Much of my ministry is done with smaller churches that have a big heart for God and ministry, but after working for years with these churches I've found that many of them carry a tremendous amount of pain. Some of that pain is associated with the rapid turn-over of pastors common in smaller churches. When I began my pastoral ministry in a small, rural church their average pastoral tenure for many years had been twelve months. Some pastors had stayed only six months while a few lasted longer, but one year was the average stay for the pastors of that church. Can you imagine how a family would feel if the father and husband of that family left every 12 months? Churches feel that same sense of pain.
I had been the pastor of that church for about six months when a deacon in our church commented in a Sunday school class that their pastor would soon be leaving them for a better church. I never heard him complete his thought because I was stunned. Some of the leadership were already expecting me to announce I was leaving, and for what...a better church. At that time I had no education beyond high school and the only ministerial experience I had was in that church, and yet they did not feel they were a good enough church to keep me as pastor. Previous pastors had created that sense of expectation in that church and had also left them with a lot of pain.
A second area that causes a lot of pain in these churches is their inability to grow. Some of the older members remember a time when the sanctuary was full and the church was a beehive of activity. Today they look at a sanctuary that is a quarter full and a church calendar that is nearly empty of activity. They have watched their young people leave their church and never return except for special events such as homecomings. They see a new church on the edge of town start and soon begin building a new sanctuary and other facilities to hold their growing membership while their small church continues to shrink.
Both issues raise the same questions for these smaller churches. What is wrong with us that pastors won't stay and we can't attract new people? Has God abandoned us because of some sin in the church? Is there any hope for our church?
Various authors have addressed the poor self-esteem issue in smaller churches with some calling it the greatest problem facing these churches. I think this is especially true for those small churches that used to be much larger. Until churches can begin to recognize that while they cannot recapture the past they will struggle to move forward, and that is the only direction that offers them any hope.
Politicians often like to say that a nation's best days are ahead of it, and, of course, their policies will make that possible. In the case of many of our small churches I do believe that their best days are ahead of them. Maybe they will never see the numbers of people sitting in their pews that they had in the 1950s and 60s, but that doesn't mean that they cannot enjoy a healthy and productive ministry in their communities. Maybe they won't be able to attract the distinguished PhD fresh out of seminary for their pastorate, but that doesn't mean there is not someone out there that God has prepared to lead their church into the future that He has prepared for them. I far surpassed the six months some had thought I would remain in that church staying twenty years, and our small church enjoyed a very productive ministry together.
To overcome the pain smaller churches need to take their focus off past events and begin to look forward. They need to dream again of what could be. They need to prayerfully seek what new doors of ministry opportunities God wants to open for them. They need to determine if there are barriers that have been created over the years that keep people out of the church and away from God and find ways to tear them down. (BTW - every church does have some barriers.) They need to focus again on God and find their hope and future in Him. As they begin to do these things they will find the pain begin to subside and hope once again begin to rise within them, and then they will be ready to return to Kingdom work.
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