What if a pastor had a church of a hundred people and those 100 people were equipped and trained to go and make more disciples through the people God had put in front of them, and those new disciples made more disciples and this trend continued year after year. And also of those one hundred people that God trusted this pastor with, a large amount of them left the church every year to share the Gospel in other places. Some people would go to different parts of the world, some would go to different parts of the United States, and some would plant small house churches in their community. And what if God continued to fill this church with new believers to replace those who were sent out?
Would this be considered a successful church or a failure because they couldn't grow more than 100 members?
The goal today for some church models is to have as many members as possible by enticing non believers to come to church through creative strategies.They do this by watering down the Gospel and helping everyone feel comfortable where they are in life. This strategy draws the lost in and then it is the job of the church members to equip them. This has been effective for some churches and the number of young motivated believers is on the rise in the United States. However, this should not be the blue print for every church because it is not every Pastor’s identity.
So are small churches failing because they cannot get more people in the building or are they failing because they are trying too hard to get more people in the doors rather than focusing on equipping their current members to go and share the Good News outside of the church walls.
Are we spending too much time trying to impress people to come to our church when we could be equipping and sending out people from our church? Is our focus too much on our Pastor or a specific person to share the Good News in a presentation when we ourselves should be equipped and ready to reach others in any situation?
I have no problems with big mega churches. In fact, I am a member of one of the largest in my state and I believe that they do a great job at equipping new believers. They know their identity and stick with it. However, this model does not work for every pastor or church. I see little churches who look at these mega churches and think; “I am as great of a speaker as them, why don't we have 20,000 members?” Then they forget about their true identity in order to pursue a more attractive personality so they can grow in numbers. Not in faith or not in making disciples, but in numbers.
I have been to small churches with great people and congregations. However, their leaders are too busy trying to attract more people rather than discipling the ones they already have. The end result is that these people eventually wear down and give up on their small church and join the bigger successful church. Their pastors and leaders have stolen another churches idea and the members eventually realize that they can go to the real version rather than listening to a copycat version.
One church we attended was word for word copied after our home church. They used the same lingo and even the same hand soap. They didn't even change the opening countdown song. Isn't there a law against copywriting? They wonder why they can’t grow in numbers and continue to spend more time trying to figure out why they are struggling financially.
Your church leaders have no identity!
They stole it from another church! Your pastor was given only a certain amount of people to steward and disciple and he is missing out because he is focused on all of the people at another church.
Pastors often justify these actions by explaining that the more people we can draw into the church, the more people we can save. This is true, but if we do not have strong, equipped believers ready to disciple them, than they could be confused about their salvation and live a false life of believing that they are actually saved when nothing about them has changed. In essence, they are actually more lost than people who not believe.
Conclusion:
Mega Churches and Contemporary Churches are great and beneficial if their hearts and intentions are right. They will be successful in reaching the lost if their intentions are focused on glorifying God in everything they do. The challenge for them is that if the Sunday message is for the lost, than small groups and other curriculums better be spot on in equipping new believers and helping them fully understand what they are living for.
Small churches are also just as great if they do the same and stick with their true identity. Not everyone is meant to preach in front of 40,000 people every week, but we all have an obligation to invest and equip the people God has put in front of us. Both churches can be successful in reaching the lost and fulfilling God’s Great Commission if we understand our identity and stick with it.
The question is:
Can small church Pastors accept the fact that they may not be financially or publicly successful as larger churches? They may have to get another job just to meet the budget, but the eternal reward is still the same for both if their hearts are right.
Finally, it is not for us to decide how many people should be listening to us or attending our church. Our prayer is that we glorify God in everything we do to everyone He chooses to put in front of us while always pursuing the lost.
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