I’ve just finished a quarter century of preaching. We moved to North Carolina in May of 1982 . . . to Arkansas in September of 1984 . . . and to Texas in August of 1991.
Most of those years I’ve been in pretty visible pulpits — the College Church in Searcy and Highland.
But there was a real joy in that first ministry, too. It was off the beaten path. I preached to 140 wonderful people on the coast of NC.
And today I’m thinking of the many faithful people who serve as ministers (preachers, youth ministers, campus ministers, children’s ministers, etc.) in places that most never hear about. Rarely are they invited to speak at lectureships. No one is going to them asking them to write a book.
And yet month after month, year after year, and (sometimes) decade after decade they continue to minister faithfully.
For many of them, there is no multiple staff to share responsibilities with. There is not much time away. But there is still great joy.
Large churches grab most of the headlines. But small churches — places of deep fellowship and vibrant mission — are just as vital.
This morning I’m giving thanks for the many faithful ministers (I know, I know — we’re all ministers — but you know what I mean) scattered in these important places.
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Luke Timothy Johnson takes on the diversity of the gospel testimonies about Jesus. What do we do once we recognize it?
One option is to pretend the diversity isn’t there, attempting to collapse all the voices into one harmonized gospel.
Another option is to see only the diversity so that you’re unable to read all the witnesses as reliable.
But there is another possibility:
“Or will [those who notice the diversity] recognize that each of the compositions — human interpretations of a person whose life, death, and resurrection far exceeded the normal categories of human experience — has genuine value as testimony to some particular facet of Jesus, but none of them alone (nor all of them together) adequately or comprehensively captures the living reality that is Jesus?
“I choose the last option. I approach these writings as thoroughly human in their composition — and therefore necessarily limited in the ways all human writings are limited — but also as inspired by the Holy Spirit of Jesus himself — and therefore able to speak truly within their limited perspective and comprehension. I assume that none of these writings tell us everything that we would like to know . . . but that each of them individually speaks truly as it is able and all of them taken together speak reliably concerning the person in whose name they were written. I make no apology for this decision, and I gladly recognize that it is a decision based upon a prior conviction of faith. But if I did not start from such a faith, it is difficult to understand why I would be seeking to learn Jesus in this personal fashion anyway.” (Living Jesus
I wonder how well Lectureship (take your pick) would be received if all speakers were out of the limelight preachers? Maybe surprisingly well.
Mike, thanks for the shout-out to those serving in “important” places. I ministered at a church in southern VA that was such a blessing, like your NC experience.
There were real people there, with real victories in walking with Jesus, real problems too, but mostly they had a real sense of what “church” was all about. There was real fellowship (no church hopping here!); real love and care for one another. That experience shaped me as a minister…
Thanks for the encouragement for those ministering in small but important places. I have 2 brothers who are in the full time ministry, and both do a great job. One preaches for a church that has about 1,000 members. While he is blessing that congregation with his work, if he were to resign there would be literally hundreds of applicants to fill the job. Another brother heard the call of God to go to the mission field in Alaska and preached there for 10 years. It was a job few if any wanted, but one that he took so that the Kingdom would be increased. While I dearly love and respect both of them, I can’t help but be more impressed with the one who moved his family 4,700 miles away to answer the call of God. Small churches matter, because God’s Kingdom matters everywhere. And if you’ll do a survey of most of the preachers at the big congregations, you’ll discover the vast majority of them grew up, not in large churches, but in small ones.
I appreciate your ministry and I still miss your not being the preaher when I’m in Searcy!
A big-church brat is qb (Waterview, Montgomery Blvd., Sunset, A&M CoC, Paramount Terrace CC/Amarillo)…I love big churches and always have. But serving on the Search Committee for a senior minister was a serious wake-up call because the whole machinery - by which I mean, all of the tacit assumptions brought to the search project - is built to funnel people upward in congregation size.
To get the crass, obvious stuff out of the way: salaries increase with membership, which inevitably creates a forcing gradient in the direction of larger and larger congregations as one’s career, er, “matures.”
But it’s also clear that Jesus’ parable about the talents has been co-opted for a subtle but still nefarious purpose. If you are uniquely gifted in the ways we typically think of “ministers” being gifted - eloquence, managerial competence, charisma, so-called “leadership” - somehow the large churches deserve you more than the smaller ones. Right?
Which brings qb to Henri Nouwen, who moved in precisely the opposite direction, from Harvard’s ivy walls to the bedpans of L’Arche. Somehow, that example resonates more fully with the example of Jesus, who eschewed the fawning crowds and the wealthy, influential elites in favor of a washbasin and a towel.
