A number of years ago I had an experience which made me realize that our evaluation of “big” and “small” truly are shaped by our personal experience.
Julie
and I both are natives of a region of California known as the “Greater Los
Angeles Area.” When we moved to the far
western suburbs of Chicago in 1980, we relocated from a place of urban sprawl
to a place where there actually was empty land between the towns. We initially settled into a suburb of some
40,000 people…a town surrounded by woods and agricultural land…and it felt very
small to us.
When
we found a church, we became friends with another couple who had relocated from
rural North Carolina. The biggest town
they ever had seen was about 5000 people.
Needless to say, they thought our town of 40,000 was huge. And Chicago – some 45 minutes away – was
terrifying to them.
We’ve
experienced the same sort of thing when it comes to the size of a church. We spent nearly 25 years in a church of some
3000 people. The pastors that I
networked with all were from other megachurches. In fact, the church where we served was not
even the largest church in town. There
was another church, a few miles away, that had about 6000 people.
When
we came to Oregon so that I could serve as the preaching minister at Garden Way
Church (www.gardenway.net), it was a dramatic change, because this is a congregation of about 400
people. To many people in Oregon, our
church is on the larger side. There are
no megachurches in our immediate area, and there are many small, rural churches
in the region with congregations of 100 or less. So Garden Way is not small, but it definitely
is smaller than what we have been used to.
And
this is turning out to be a huge joy for us, because our church experience is
richer in so many ways.
One of
the assumptions about megachurches is that they have plenty of everything; that
resources abound. It is true that they
have larger budgets, and more staff…but all of this is really
proportional. They have many of the same
struggles and challenges as smaller churches, just on a different scale.
For
example, I know of a megachurch that has 2 full-time staff members who oversee
the Early Childhood Ministry. Imagine: two
staff members just for the kids from birth through age 5! These staff members oversee a team of some 90
people each Sunday morning who staff the nurseries and classrooms for this age
group. But there is a problem: to properly staff this ministry, they
actually need 120+ people each week. So
– just like smaller churches – they face the continual challenge of finding
enough volunteers to make the ministry function at the most desirable
level.
I’m
reminded of this whenever we have “holes” in the ministry here at our
church. It’s the same kind of thing we
used to face, just on a different scale.
But
here is what we like most about this wonderful, smaller church where God has
led us. Itis a
vibrant community where people truly interact across the generations. Julie has attended baby showers, and other
events, where women of all ages from the church were present. I’ve attended Men’s Retreats with men of all
ages.
At
least in our experience, large churches tend to be much more age
segmented. For example, when there are –
literally – hundreds of young couples in your church, then it is easy for the
young couples to spend virtually all their time with people like them. The annual Men’s Retreat at our last church
was almost exclusively attended by the young guys.
I
don’t say this critically, because I think it is natural for all of us to
behave this way. But in a church where
each age group is much smaller, than it becomes simpler…and easier…and more
natural…for people to mingle and interact across the generations.
And we
love this.
At our
last church, I had zero contact with the youth group. But here, I actually know some of the
teens. Not well, but enough to have a
conversation. We’ve made friends with
seniors and young singles and those in-between.
And we see others doing the same.
This
strikes me as incredibly healthy and it creates opportunities for natural,
relational mentoring. It creates a
greater sense (at least to me) of “the church”.
It solidifies a sense of identity and continuity and legacy that is
being passed on from generation to generation.
The rhythm of church life is based more on relationships, and less on
programs.
Yes,
there are times when I wish we did have more staff or a bigger budget. I wish we had a bigger team of volunteers
ready, willing, and able to serve. But –
as I said before – these things really are just a matter of scale. When I think about what really matters…when I
think about the importance of living and serving together as a community of
faith…I am finding more vitality and meaning in this smaller church.
I am
learning – in a new, different, and exciting way – what it means to “be” the
church of Jesus Christ.
- Bruce
