10 Reasons why the Small Church is and always will be BIG!

10 Reasons why the Small Church is and always will be BIG!

I have heard enough bad news and I just can’t take it anymore. I want to share some good news for a change about the church. And this time it is to bring attention to a little known fact about small churches. They get a bum rap for being small and they are picked on for being outdated or passé. But in reality denominations should be looking at the small church and learning from them. These churches will surprise many because they will still be there when the megachurches have faded away. What is so special about small churches and why are they still around today? Here are ten reasons why the small church is and always will be BIG.

The small church is:

1.      Personal

The old TV show cliché is true-the small church is a place to go where everyone knows your name. Perhaps that’s uncomfortable for some who want to slide into a pew unnoticed, do their worship thing with God and then go home. It is impossible for that kind of church experience to happen in the small church. You will be noticed and people will know your name. And what greater Biblical blessing could there be than to walk into worship and know that the people, just like God, know you and love you. We have a God who through the incarnation is very real and very present with us. The small church is an example of the social nature of God-truly one on one, and in the midst of community. The people in the small church know your hang ups and your greatness. And they love you know matter what. (The redemptive work of Jesus at work). You are needed. You are wanted. You are valued. In the small church it is very personal and that makes all the difference.

In the small church:

2.     Patterns are important

Small church members are committed to showing up. They are the faithful that realize their faith in God grows from week to week as they are present in the pew and present with one another. Small church people know that when they are not there it makes a difference and it is noticed.

They are people of patterns.

Small church people believe God has a job to do and so they fulfill their part of the job by being consistent, giving of themselves and their gifts (talents & financial) regularly. They know that they are a small part of the puzzle of Christ’s Kingdom. Therefore when it looks like small churches are insignificant to the big picture, small churches know they are making a difference day after day, little by little, one step at a time, consistently generation after generation, and in the long run this IS significant.

3.     Stories count

The small church knows how to use God language and Jesus language and it’s not afraid to do so. Because of the personal relationships and the intimacy of the group, people openly share testimonies of how God has moved in their lives. They remember the people who made a difference from generation to generation. In other words, the saints of the church who have gone before them are still present in the life of the church through the stories told about them. The stories told about growing up in the church and how Aunt Martha made a difference in the life of the children through her one on one Sunday school lessons. Or, how a teen’s life was changed because everyone in the church knew his name and they were present when he went through a tough time in school. The stories bind the Body of Christ closer together than any megachurch relationship could ever hope to do.

4.     Linked to the community

Small churches are often in small towns. And the small towns rely on the missions of the small churches to help those in need. The soup kitchens, afterschool activities, clothing and food pantries, assistance to the homeless could not be done in these small towns without the diligent work of the volunteers of the small churches. The mayor, police chief, the judge, and the fire chief fully support the actions of the small churches to build up the community. There is a positive and strong relationship between the church and the community and its officials.

5.     Resilient OR in other words they have Spiritual vitality-

Small churches have seen plenty of tough times. Most of them will recite a time when they almost had to close. But, they held strong in faith and gave every last ounce of what they had to either, ‘go out with every last effort’ or to ‘bounce back stronger than before’. They will openly describe how prayer made a difference in the resurrection of new life in the congregation. They will talk about how God wanted them to stay open and how through some miracle activity it happened. They will openly talk about other tough times that caused them to draw together and rely on each other more than ever before. They will talk about how these connections created stronger ties to one another. These times helped them become fully reliant on God and therefore they trust God in all circumstances. Being part of a congregation with this kind of spiritual vitality is BIG.

6.     Intergenerational

Small churches take Baptismal vows seriously. When the congregation vows to raise up children in the Lord, they are there every step of the way. The children grow up looking to each member as a parent, cousin, aunt, uncle, and grandparent. The whole church is involved with each other. The covenant vow is a perpetual commitment to all God’s people. Children who grew up in the church will continue to worship there with their own children even if they have to drive 30 miles or more. The connections among the members last a lifetime. Church fellowship activities involve the whole church. There aren’t singles groups or young married couple groups. There aren’t senior groups either. Small churches have fellowship activities that involve the whole church and the elderly get to know the little ones. The young adults know the retired folks and they can relate well to each other. The intergenerational church grows up as well rounded and versatile people. And in a world today where people are so isolated because of their electronics and jobs this is refreshing news. Be part of a small church and be enriched by these diverse relationships.

