The “Small Church” Complex

We’ve all heard it many times and most of us have said it: “We just can’t compete with the big church down the street.” This is obviously an issue in church planting – just note the number of families that visit but don’t stay. They say things like, “We’re going over there because they have a good program for our kids,” or “I like the ladies group at that other church.”

It’s true – we can’t compete! But what makes matters worse is that as church planters we often focus on this and begin to react to it. We develop a “Small church complex”. We allow discouragement to settle in our minds, and sometimes even resentment to grow in our hearts.

Of course we want our new church to grow – nobody wishes it to stay small. But the fact is, that just like people, a church cannot jump from infancy to maturity. It must of necessity go through each stage along the way. Since being a child or an adolescent is God’s will for the individual at that time of his life, shouldn’t we accept where a church is at a particular moment as part of God’s plan for its development. Read more