http://www.spurgeon.org“It is a great advantage to a minister to commence his public life in a small village, where he can have time a quiet for study and reading: that man is wise who avails himself of that opportunity.”
-C. H. Spurgeon
All-Around Ministry

In the harvest field now ripened
There’s a work for all to do;
Hark! the voice of God is calling
To the harvest calling you.

Little is much when God is in it!
Labor not for wealth or fame.
There’s a crown—and you can win it,
If you go in Jesus’ Name.

Does the place you’re called to labor
Seem too small and little known?
It is great if God is in it,
And He’ll not forget His own.

When the conflict here is ended
And our race on earth is run,
He will say, if we are faithful,
“Welcome home, My child—well done!”

When I was seventeen years old I drove north every week to minister to a little flock in the wilderness for year before I left to study at Moody Bible Institute. When I was twenty-one God entrusted Lois and me with another little flock in the wilderness. This time it was the good people of Beaver Chapel in Mercer County, Ohio. It was there our oldest son, Kyle was born.

One winter morning it snowed so deep that it took me over an hour to shovel a path over to my study. I started a little heater, brewed some coffee and spend sweet hours with the Lord reading E. M. Bounds on prayer and then kneeling by a worn little chair on the hardwood floor of my study and talking to the Lord.

David’s older brother mocked him and taunted him to go back to his “little flock in the wilderness,” but it was there tending “a few sheep in the wilderness” that God was forging in him the character needed to lead a nation. It was there that young David was learning to be a man after God’s own heart.

Not everyone follows the same path into ministry but tending little flock in the wilderness was a good way for us to begin.

I think God gives us a church size we can handle according to our current level of faithfulness, understanding and capacity. I’m saying this and I have a small church but I’m learning to enjoy where we’re at right now.

For some reasons I think there’s a ‘God-lid’ on some churches because what He’s doing inside it is more important in that season than seeing the multitudes get saved and enter into a church that isn’t ready. That Jesus will build his church seems to me to be a sure reality. We are blessed when we see it in His timing. My timing would have seen things accelerate very prematurely.

Thanks so much for confirming what we were all hoping! We planted 7 years ago and it’s taken that long for God to change my understanding of success. Every year my wife and I said, “if we have another year like that one, we’re quitting” mostly because of a lack of church growth.

God has worked on us both a LOT in this area and now we feel more free to serve and love without the pressure of meeting ridiculous goals at all costs!

I’ve learned that I can live out of my drivenness (to achieve goals, get a certain size church, etc) or I can live in my calling (to lead this church and take it where God is leading). While I still want our church to grow as there are hundreds of thousands in our city who need Jesus, the pressure has been removed (mostly!) and I’m walking in freedom.

Sorry to labor the point but this has been an enormous breakthrough for me!!!! I now feel like I can do what I was called to do… disciple people. I realised I was sacrificing people in order to get to the goal. Now I’m becoming a more loving, discipling pastor. And I’m liking it.

Thanks for being so real Craig. You guys rock.
Rant finished

Txmom, This could be a really interesting and important discussion. Wish I had more time today. Keep the discussion going.

Whenever I was stuck in a time of comparing (and thinking to myself (actually, Satan interjecting in my mind)) how small of an impact I was making compared to others, God really spoke to me through His Word.

He showed me many verses, two of which are:

Genesis 2:6 - “…but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.”
- God had me see this verse and it really spoke to me. He can have anything come from anywhere…He can raise up in and through me anything. This really spoke to me.

1 Timothy 4:12 - “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”
- Because I was young I felt that I couldn’t be as effective as a seasoned leader. God disagrees with that. This verse REALLY spoke to me.

Bottom line to me: Be confident and set an example wherever you are in life. God can work through you.

I suggest everyone read Avery’s post (#12) on this page!

God loves ya!

Others can jump in the discussion with you.

I totally agree with where you are coming from. What I am less sure about is where this leads? Does it take is to a place where we are indifferent about numbers? Surely that’s not quite Biblical (there are several places in scripture where the crowd is counted). Would we say size is one of a number of markers of success?

We talk about faithfulness. In Matthew 25, it is the servant who takes what he has been given and turns it into more that Jesus describes as faithful. If we do not see growth, are we being faithful? Are we holding onto things that inhibit growth that we don’t have the guts to let go of (therefore being unfaithful)?

Could you give us some of your thoughts on what is the right way to think about size and numbers in our churches, given what you have (rightly) said about them not being the defining factor of success.

from “essential church?” by Thom S. Rainer and Sam S. Rainer III