7.     Size counts

In the small church size counts a lot. You may wonder what I mean by that. People matter more than numbers, so in that respect size counts. Also, the attitude that bigger is not always better goes a long way in the small church. A lot of creativity happens in the small church. For a few dollars a Christmas pageant is put together even with just three children! Tears flow as the little ones sing in front of a congregation of twenty people. The event, the moment, is marked and etched in the forever story of the church.

A parishioner can stand up in church on a Sunday to say there is a need (a neighbor’s fence blew over in a storm) and before worship is ended a crew is ready to go and help.

Size counts and often more is done in less time than in a large church setting. I remember a small church hearing about the need of shoes for children in an orphanage. This congregation took to mission like ducks take to water. Within three weeks this tiny congregation came forth bearing 500 pairs of shoes!! Size counts because powerful things happen in and through small churches.

8.    Flexible

Small churches have learned how to be flexible, adaptable and risk takers in all circumstances. Because of the small size flexibility is possible to work with individual needs. An elderly member unable to climb the stairs to the sanctuary goes through the back door where the ramp is. Sometimes he is unable to be on time for the service to start. The congregation leaders alert the pastor that he is on his way in and the pastor waits a few extra minutes to start the service. How powerful it is as this member senses God’s love surrounding him as he is included because the congregation has adapted to his needs.

Small churches also take risks, sometimes big ones that large churches would never dare to do. Their stewardship is of the Kingdom and often they are more willing to let go of funds and empty their pockets for a spontaneous need or mission. They have amazing trust in God in these things because they have witnessed first-hand how God has brought them through troubled times and troubled waters.

9.     Know how to have fun

Small churches know how to be spontaneous and go out together for lunch. They know how to call people together for a last minute game night or a BBQ. It doesn’t take a lot of planning to put together a hayride or a bowling afternoon. Small churches take their fellowship coffee hour seriously and use it as a chance to catch up on the news of those they haven’t seen during the week. The simple things are the moments that make lasting memories.

Announcements in church about the birth of a new grandbaby are big news and a moment of rejoicing for all. Anyone can stand up at prayer time and ask for prayers. People willingly and openly weep and laugh with each other. The joy of the Lord is fully present and the overtone of the people is happiness.

10. Small is BIG in every way.

In summary, the small church is BIG in every way! “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body though many, are one body, so it is with Christ” The small church lives this out every day! Paul was clear about the need to rely on one another for the ministry of Jesus to continue, and the small church ‘gets it’! They are fully aware that the Church of Jesus Christ and their corner of the world of His Church is dependent on them to do their part as the hands and feet of Jesus.

So, take a look around you. Take a second look and remember if you are looking for a church home, the small church might be the very place you will find your true home. 

Along the Way…Peter

Sermon John 21:1-19 February 22, 2015 Lent 1

Along the Way…Peter

There are times in life where we find ourselves at a loss for direction. There are times when the situations around us call into question our purpose for life and how we should go forward. We find ourselves looking at our past and wondering if we have made the right decisions or if we should or could have done things differently. We look to the future and wonder what do we do next? How then shall we live? What or who will be our guide?

Perhaps that’s why I attach myself to this story of Peter in the 21^st chapter of John.

It is after the resurrection.

Jesus has appeared to the disciples twice already.

And Peter, clearly, along with the disciples finds himself without direction, and wondering about the ‘what next?’

They are struggling with the concept of this raised Jesus.

What does it mean?

Their lives as disciples seem to have taken a new direction.

Things don’t look the same as when Jesus first called them to follow him.

And in this struggle,

Peter announces that he is going fishing.

He returns to the one thing he knows best.

He returns to the job he had before he was ever involved with this fella Jesus.

When the future is a cloud of mystery isn’t that what we all do,

we go back to what we know?

We return to our comfort zones.

As the church of the 21^st century finds itself in a cloud of mystery about the future,

it too wonders about the choices and wonders if there is a future for followers of Jesus. Many people say,

“It will take a miracle to turn things around.”

Many people have gone back to what they know-

which is doing things other than being part of church.

Churches have gone haywire trying to find the right connection to bring young families and the next generation into the church.

There are contemporary services with screens , there are Saturday services and meetings in bars and at racetracks, there are all kinds of new ways of seeking to bring the church to the people of God.

There are amazing imaginative ways out there all trying to do what is right and all trying to answer this mystery of what next?

Which one of these ways is the miracle that will turn things around?

How do we as disciples today respond?

Perhaps the story of Peter can guide us.

Peter is the disciple we read about the most in Scripture. Peter and John are mentioned over 150 times compared to Thomas whose name is only mentioned 11 times.

We like Peter.

He seems human to us.

John is the beloved disciple and he doesn’t appear to have any flaws and so we struggle to relate to him.

