Karl Vaters

Why Unfriendly Big Churches Are Bad – But Unfriendly Small Churches Can Be Dangerous

/ 4 minutes of reading

Friendliness, warmth and connection are not automatic in any church. Big churches know this. Small Churches tend to forget it. And when we forget it we can hurt people deeply.

An unfriendly Small Church can be a dangerous thing.

Big churches are aware of crowd dynamics, so most of them work really hard at overcoming the pull towards anonymity. Many of them succeed and are very friendly. It may even be one of the reasons they became big.

Small Churches need to work just as hard at friendliness, warmth and connection as our large church counterparts do. Maybe even harder, because friendliness is more expected and needed when the crowd is smaller.

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How I Stopped Feeling Embarrassed by My Small Church

/ 3 minutes of reading

One of the ways I learned to be OK with – and now celebrate – the value of a healthy Small Church, was when I started seeing it through the eyes of people who visit Small Churches for the first time.

The front door of a Small Church is not the wardrobe to the magical land of Narnia. No one expects that a church which looked small from the outside will magically grow huge once they step inside.

People who come to a Small Church aren’t expecting a big church experience. But they have a right to expect a really good Small Church experience.

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Why Doesn’t God Answer All My Prayers? Because Some of Them are Stupid

/ 4 minutes of reading

The point of salvation is not just to give us a get-out-of-hell-free card. It’s so that we can enter into a real, ongoing, loving relationship with Jesus.

And the point of ministry is not to have a job that pays the bills and gets us pats on the back. It’s to lead others into an ongoing, loving relationship with Jesus. And the best way to do that is by being a living example of how to have that relationship.

Relationships need regular communication. Prayer does that for our relationship with Jesus. But I’ve never met anyone who said they were completely happy with their prayer life. Including pastors.

Prayer may be the most overlooked aspect of Christian life and pastoral ministry. Even though we know it’s the most important.

We need to become better pray-ers. But how?

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Jesus and Crowds – An Unhappy Marriage

/ 5 minutes of reading

When you’re in business to make widgets, you live and die by the numbers. But we’re pastors. We’re not in business. And we’re not making widgets. As John Piper reminds us, “Brothers, We Are Not Professionals”.

So yes, we need to count people. Because people count. But people aren’t numbers. And numbers aren’t people. People matter more than numbers.

When we overemphasize how many people came to church, we run the risk of devaluing the unique gifts and needs of the individuals who make up the crowd. Jesus never did that.

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We Followed the Steps – Where’s the Church Growth?

/ 4 minutes of reading

There are many churches who are following all the principles, but never break through the growth barriers.

There are no guaranteed steps to church growth or health. Because the church is people. And people never come with guarantees.

So, what’s a pastor to do? Here’s the only advice I know.

Stay faithful, no matter the results. Faithfulness doesn’t help us reach our goals. Faithfulness is the goal.

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Saying “I Can’t” May Be Your Missing Key to Success

/ 5 minutes of reading

“I can’t” may be the two most liberating words missing from your leadership lexicon.

For years I’ve been told by well-meaning preachers and teachers that if I have enough faith, I can do anything I want to do.

But it’s not true. I can’t do anything I want to do. Neither can you. Knowing and embracing that truth has freed me. And it can free you, too.

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What a Rabbi Taught Me About Keeping Christ In Christmas

/ 5 minutes of reading

“Keep Christ in Christmas” is a familiar saying this time of the year. But you don’t expect to hear it from the local rabbi.

For several years I was involved in our town’s Police Chaplaincy. One year, at our December meeting, the Methodist pastor noticed that the napkins had a picture of Santa Claus on them. He slid one across the table to the rabbi from the local synagogue.

“Hey Steve,” he asked, “what do Jewish people think about Santa Claus?”

“Nothing,” the rabbi responded as he picked up the napkin. “Santa is a Christmas character.”

“But he’s a secular figure,” countered the Methodist. “Don’t you even let the kids do presents from Santa so they won’t feel left out?”

“No,” he responded. “We don’t worry about that. In fact I think you Christians ought to keep Christ in Christmas.”

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Two More Church Growth & Leadership Lies: The Church is American and White

/ 6 minutes of reading

I am a proud American. But Jesus wasn’t. The church isn’t. And my faith isn’t.

I’m also white and English-speaking. But Jesus wasn’t those either. And neither is the vast majority of his church.

Yet, if you pay attention to the church stats cited by most bloggers, speakers and authors, they tend to be very heavily slanted towards white, English-speaking Americans. Often exclusively so.

This slanted view gives us an inaccurate picture of who and what the 21st century church looks like.

It’s a big world out there. Jesus cares about all of it.

So should we.

In today’s post I’m going to take a hard, possibly uncomfortable look at two lies we end up believing when we pay almost exclusive attention to the white, English-speaking, American church.

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