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How the Family Church Grows
Honest talk about leading change in the smaller congregation.
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Churches are getting smaller and larger"—that's the analysis of some who read church demographics. As the culture shifts, the two survivors seem to be large, full-service churches, and small, intimate-family churches.
It's overwhelming for a
smaller church when it suddenly becomes the "in" church; people feel invaded —Kathy Callahan-Howell. Gary: The small church sees itself as a family. People are connected through ethnicity, vocation, or place. Often there are several generations. People in small churches interact with each other outside of church—at the post office, at the Lions Club, at the turkey shoot, or the Friday-night football game. They drink coffee at the cafe in the morning before they go to work. Martin: Which creates a climate of intimacy and a strong level of accountability that can be uncomfortable. It also makes evangelism difficult. How do you evangelize someone who has watched you go through your teen years—or watched your dad go through his teen years? Kathy: In my denomination, a church of, say, two hundred is considered big. There's a denominational factor in defining "small." I pastor in an urban neighborhood and, in one sense, just like a rural church, my people have lots of interaction with each other outside of church. But in contrast to Martin's setting, in an urban setting, people in small churches have huge networks, so evangelism isn't as hard. Martin: Many people in a rural setting see themselves as a CEO; they are management, and the pastor may be viewed as labor. Gary: Most older churches have developed bell cows—matriarchs and patriarchs who have carried them through difficult times. But then a lot of young pastors arrive with a kind of military mindset: "I'm ordained, I'm going to lead, and this old guy needs to get out of my way." In a small church, different people can lead parades around different things. Good leaders have sense enough to know when they need to be out front and when they need to be in the back somewhere. Over time, as people see you're not there for your aggrandizement, more and more trust devolves to you. |             |
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