Strengths of the Small Church - Part 5

This is part 5 of a 6-part series

5. Flexibility.

When the small church has a streamlined organizational structure, it can quickly adapt to the changing ministry environment. In many rural communities the environment is rapidly changing. While some communities are facing significant decline, others are experiencing rapid growth.
While some communities remain culturally and ethnically homogeneous, others are experiencing rapid cultural and ethnic diversity as the influx of people provide new opportunities for cross-cultural ministries. Each of these transitions has a major impact on the community, the church, and the ministry opportunities confronting the church.

The advantage of the small church is that it can make substantive changes and implement new programs and direction with little organizational bureaucracy. Because decisions can be quickly made and information quickly disseminated in the small church, it can quickly rally people to a "cause or project, carrying out a new program or ministry with fewer problems and delays of the larger, more structured congregation" (Ron Crandall and L. Ray Sells, There's New Life in the
Small Congregation, p. 94).

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