There is a wealth of information at your fingertips.  Just Google a term and you are likely to get thousands of responses.  I recently searched the term “small church” and was surprised to see my website www.smallchurchtools.comon the first page.  Of course there are many other sites as well and many offer great encouragement.

  Having trouble with a sermon illustration?  The entire world wide web waits to help you.  Can’t find the address to a verse for your lesson?  There are Bible sites that can find it for you with just a word or two.

   Some sites offer coaching for pastors and other leaders.  Some are forums for discussion of theological topics.  There are even chat rooms where you can visit with other small church leaders on important topics.

   Some sites are purely informational.  You can go to these pages and read and read and read on just about anything you can think of to help you with the tough questions.

   Do you have to take advantage of these resources?  No.  But that’s like a man being shot at refusing to put on a bullet proof vest that someone tossed him.  He might survive without it, but why try?

All of our failures are prayer failures and all of our successes are prayer successes.

                Everyone knows that prayer is essential for success in the ministry.  Everyone knows we need to pray more than we do.  Every book written on doing well as a pastor includes a chapter on prayer.  So why don’t we pray more? 

                Some pastors don’t pray as they should because of their busy schedule.  In small churches the pastor is often called upon to do so many jobs.  He may be responsible for almost everything that gets done in some congregations.  It is even more difficult if the pastor works a secular job in addition to leading the church.  There is only so much time available to get all of the work done.  But if prayer time suffers because of time restraints then you need to take another look at your schedule.  Look at it this way.  If you suffered from a deadly disease that could only be cured by spending time in exercise each day, you would make the time to work out.  And your people would tell you to cut something out if you felt you were too busy. 

                Now it may be true that your people may not see the need for prayer time as clearly as they would the need for exercise in the above illustration, but with a little teaching on your part they can come to see the value of your prayer life.  But to be honest, they main person that has to be convinced is YOU.  You are the one whose commitment or lack thereof is going to make a visible difference in your church.  It’s an old cliché but it’s still true—if you’re too busy to pray, you’re too busy.

                Another reason some pastors don’t pray as they should is because of laziness.  Prayer is hard work and some pastors don’t want to put out the effort required.  You know the type.  They sit up watching the late movie, sleep in, get up and roam around the house, go to the coffee shop and run a few errands, after lunch they spend a little time in the office then head for home having put in “a full day.”  Many of these men have good intentions, but they never get off the ground because of their sluggishness.

                Salesmen run into the same problem.  A good salesman will tell you that it is hard work.  My dad was a retired life insurance salesman and I can remember nights that he came in late because he was out making calls.  He had gone to the office at regular opening time and then worked into the night to make a living for his family.  And guess what?  It was not unusual for dad to lead the district in sales.  He did not have a secret for success—he worked!

                Pastor, if you are going to be the prayer warrior God wants you to be you are going to have to work at it.  It won’t just fall into your lap.  You will never magically have enough time.  You will have to make it happen.  If you were engaged to a girl you would make time to spend with her.  You would talk to her on the phone, by email, text, web chat, and any other way you could.  God is much more important than a date.  Don’t be lazy—do the work of communicating with Him through prayer.

                There are other reasons pastors don’t pray.  Whatever your hindrance is, work on it.  Don’t let Satan rob you and your church of the blessings that come through the mighty channel of prayer.

                I have seen God do so many things because His people prayed.  The first small church I was privileged to pastor was in a farm community.  Agriculture was the lifeblood of many of our members.  One hot summer Wednesday afternoon I received a call from one of my people.  They had just received new chicks in their large chicken houses.  The heat was so great that they were dying.  They were working hard to keep them cool, but the blazing heat made it a difficult job.  I went to my study and got on my knees.  I prayed for God to cool things off.  Even though there wasn’t a cloud in the sky I asked Him to send rain or at least some clouds to help out.  I had no sooner finished my prayer than I heard a noise in the distance—thunder!  I went outside and the formerly clear sky was billowing dark clouds.  A storm was blowing in and from an odd direction in those parts—from the east.  Rain almost always came from the west there, but not that day.  As the rain began to pour anyone driving by would have seen an odd sight: the pastor was standing out in the downpour laughing and praising God.  Needless to say, things cooled off and the chickens were okay.

