For the past two days I've written or shared articles about the smaller church. Today I want to focus on how denominations are supporting these churches.
When I felt called to leave Hebron Baptist Church as their pastor I had been there for 20 years. I really did not want to leave that wonderful church, but one day I received a phone call asking if I would serve as an Interim Area Minister with our Region. This would be in addition to my pastoral duties so I accepted. Several months later I applied for the position and when the search team completed their work it was offered to me. I would be leaving a church I loved to serve, but at that time I would be working directly with 84 churches in my area. By the time I retired 14 years later that number would grow to around 133 churches.
One of the reasons I was selected was my work with smaller churches. Our executive staff all came from larger church backgrounds, and like most regions and districts, ours was made up mostly of smaller churches. Many of them had felt ignored by the Region and the denomination and had withdrawn from participating in many of our events. Our Executive Minister recognized that these churches were important to the ministry of the Region and wanted someone who would be accepted by these churches. Over one-half of the churches in my area averaged 50 people or less in attendance so I was a good fit for these churches. During the transition time I asked my predecessor what he thought my strength would be for this ministry, and he said the fact that I had never pastored a large church would give me immediate acceptance among some of these smaller churches. That proved to be true.
I will be forever grateful for our Exec's recognition of the importance of our smaller churches and his determination to not ignore them in favor of the larger churches. He gave me an opportunity to serve these churches and gave them an opportunity to get reconnected with what our Region was doing.
When I later was asked to lead seminars and conferences for various denominational groups around the country my Exec. gave his blessing. He told me no one else was doing what I was doing and he encouraged me to accept these invitations even though it meant I would be away from my job at times.
At these events I saw how many denominations were beginning to see the importance of their smaller churches. They wanted to provide training opportunities for them. They invested money and staff to make these events possible. We would often do the same seminar 4-5 times in the district or territory traveling to different parts of the state or territory to offer it at different locations. It was tiring, but these denominational leaders wanted to make it as easy as possible for their small church leaders to attend. I applaud them for that.
If your denomination, district or region is still not providing smaller churches with the resources they need, talk to them about it. One reason small churches sometimes feel ignored is that they never ask for help. Don't assume no one cares about your situation. As the pastor of a small church I often asked my Area Minister for assistance in some matter. During that pastorate we had three Executive Ministers speak in our little church. Some asked me how I got them to come to our church, and I responded they came because I asked them to. Denominational and district ministers are busy people, but most are willing to go wherever they are invited. Jesus said, "You have not because you ask not."
I am still available to lead training events for small church and bivocational leaders. If your organization hasn't provided such training lately ask them to consider doing so. Have them contact me to see if I can provide what is needed.
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