Jesus and Small Congregations
I went out for a pint with this guy last week and had an interesting conversation over the recent discussions on this blog regarding the pastorate.
He made an interesting point with John 10. There, Christ talks about the shepherd and his flock. 10:3-5 says:
3The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”
The key to this passage is that Jesus knows his sheep and vice versa. How can this be true of a church where the size of the congregation is over 1,000? In those contexts, the only people that pastors get to know are the leadership team and those contemplating suicide.
Tentatively, I’d like to see a movement back towards small congregations. It is much easier in these contexts for pastors to actually function like pastors. There aren’t the same temptations to adopt a business model to deal with the increased intake (e.g. you wouldn’t have to go through the headache of purchasing a new building). Given Malcolm Gladwell’s research in The Tipping Point that the maximum number of people for a group to function effectively and happily is 150, I’d recommend that growing churches plant new churches if their numbers rise instead of building a centralized beast.
Eugene Peterson is a sage for these issues. In an interview I read recently, Peterson said that he would never allow his congregation to grow over a number where he felt he didn’t know everyone anymore. Peterson embodies John 10:3-5. No wonder he’s called “the pastor’s pastor.” Perhaps Peterson should replace Leithart as the patron saint of this blog … but Andrew would probably have an issue with that.
I’m okay with two patron saints — that way we have twice the access to the treasury of merit, right?
What? I assumed that Augustine would have been our patron saint.
I suppose; I guess we could have a triumvirate of intercessors.
Hello sir,
I found your site through the link above my comment and would like to offer a few very brief remarks.
First, thanks for this post. I admire very much the small church model. And I also love the churches-planting-churches model. There is something to be said when the preaching pastor knows everyone he is preaching to. I commend this.
But I do believe your view here is much too narrow.
For starters, there is biblical evidence of large churches being birthed at Pentecost when “thousands were added to their number daily.” You say buying a large building is a headache. But what happens when people are being saved at an alarming rate through one congregations ministry? Do you turn people away and tell them to start a church somewhere else simply because you are too big? Growth happens in many ways. If it happens rapidly, do you plant a church a week? Both of these options also sound like a headache.
Also, under Christ the role of the “shepherd” should never — I repeat, NEVER — be reduced to a single man. Cults are made in such ways. Churches large and small ought to fill there congregation with preaching pastors and teaching pastors and lay leaders and selfless servants who all take a certain role in “shepherding” the congregation toward holiness.
At any rate, great post and I hope to hear more from you on this subject. But please give credit to large churches seeking desperately to magnify Christ while reaching as many people as possible in their city.
God Bless,
Travis Mitchell
Yesterday afternoon and I started Don Carson’s recent memoir of his father Tom entitled “Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor.” It was so good that I finished it by the time I went to bed.
Here was the life and ministry of a man who worked in relative obscurity for the sake of the gospel in French Canada. His congregation in Drummondville never exceeded thirty people. He slogged it out in the nitty-gritty and always felt like he wasn’t doing enough.
I cried through the last two chapters seeing how Tom cared for his wife during her Alzheimers.
I really recommend this book – it’s inspirational and insightful.
Travis,
It is worth noting that while the church experienced massive growth early on, the earliest church buildings that archeology has unearthed in the middle east were really just converted houses (the presence of a dedicated area for baptism is what tipped them off that it was a church I think). There may have been mass-conversions and explosive growth, there may have been meetings in open air forums that were substantial in size once in a while, but it would appear that the early church stuck to much more modest buildings most of the time.
You really have an ax to grind with this stuff, huh?
Well, I personally think large churches are fine, provided there is a good LT in place. And yes, the pastor shepherds the LT, which in turn shepherds the flock. There is biblical basis for pastoral delegation (see Genesis where Moses is told to delegate the leadership of Israel to capable men).
Now, the problem with small churches. Sadly, the cost of living rises and the average income shrinks. Which means even if a small church had 100% faithfulness in tithing, a pastor might be living in poverty, and the church may not have money to minister to the community at large, which is a key function of the local church.
That isn’t to say that God has no plan for small financially struggling churches. But likewise, (and this is the argument I keep coming to when we discuss these things) if He can do much with one man and little money, what is stopping Him from doing just as much with many men and more money? You can’t just say that God has no place for this type of church or that type of pastor. God works all things to the good of those who love Him.
I just came back from Texas, where everything is bigger. I forget the name of it (Lakewood, or Lakeview), where Joel Osteen is the Pastor, there is some 30, 40, 50 thousand (the size of the ACC) church attendees. Even the smaller churches in Houston are huge. The First Baptist of Houston (or it could be of Kingwood) has 4 locations around the city, each roughly the size of a large high-school, complete with very posh baseball diamonds and soccer pitches. They are like small functioning communities. My understanding is that the size works for them, however that may be.
Paul calls for a congregations to be governed according to the synagogue model – having “seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of Wisdom” to lead the congregation. In the synagogue model, three of the seven would be in the role of shamash (deacon) and the other four would be elders (men called to and equipped to teach; a synonym is “pastor”). These are to be selected from within the congregation, not recruited or hired from outside of it (Acts 6:2-4). How many congregants can the requisite seven leaders adequately care for the spiritual and physical needs of? Messianic Judaism holds the upper limit of this to be 120. After a congregations exceeds this number, seven new leaders are selected to break off a new congregation.
Early “churches” met in the homes of their members. In the earliest days of the Christian era, the “first day of the week” meeting was the Saturday night meal (matza-ei-shabbat) which had been part of Jewish tradition for centuries. The sun having set, the day had changed over from the Sabbath to the “first of the week.” In the course of this meal, Scripture study, exhortation, and doctrine were the topics of discussion (1 Tim 4:13). How many congregants can fit around one family’s dinner table? Certainly not a number in the thousands.
And my final point will be this: having a single pastor lead thousands often bears these results: (1) he becomes a cult icon instead of a pastor, (2) he only knows a handful of congregants on a personal enough level to meet their needs. The division between clergy and laity that results from this is exactly what Yeshua (Jesus) commends the Ephesians for STANDING UP AGAINST in reference to the Nicolaitans in Revelation 2. Note that the Greek roots of Nicolaitans are “niko” (I destroy) and “laos” (people). The congregation suffers from such a structure.