Please don’t hear qb saying that nobody should be in a pulpit for a large church. He’s not saying that. But the machinery, as currently expressed in committee charges, job descriptions and our embedded assumptions, caters to the ambitious, not to the empty-of-self. And it seems to qb that occupying the pulpit of a large church places an extraordinary premium on that most elusive of pastoral qualities: true humility.
qb
So true. There is a guy who has been my friend, beloved friend, counselor, co-worker here in Denver since 1977. He listens. He supports. He has been with his congregation 30 years. A group of under 100. Married for about 35 years. Three daughters all 4.0 in high school and 4.0 on college and grad school for some of them. Amazing guy. Most people have never heard of him and if I mentioned his name you might not know of him. Yes, you are right. God is good to these churches and the men who serve them.
Thanks Mike for the words that encourage. They mean a lot.
Mike- Thanks for the line about small churches being “places of deep fellowship and vibrant mission.” It is very true. I think we as American tend to overlook churches under 200 people. We tend to think they can’t do much, therefore pushing them even further into “we might as well just try to get to be a big church.”
We have forced small churches to “fight” to be a big church, to dream big, to think about all the members it could have, all the activities, all the great musicians, all the cool technology if we only had the members to pay for all of that, our “clubhouse” could be so grand!
We may have our words right about “God’s Kingdom being everywhere,” but when will that transfer into our actions. When we go into a town, when are we gonna start looking for a small church that is vibrant, provides deep & intimate fellowship, and is doing what God has called it to do- whether that be to teach God’s word, help the homeless, be a place of healing, provide a place for all to participate, fight for social justice, whatever…
Nothing wrong with large churches! People can do great things there, but how often do we consider taking our teenagers to a church of 80 that has 15 teens or would we prefer our child in a church of 1500 with 300 teens?
I hope that we recognize and give ourselves accordingly to God’s Kingdom that we may be Jesus Christ to this lost world through small churches, big churches, organizations, schools, whatever…
“Cast in this unlikely role,
Ill-equipped to act
With insufficient tact
One must put up barriers
To keep oneself intact”
- Rush, ‘Limelight’
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have ben saying for years that we need to hear from preachers other than name-brand ones. The church I attend has been having a youth rally for over 13 years, and each time they have had the same guy come and speak.
*swoon*
Peart is a perceptive observer, Jeanna…always has been. I just wish he channeled his interpretive energies into something other than pure, unadulterated humanism. In this case, he has (and you have) nailed the diagnosis, at least: Popular acclaim is at best a poor indicator of substance.
qlerxstb
Mike,
Thank you for your thoughts. I think as a brotherhood we make the mistake sometimes in believeing that if you are a large growing church then you please God and He is glorified in your growth. If you are a small or church that isn’t growing … God can’t be happy.
This is so untrue.
Our goal is simple: “Bring glory to God by SHARING the gospel with as many people as possible.â€
But we want to believe that glory is only brought to God through embracing and accepting of the gospel. And that’s not so. God is just as glorified in the rejection of the gospel as He is the embracing of it. If that were not true you’d have to write off many of the prophets as failures. You’d have to write off even the Christ himself as a failure because he died with only a handful.
Our problem is we want to believe that God is only glorified when churches are full to capacity. And when all the programs are up and running correctly. And that’s not so. Instead God is always glorified through the sharing of the gospel to others. Whether they accept it or not.
God’s not just happy with the large growing churches, but also with the small faithful churches who are doing everything they can to reach the lost. And God bless those churches that are growing and may God bless those churches that are doing everything they can to keep their heads above water.
I’m very thankful to be a part of a growing church. But when and if it quits growing, I must continue to share the gospel. In that God will be glorified whether it’s accepted or not.
The little country church where Daddy preached when I was in grade school…about 65 people…has produced elders, deacons, teachers, missionaries, faithful marriages, faithful children…all the way from the great grandparents I never knew who were baptized in a brush arbor meeting after the Civil War…to the families of grandparents who grew up with my grandfather…to those who were parents and children as I was growing up…and now are grandparents themselves with faithful families…the good that came from that country church will never be known this side of heaven. Although I worship with a large congregation now, I cherish the memories of Reagor Springs and the godly people who influenced me.
Thanks for this, Mike. Congrats on the 25-years of doing your thing!
In growing older, I’ve come to believe in deep, deep mystery. Somehow it seems to me that “inspiration” is directly related to one’s proximity to the Source of all inspiration. So that those closest to Jesus write in a way that qualifies as “inspired.”
