Only In a Small Church: Sometimes You Gotta Kill Cockroaches

Small churches aren’t just smaller versions of big churches. They have unique gifts, challenges and methods of operation. But not everyone realizes that fact. Including some small church pastors. This often leads to frustration when we go to ministerial conferences or read pastoral books. Most (usually all) of the speakers and authors are from large churches, so they offer large church solutions. But when we try to implement them, many of them don’t work for us. It’s not that the speakers and authors are giving bad advice. It’s just that what works for a big church, often doesn’t work in a smaller one.

April 10, 2017

by Karl Vaters

Small churches aren’t just smaller versions of big churches. They have unique gifts, challenges and methods of operation.

But not everyone realizes that fact. Including some small church pastors.

Our churches aren’t small because we make small church choices. We make small church choices because our churches are small.

Author

Karl Vaters

Karl produces resources for Helping Small Churches Thrive at KarlVaters.com.
He's the author of five books on church leadership, including his newest, De-Sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became a Science, Then an Obsession, and What's Next. His other books include The Grasshopper Myth and Small Church Essentials.
Karl also hosts a bi-weekly podcast,The Church Lobby: Conversations on Faith & Ministry, featuring in-depth interviews about 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.

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