Captains of 50: Principles Pastoring a Small Church

During a minister's conference in San Antonio, Texas, I heard a young man speak about his ministry in India. He was the superintendent of over 200-plus churches in his country. At some point during the conference, we invited him to join us for lunch. We wanted to hear more about what it was like being over that many churches. To our surprise, he informed us that many of the churches he looked over had less than ten attendants. He told us that these small groups were the only expression of Christ in that area. We were shocked. The young man then informed us that the Church in India views things differently from the churches in the USA. He said, "In our country, you count numbers as a sign of God's blessings. The bigger the numbers, the more God is in the church. In my country, we count the manifestation of the Spirit of Christ. So, it can be a large number of people or a small number, as long as Christ is manifest." He encouraged us all to remain faithful to the number of people God had given us to lead. I have forgotten those words of encouragement and realized how true that statement was in our country. When one goes to a ministers' conference, one of the most frequently asked questions are, "How many are you running?" That could mean, "How many do you have attending your Sunday School class or in the Sunday Moring Service?" Either way, it is a measuring stick to see how one compares to others. I will never forget what one brother had said, that he "wasn't running anyone." Nope. He was trying as hard as he could to get them to stay! Before I go any further, let me state that I have nothing against large churches. they can do things financially that smaller bodies cannot. The same difficulties in large churches also happen in smaller ones. Problems are greatly magnified in the smaller ones.