So today, those closest to this same essence write and speak out of a different place and in inspired ways. Such a view alters one’s attitude and approach to scripture. Frankly, once this is understood, scripture isn’t as “important,” at least in relative terms as before. But out of this vision, Jesus rises again and again and becomes more and more and more completely the beginning, the end, the center and the depth of all that really matters. From this place of “unknowing” we can ourselves arise and walk hard after him in this very challenging world–a world that, as with him, remains our only assignment.
Mike
To go right along with this topic is a book I just finished about a missionary in Southern Rhodesia who lived an incredible life as one emptied out of self and given over to the small congregation he served. It is called Dust Diaries by Owen Sheers. Well worth reading, not your usual fare about missionaries, more poetic. But he really took on the life of Jesus to those he served.
Places I’ve served:
Berea, Mississippi
Ridgely, Tennessee
Iuka, Mississippi
Maud, Alabama
These are tiny towns or communities with many good hearted people who love God and serve in their little part of the world. I think the average size church among all denominations is still about 100.
Peace.
Thanks for the encouragement and the example of longevity & endurance!
Mike,
I was one of the 140 and I am thankful that you AND Diane spent time in coastal NC. The two of you coming to that small little church and the time that the job allowed for your deep involvement in the lives of the members made a profound impact on the direction of my life. The unique example of christian marriage that you and Diane demonstrated has been instrumental in mine and Kim’s life. In fact, tomorrow makes 21 years.
Small church ministers make a difference and so do their wives.
Thanks Mike and Diane!
I preach in a very small church in central New York well out of the lime-light, so thank you for remembering us. In return, I am very thankful for all of the “lime-light” people who help people beyond their local congregation lead people in the way of Jesus through such avenues as lecturships, books, journals, etc…
BTW… There was once a congregation that I was “trying out” as a pulpit minister for. Half-way through the weekend, it was clear that this particular congregation was not the place for me. However, after I preached on Sunday morning, I actually had someone give me an interesting suggestion that would supposedly “help me” in my ministry: preach more like Randy Harris and Jef Walling. I kindly said “thanks for the advice” but wanted to suggest that they contact Randy Harris and Jeff Walling to see if either preacher would be interested in being their next pulpit guy.
I preach at a very small country church in the hill country. We get alot of visitors during hunting season. Thanks for remember us today.
Again, I’m a day late. grrrr!
First, Felicidades - quarter of a century is a remarkable marker! May there be at least a couple more quarters of century for you.
My dad preached for over 63 years, all but one were newly planted or very small congregations. IMHO :), he was most successful in every one of them….he preached, he taught, he baptized, he encouraged; he married and buried, and usually held down another full time position since these small congregations were unable to award him full support salary. He humbly worked with quiet dignity, loving his ministry for the LORD as a “preacher of the Gospel” and he certainly blessed my life!!!
qb mentioned salary increase and while that may be a motivating factor that is not always the strongest. I preach in a small rural congregation and I have many friends who preach in small congregations and our struggle is more in the area of family. A larger congregation has more children and that would provide a larger peer group for our children.
The biggest struggle I have with our congregation is that there are many Sundays that my boys are in Bible class all by themselves. That is very disheartening for Parents. And when we do have young families that visit they usually leave and go to the larger congregation because they have more to offer for their children.
Thanks so much for these heartfelt responses. And blessings on all of you who are ministering faithfully!
Jeremy, I purposely used “gradient” and “incentive” to describe the system in which you operate, rather than trying to generalize the actual motivations or behavior of full-time, paid ministers, which would be both unfair and ignorant. My main point is that we have borrowed so heavily and freely (and perhaps uncritically) from the commercial culture in which we live that we create gradients (like the salary gradients) simply as a matter of course. Whether an individual person, like you, actually moves in that upwardly mobile direction for those reasons is another matter entirely.
The more I think about the cultural assumptions deeply embedded in and embodied by our churches, the more such perverse gradients come to light. (Maybe I should just quit thinking about them.)
So I hope and trust you took no offense from my post. It was directed at US, not YOU. We are the ones who vote with our feet and our bank accounts, and not surprisingly we end up fashioning kingdoms that look remarkably like the kingdoms of this world. Then we go look for guys we can hire to come in and ratify our preferences in the pulpit and the boardroom. As He said, we reap what we sow.
qb
The congregation in NC is a great place. I go there while I am on vacation at Kure Beach.
http://www.matthewsblog.waynesborochurchofchrist.org
QB,
No offense taken. I know that the “gradient” mindset is there. I just wanted to offer other reasons for wanting to work with a larger church.