarantee of good preaching and teaching. I have heard some pretty poor stuff over the years – some of it mine! If all you want is good teaching, then go to the internet and choose carefully. If it turns out to be no good you can turn it off and find something better. Less awkward than walking out of church half way through a sermon. I am going to look at this more thoroughly when we look at the ministries God has given to the church. Teaching is one of those. What believers actually need is enough instruction to show them bit by bit how to become more like Jesus; and they need time to work that into their lives. They don’t need 52 opportunities a year to hear a ‘life-changing’ message knowing full well that another one will come along next week before they have had time to grapple with this one. It takes time to change. What we often end up with is 52 ear tickling sessions or 52 opportunities to fail. Teachers can circulate round churches – there is no need for fresh teaching every week. There is a need for application all the time.
- What about ministries into the community? Small church doesn’t have the people power (manpower) to resource such ministries. True. But like minded people from the other churches can join together to do what needs to be done. The world sees the (whole) church in action and there is an end to churches awarding themselves brownie points because “we do such and such a ministry”. Actually, the small church is a ministry into the community
- There will be other points to make. This is a website and you are free to leave a message if you disagree or agree or want to add or ask anything. Just go to ‘Contact’
These articles are being written as a basis for believers whom God is calling to start new small house based churches, and as you read this you should ask yourself the question “is God speaking to me?” Some of you who are reading this may be dissatisfied with institutional church and looking for the way forward that more closely mirrors what is on God’s heart for these days and what will be more able to represent the Kingdom in this world of hopelessly lost people. Press in! There is an adventure to be had here that will surpass anything you have experienced before!
Church is out there 