The pandemic has changed so much in our society and that includes churches. When my church resumed in-person worship in the spring after a year away, we lost some people. One just decided not to come back and others are now watching via video for health reasons. Another one ended up in memory care when his dementia became too much for his family to handle alone. It was a small number compared to others, but we are a small church after all.
The pandemic has forced us to reassess things as a faith community and one of those things we are looking into is selling our building and moving. What’s interesting is that among the other Disciples of Christ congregations in the Twin Cities, three of them are selling their buildings and at least two of them will continue ministry in another place. Including my congregation, all three have become very small communities of faith.
There is something in mainline churches about small churches, which I mean is that we are uncomfortable with them. Small seems like a failure and let’s face it, Americans like big things. Over the last few months, I’ve been listening to the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast about the story of megachurch pastor Marc Driscoll and his former megachurch in Seattle, Mars Hill. It was a growing megachurch with campuses around Seattle and the Pacific Northwest at its height. No doubt, a lot of people thought that such a large church was a sign of success, but if you listen to the podcast, you learn all was not well within the walls of that church.
It’s common to look at these small communities and think that they are done. Pastors and middle judicatories will look and think that since the community can’t afford a pastor, it’s time to close this church and use the assets fund other needed parts of the wider church.
Mainline Protestant denominations are wedded to a certain idea of church that is a mid-20th century version of church: a congregation with an active youth program a membership of over 200 and a full-time pastor. Small churches are none of these and when a church doesn’t meet this criterion, denominations think it’s time to put the old church out to pasture.
But are we giving up on small churches too soon? Does our version of what a healthy church looks like need to die?
Small churches or mini churches was the topic of a recent article by Religion News Service. Journalist Bob Smeitana visited churches in the Midwest that were tiny communities worshipping less than 65 people. What I drew from the article was in the aftermath of COVID that a minichurch might become a trend. They might be churches led by bivocational pastors and maybe even pastors or lay people who take no salary.
Minichurches are different animals compared to what we think of as a regular church. How do you share ministry? How is the church governed? We are used to church boards and having a quorum, how do you do that if your membership is below 30 people? How do you move beyond programming, which has been the way churches have been organized in America for decades?
I think there is room for minichurches in the mainline tradition, but we have to get used to how these small communities of faith might be the future. But for that to happen, church leaders have to make room for these kinds of churches, not just physically, but in the minds and hearts of pastors and church leaders.
Recently someone started coming to the church and is excited to be a part of the community. She was amazed at how faithful this community was even at its size. She saw that this community can still participate in God’s work in the world.
But small is considered a failure and if a congregation is a failure, it should close. But as Karl Vaters says, why is growth or closure the only two options for churches? What if there is a third option, where have small and healthy congregations? Smallness isn’t a problem to be fixed.
Jesus had a small group of followers who were the densest people in the known world. And yet this handful turned the world upside down through Jesus. Being small doesn’t exclude us from being used by God to do God’s work in the world.
I think what helps a small church become a healthy church is not more people, but engaging in spiritual practices together. It’s about coming together each Sunday to hear the word preached and where we are reminded that we are forgiven and redeemed by God through communion. It’s studying Scripture together or praying together on a weekly basis. It’s having contemplative worship where we pray and listen to God in scripture and song. We don’t practice our faith in order to please God and we will mess up. I tend to think my prayers are shitty. Having autism/ADHD, I can pray about one thing and end up thinking about climate change and why we need nuclear energy. But these practices can bring help us draw closer to God.
There was a book I read years ago that had the title Small Churches are the Right Size. I think it’s time for mainline churches to believe that God can do a lot with small churches. God seems to do a lot with small things. It’s God’s MO.
On the Podcast #1
In 2019, a professor at Luther Seminary in St. Paul wrote an article with a provocative title, “Will the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) Be Gone in 30 Years?” I recently chatted with the author Dwight Zschilie about what mainline Protestant congregations are doing wrong and how things can turn around.
On the Podcast #2
In 2008, I was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome, which is on the autism spectrum. One of the first things I thought about after my diagnosis is whether I could still be a pastor. How can you be a pastor with autism?
Thirteen years later, I’m still a pastor. I talked with fellow pastor on the spectrum, Dwight Welch about the blessings and challenges of being an autistic pastor. This is one episode to listen to because you might have an autistic person as a pastor down the road.
In the Pews
Activist Shane Clairborne writes about the execution of Julius Jones that didn’t happen, thanks to Oklahoma Governor Kevin Sitt, who made the decision after much prayer. Clairborne talks about the governor’s prayer, the prayer Jones’ supporters and prayers to end the death penalty.
In another death penalty case, David French talks about a case involving John Henry Ramirez who is sentenced to die for killing a man in 2004. Ramirez has become a Christian and would like his pastor to come and touch him as he is put to death in Texas. The state won’t allow it and the case has gone to the Supreme Court. French talks about grace for this condemned man and why it matters.
Americans tend to look at sin as something individuals do. However, the Bible shows that whole societies and institutions can sin. In the inaugural episode of the Good Faith podcast, David French and Curtis Change talk about the latest scandal to rock Liberty University regarding their lack of concern towards women who were sexually assaulted by male students and how institutions like Liberty can sin as much as any one person.
Faith and Leadership interviewed Orthodox Priest Michael Plekon, the author of the book Community As Church, Church As Community where he says churches are about struggling to be church in a particular place.