What does God think of small church?

I went through a period of considerable self-doubt when we were into the third year of our church plant in the area of Shirley in Christchurch. The church had begun with a spring in its step but may have peaked too soon. After a year or so, it had already doubled in size.

For some very legitimate reasons (job transfer, key couple called to mission, couple returning to their denominational roots, a family close to burnout, other families moving on after the demoralising impact of several church crises), we began to deplete seriously in numbers. I remember reaching a point where Sunday mornings, I would hover around the entrance, eyes stretching over the car park, almost frantic to see some familiar faces coming my way, hungry to share the Word of God but crumbling inside as to whether a critical mass would even show for worship.

It never occurred to me that here was my opportunity – to simply adapt, to swap my plans for celebration to intimacy (gather seats around in a circle). There are things one can do with small church that just aren’t viable for big church, and no one had ever told me annoyance and creativity don’t go together.

A new song

I recall the day God spoke to me through someone in our fellowship, He was out to encourage me at the time. Right now I’ve forgotten what he even said, but by his taking up the Barnabas spirit, something more profound happened, I heard the greater voice, a heavenly whisper - Wayne, if Jesus walked into Palmside right now, what would He say to you? “Wayne, you’ve done okay.”

Whether Palmside meets its demise in 3 months or the numbers fan to 1,000 in the goodness of God, the message would still be the same. A good dad, entering his child’s room to inspect his work, isn’t there to point out all the mistakes, “Look, you missed out this bit.” The Father’s heart never takes a posture of half-empty but half-full.

More than that, God would have us catch the vision of His heart towards His people. Moses forecast His heart in his day: O, how He loved His people (Deuteronomy 33:3). Sometimes, I will find the Lord impresses me afresh when about to preach, as I stand behind the lectern, “Wayne, do you really love the people of God?” I know Moses faced that test often enough with the grumbling, complaining, backbiting children of Israel and they were a mega-people. The grass is not always greener on the bigger side.

The Deuteronomy God of love loves His family still, wherever He may find them from mega-church thru small rural community of faith thru home group to the twos and threes of His persecuted bride who club together for strength and fellowship in the most secret of locations. His body may be in a season of fruitfulness and growth or bruised & battered, hanging on by their shirt-tails.

Rick Warren said in God’s eyes there is no such thing as a small or insignificant church, Christ died for your church. The Redeemer of Israel would I believe equally say of His church: You are precious in My sight and honoured and I love you (Isaiah 43:4). One day we will all celebrate together at the feet of Jesus.

In God’s eyes there is no such thing as a small or insignificant church. Christ died for your church.
Rick Warren

All are precious to Him. Deuteronomy 32:9, “The Lord’s portion is His people.” Therefore, all are equally worthy of my best efforts as a minister of the gospel of grace. Preach on! One life may change forever under my ministry and go out and change the world! The most influential people for God have often been gripped by Him in the smallest of meetings. Walt Disney enjoyed telling visitors, “the whole thing began with a mouse.”

Again, Warren says if we understand what life, the Cross, the church, and the future are all about, when it comes to pastoring (watching after, caring for) a body of believers, there is nothing that compares in significance. Our culture idolises entertainment, sports, business success, political power and prosperity. Yet Jesus didn’t die for any of those things. He dies for the people we feed and teach, and seek to lead and care for.

I had to learn that God is doing something great all the time, even when the church is down to five (five “in His image” people). God’s superlative best is always in process! I also came to the conclusion that Jesus Himself Who did all things well never once in three-plus years of earthly ministry, attempted to generate a large audience. Some of His most profound lessons were given one-on-one.

Indeed, the apostle Paul’s work was actually very simple. He began to sow the world of his day with little churches, but churches that began to have influence. You see, God isn’t just in the big and impressive. He is just as present in “the small.”

It was a revelation to me when I stumbled across the model New Testament church. It wasn’t Corinth as richly endowed as they were, behind in no gift. A mega-church, with a congregation of perhaps 10,000. And yet a church full of jealousy and anger, selfish ambition and conceit, contention and division (2 Corinthians 12:20,21). No, I found it in the much smaller church of Thessalonica, a church for whom the Apostle could not stop thanking God. His prayers referred to their work of faith, their labour of love and their patience of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thesselonians 1:3). His praise and thanksgiving were about this church’s faithfulness. A small church can be faithful! Zechariah exhorts us do not despise the day (the season) of small things (Zechariah 4:10).

I dare to believe that life isn’t a problem to be solved, but a gift to cherish. Half full, or half empty? My choice. My wife, aware of my concern, one day sensed she saw our church in her mind’s eye and heard a heavenly voice, “just...enjoy.” It said it all.

I thank God the message has remained. Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her (this is Ephesians 5 speak). The church of God was “purchased with His own blood,” Acts 20:28. Now read that again and put in the name of your local church. However small, however imperfect! And if precious to God, they have to be precious to me. That’s the new song.