What Can a Small Church Do

What does "Above all else" mean? More than any other quality, this one is a must. It will make up for lots of shortcomings. A church - small or large - can make some mistakes and still do well with God's mercy, but it cannot continue to exist and thrive without this quality. Peter admonished..."And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins" (1Peter_4:8). One can easily see the importance of this in Jesus' statement about what the greatest commandment are. "And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' " (Matther_22:39). If it is so vital that we love our neighbor, how much more so our brother? Do you love your brethren sincerely? There is nothing short of heaven itself that will equal how wonderful it is when brethren take care of one another - in sickness and in health, care for one another - for better or for worse, and genuinely love each other - in good times and bad. People are so attracted to a church where the brethren deeply care about each other. John said it plainly: "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, because he laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1John_3:14-16). Every congregation of the Lord, large or small, should be a loving church - where people are willing to lay down their lives for one another. It is the mark that Jesus said all men could use to tell if men were genuine disciples of His.
Yes, even a small church can be a big church - in God's eyes - if its members will love one another sincerely.

We need to be reminded often of who we are. Paul said God redeemed us to "purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good work" (Titus_2:14). The idea that a church has to be large before the members ever do anything is completely self-defeating. It's kind of like a fat guy saying, "When I lose some weight, I am going to start exercising and eating right." Silly? Yes! But that is no more silly than a church that says it is going to start to do many great things when it grows large. We grow by doing, and we are charged with doing good works. That is how we show our faith. James_2:26 says, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." If we are not exhibiting good works, we are not faithful as the body of Christ, no matter how true our public teaching may be.

We know that whether or not we absent ourselves from the worship can determine whether we remain spiritually alive or not (Hebrews_10:24-26). Proper worship can mean life or death to a church. Consider what Paul said of those "not discerning the Lord's body" in taking the Lord's supper (1Corinthians_11:26-30) Vs. 30 concludes, "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." Some brethren have misunderstood these verses to mean that one should not take the Lord's supper if he is an "Unworthy" person. "unworthily" is an adverb, and has to do with the manner one takes the Lord's supper. If one fails to think about the body of Jesus and the blood of Jesus when he takes it, he is eating and drinking damnation to himself. We must worship from the heart - "in spirit and truth" (John_4:24). Each item of our worship should be engaged in enthusiastically.Preaching should be sincere and with enthusiasm. Some of our preachers could take a lesson from Apollos. We usually point to the passage in Acts_18:24-26 to show his shortcomings in knowledge, but he had this part right. He was "fervent in spirit." Men go to sleep on preachers who are "tired and boring" themselves. Of course, it is certainly not all on the part of the preachers. Those listening need to give their undivided attention, sincere thought and open their eyes, their hearts, and their Bibles.Prayers should be "fervent" prayers (James_5:16). Jesus spoke against repetitious prayers that had no meaning. Do your prayers express what is in your heart, or are they just what you have always heard said? We certainly have much to pray about in our time. Songs should be sung sincerely and from the heart. Ephesians_5:19 should be noted not just for the absence of instruments, but because it tells us what the instrument is that we should use. It says, "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." Could it be that the reason why some churches have pitiful singing is that they have no melody in their hearts? Singing is good when brethren open their hearts, then open their mouths and sing with joy. Certainly we can, and should, study and be taught to be better singers, but that will not help if we are not singing from the heart. Even our giving should be willing and as 2Corinthians_9:7 says, "Every man according as he purposed in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver." Do you have a heartfelt desire to give to God, as God has blessed you?Worship will not be dull, boring, put you to sleep, etc. when it is done with the kind of heartfelt zeal that the Bible teaches. Small churches, and large ones alike, need to put something into their worship services. We can preach better, listen better, sing better, pray better, take the Lord's supper better, and even give better. It will take only two things to do: A better attitude, and doing it from the heart. Examine yourself, please! More teaching to know how to better worship God. Remember, even Jesus was requested ... "Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples

A Personal Observation from Bill Watkins

From this article on what a small church can do, we have seen that large churches have no advantage over small churches. My wife and I have worked with both large and small congregations. Some were as small as 10-15, others as large as 350 members. What we have found is that the people that make up larger churches sometimes break up into smaller groups, called “clicks”. We have also found that it is easy to “get lost in the crowd” and nobody notices. Furthermore, there is often a “let George do it” mentality so people become lazy. By far, some of the most productive churches are smaller groups who get to know each other, along with their strengths and weaknesses, and work together for the good of the Lord.

God doesn’t demand more than I am capable of doing, but He does demand my best, and your best. When I fail to attend all the services of the church, I am telling the congregation – and the community – that the church really is not very important to me. Would your employer accept that? Certainly, there will be times when we will not be able to attend because of sickness, jobs or when out of town, but all things being equal, we should be in attendance more than we miss.

Jesus said it best and Matthew recorded Him in Matthew 6:33: “Seek first the kingdom of God.” The question that begs to be answered is this, “Am I really giving Him my best? Am I really making a sacrifice to serve my Savior?” Church attendance is a commandment you know. That commandment is binding on you and me for all time and all people. He did not accept second best under the Old Testament, nor will He accept the crumbs that fall from your table this day and time. He will not reward anyone lavishly for second rate or shoddy workmanship today. I think the articles will remind us that, although we are small, we can be effective in the Lord’s work. God never requires more of an individual or of a church than they are capable of doing. Let us be reminded of the one-talent man (Matthew 25). He was not punished because he did not do what the five and the two-talent men did. He was condemned because he did not use his one talent.

Are you using your talent for the Lord?