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by Hexon J. Maldonado
Today, there are approximately 380,000 churches in the United States with an average church size of about 65 members. And in a nation like the United States, where success is largely defined by size, money, and influence, this can often be discouraging to small congregations. They can wrestle with feelings of inadequacies, wondering to themselves, ‘What is wrong with us?’ ‘Is something wrong with us?’ ‘Are we not friendly?’ ‘Is God not pleased with us?’
The same can be said of pastors who shepherd small churches. They look around at the landscape of churches and everywhere they see large, bustling, and bursting churches filled with people who are loving God, growing in their faith, and making an impact on the world for the glory of God, and they feel small. They wonder to themselves, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ ‘What am I missing?’ ‘Should I be doing something else?’ ‘Did God not really call me into pastoral ministry?’
However, being a large, bustling, and bursting church is not always a sign the church is doing something right. It is not aways a sign of spiritual growth among the people. It is not always a sign God is pleased with the church and that he is blessing the church—think Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, Paula White, and any number of super-mega churches which preach false theology, the prosperity gospel, and a host of other dangerous and heretical teachings. Undoubtedly, the pastor of those churches and their congregations believe they are doing things right. God must be pleased with what they are doing. Just look at how God is blessing and growing their church hand-over-fist. Sadly, these pastors are modern-day Pharisees and their churches modern-day synagogues. To them Jesus said, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Lk. 16:15). The Pharisees thought they were on the right track because the people loved and respected them. They were wealthy and lived well. But these external indicators of success which are “exalted among men” are an “abomination in the sight of God.”
History is replete with examples of men who did much for the kingdom of God and for God’s glory, men we still read about, men whose ministries, from the outside looking in, do not seem like much of a success. Yet, we still read about these men and are inspired their stories. One thinks of Adoniram Judson who, in February 1812, at the young age of 23 and with his young bride of 22, sailed across an ocean to bring the gospel to the people of Burma. During his 37 years of ministry in Burma, Judson suffered horrific trials and personal suffering. In June 1824, he was accused of being a spy and was placed in prison for seventeen months under the most tortuous conditions. All the while, his pregnant wife walked two miles each way daily to care for him and tend to his needs. One year after his release from prison, his wife, at age 36 died. And six months later his daughter died.
Judson then struggled with doubt, wondering “if he had become a missionary for ambition and fame, not humility and self-denying love.”[i] The Lord eventually pulled him through that struggle and he continued on, but not without more struggles and trials. He remarried in April 1834, and had eight children with his second wife. It was a wonderful marriage and she was a great helpmate to him in the ministry. However, in 1845, while on their way back to the United States for the first time in 33 years, she became ill and died, leaving him with eight children. To everyone’s amazement, while in the United States, he married for the third time in June 1846. The Lord granted them four very happy years, until Judson’s death in April 1850.
Amid all these years of struggle and suffering, it was six years before Judson saw his first convert. And after twelve years his church grew to a whopping number of 18. Yet, we continue to read about him because of his amazing faithfulness to persevere under the most grueling circumstances, because of his commitment to serve God and reach people with the gospel. Today, there are over 200,000 confessing Christians in Burma (now Myanmar), and Christianity is the second largest belief system in the country.
We can think of Primitive Baptist Churches who officially date back to 1827, yet remain among the smallest congregations in the U.S. This is largely due to the fact that they have held fast to their biblical convictions of teaching and practicing those things they see clearly taught or practiced in the New Testament. For this reason, while they are Calvinistic in soteriology, they also practice foot washing, use wine in the Lord’s Supper, only permit men to teach the Bible, do not have Sunday school classes or youth ministries, and do not use musical instruments in worship. All this because they do not see these things in the New Testament. While this is not an endorsement of Primitive Baptist theology, one must applaud them for not changing with the times, for holding to their biblical convictions, and not simply jumping on the latest bandwagon.
In the end, it is not really that difficult to grow a large church, simply keep the sermons to under 30 minutes (15 minutes is best), offer the best modern worship experience possible (hire professionals musicians if needed), do not preach on any topic that may offend, provide the most entertaining Sunday school and youth ministry experience possible, and provide a Bible study directed at every possible social-economic class imaginable—college group study, senior’s study, women’s study, men’s study, young professional’s study, young married professional’s study, African-American study group, Hispanic-American study group, couples with children’s study, couples without children’s Bible study, so on and so forth, ad nauseam.
Pastors and churches who adopt this approach to ministry will grow large and fast, will be bustling and bursting with all kinds of activity, but will most often be a mile wide and an inch deep. Over the years, I have had many conversations with Christians who came to the church I was ministering at from nearby large “Bible-believing” churches. These Christians attended these “Bible-believing” churches for years, yet somehow had never heard of the Doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone and have never been taught the biblical roles and responsibilities of husbands and wives. I have met Christians who have attended large “Reformed” churches for years, but never heard the word Reformed used by their pastor or in their church and have no understanding of the sovereignty of God over all things. Often in these churches, because the pastor personally holds to Reformed theology, he considers his church to be a Reformed church, yet a majority of the church members have no idea what Reformed Theology even means.
Ultimately, it is not difficult to grow a large, bustling, and bursting church. What is difficult—extremely difficult—is to faithfully and unashamedly preach the whole counsel of God and practice biblical church worship and church polity, and then trust God with the results. What is difficult is to resist the urge to buy in to the latest church movement in order to appear successful. What is difficult is to be faithful to scripture and to worship and serve God in the way in which he has prescribed and not look to the surrounding megachurches to see what they are doing so we might do the same and worship the Lord in that way (Deut. 12:29-32). What is difficult is to fully, accurately, and forcefully proclaim all of God’s Word in a culture where “people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Tim. 4:3-4).
What must ever be remembered by small churches and small pastors is that the goal is not to keep up with the Joneses. The goal is not to be successful in the eyes of the Evangelical world, but to ultimately hear the words: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant! Well done!” (Matt. 25:21). Thus, let us run the race with endurance, “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2). Let us keep our eyes fixed upon the prize, “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.” Let us “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13-14).
Photo by Virooshan Theva
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