Small church mentality

Small churches are great. The ability to get to know people, the chance to be as involved as you want, the ability to make decisions quickly. But with these great things come with some struggles as well. The struggles are often lumped under the category of small church mentality. In a book called unique dynamics of a small church, Dudley says this...

". . . The small church is the right size for only one function. The members can know each other personally. It is often a single-cell entity with all members somehow involved in the workings of the cell."

Single-cell means one core group, rather than many different organizations and interest groups. Parishioners feel like members of an extended family. For many people the small church can be quite comfortable and fill definite social needs. Members in such a parish tend to like things exactly the way they are.

The small church often makes it difficult for new members to enter because it is frequently subconsciously afraid it will "lose" something by being too open. Most small churches will not grow because they are already as large as they can be in order to remain what they are - a single-cell primary group that offers security with a group of people that can be trusted. Often they are ethnically or culturally oriented, which can be a hindrance to growth. For the above reasons "they also offer the most resistance to those who seek to help the small church to grow, or change, or disappear."

Like in classic science, if a church wants to grow it has to think about cell division. It must break down the small church mentality. each part of the community must begin to open itself up to others, to growth and division. This is where the concept of small groups becomes so vital. the church can divide into interest groups, age groups, value groups, groups with similar passions, etc. the difficult part of this concept is that unlike in a small church everybody won't be at everything in fact they wont even be invited to everything.

one of the struggles becomes how do we not create cliques in the process of creating small groups. i think keeping small groups from become cliques is about keeping a mentality of openness. First, all groups are also open to cell division. second, groups cant become exclusive and pull away from the overall vision and values of the church. Plus attitudes need to be right. Its not about being best or exclusive its about walking out life with others.

So how do we drop the small church mentality? Well this is something I am trying to figure out and help guide our community through. I think first and foremost it’s about extending our vision. It’s not about making people happy. Our goal should never be just to keep the people in the church pleased with what’s inside our space. Our goal should be to get outside of our walls to open ourselves up for cell division to occur. To welcome groups to form by nurturing people’s interests and ideas. We should dream huge dreams not just for our churches but for our communities, states, nation, and world. keeping an expansive vision constantly opens the community up to the vastness of god’s kingdom. Faith and the way of jesus is bigger than just us and our wants its about others…about making a difference… transforming the world…through love…liberation…and grace.

More to come….