The other day I was thinking about my experience as a small church pastor. I spent some time reflecting on what I would do differently if I were to do it over again. My top five are…
1 – I would spend more time in personal evangelism.
The BEST THING A PASTOR CAN DO IS LEAD PEOPLE TO JESUS! This is critical in that it is what the church is supposed to do, but it is also critical in that it develops momentum! When people start seeing others come to Christ they either get excited and involved or they leave.
As the pastor of a small church most everything that happens is likely to end up on your plate. At some point you have to make a decision about priorities! If I had to do it over again I would choose evangelism EVERY TIME!
Your decision as the pastor of a small church to commit to personal evangelism will largely determine how effective your church is in bringing the unsaved to Christ.
2 – I would start more and different style worship services.
When I was pastoring at a smaller church we started a Saturday night service. I learned several things through that experience: 1) people will serve if there’s a place that scratches their itch. Most people don’t serve because the role where they would find the most fulfillment is already filled! So start a new service! 2) The more services you offer, the more convenient it is to come to church. Some people don’t like the words “convenience” and “church” in the same sentence, but I say, “Do whatever it takes to get people into church!” 3) People won’t be so quick to resist if it doesn’t “mess” with their worship time and genre preference. I realized that when we were worshipping at a different time (and sometimes in a different place) what we did and how we did it was not threatening to the existing congregation, and this enabled us to take some creative license.
3 – I would blog and promote it shamelessly.
The blog is one of the best tools of communication I am aware of! I would blog about church life (much like I’m doing here @ Northgate) and promote the blog as the best way to “be in the know” about the church! Often times churches rely on bulletins or newsletters to “get the word out.” The problem is that at best they are weekly publications! A blog can provide up to the minute information and commentary on church life! Every pastor should blog but it’s probably even more critical for the small church pastor to do so because of the ability to clarify “issues” and to cast vision!
4 – I would use other church’s resources without apology.
I would not insist on being original! It’s easy to spend large chunks of time creating “Kinda good” what someone else with better resources and more know-how has already created “Really good”! A few links here might help:
- From Lifechurch.tv (click here)
- From Sermon Spice (click here)
- From churchmarketingsucks.com (click here)
5 – I would build more teams.
One of the things that I did fairly well in a small church was to build teams (e.g. Hospital Care Team; Worship Team; Drama Team; Small groups; etc.). Looking back I realize that the more teams I had in place the more I could focus on the things that only I could do (e.g. preaching, prayer for the church, casting vision). I would build teams like crazy beginning by teaching the theology of spiritual gifts and their use, and secondly by telling stories (all the time) of people who’s lives had been changed through service!
If you’ve ever been a part of a small church or you are the pastor of a small church, I’m interested in your feedback on this post!
Filed under: The top five things, church, leadership
Paul,
Fantastic post, brother! I’m the first comment only because all of the small-church ministers are finishing their sermons up on this Saturday night (mine was done early–about 3pm today!)
I love your ideas…and will share more thoughts with you after the Colts win the Super Bowl. But wanted to let you know late tonight how much I appreciate your thoughts.
Talk soon.
I grew up in a small church. We’d be excited if we had 50 people on Sunday morning. We used to do dorky things like make our visitors stand up, introduce themselves, and clap for them. I cringe to think! Although we always wished and prayed for more people (and invited every friend we had), I have wondered what God’s purpose is for keeping that church small still today.
Because the church was small, there was an over abundance of opportunity to serve. My pastor asked me to be President of our youth group. Organizing our activities, fundraisers and running meetings were some of my responsibilities. Prior to this experience I was kind of a quiet kid. I doubt that if I was part of a large church I would have had that opportunity. The more extroverted teenagers would have stood out more than me.
My point? I agree with your advice, especially the last point. I would urge pastors of small churches to realize that there is great potential in every individual in their congregation. Nurture that. Perhaps the reason your congregation remains small is because there is someone there who wouldn’t have a chance to grow if it were otherwise. “Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9
I was going down the list of my favorites and came upon your website address which my grandsons had added for me. This is the first time I checked it out. I have heard so many great things about you, Pastor Paul, and must say I am impressed after spending a great deal of time on here. I not only checked out todays entries but went into the archives.
I am a Roman Catholic and our Church is a large beautiful stone church but I wish it was smaller. I would feel more comfortable in getting involved. We, like your people, are fortunate in that our Priest is young and very knowledgeable.
I enjoyed the pictures, as I had also heard about your special family.
I am looking forward to meeting you.(When the weather is a little more pleasant)
Take care,
Janet (Shari Harmon’s mom)
P.S. Couldn’t believe you got such a serious picture of Jeff!
PPS. Being from small town PA., happy to hear you are a Steeler fan. NEXT YEAR!
Excellent thoughts. I love sharing the journey of others in leadership and discovering new ideas and concepts from around the world.
As a Leadership Coach in a great youth ministry in the UK I am really trying to develop my own thinking on so many issues but particularly the aspect of leadership development and why people don’t make it!
Any thoughts would be greatly received.
I am wildly curious to know how you started a drama team in the small church setting. Did you see a pressing need for one? Did you zero in on one or two people who seemed like that was just their niche? How many people were involved directly? Once it was underway, what further part did you have? Did you ever terminate that ministry? What did that group do in the church specifically? Did they grow in numbers/fellowship with one another?