                Some would say that is a petty example.  They would argue that with world hunger, the threat of nuclear war, great epidemics, massive poverty, and other great issues of our day that it is silly to think that God answered a prayer and sent rain to help a few chickens.  But I think the opposite is true.  God cares about every aspect of our lives and is willing to help out when we ask.  My wife suffers from chronic pain and has told me she seldom prays for herself.  She says she feels selfish asking for God’s help when she knows so many people who are suffering far more than she.  I understand this, but the Bible is clear that God wants us to ask for His help and delights to answer our prayers.

                I have three wonderful kids.  They’re all adults now (notice I didn’t say they’re all grown!) and live their own lives.  But I still delight to help them when they need it.  Now the things they can take care of themselves—well that’s another matter.  Now that they are grown, I would think they had lost their minds if they came and asked me to make their bed or help them brush their teeth.  They are more than capable of doing those things for themselves.  But there are still things they come to me for and I am glad to help them out.

                So too with God.  He wants you to take care of those things you can do.  For example, why should He send visitors to your church if you haven’t invited anyone.  Why should He give you knowledge to teach a Bible lesson you haven’t studied?  There are some things you must do for yourself.

                But there are some things only God can do.  You can’t convict a soul of their need for Jesus, but He can.  You can’t heal that loved one of cancer, but He can.  There are so many things that we do without because we don’t take it to Him in prayer.  James said “Ye have not because ye ask not.”  He goes on to talk about asking amiss, but I have found that most pastors have more of a problem with not asking to start with.

                Does God want to bless your church?  Of course He does—it is His bride and He cares more about it than you do.  But very often He waits to bless a congregation until someone begins to pray.  Why is that?  No one knows.  Some have speculated that by working through answered prayer, God gets the glory rather than man.  That makes a lot of sense.  After all, it is His power that is getting the job done.  He ought to get the praise rather than us.

                But that means that you must be a man of prayer if you want to see God work in your small church.  So many pastors of little congregations get discouraged because they don’t see the “results” that the big churches experience.  They reason that there is no reason to pray for such things because they will never see those prayers answered.  But by failing to pray, they miss out on seeing God work in the way He wants to in their situation.

                A large teenager needs more food than a small child.  But the little one could have more than what the parent put on his plate if he would only ask.  Mom knows there is no point in putting an adult portion in front of him.  That amount of food would just be wasted.  But I don’t know of a loving mother anywhere that would not give her kid another helping if he was ready for it.  God may not give you the same blessing that He gives to the big church up the road.  He knows you don’t need it anyway.  But He will give you far more than you are already receiving if you will learn to ask in prayer.

                Oh our faith is just so small!  There is not a single pastor reading this that doesn’t already know the truth behind it.  You don’t need me to tell you about the power of prayer—most of you have experienced it time and time again.  But the plain fact is that we obviously don’t pray like we could and should.  If we did we would see God do greater works than we have already seen.  It’s time for us to stop writing and talking about praying and get down on our knees and get humble before God.

If he has been there nine months then you should feel comfortable to speak with him.  Do it one on one and express your concerns openly and politely.  Sometimes pastors have reasons for doing things a certain way and if you ask in the right way, you may find out what his reasoning is.  By all means pray before you go and reaffirm to your pastor that you are behind him, you just have some concerns.  God bless!

                One of the greatest problems new pastors have at small churches is trying to do too much too soon.  You go to a new congregation and are all gung ho for the new ministry.  You are there to accomplish something, to make a difference, to get things done!  It seems obvious to you that this little congregation has suffered from a lack of ideas, and you have the answers they are waiting for.

