Bro. Matt’s Blog

An excerpt:

LifeWay Research recently completed a study of small churches. We have not released the data yet, but Brad Waggoner recently shared some early analysis from the study. He shared at Impact 2008 the biggest challenges reported by small churches:

To read this really eye-opening article, click here.

Recently, we had a couple visiting our church who truly love the church and loved the people. They had even expressed interest in joining. They had left their former church because of some turmoil and felt God was calling them to move on. Over a two-hour lunch one Tuesday, I explained to them the vision of our church and the direction I felt God was calling us to go. They seemed very interested — but ended up not joining. I was told later by someone else that they wanted a place where they didn’t feel they were expected to actively contribute at this point.

Others have left our church in order to attend bigger churches that have a more “dynamic” worship time and more activities for the children. As a church, we are considered small (160-180, depending on the time of year) which means our budget is limited in certain areas and our workers are limited as well. The bigger churches offer more — in some aspects.

In a conversation with a Sunday School teacher this past Sunday, she mentioned that some go to these bigger ones because they just want to “blend in.” Bigger churches, for all their pluses, are places where people may be able to attend, but where there is more of an opportunity to “hide.”

In smaller churches that seek to be a true “family of God” guided by the New Testament distinctives and geared by the faithful proclamation of the Word of God; in smaller churches that seek to provide a greater amount of accountability because we are, like the theme song to that old show from the 1980’s, a place “where everybody knows your name.” Once we get too close and the biblical church starts getting to “personal” or even deemed “intrusive,” the temptation is to move on.

My question is “Do church attendees want to blend in or dig in?” Over the next few days, I will be posting on the temptations and trends of too many in evangelical church attendees. But do any of you smaller church pastors struggle with this? What are you doing to address this issue?

I look forward to hearing from you!