Why Small Churches Stay Small — And What Finally Breaks the Pattern
“Most small churches do not want to stay small. They simply do not want to change. That’s an uncomfortable thing to say. But after pastoring three small churches—one that stayed stuck and two that grew significantly—it’s the most honest diagnosis I know.” - C.Leaders
I used to attend a small church, and one interesting thing was that when I suggested adding a row of chairs for the possibility that the church would grow, I was allowed to add them (they were simply stacked at the back of the auditorium), and then when I came back the next Sunday, there they were....stacked again at the back of the auditorium.
Sometimes a church becomes really a petty fiefdom, along the lines of the little German principalities that were a miserable village at the foot of an indefensible castle. And just like many of my neighbors with German names had ancestors that came from such principalities, we are then shocked, shocked to find that kids growing up in such churches learn that the only way up is out.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
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