To start our conversation, let me pose two questions:

This sounds like an excerpt of a “what if” strategy session with a focus on evangelizing North America. However, this is not a plan for the future, it is a current reality. According to 2016 reporting, the Church of God has 5,260 small churches (mission stations) in the USA/Canada. This means that we have 5,260 pastors (missionaries). However, we have a two-fold missional problem:

The words of Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20 clearly defines our mission,

“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age “Amen.”

The VITAL Initiative proposes that small churches must become mission stations led by missionary pastors. Our primary impetus must be mission not church. It seems we have become experts at having church, designing church, marketing church, and building the church, but building the church is not our mission. God has a mission and the church is a vehicle to accomplish His mission on the earth. This is our defining reality because mission changes everything! Swiss theologian Emil Brunner said it this way, “The church exists by mission as fire exists by burning.”

Rob Wegner, a more contemporary writer says, “The mission of God is the origin of every expression of ecclesiology, every understanding of how the church is structured and why it exists. Mission is the sweeping force that runs through everything we are and all that we do. The people of God have always existed because of the mission of God and for the mission of God.

The church, filled with the Spirit, is now sent to represent Jesus by taking his message and his ministry to the entire world. Today, the church is the primary means for God’s mission in the world. The local church was created and designed to be a “sent” organism, not a stationary fortress unwilling (or unable) to go anywhere.”

Small churches are prime candidates for becoming authentic mission stations. The 5,260 small churches in the Church of God would create a powerful mission force in the USA/Canada if mission is embraced and prioritized. Author Paul O. Madsen writes, “The small church has a place in the mission task that can be filled by no other group.” Brandon J. O’Brien in his book, The Strategically Small Church agrees, “The small church is a strategic organism with unique gifts for carrying out God’s mission on earth.” Looking through the lens of mission changes how the small church is viewed. The Church of God must realize and utilize the place and power of small churches in 21 st century Kingdom work.