We need to understand why a church is small before we can know if its size is a problem to overcome or an opportunity to capitalize on.
Is it small because something is broken or stuck, causing it to stall out when it should be scalable? If so, good stewardship demands that those problems be addressed and fixed.
Or is your church small because it excels in the kind of ministry that happens best in small batches? Maybe you’re ministering to people who feel overwhelmed when the crowd gets big. If so, good stewardship demands that you dump the guilt and reignite your passion for farm-to-table faith.
Author
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Karl produces resources for Helping Small Churches Thrive at KarlVaters.com.
He's the author of four books on church leadership. His fifth book, De-Sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became a Science, Then an Obsession, and What's Next, releases on April 2, 2024.
He also hosts a bi-weekly podcast,The Church Lobby: Conversations on Faith & Ministry. Episodes feature in-depth interviews about the topics that concern pastors, especially those who minister in a small church context.
Karl has served in small-church ministry for over 40 years, so he speaks and writes from decades of hands-on pastoral experience. He and his wife, Shelley have three children and two grandkids.