Small church leaders conference

 I had the privilege of leading three workshops at a  conference for small church pastors and leaders held in Champaign, IL this past weekend. This conference was sponsored by Northern Seminary, Judson University, the ABC of Indiana and Kentucky and the Great Rivers Region. I understand about 100 people registered for the event. They offered a number of interesting workshops and had some excellent speakers.

It continues to excite me when such conferences are held. As I told the participants in my workshops, such events did not happen when I began as a bivocational pastor in 1981. All the focus was on larger churches, and those of us serving smaller churches were mostly ignored. While that may still happen in some places today, I think most denominations have recognized that a significant number of their churches are small and unlikely to grow to become megachurches or even larger churches. They have learned the importance of providing relationships and training for the leaders of these smaller churches.

The only thing I regret about the weekend is that I wish twice as many people had registered for the conference. It was well done and offered workshops that were relevant to small church leaders. It was not expensive at all and was a good investment in both money and time.

Of course, Covid was given as one reason the registrations might have been down, and I suppose some people are still reluctant to gather in larger crowds. I doubt that was the main reason more people didn't attend. For years I have cautioned sponsors of such events to not be disappointed if there is a low turnout. In my experience, bivocational ministers tend to not attend such events. This was held on a Friday, and some would argue that they have to work Fridays. I served as a bivocational pastor for 20 years so I understand that argument. However, I also know if I wanted to take a day off work to do something I wanted to do, I took that day. I might have used a personal day or a day's vacation, but I would take the day off if I wanted to do something else.

Those of us who serve smaller churches need to stop using our jobs as an excuse to not attend training opportunities that are designed for us. I realize that we can't attend every event that is offered, but, frankly, most of them are not developed for small church leaders. Those that are should be seen as an investment in our ministries and our lives. Would you not invest a few dollars and a day of your time in something that will provide you with a lifetime of benefits?

As other opportunities present themselves I hope you'll consider making such an investment. You might leave thinking it was one of the best things you've done in a long time.