Pastoring in a smaller church

Some people seem to think that a smaller church is just a miniature version of a larger church. Nothing could be further from the truth. Small churches are unique in many ways and require a different set of skills and gifts to pastor. This is one reason pastors often struggle to serve in a smaller church. Seminaries train everyone alike with the assumption that every church is the same with identical needs. This is one reason I've often argued that the traditional MDiv may not be the best degree for a bivocational pastor or one who serves in a smaller church. Many seminaries today offer MA degrees in ministry that might better equip the minister who will serve the smaller church.

What are the skills you need to effectively serve in a smaller church? The most important one is people skills. Smaller churches are often referred to as family churches with good reason. They function more like a family than an organization. Relationships mean everything in the small church. People don't join a small church; they have to adopted into the family. The same is true of the pastor. A person called to pastor a small church may serve in the position, but he or she is not going to be most effective until the church adopts him or her as one of their own. If a person lacks people skills that individual will never effectively minister in a smaller church.

Patience is another necessary virtue in the small church pastor. It seems that everything takes longer to accomplish than it should. People sometimes complain that small churches dislike change, and in some cases it's true. But in other cases it's not that they dislike change, but they are wary and need confidence that the change is warranted. Small churches remind me of the scene in the Lord of the Rings when the trees (the Ents) are meeting to decide what to do about the war the Hobbits claim is coming. The Hobbits are wanting immediate action, and the Ents plod along slowly with their discussion and finally make a decision that has nothing to do with the approaching war. (I've sat in church meetings like that!) Small churches will make changes, but they will not quickly happen.

Small church pastors need to be able to preach theologically sound messages. Many small church pastors lack a theological education which can be a challenge to effectively minister. This may seem to conflict with what I wrote in the first paragraph, but it doesn't. I am not opposed to education. I just encourage people to pursue an education that best fits with their ministry plans. As a judicatory minister I sat in many worship services in both small and large churches and heard sermons that were very weak theologically. These messages came from pastors who ranged from no theological education to a few with terminal degrees, although most of them came from ones who lacked education.

The people in smaller churches love God. They do not want a watered-down gospel. They want to hear sermons that are theologically sound, sermons that are applicable to their lives and will make a difference in their lives. In a recent post I mentioned a young pastor who preached over the heads of his congregation. That helps no one, but the folks in smaller churches can be challenged to go deeper in their understanding of Scripture than many of them have been challenged in the past. They need a pastor who can consistently deliver such sermons.

Certainly, pastors of smaller churches need more skills than the ones mentioned, but these seem to me to be perhaps the most important. If you can manage these skills you should do well serving in a smaller church.