Jonny Craig: 5 Things I’ve Learned as a Young Pastor in a Small Church

94% of churches in America are under 500 people. That’s a real statistic.

Go ahead, look it up.

This was surprising to me because most of the time it feels like we only hear about the largest 1% of churches. To be fair, those churches are creating amazing content and sharing incredible stories that need to be told. Those are churches doing Kingdom work and they deserve to be celebrated. We need that 1%. But we also need the 94%.

I’m a young pastor. Like a lot of young pastors, I had stars in my eyes as I entered ministry. My church will explode with growth. My book (that I’ve never written) will be a bestseller. I’ll be a regular on the conference circuit. These are common dreams for young pastors and I’m no exception.

As nice as dreams are, they don’t always match up with reality, and the reality is that I’m in one of those churches under 500 people. A great church. A healthy church. A Christ-centered church that I love deeply. A small church.

So I want to share some lessons that I’ve learned about being a young pastor in a small church. These aren’t necessarily lessons that are specific to being young, but from my experience, it’s we younger pastors who need a reality check. Reality is good, and here are 5 things I’ve learned that have helped me love the reality God has placed me in. Keep reading

Also see
Karl Vaters: Why Don’t Small Churches Grow? They Do. Then We Call Them Big Churches
Karl Vaters: Stop Thinking Like a Big Church