Last week a rather large controversy spread like wildfire across Christian corners of the internet, as a rather interesting sermon video went viral. Andy Stanley, a well-known author and leader of a 30,000-plus member, multi-campus megachurch, caused the stir by making some questionable comments about small churches.
“When I hear adults say ‘Well I don’t like a big church, I like about 200, I want to be able to know everybody,’ I say ‘You are so stinking selfish. You care nothing about the next generation. All you care about is you and your five friends. You don’t care about your kids, anybody else’s kids… If you don’t go to a church large enough where you can have enough middle schoolers and high schoolers to separate them so they can have small groups and grow up the local church, you are a selfish adult.”
Stanley has since posted an apology to Twitter and given an interview in Christianity Today to reverse his comments, and so I don’t want to make him the villain here. However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t examine these comments, mainly because I’ve seen this very attitude in the church. Thousands of Christians and families drive by multiple small churches every week in order to go to the big church for the very reason Stanley advocated for big churches. I understand that doctrine is the biggest consideration, and I understand the importance of finding a fit, but so many times the appeal of the large churches over the small have very little to do with those things.
Before discussing why small churches are important, I should point out that I don’t want to make the same mistake by demonizing large churches. Large churches have opportunities for outreach and financial support of mission works that small churches can’t even begin to imagine, and they have a number of other beneficial qualities. Instead, I want to focus on the value of small local churches, some of the advantages they hold, and why they aren’t detrimental to youth faithfulness. As a preacher for a congregation well under that arbitrary “200,” I can tell you that small churches offer great value in a number of ways.
Family
One of the very things Stanley used in his case against small churches is one of the strongest qualities they have to offer. Whereas larger churches can cause people to get lost in the shuffle, or allow them to be almost completely anonymous and disengaged from the life of the church, that’s much more rare at small churches. No matter the church size, those close-knit relationships need to be a part of the church, and why this would be a strike against small churches is beyond me. The closer we are, the more we have opportunity to “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:1) and encourage one another in the faith (Hebrews 3:12-15). Small churches
Chance to serve
What Stanley was getting at was a very dangerous attitude toward church involvement that is (unfortunately) held by millions of people today. Our attitude, to paraphrase President John F. Kennedy, should be, “Ask not what your church can do for you, ask what you can do for your church.” Millions of people in America have been sucked into the consumer-driven model for churches, where the church promises them all kinds of different services and asks nothing of them in return. That’s exactly the way many people choose their church home. Unless the churches with all-inclusive, age-segregated, specifically-targeted ministries, are careful in how they build a church family, young people can be deprived of the opportunity to mix with the wiser spiritual mentors who are available to them, along with being limited in their opportunities to serve. In smaller churches, the opportunities to serve begin the day one is baptized. The insinuation that small churches make young people hate the church is just crazy.
Location
If young families aren’t supposed to be attending small churches, then it’s merely a matter of time before those congregations die out. And if they die out, that means everybody is going to be driving 20-30 minutes to the big church… and the potential to serve and reach out to people in every neighborhood and community in between will suffer. Being a part of a small church in a small community has opened my eyes to the amount of opportunities that would simply fall through the cracks if we all started driving into town to go to the big churches. Think about how much more difficult it is to invite a neighbor to church if that means an hour round trip. If the church is going to have a global vision, we have to take up the “go into all the world” commission – that includes small local communities – instead of the “if you build it, they will come” model of church growth.
Churches both small and large have their own unique advantages and potential drawbacks. Our concern should not be the size of our churches. Our concern should be whether our churches are acting as God would have them act, and whether we each individually have the proper attitude toward our relationship with the church.
By Jack Wilkie
Jack Wilkie is the author of “Failure: What Christian Parents Need to Know About American Education” and is the speaker for Focus Press’s “The Lost Generation” seminar. To schedule a seminar at your church, contact jack@tampaseo.expert.