Karl Vaters explains that for a lot of pastors and church members, small works.

What if Small Churches aren’t a problem to be fixed, but are part of a strategy God wants to use?

How many of us have even considered that possibility?

And if it is possible, shouldn’t we know that and try to get on board with it?

In a recent post, Is Your Church Stuck Or Just Small? I proposed the idea that just because a a church is small doesn’t mean it is stuck.

But the truth is, many Small Churches are stuck.

So let’s take it one step further today.

If Small Churches are a part of God’s strategy, how can we tell the difference between a strategic Small Church and one that’s just stuck?

I’ve been mulling a few ideas about this. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far.

This isn’t even close to a definitive list, so feel free to add some of your own in the comment section.

 A church might be strategically small if it is…

1) Small For a Reason

In a lot of communities and for a lot of pastors and church members, small works.

Even the big guys are finding this to be so. According to an article by Ed Stetzer, while megachurches keep growing, “fewer churches are building large spaces specifically meant to accommodate thousands of people causing many megachurches to switch from building bigger buildings to multiplication of smaller venues.”

Some people worship, fellowship and minister better in a smaller setting. The old stereotype of the stuck-in-the-mud church member who wants their church small to keep things the way they’ve always been is dying out. No, they’re not gone yet, as many of you can attest to, but their days are numbered.

The new “Small Church person” is more likely to be young, engaged, tech-savvy and looking for causes and relationships they can engage in within a more intimate setting. We need a lot of churches to be intentional about meeting those needs and equipping disciples.

If your church is small because you’re equipping people who worship and minister best within a smaller setting, you’re not stuck, you’re strategic.

2) Small For a While

This is the spot most Small Church pastors think they’re in. I know I did. For over two decades in three different churches. As it turned out, my church was small for a lot longer than a while, so we started being intentional about it. (see above)

But some Small Churches really are only small for a while. The problem is, no one knows how long that will last. So here’s my suggestion.

While you’re a Small Church, be a great Small Church. Don’t put all your energy into growth. Work on health. It’s better to become a healthy church that grows than an unhealthy one that grows, right?

If your church is small right now, but is being healthy during the time you’re small, you’re not stuck, you’re strategic.

3) Small to Simplify & Streamline

A few months ago, I attended a conference of house church leaders. These churches are obviously small on purpose. But they have as much passion for making disciples and advancing the kingdom of God as any church leaders I’ve met.

Every one of them used to be involved in more corporate churches, but left because they found that they could be truer to their faith and intentional about everything from worship, to discipleship to community outreach in a church that has limited overhead and minimal structures to maintain.

They weren’t against the more traditional churches (they invited me to speak, after all) but this works best for them and their mission.

If your church is small because you’re reducing overhead and simplifying your life and message, you’re not stuck, you’re strategic.

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Ryan Hebel encourages worship leaders to have variety in their music:

Here’s the thing. I have menu anxiety. The moment I open the cover to reveal a myriad of great options I can feel the pressure of a looming culinary decision rolling in like a summer thunderstorm. And those giant boards up on the wall behind the counter? Yeah… The problem is that I like *EVERYTHING. How is one to make a proper selection, when presented with so many great options?!

So you can imagine the proverbial tempest forming in my soul when I sit down with a piano or guitar and crack open my laptop, a few hymnals, and my bible before attempting to craft a worship experience that will equip a lot of other people to join me in the sacred work of honoring the Most High. Sure puts ordering lunch into perspective… However, the problem is the same. How does one go about making the right decisions? The BEST decisions?

Diversity and Variety:

Let’s be real. You can’t just eat Lucky Charms all the time. Yes, they are magically delicious, but they are only “PART of this balanced breakfast”. If we worship leaders truly take seriously the health of our worshiping congregations then we need to be attentive to nourishing them well. And that means diversity and variety. Too much of one thing and not enough of another can make for all kinds of “health problems”. A worshipping community needs to be constantly nourished by the full bounty of what God has made available to his Church in order to thrive. This means that a worship leader’s role in constantly compelling the Body to move from spiritual milk to solid food has to be taken seriously. And we’re working from a pretty sweet menu.

What can I get for you today sir or madam?

I’ll take your finest “All Creatures of our God and King”. 1225 was a good year.

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Rob Carona suggests strategies to see your team reach their full potential:

As we all know, church ministry gets busy and can be overwhelming, especially as a volunteer and/or bivocational worship leader or pastor. It can be easy to fall into the rut of putting out the schedule each month, going through rehearsals and having our main concern be that the band shows up on time and knows the tunes. If we don’t recognize it as important, we can miss the individual musician’s value of their creative well, perspective on worship and struggles they are facing. We end up going through the motions as a team each Sunday, missing out on the new sounds, new songs and deeper levels that God is calling us as worshippers to find in Him.

What I am saying is that the song list is not just part of the production in the service, and your team members are not just “plug and play” musicians to fill a slot and learn their parts. Now I realize that as worship leaders and pastors we don’t think this at all, but again it is easy to fall into a routine to just “get it done” because of all the other things competing for our time. We are always crying out for more in our worship songs, and that more is an untapped well of worship residing in each of your musicians. If you value them as individuals and take time to encourage and tap into those wells, you will see a fresh wind blow through your worship and the excellence, creativity and authority of your worship will see exciting new levels.

