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).

Village Missions / Keeping Country Churches Alive
www.village-missions.org
PO Box 197 / Dallas, OR 97338 / 800-617-9905
To learn more subscribe to our weekly enewsletter Country Matters by sending an email to
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Strengths of the Small Church - Part 4

This is part 4 of a 6-part series

4. The need for greater dependency upon God.

For those in the small church the lack of resources is often a source of discouragement. They wonder how they can be effective when they have so little to work with. When we minister in a small church we often lament that if we had more volunteers, bigger facilities and greater financial resources, then we could see greater results and growth.

However, what many see to be a detriment can actually become the basis for a stronger church. As Gary Farley rightly points out, "When a church lacks resources and knows that it does, and then it is more likely to recognize its utter dependence upon God. When you have about all of the resources that you need, it is awfully easy to cruise along on your own..." (Anthony G. Pappas, ed. Inside the Small Church, p. 102).

It is the lack of resources that challenges us to trust in God's provision rather than our own abilities. It challenges us to rest in the provision of God. It confronts us with the need to live by faith. The struggle facing many small churches is not the issue of a lack of resources, but a lack of faith. Rather than seeking to know God's will and purpose and trusting in his provision to accomplish it, they live in fear, conserving resources in fear of the "rainy day."

However, when the church looks to God for his provision, even when their resources are meager, they recognize that God can use them for significant ministry that impacts the lives of people for eternity.

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The Country Shepherd (formerly entitled Mikros) is published bi-monthly
by the Center for Leadership Development, a ministry of Village Missions
and the Institute for Small Church Heath a ministry of Western Seminary.
Dr. Glenn C. Daman, editor.

The newsletter may be obtained free of charge through e-mail by
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Village Missions

Keeping Country Churches Alive

www.village-missions.org

PO Box 197

Dallas, OR 97338

800-617-9905

To learn more subscribe to our weekly enewsletter Country Matters by sending an email to
countrymatters-subscribe@village-missions.org