Are you a small church pastor?
Seems like an easy question, right? But it doesn’t have an easy answer.
Many Small Church pastors don’t know they’re Small Church pastors. I’ll tell you why in a minute.
But first, here’s a short quiz you can take to find out if you’re a Small Church pastor.
1. Are you a pastor?
2. Does your church have fewer than 200 people attending on an average Sunday?
If you answered “yes” to both questions, congratulations! You’re a Small Church pastor!
So why does it take a quiz to figure that out? Can’t Small Church pastors count? Is that why their churches are small?
Of course we can count. But most of us don’t think we’re Small Church pastors because we’ve been told that it’s wrong to be one.
- We’ve been told that a Small Church is a failing church. And we don’t want to be a failure.
- We’ve been told that if our church isn’t growing numerically, it’s missing God’s will. And we don’t want to miss God’s will.
- We’ve been told that pastoring a Small Church is settling for less. And we don’t want to settle for less.
So, as strange as it may seem, many Small Church pastors don’t know we’re Small Church pastors. We think we’re big church pastors who just haven’t arrived yet. And we’re working very hard at arriving. Sometimes with harmful consequences.
Embrace the Small
Here’s an unavoidable truth we all need to acknowledge:
90% of us will never pastor a church of more than 200 people. Whether we like it or not, whether we believe it or not, 90% of us are Small Church pastors.
That’s what my picture in this post is all about. I’m holding a nametag that reads “Hi, I’m Karl and I’m a Small Church Pastor“, but that photo is not about me. There’s a reason why the nametag is in the foreground and that it takes up as much space in the frame as my face does.
That photo is meant to serve as a point of identification for Small Church pastors. It’s a pictorial representation of a shift in thinking I had to make a few years ago. A shift towards greater health and effectiveness in ministry. A shift that can’t happen until we admit the truth.
Let’s tell the truth about our church. About our calling. About our spiritual gifting. About our identity.
If you answered “yes” to both questions in the quiz, stop right now and read the next paragraph out loud. I mean it. This matters.
“Hi, I’m (insert your name here) and I’m Small Church pastor.”
Doesn’t that feel good?
Seriously. There’s something about stating the truth that helps us know the truth. And there’s something about knowing the truth that…what was that saying again?…I remember it was written in red letters…
“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)
Here’s the truth – accept it and it will free you.
You’re a Small Church pastor.
How about you? Have you struggled with your identity as a Small Church pastor?
We want to hear from you. Yes, you!
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