                After all, you have a degree from Bible college.  You have gone to the big church in the big town.  You have seen it all (or so you think) and you know what needs to be done to get the small church God has placed you in to become the mega church He desires (because God only desires mega churches, right?).  Everyone should be sitting on the edge of their pews to hear the great advice from your highly trained mind so they can get in on God’ program.

                Problem is, you will find that although your congregation loves their new pastor, and although they do indeed want to hear some new thoughts and ideas, there is a big difference from listening to thought about change and actually changing.  You are going to discover that one of the things that people resist the most (and church people are no different) is change.  Many young people like to claim that they love change.  They want to always be on the “cutting edge” of anything going on in life, including church.  But when you get to testing this claim, you will find that even the younger generation prefers for things to remain the same.

                I can recall my seminary president, Dr. B. Gray Allison, sharing at prayer request time that we needed to pray for so and so.  He went to a new church and tried to implement a bunch of new programs and now the church was upset and thinking about firing him.  This happened several times while I was in school.  Dr. Gray would always look at us as he finished the prayer request and say: “When you go to a new church, don’t change anything for at least a year.”  What he was telling us was a new pastor needs to be patient.

                When I went to my first little rural church I wanted to do evangelistic visitation in the community.  I wanted to get a church tract made with the church’s name, address, a brief gospel presentation, a simple map showing how to get there, and a word from the pastor.  My pastor at the church I had been serving at had such a pamphlet and found it very useful.  He always had some in his pocket to give to people both as a witness and a way to let people know where we were.  I naturally thought I needed the same thing and brought it up at a business meeting soon after I became pastor.

                Such heated debate!  What seemed like a simple matter to me became the subject of much discussion.  Why did we need this?  Would it really be useful?  Was it a wise use of the church’s money?  The debate ended when the church treasurer went to a Sunday school room and came back with a box of mailers the church had printed under a previous pastor to be used for a mass mailing in the community.  It contained most of the information I had mentioned, but was in the form of a piece of mail, not exactly something you could easily carry in your pocket for ready use.  But as far as the church was concerned that was it and had I pressed the matter it would have been a scene.  I dropped it and walked away from the meeting dejected.

                On another occasion I really set things off.  In talking with another pastor friend I found that his church paid for his health insurance premium.  He told me that most of the churches in the area did that and that I should ask my church to do so, since I had no health coverage of any kind.  How I wish I had not listened to my friend!  I brought the idea up and oh my!  They did not know how I came up with such ideas.  The pastors before me had wives who worked secular jobs that took care of their insurance needs (in other words my stay at home wife ought to get out and get a job).  I ended up apologizing and the matter was dropped.

                Now here’s the interesting part.  After I left, the church felt like they needed an experienced pastor.  They had, after all, taken on several novice preachers, including me.  As they began to interview prospective men, they were surprised that each one had the same question.  And what were they asking?  They wanted to know if the church paid for the pastor’s health insurance premium!  Needless to say that set them to thinking and they voted to start making that a part of their minister’s salary package.

                If you are going to successfully pastor a small church you have got to be patient.  Things will not change overnight.  They may not even change during your time as pastor.  Small church people have usually already had pastors come in who had lots of new programs they wanted to implement.  These new ways cost money.  And they also required the people to do things in a whole new way.  Very often they found that they would no sooner get these new programs in place and the pastor would leave for another church, leaving them holding the bag for the whole thing.  With the new leader gone, the new idea fell to the side and all the church had to show for it was a lot of money spent and a lot of time invested in something that never really got off the ground.

                Like it or not, you have to recognize this dynamic when you go to a small church.  Why should they get all excited about your new plans when the remains of your predecessor’s brainstorms are still sitting around?  True enough, you may have the idea that is going to change the church forever, helping it to grow as never before.  But if it is such a great program today, it will still be good tomorrow.  And if it cannot stand the test of time, then you really don’t need to put it off on your congregation anyway.