OK–the Colts have one, so here I am, as promised!
One of the things I struggle with in our small church is trying to do the more you are talking about (adding more services, building more teams)with the small number of people that are at the church. While those things can certainly help the church grow, you have to start with what you’ve got…and for us, that seems to be a difficulty.
Maybe I underestimate the people. Maybe I just need to ask them to do…
As far as personal evangelism, you are right on. The minister should model…and it will create excitement and a sense of obligation in the people to do the same. Especially in smaller communities, ministers should be involved in the life of the community to make those connections which lead to the sharing of the Gospel.
Brandon,
First of all let’s hear it for the Colts! YEA! WOO HOO!
OK, now down to the serious stuff…
1) As far as starting new services, etc. some of the best advice I ever received I received from a superintendent of mine, Larry Thomas. When I first went to a small church (app. 50 people) he told me, “You are going to have to build a church around them.” That simply meant that while I was charged to love and care for them I could not be consumed with the church but must move outside of the church and do the work of an evangelist. God allowed me to make some strategic connections and in time the church grew to app. 150 largely through new converts and the arrival of “de-churched” people (people tired of, hurt by, or disappointed by the church).
Bil Cornelius and Bill Easum in their book, “Go Big” say that it is possible for one pastor to build a church of up to 200 by his/her own efforts (assuming the power of the Holy Spirit). I can testify to the rightness of this. Dude, if you wait on the typical small church mindset to come along you’re going to be spinning your wheels for a long time. I’d recommend you read “One Size Doesn’t Fit All” by Gary McIntosh. He outlines the various stages of growth and identifies the various paradigm shifts a church must go through as they grow. It’s a good read.
Having said all of that… let me say to you give your people every chance to get involved! The crazy thing is that once new people start coming to Christ the “churched” will either get excited or leave… I’ve seen both.
As far as evangelism… at this point Brandon, you may be the only one with the drive and the vision to move out into the community for the purpose of winning people to Jesus. I would encourage you to read the old classic by Horatius Bonar, “Words to Winners of Souls.” It is a classic that reads well and will fire you up for the work to be done!
The work that God has called you to as a bi-vocational, small church pastor is a challenging one, but one of the most rewarding when you jump in and see God working in and through you. My heart and prayers are with you man!
I checked out your website the other day bro! Keep up the great work and keep pastoring/leading for Jesus!
Peace!
Paul
Lori,
Great questions from a great drama team leader!
I saw the need and identified the person to lead this ministry. Up until that point she had not been engaged… but when drama was offered she jumped in and flourished!
There were app. 5 people on the drama team.
Basically what would happen would be that I would give her the direction of the sermon(s) and she would plan the dramas around the theme. The team would do a run over early in the week and either they or I would make the appropriate changes so that the drama and the sermon worked together.
I did not write, direct, or act. I simply set the direction in terms of the sermon. Occassionally I would make suggestions, but that’s about it.
That ministry was still running strong when I left.
That group, for the most part, was involved in multiple ministries (e.g. small group leader, worship team). They did however have fellowship with one another and they did increase in numbers as the need demanded.
For the most part the theme was identified and the drama leader wrote, recruited, directed, and starred (often) in the dramas.
Melody,
I think you’re on to something here! After reviewing our growth patterns, reading the literature, and talking with pastors of other larger churches it seems to me that often the smaller churches are the ones bringing people to Christ. Once the individual has been a follower of Christ for a while they begin to look for other/more “options” in the church and often end up leaving the smaller church for a church that has more options.
We hear this all the time.
On the one hand this drives me nuts because I want the church to grow because of unchurched/unsaved people coming to Christ! I DON’T want to grow at the expense of other Kingdom-minded churches… and yet I realize that I can’t always do anything about this.
As a former small church pastor I have a special spot in my heart for small churches. I believe that God will use Northgate to resource and encourage small church pastors too.
At the end of the day, I celebrate the work done in many small churches and I want to give them everything we can from prayer to resources to encourage and build them up!
Thanks for your insights!
Peace!
Paul
Paul, first, thanks for stopping by.
Second, good post. I planted a church that became small. No matter what we did, I couldn’t get it to grow. We had a lot of unchurched and dechurched people in the area that were connected to me and some of the people in our church, but would not go to church. They loved us and what we did, but for some reason would not show up.
I agree that being evangelistic is a key point. I am a big fan of Servant Evangelism (www.servantevangelism.com). Not as a marketing ploy, but as a genuine way to reach into the community. When done 2-3 times per month, you get to be with and care for non-Christians in the community.
I also agree that you have to give people a place to serve that fits them. You have to challenge people to step up and you have to be willing to alter the “vision” to fit the people that God has given you. You also have to train the people well so that after the people who are passionate about an area leave, they do not try to keep holding on to that ministry because they have always done it.
I try to stay focused. I know this may seem to fly in the face of your advice to spread out and do new things, but I also think we can stretch ourselves too thin. There is a fine line between starting new things to help people find their place and giving yourself too many things to keep track of.
This is my take, but I also planted a church rather than assume the leadership of an existing small church. There is a very big difference in what is needed. In a plant, starting all those things would distract from the key need to build the core ministries.
[...] Dialogue for the Small Church My friend, Paul, has a great post on his blog about things he would be focusing on if he were the pastor of a small church. Go read [...]