But, Peter on the other hand is full of humanness.

He is reactive. He is loving. He is passionate. He is committed. He is jealous.

He is courageous. He is fearful. He is a risk taker. He is a betrayer.

He is faithful. He is confused.

                                                            He is a disciple.

It was Peter’s brother Andrew who introduced him to Jesus in the first place. Jesus saw something in Peter that he didn’t see in himself. Jesus called him the rock and it wasn’t until the second chapter of Acts that we see him rise to the occasion of his name.

There he stood boldly and gave the speech to the people of Jerusalem that the Spirit of God had descended on the crowd and that Jesus was and is both Lord and Messiah.

In that moment of Pentecost Peter was able to proclaim his faith like never before. In that moment, it became clear who Jesus was and how his life would take shape for the future. The mystery of the future unfolded in the midst of the present.

I think of the young woman Kayla Mueller who lost her life as a hostage by ISIS. She was an aid worker and crossed paths with the Presbyterian Church USA and shared her story. She knew the risks. She knew she could do other things. Yet, she chose to be an aid worker and peacemaker. “I find God, in the suffering eyes reflected in mine. If this is how you (God) is revealed to me, this is how I will forever seek you.”

She was sure about her faith and her desire to be a disciple of Christ.

For her the future of serving God unfolded in the midst of her present ministries. She learned within the moment of her doing how God would use her. Even as she faced her captors and as she faced in the uncertainty of her future she witnessed God in the present of her circumstances. She even wrote a letter to her captors about her assurance of God’s presence even in prison.

The loss of her life saddens us all yet,

the power of her witness and her faith

live on into the future with us all.

For us as 21^st century Christians the challenge is before us to wonder how we can articulate our faith. Are we able to hang on to the foundation given to us in Scripture?

I believe now more than ever we can and will

have the courage to declare

that we are followers of Jesus.

Jesus told his disciples that they would do greater things than he could do. Jesus told his disciples that what they agreed on in prayer, God would do.

We are those disciples today!

Peter is our example of the ordinary becoming extraordinary for the sake of Christ. He proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah before others did. He got out of the boat and walked on the water and in the same moment sank.

He like us could focus on Jesus and then in the same instant lose sight of him.

Each time he stepped out on faith and then faltered,

Jesus was there lifting him up,

holding him close,

restoring him to wholeness.

In his story we discover how God took this ordinary man and molded and shaped him, so that God would shine through.

The story of his life gives us hope. If God can take a fisherman with all of his quirks and use him to turn the world upside down and build the church, then God can do the same miracle with us today.

There on the seashore while Peter and the disciples are out fishing trying to make sense of this new direction, Jesus shows up.

He always does!

And when Peter recognizes him he goes passionately running to the seashore to be with him. Jesus restores Peter to himself and sends him out with words to love.

We may wonder if miracles still happen and we may have set out to go fishing because this thing about the future of the church is confusing. Yet, even as we face a new direction and a new way, Jesus shows up. He is standing on the seashore and we like Peter will go running passionately to be with him.

We don’t know exactly what the miracle is that God will do for the church to carry it into the future. We do know that we can and will be faithful disciples. We can like Peter become grounded in what we believe about God and learn from the Master the stories of Scripture.

I believe when those are solid in our lives, the rest will follow, the church will grow! Because in the midst of our doing in the present, the mystery of the future will unfold!

(Because when people see love, when people see joy, and when people experience God’s presence in the midst of God’s people they too become part of the fellowship and so it goes and so it grows.)

As we enter into this season of Lent

we will meet the people that Jesus encountered along the way to the cross.

We will be amazed to discover his love for them all and his joy in them.

We will seek Jesus and know him.

We will fall in love all over again or for the very first time.

We will discover that as disciples of Christ we have the power to affect great things.  

And Jesus is there guiding us on our way and sending us out to love. Amen.

resources: http://www.pcusa.org/news/2015/2/20/kayla-mueller-remembered/

       Unbinding the Gospel series-Martha Grace Reese.

Living into an Inheritance

Sermon 2 Kings 2:1-12 February 15, 2015

Living into an Inheritance

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day and many took the time to share from their heart the truth of their love for the one with whom they share their life. What a gift it is to have one day a year set aside for the purpose of bearing our hearts to others. Many young loves take advantage of the day to propose in marriage in hopes that the answer will be yes, and they can carry on together for the rest of their lives.

Love changes lives. 

Love unites people. 

And love, when shared, grows and builds families and communities.