                The Bible is full of admonitions to wait.  If you are going to survive and thrive at a small church you must be willing to bide your time until the Lord shows you the moment is right.  Sometimes you can mention something in a sermon or lesson.  This will plant the idea in the minds of the people.  You can then occasionally mention it again, giving the folks time to ponder and get used to the plan.  Very seldom in a little congregation can you expect to just bring up something new and expect it to be accepted.

                God’s work has always required patience.  The apostle Paul wanted to visit Rome, but God did not let him do so until he had spent time in jail for preaching the gospel.  William Carey, the father of modern missions, when speaking of the need to spread the gospel, was told to sit down because if God wanted the heathen saved He would do it on His own.  Most successful ministries have had detractors who told the pastor it could not be done.

                My wife runs her own Christian daycare.  It is her joy to work with little children and help them develop physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  She is very good at what she does and it is not unusual for the children entering public school from her care to score high on the preschool tests.  But she can tell you that things don’t happen with children overnight.  You have to be patient when working with kids.  But rather than getting bent out of shape saying that the daycare could move forward if this child or that would just get with the program, she waits for the light bulb to go on in their minds.  Instead of beating her head against the wall in frustration because a certain child should know this rule or that, she takes the time to teach and reteach each principle until it is grasped.  After all, what would be the point in getting upset with a kid who just simply did not understand?

                Many small church pastors could take a lesson from my wife.  Just because you get it, just because you understand the principle does not mean everybody else does.  You must learn to deal with your people with patience if you want to see the results you are after.

                A spider spends many hours spinning a web.  It is a difficult and painstaking process.  When it is complete it is a beautiful sight to behold.  But a dog or cat coming by can tear it down in just a few seconds.  What happens then?  The spider will go back to work and build it again.  Patience is built in to the laws of nature and should be a part of our lives as well.  Getting in a hurry for some change you want to make will only cause you trouble with your church and give you ulcers.  Try going at the pace that God chooses instead of always trying to rush things.

By now most of you have probably heard of the small church in rural Kentucky that voted to ban interracial couples from membership or taking part in singing specials and other forms of public worship.  It was a slim vote—only 9 to 6, but passed all the same.  Many bloggers have commented and I now throw my hat into the ring.

The Bible is clear that it is God who adds to His church, not man.  Therefore it is wrong to place any standards for membership other than those set forth in scripture.  The only requirements are to trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior and to submit to believer’s baptism.  That’s it.

Now if a person claims the above but is living in a sinful lifestyle, then that person can be denied membership.  And thus the Kentucky vote.  They apparently believe it is sinful to be in a mixed marriage.  If they were right, then it would be okay to ban these couples.  But the Bible not only does not say it is wrong, it gives numerous examples of interracial marriages that had God’s blessings.

The first example I cite is Moses, who married an Ethiopian.  When his siblings objected, God struck his sister Miriam with leprosy.  Now if this marriage was wrong, don’t you think God would have been on her side?

Next we find the harlot Rahab who married an Israelite after the battle of Jericho.  As a Canaanite, she was a foreigner and was thus not to be considered for wedding material.  Yet the book of Matthew reveals that she became an ancestor of Jesus Christ.

And then there is Ruth the Moabite who married Boaz and Israelite.  God inspired an entire book of the Bible to be devoted to her story.  Her words of love to her mother in law have been read at many Christian weddings.  God had forbidden the people to marry Moabites, but He did not object to this union and she also became an ancestor of Jesus.

So why did God tell the Israelites not to intermarry with foreigners and then allow it at times?  The reason is the ban was not for racial reasons but for spiritual reasons.  He told them not to marry these people because they were pagans and would turn their hearts away from Him.  But when one of these people turned from their idols and accepted  the one true God, they were then acceptable candidates for marriage.

Thus the problem is not interracial marriage but rather the union of a believer and a nonbeliever.  Indeed, the scriptures say it is wrong to unequally yoked together with an unbeliever.  But that has nothing to do with race.

