Types of Small Churches

Numbers have little to do with truth, excellence or character. For church growth viewed in measurable terms, such as numbers, is trivial compared with growth in less measurable but more important terms, such as faith, character, and godliness. Having growth in terms of numbers, of course, does not rule out the more important spiritual growth. But it does not necessarily include this type of growth either.

Os Guinness, in Dining with the Devil, tells that Pastor John, of the First Independent Church, returned from the seminars excited about the future of the church. Although the church was small, located in a rural community in Montana, he felt that the principles set forth in the seminar would bring new growth to the church. His excitement, however, was met with guarded acceptance by the church. But after much persuasion, they agreed to implement the ideas.

At first it appeared to be effective. However, at the end of one year people were beginning to have their doubts. Even though the people worked hard and implemented all the ideas, only one new family came. Pastor John began to question his call to ministry, wondering if he was the problem. He thought that since the program worked so well with the other church leaders, then the failure must be attributed to his own lack of leadership.

The reason the program failed was not the fault of the Pastor, nor was it the fault of the people, nor was the program itself flawed. It was an excellent program that provided important principles of church growth which were applicable to any church. The failure was due to the nature of the ministry of the small church. Ministering effectively in the small church involves understanding and identifying the church type. While all churches are called to proclaim the gospel to a lost world, not all small churches will be able maintain significant growth nor should all small churches seek to grow beyond the small church size. Read more