Defending the Small Church

Recently, Andy Stanley made some comments in a sermon that went viral.  In his message, he called parents "selfish" for taking their teenagers to smaller churches that didn't have separate middle school and high school youth programs.  Stanley since apologized in Christianity Today and on Twitter for his remarks.

I like Andy Stanley. I've used many of his books in my ministry. His book on preaching has been a big influence on my own preaching and teaching style. He does great work at his church in Atlanta. Plus, he apologized, and we all make mistakes and say things we regret, especially on stage. So I'm going to give him a pass. No shots or anger or vilifying here.

But I do want to take a minute to defend small churches.

You see, in my rural ministry context, I have attended and served in almost exclusively small churches. None of the churches I have served on staff were greater than 200 people in attendance. All had strong and vibrant youth ministries.

Can I tell you, they were some pretty great churches (including my current one). They had adults who cared about and plugged into teenagers.  Teenagers actively attended and served within the church itself. Many grew up in the church and then continued to serve and take over leadership positions as they grew older. In fact, all of those churches are still thriving today.

Gone, too, are some the stereotypes of smaller churches. I remember when I first entered into ministry, the big churches had things the small churches did not. They had bands and praise teams, with fantastic sound systems and stellar technology to put lyrics, movies and images on the screen.  Meanwhile, we were lucky to have the old style overhead projector and some new hymnals.

But things have changed. For the most part, small churches can do just about everything the larger churches can do.  Oh sure, we can't have big name speakers or bands or holograms (OK, give me one shot on Andy Stanley, but only because having a hologram is so cool), but we now have our own praise teams and quality sounds systems and overhead projection systems and software. We can Skype in missionaries and stream the latest seminars.  Through technology, the world has gotten smaller and that is a plus for small churches.

Small churches connect people from all walks of life. They offer congregations where students and senior citizens can interact.The pastor and staff has the ability to visit and know each and every church member by name. Prayer lists are long, but personable. Small groups don't happen once a week, but almost every day.

And, just for the record, the average church size in America is between 75-90 people per congregation, depending upon the study you consider. So really, what most define as small are actually rather average.

It's time for average churches to get a little love. In a world where megachurches get all the headlines, large and medium churches are on the decline, and small churches thrive in local communities, we must appreciate what we have and give small churches a bit of praise.

After all, we all serve the same God, who is bigger than all of us combined.