My own daughter is married to a fine young African American.  There were some disapproving looks at one church I pastored while they were dating.  Now that I am pastoring a mission church with no building yet, they requested and were turned down by yet another church to use their facilities for their Christian wedding.  We finally used a nice community center and had a wonderful service.  One of the people who helped the most in getting the wedding ready was one of the members of the church that turned us away.

So what is my point?  First, God is not opposed to interracial marriage and there are example in the Bible to prove the point.  Second, don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.  I have read many posts by people saying bad things about Christianity because of this vote by the Kentucky church.  But remember the ones who voted against it.  Remember the lady who helped at my daughter’s wedding.  Just because some Christians have it wrong, is no reason to throw out Christianity.

One day all the saved of all races will be together with the Lord in heaven.  I look forward to that day when red, yellow, black, and white become meaningless and all that matters is that we are brothers and sisters in Christ.  To God be the glory!

Holding my newborn granddaughter in my arms this past week gave me pause to think about all that is right with the world.  At the same time knowing that her cousin, only a few months old himself, was in a hospital in another city to have major tests run reminded me that many of the things we think are big are actually very small.

Alli is so sweet.  She has features of both of her parents.  Looking at her sleeping peacefully in Papaw’s arms, you know that God still smiles on this world.  There are so many distressing things going on in the world—wars, famine, unemployment, violence, and on and on.  Yet gazing into the face of this sweet angel from heaven, one cannot help but feel a sense of relief and confidence in the power of the Almighty to make all things right.

Eli, my niece’s son is a real character.  He cries a lot at times which has caused his mom a little distress, but he is at a happy phase of babyhood—gooing, laughing, and making the most of his world.  The very idea that he was hooked up to machines and being poked and prodded served as a reminder that we put too much stock in things that don’t matter.  So you’ve had a bad week at work—big deal!  So your car is giving you fits—so what?  These and similar troubles pale to oblivion when faced with a health problem with a child.

I am happy to say that Eli is back home and the doctors say they can’t find anything wrong—praise the Lord!  And I also am glad to say that when I got home from work this evening, Alli was in town and got to spend some time with Papaw!  I have problems in my life, as do you.  But we need to keep these things in perspective.  Don’t allow something that is actually small turn into something big and rob you of your joy in Jesus.

Of making of many books there is no end.  Thus says Soloman in Ecclesiastes 12:12.  So who am I to end the cycle?  I just sent the proposal for my new book Surviving and Thriving in the Small Church to a potential publisher today.  It is an uplifting work designed to encourage small church leaders.

You see, so many of the books on the market today deal with things going on in big churches.  While it is inspiring to read how God blesses these mega congregations, it is hard sometimes to relate that to a body of less than 100 members.  

There are many people that think small churches are in some way inferior to larger ones.  They don’t have a lot of resources, the music is not professional, the pastor often has to work at another job to make ends meet, and other such reasons are floated out as proof of the inferiority of small churches.  There’s just one problem with all of the arguments.  Most of the churches in the world are small.  Large congregations make up only about 10 percent of all churches.  So if most of the churches are small, that must mean more people prefer it that way.

Thus my new book.  As I have stated before on this blog, the small church is not a little version of the bigger groups.  It is a unique entity.  That means you can’t take what’s working at the megas and scale it down to meet your needs.  The small church has needs that are all their own.  And leaders need resources to help them in these special ways.

So here’s hoping that Surviving and Thriving in the Small Church makes it to print.  And if it doesn’t, rest assured it’s contents will be shared on this blog and any other place I can get the message out. 

  Near the end of Paul’s life he stated he had finished the course.  That is, he had accomplished all that God meant for him to get done.  He did not get distracted, at least not for long.  He completed the ministry he had been born to do.