Below are some strategies to see strengthen your team and reach their full potential:

1. Pastor Your Worship Team: Seems like a “duh” kind of statement, but all to often we simply begin to neglect the spiritual maturity of our musicians and leaders. After all, they made it on the team and have been serving for a few years so they must be doing something right. This is dangerous thinking. Many musicians deal with major internal issues by consequence of their artistic nature. These are never really dealt with simply because they have a lot of talent. In order to reach the heavens, you have to lay a strong foundation. Take time to regularly meet with them individually (especially your worship leaders). Give yourself ample opportunity to both hear their hearts and hold them accountable. If you are going to start pulling from their well, you want to know it contains fresh water. Also, just one last thought on this … worship leaders are not necessarily worship pastors, and if we expect them to be then we need to offer training.

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Brendan Prout cautions against following the path that resembles worldly success:

There’s a temptation among many worship leaders to follow the path that resembles worldly success – seeking the ability to share your music with millions, the ability to tour and lead the thousands & ten thousands in worship experiences. Having one’s name be known to the many.

We often have this thought in our minds that if our song was used to bless churches worldwide, if we were able to support ourselves through our music, that we’d serve our church for free – that we’d be such good stewards of the money, fame, and influence…

I liken it to the fantasy that many average Christians have, to win the lotto or suddenly come into wealth. “Lord, I’d tithe – I’d give above and beyond! If you blessed me with riches, I’d be SO GOOD with them! I’d bless the socks off my local church, and give to missions, and go on missions, and travel the world spreading the gospel, and… and…. and…”

The truth is God already entrusts us with plenty, and we need to be good stewards of that which He has entrusted us.

The truth is if we were given more, we would most likely follow similar patterns to how we currently live. We would be more extravagant in how we currently operate. For those who are already spreading the gospel, then yes – it’s reasonable to think that we’d respond to added resources with added enthusiasm and be even more extravagant in our evangelistic efforts! For those who don’t make any time to evangelize, it’s unreasonable to think they’d suddenly make the time to do so. For those who pour into others with what little they have already, it’s reasonable to think that they’d respond to being given more by giving more. For those who are miserly with their time and resources, it’s unreasonable to think that being given more would result in a sudden change of heart or lifestyle.

It’s no different for a worship leader.

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Robert Coletti suggests reaching people through online video:

Young people are leaving the church. Research proves this, and churches know it and feel it every week. Millennials, the current 20-somethings, are the least religiously active age group with an overall 43% drop-off in church engagement for the 18-29 age group. Research done by the Barna Group shows that 61% of Protestant Christians between the age of 18-29 say that they have dropped out of attending church, after going regularly (Kinnaman, 2011).

The church is desperate to re-engage this generation, as they are the future leaders of the Christ-movement. The good news is that “most young people are struggling less with their faith in Christ than with their experience of church.” Nearly 100% of the 61% of millennials who drop out of church, are still looking to engage spiritually with God, the Bible and other Christians.

Where is this happening? Online. The church is moving to the internet at a faster pace than any other generational change within the church.

Piksel recently surveyed 500 individuals throughout the U.S. to determine how people are connecting and worshipping in today’s society. The results confirmed the general trend – nearly a third of Christians who seek spiritual engagement online feel more connected to their physical church.

So how can the church re-engage this group of young people who are existing spiritually without their local church and what should the transition to a digital church look like?

It’s not enough to just have a website anymore. Millennials might look for church service times and ministry information, but more often than not, they are looking for content. They seek content in blogs, podcasts, images – all with spiritual insight and information, but in particular they are looking for video.

54% of millennial Christians are looking to find spiritual engagement in videos on the internet.

To see over half of the Christian generation rapidly disengaging from the church is seeking to stay engaged spiritually online, with video, is seeing a “field white for harvest” (John 4:35). They want live video, on-demand content, automatic on-the-go content, podcasts and apps. Is it just the millennials? No, this trend is increasing throughout the Church, with the 20-somethings leading the way.

Ultimately a church needs to have spiritually-led vision for any real growth to occur. Technology is not Jack’s magic bean, but it is a tool, which in the right hands and the right strategy can help reach a generation of Christians.

Here are a few observations on the use of digital technology within the Faith industry and how you can make the most of it at your church:

1) The Local Church

The Faith industry is a media business, and although we don’t feel comfortable referring to the ministry as a business, let’s take a look at what happens at the local church:

The pastor crafts a message for impactful teaching and delivery, and a high level of care is put into the presentation and production of the in-church experience. The pastor prepares, the band rehearses, and someone is set to run lights and audio. The Church’s goal is to deliver the message of the gospel, and enrich the lives of its members in spiritual ways, and build community. The church words are Salvation, Discipleship, and Fellowship.

Hollywood has a similar concept. They call this audience engagement, creating a fan-base, and TV community. The vocabulary is different, but in function they are equal. The TV industry is greatly succeeding in creating loyal fans, who regularly view content, building online communities of fans around fictional TV characters. The World is vying for the attention of your audience, putting billions of dollars in annual investment on the table. This means the effort of the church should greater [than it is] because the message is greater.

It’s important to look at some aspects of the church as media business in order to get the maximum impact of your message. You run the risk of missing out on reaching and engaging seekers that you could otherwise reach with a basic media strategy plan.

Continue reading.