Journal: Masters Seminary Journal
Volume: TMSJ 03:2 (Fall 1992)
Article: The Dynamics of Small Church Ministry
Author: John M. Koessler

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MSJ 3:2 (Fall 92) p. 175

The Dynamics of Small Church Ministry

John M. Koessler1

Small churches in the United States and Canada are a large proportion of the total number of churches and therefore deserve closer attention. A small church’s perception of itself is good in that it helps maintain a family atmosphere, but it can lend itself to pessimism in both pastor and people. Lay influence tends to be greater in a small church, a feature that can be cultivated to advantage through wise leadership. A small-church pastor must accept his administrative responsibilities as well as his relational ones. He must know how to involve his people and impart his vision to them. Small churches that want to grow must ask themselves several probing questions in order to succeed in doing so. Service in a small church can be very rewarding.

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Introduction

Is the small church really necessary? More than half of the Christians who worship in the United States and Canada do so in just 1/7 of the churches in these two countries. In view of this preference for larger churches, one might think that the day of the small church has passed. However, Lyle Schaller, noted analyst of American churches, reports that despite this phenomenon, the majority of churches in North America are small.

MSJ 3:2 (Fall 92) p. 176

The small church is the normative institutional expression of the worshipping congregation among the Protestant denominations on the North American continent. One fourth of all Protestant congregations on this continent have fewer than thirty-five people in attendance at the principal weekly worship service, and one half average less than seventy-five.2

The small church is seemingly a continuing institution in our culture. According to Schaller’s statistics, the majority of those entering pastoral ministry will serve a small congregation. Yet most training programs appear to gear themselves for the larger church.3 The role models placed before seminary and Bible college students are usually “successful” graduates who serve in larger churches. In some cases they are pastors of today’s mega-churches.

Such role models can be inspiring, but the operating principles that have enabled them to succeed in the large church are often inappropriate for their smaller counterparts. As Schaller observes, the small church is different. The pastor who wants to succeed in a small context must understand the dynamics of small church ministry.4

MSJ 3:2 (Fal...

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