  I wonder how many of us can say the same thing.  My daughter works as cashier at a retail store.  She was talking to someone about a certain church.  The next customer in line stated that he was a member of that church but wasn’t faithful to attend.  I imagine that wasn’t the case when he first joined.  Probably, he was there often and was a regular in the services.  Somewhere along the way he got off course.

  The same thing happened to King Asa in the Old Testament.  Faced with a battle against the Ethiopians who boasted an army many times larger than that of Judah, Asa called out to God who gave him a great victory over the superior force.  He received a commendation from the Lord and was greatly blessed by Him.  But in his later life, he was again faced with a military invasion.  This time he turned to the pagan king of Syria to help.  God sent a prophet to rebuke him and Asa had the prophet jailed.

  How could one who started so well finish so poorly?  It happens in the ministry all the time.  Sometimes the pastor gets “weary in well doing.”  The work of God is hard work and one can get tired of it all if he is not careful.  Sometimes a poor finish is due to sin coming in to the pastor’s heart and turning him away.

  Another reason some get side tracked is not seeing the results they were expecting.  You know how it is—you begin a new program that you thought would have great results and instead it is a lot of hard work with only a little success.  At times like that it is very tempting to throw in the towel and quit.

  But at the end of it all, who would you rather be like—Paul or Asa?  To be like Paul you’ve got to keep going even when it’s not easy.  To be like Paul you have to endure hardships and trials—things that will discourage other pastors.  To be like Paul you have to set your sights on the one goal that really matters—the high calling of God which is in Christ Jesus.

  Pastor, keep on the course.  Remember that in due season you will reap if you faint not.

I am currently reading a book that states that Western culture has corrupted the American churches.  One of the main tenets of the author is that America’s fascination with the individual has been detrimental to the concept of community in the churches.

There is some basis for this view.  American society is certainly about me, me, me first and everyone else can get in line.  ”You’ve got to look out for number one” is definitely a part of our culture’s psyche.

And can anyone doubt that this has not affected American Christianity?  As a small church pastor, I can attest to the many times I have visited a prospective family only to hear in one form or another, “what does your church have to offer me?”  I have always contended that the right question is “what to I have to offer your church?!”  Had Jesus only been interested in those who could benefit Him He would not have come to earth at all because none of us have anything to offer Him.

So I understand the point.  However, I don’t agree that all of American Christianity is like this.  As a matter of fact, most small churches have a very strong sense of community.  Indeed, it is this very thing that helps hold them together.  Pastors come and go, communities change, people are born and die, but these congregations remain strong, in large part because of their sense of belonging to one another.  They know they are part of something that is bigger than themselves—they are a part of the church!

And the good news is, most of the churches in America are small churches.  Over 80 percent of all congregations are small.  That means that a majority of the people DO have the sense of community that the Bible requires in a New Testament church. 

There will always be some that don’t get it, who care more for themselves than the group.  But thankfully, those folks are a minority in small churches.  

One thing especially needed by small church pastors is patience.  It is so easy to try to run ahead of God and the church.  We have all of these great ideas that we’re itching to put into practice.  This is amplified if we are in a congregation that is need of numerical growth and we can see some of the barriers in the way.

But all of life is about learning to wait on God’s timing.  Going into a church as a new pastor and trying to change a lot of things is a certain recipe for conflict and discouragement.  Many pastors have had to resign in utter defeat because they tried to do too much too soon.

It’s not that the ideas were not good.  It’s just that the pastor got too carried away and tried to make something happen.  It reminds me of a song leader trying to “work up the Spirit” by singing a lively hymn.  The Spirit can’t be “worked up” and you can’t force a program to work if the timing is not right.

I wrote a book a few months ago for small church pastors.  A published author told me that writing the book was the easy part—getting it published was the hard.  I have found that he knew exactly what he was talking about.  I can’t force a publisher to take my book.  I have to go through the proper channels and that requires patience.

How much more so when we are dealing with the church of the living God!  As small church leaders we must learn to wait on the Lord.  He is the One who can grow His church and it is His timing that matters, not ours.