Welcome to The Kingdom Partnership blog. Glad to have you with us.
Every once in a while I come across some insightful and thoughtful articles. Those are the ones that I’m encouraged to share with you.
Today’s blog, “Big Little Churches” was written by Daniel Schatz. Mr. Schantz is a professor emeritus of Central Christian College of the Bible.
A church with only 12 members is barely a church, but almost every weekend I preach in small town Missouri churches whose attendance range from 12 to 112.
When people hear that I am preaching at such small churches they often shake their heads and say, “That’s a shame. Why don’t they just close the doors and go to a bigger church that has more to offer them?”
If I’m in a snarly mood I might reply, “Well, why don’t we just close down all the little convenience stores in the country and send everyone to a Walmart?” But they don’t like that idea. They like their little convenience stores, because, they are convenient, among other things.
Instead of thinking of these churches as dying, why not think of them as just getting started and in need of some help? After all, Jesus started with just 12 disciples, and I hear that turned out rather well.
I would like to suggest that some of you who are attending a sprawling 10-acre city church take one Sunday a month and visit one of these small churches. Believe it or not, your charming mega minister will somehow survive without you. These little churches are everywhere, in the city and in the country. Your presence would be encouraging. Sometimes all a church needs is some hope to keep going.
But don’t go there as some kind of “metropolitan Messiah.” Go there to learn.
Small, rural churches are populated with some very brave and resilient people who have had to adjust to declining populations and lost job opportunities. They have real problems, such as farmers committing suicide and anti-social media invading their children’s lives. They have fought drought, floods, hail, and a blizzard of environmental regulations. They have lost body parts in machinery and have had children who drowned in the farm pond. They have lost husbands or wives to pesticide cancer. They struggle to make tractor payments and vet bills. Yet, they chose to stay where they were planted instead of fleeing to the city, and for that they deserve respect, not pity.
Some of these churches are “cut flower” churches, because they have no children to carry on the leadership in the church. Other do have children, and they are the finest children you will ever meet. In my judgement, the best thing that agriculture has ever produced is not grain and cattle, but strong children who have great values and who love hard work. The best college students I ever had in my college classes were from small towns and farms.
So, if you have children, bring them with you when you visit one of these churches. Nothing can brighten a church sanctuary like happy children, and your kids will learn something that they might never learn in a high-powered youth program.
When Jesus was here among us, He lived and worked in some very small places, such as Bethlehem and Nazareth, Bethel and Caesarea. He preached in Jerusalem, which had a population of about 14,000, the same as Moberly, Missouri where I live.
Jesus lived and worked exclusively in Palestine, a country so small that He could walk the length and breadth of it. You could put several Holy Lands inside the state of Missouri. Not once did Jesus go to the population centers,, such as Rome and Alexandria, but somehow the mustard seeds He planted in Palestine grew into a worldwide crop of Christians.
I am proud of the students at Central Christian College of the Bible where I taught for 43 years. Many of them now preach at small town and country churches, instead of chasing only the most prestigious churches in the country. They often hold down a second job in order to feed their families but will be honored for that in the Day of Justice.
Jesus promised that wherever two or three gather together, He would be there with them. A church of two or three is about as small as you can get, but wherever Jesus is, that’s big enough for me.
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At The Kingdom Partnership we agree with the professor. Our mission is to come alongside our rural/small churches and offer various services to sustain these congregations.
If your congregation would like to learn more about how the ‘Partnership’ can serve you, please contact us.
www.thekingdompartnership.us
402.297.6876
RDCreek@cox.net
