The Big Advantage of Being Small
Posted on 03. Feb, 2011 by Steve Swisher in Personal Growth
This past summer I was driving to a friend’s church plant with my family. On the way we passed a large denominational church that looked like it had all the amenities. It was less than a mile from the school where the church plant was located. My wife said, “How are they ever going to make it with a church like that right in their back yard?”
“Easy”, I said. “They’re not trying to reach the people who are interesting in going to that kind of church.”
As a church plant, you have some distinct advantages. First, you meet in a non-traditional location. It’s becoming harder and harder for established churches to get non-church people to come to their campus. You however are meeting where their kids go to school or where they go on Friday night for entertainment. You’re on their home-turf.
Also, you don’t have to deal with the hidden bureaucracy that many established church pastors have. You can try things that the pastor of the big church down the street doesn’t have the freedom to do. You could cancel church and mobilize your church to serve your community on a Sunday morning. You can change things in the service to fit the message better. You can move the church service to a park to encourage people to invite their friends. Don’t spend your time envying the pastor down the street, often they envy the position you’re in.
Further, technology and modern trends play to the strength of a church plant. Both big and small can use technology. Often, they can afford to buy more stuff but they don’t have the freedom to let it do all it can do. Also there is a trend toward simple, minimalistic design.
I read a book a while back called the The McDonaldization of the Church by John Drane that talked about how people want authenticity. People are skeptical of large, corporate looking institutions. People don’t want to feel like a number, another convert. A church plant meeting in a non-traditional setting has the non-corporate look that many people are looking for.
So embrace the challenges that come with church planting. They are the very things that give you an opportunity to reach the unreached.
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