The intimate relationship between Elijah the prophet and his apprentice Elisha is a lesson of love given, love shared, loved that transforms and love passed on.

When we receive the gift of love it changes our lives and we are richer for it. The moment shared in Scripture of the transfer of leadership from Elijah to Elisha is a powerful story of friendship, of faith, of partnership and continuity of leadership.

Elijah was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 9^th century B.C., during the reign of Ahab and his Sidonian wife Jezebel (1 Kings 16:29-34). His journey as a prophet was like other prophets before him, a challenging one to say the least. Elijah was not alone in his calling. Along the way he called Elisha out of a field to come and follow him and be his servant. Elisha was an apprentice to the vocation of being a prophet.

A prophet’s call is to bring the message of God to the people. The message he brings is the truth of God’s unfailing love and desire for the people to turn to God and live according to God’s ways.

Elijah’s departure in a fiery chariot has been a favorite of song writers and artists. His departure without a sign of death has left many hoping for his return through the clouds in the same manner that we hope for the return of Jesus.

After Elijah makes his fiery departure, Elisha is left holding the bag, so to speak. He is left with the mantle, the cloak of his mentor. He has asked that if he is to continue in the footsteps as a prophet at least for that mission to be double of what his predecessor had.

Would or could we have the courage to live into the inheritance we’ve been given to request and to move towards a double portion?

If any of us have received an inheritance from our parents or from long lost loved ones, what have we done with it? Did we bury it, did we spend it quickly, did we give it away, did we manage it in a way it could be carried into the future?

Our inheritance is one such as Elisha has received. It is an inheritance of love and it is double what we could ever have imagined. We like Elisha are true heirs of God’s love.

What we do with it and how we live into to it is what will make the difference for future generations. Elisha and Elijah are prophets living their lives fully dependent upon God. They place themselves vulnerable before God as they fulfill their ministry given to proclaim the mercy of God to the people. Their calling and their living it out is similar to the life of Jesus. Jesus gave up his life on the cross fully trusting God’s mercy for the world.

We are recipients of this mercy, this love and we like the disciples have the inheritance richer than we could imagine to take it and live into it.

We can wonder how we do that. Perhaps it’s with the audacity that Elisha had, to ask for more. Perhaps it is to take what we have received with determination and courage to serve with greatness and honor.

But, (as so many doomsday articles have been written and continue to be written about the church) we as mainline Christians in the 21^st century sit in the pews and are afraid of what living with audacity and courage looks like. Why, we might ask are we afraid? It is because most mainline Christians today (so the articles say) are unable to express their love of God and unable to express what they believe.

Since yesterday was Valentine’s Day I wonder how many of us who love others were able to demonstrate that love? Was it through flowers, cards, food, words, hugs, kisses, or acts of kindness? Were we able to express the difference this person makes by being part of our life? Was it difficult to describe what we love about the other?

In that same vein, what are the things we love about God, about church, about living in a community of faith?

What difference does it make that God is part of our life?

For many Christians growing up in the church has been so natural that they say it is like breathing, it is just who they are. This is wonderful news. Imagine growing up in a family where love is such a strong way of life that it too is like breathing and it becomes difficult to express because it is a way of life. This is a powerful inheritance.

But, I would challenge us today to say we have this inheritance

not to sit quietly by

but to take up the mantle

and carry it into the future

for the sake of the church of Jesus Christ!

We can do this together and we can do this as families and we can do this as disciples of Christ.

‘Do not be afraid’ is the mantra of Scripture.

DO not be afraid is what gave Elisha ability to go forth in God’s name.

We will live into this inheritance by learning how to speak our faith story.

We will learn how to share our joy of knowing God’s love in the way we live and speak.

Today is a good day to write down all the things in your heart about God.

We as mainline Christians are really good at the hands of faith part.

But, can we,

are we,

able to share the heart of faith part?

Can we articulate what gets us excited about being part of a church family?

Are we able to invite others to join with us?

Are we able to dance in the wonder and rejoice in witness of others who come to know God?

Are we excited when we see the children pray and show their relationship with God?

The purpose of Lent is to intentionally spend time developing a deeper relationship with God.

This year we will walk together as we worship on Sundays.

We will engage with our brothers and sisters in Christ for midday worship.

We will come together and learn from the Bible our heritage in Jesus Christ midweek in the evenings.

We will encourage one another and become comfortable with our own story.

And we will recognize how God has transformed us and called us to live into this marvelous inheritance of grace, mercy and love.

Come as guests invited and be part of the marvelous heritage.

Come, as followers of Jesus.

Come and live into the love God has for you.

Amen.