Change Agent

by | Jul 12, 2019 | Blog

Change Agent

At a recent leadership gathering for The VITAL Initiative, Dr. Tim Hill, General Overseer of the Church of God, made the following observation,

“The VITAL Initiative is changing the way the Church of God thinks about small churches!”

Dr. Hill’s insightful statement draws our attention to three critical realities for the future of the Church of God that are not easily discerned but must be confronted.

The Church of God has developed an unhealthy and negative pattern of thinking
about small churches that has become our ingrained organizational ethos.
Change is necessary! Change is difficult and unsettling, but we must have the
courage to lead the change from a missional heart.
Positive change is happening and must continue to assist the vast number of
small churches to take their place in the mission task that has been set before
us.
First, the Church of God has thousands of small churches scattered across the country, however we struggle to see the positive benefit from this reality due to our current organizational ethos. This ethos provides the underlying sentiment that informs our beliefs, customs, and practices that see small churches as failed large churches and the pastors serving these congregations as ineffective leaders and even as lazy and clueless. Every small church pastor fully understands the feeling of being considered second-class or sub-par by ministerial peers. These unfortunate misunderstandings and misrepresentations cause us to ignore the place these churches hold in the plan of God for 21 st century Kingdom work. Through the work of The VITAL Initiative, the place and power of small churches is being realized and highlighted. These churches grounded in local communities offer the transforming presence of Jesus to a broken world. Ed Stetzer writes in a November 2017 blog,

“The typical church has less than 100 in attendance. Many small churches are living on mission in their contexts, being about the business of the kingdom of God. Having forgotten the value of small, I think we need to relearn that the extraordinary kingdom uses “normal” churches for subversive effects on the culture.

 

Faithfulness and fruitfulness are more biblical measurements for church health, not church size.”

Second, the Church of God cannot FINISH the assignment God has given us without including small churches in this effort. However, we must change the way we think about small churches or we will never incorporate their important ministry in our denominational efforts. Changing an organizational ethos is extremely difficult. The VITAL Initiative proposes four guiding principles to bring change.

Do not be short sighted and event focused. It requires a long-term process to
generate organizational ethos change.
It is important to allow Biblical themes that promote the significance of small
things to inform ministry attitudes and ideas, such as faith as a grain of mustard
seed, leaven in the loaf, and two or three gathered in the name of Jesus.
Do not get lost in the carnality of a “bigger is better” mentality and miss the
power of the small and simple things around us.
Stop holding up the success of megachurches as the goal of ministry. Their
success is an anomaly; it is not the natural result of faithful ministry. Dr. Elmer
Towns says,
“Megachurches have made certain contributions, and we should praise God for their influence in our modern world, but never overlook the contribution of the small church as a protective womb where individuals are nurtured as they live
for Jesus Christ.”

Finally, as Dr. Hill pointed out, positive change is happening in relation to the ministry of small churches in the Church of God. The VITAL Initiative has been calling attention to the place and power of small churches for over ten years and we are more convinced now than ever that small churches are uniquely designed and situated to impact the 21 st century world for Jesus. Effective ministry in small churches is becoming an important focus for the church going forward.
Thom Rainer wrote in his July 2019 blog, read it here: https://thomrainer.com/2019/07/why-smaller-churches-are-making-a-comeback/,

“Two-thirds of churches have an attendance under 125. The smaller church is the norm, not the exception. And though the news has not been that promising for smaller churches in recent years, I do see some very promising signs for the years ahead.”

We must prioritize the ministry of small churches! That is a positive change