Benefits Of A Small Church
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
Congregations come in all shapes and sizes.
Some are large, numbering in the thousands, even tens of thousands such as the church in Antioch of Syria or Jerusalem.
Some are small, with as few as a handful in a home, possibly like the church in Philadelphia.
The definition of “congregational size” as small, medium, and large as been broken down by as…
Small consisting of 200 or less.
Medium consisting of 201-400.
Large being made up of 401 or more.
When this as a barometer or definition we find that…
80 percent of the Lord’s church is made up of small congregations.
10 percent is made up of medium and 10 percent of large congregations.
There is no doubt that each size has its advantages and disadvantages.
A medium to large congregation can do more with increased resources at its disposal.
This has led some to believe a “larger” congregation is better than a small congregation.
However, this morning I want to focus on the “Benefits Of A Small Church.”
This sermon isn’t mean to encourage stagnation in numerical growth but rather to encourage based on the benefits that are a reality when smaller numbers are found in a congregation.
A benefit to being a part of a small church is…
A Stronger Family Sense
A Stronger Family Sense
Everyone Knows Everyone.
Everyone Knows Everyone.
A small church is one where everyone knows everyone else and because of this there is a bond with the “entire congregation” that simply is not possible in the larger congregations.
Illustration: Larry Jones taking 2 years to speak to everyone at a congregation of 600.
There are a lot of benefits to a congregation our size that knows everyone that isn’t possible with a congregation that is large.
Knowing everyone means there is a greater sense of family.
As the church we are brothers and sisters.
James 2:15 (ESV)
15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,
Romans 10:1 (NKJV)
1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.
Simply put we are expected to develop familial relationships and this is easier in a small congregation.
1 Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.
Ephesians 2:19 (ESV)
19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God
We develop this through hospitality and brotherly affection for each other.
13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
Summary
Summary
Knowing everyone allows for a stronger familiar bond between each and everyone in the congregation.
Though intellectually everyone in a large congregation knows this, practically it is impossible to actually “know everyone.”
We also find that with small congregations there is a great benefit in…
Spiritual Growth
Spiritual Growth
Participation Opportunities.
Participation Opportunities.
Knowing everyone means there is a greater opportunity to grow spiritually.
Because there are fewer people in the congregation there are more opportunities to spiritually participate in a small church.
Roles such as serving in the public worship, teaching bible classes, upkeep on the building, etc., are much more available in a small congregation.
There have been countless books written by our brethren on why young Christians fall away, and there are many reasons for this (Luke 8:4-8) but almost unanimously it is conceded that young Christians are not put to work in the local church quick enough to feel needed and appreciated.
Ephesians 2:8–10 (ESV)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Not having a large number of people to pull from isn’t a disadvantage but an advantage in our congregations spiritual growth.
Summary
Summary
How many men here could honestly say that if we were not a small congregation they probably would have never “led a prayer or song” or “taught a class?
I know I would have never tried to lead singing in front of a congregation if it had not been for the small congregation in Kennedal, TX.
We also find that a small congregation is beneficial when it comes to…
Spiritual Struggles
Spiritual Struggles
It’s Harder To Hide It.
It’s Harder To Hide It.
Knowing everyone means there is greater opportunity to know when someone is struggling.
Now, obviously we can hide our sin and pain, but there is a far greater chance of someone noticing there is a struggle in our lives if we are in a small church.
How many times have people come up to us here and asked, “You doing ok” because they saw something different in us that day, month, or few months?
This is a biblical thing we as a family should want so as to help and bear each other’s burden.
2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
1 We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.
Summary
Summary
Though scary there is great comfort in knowing you cannot hide your struggle with sin or emotional situations because your brothers and sisters see you.
And if you try and simply “not assemble with the saints” that is more readily noticed in a small congregation.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Knowing this it might be tempting to strive to stay small by ignoring our duty to “help other lost souls find Christ.”
The Lord expects us to “seek the lost” and “teach the truth.”
31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.