From the Pastors Desk

Small Can Be Mighty!

From the Pastors Desk - July 10, 2024

I recently listened to a podcast from Luther Seminary (MN) about lay leadership in the church. The Rev. Clara King, an Anglican priest and researcher in Canada was interviewed. Dr. King travels around Canada to the small churches to see if she can be of assistance. She also researches what these churches do to stay viable and continue their mission. Apparently, a small church is considered 100 people or less. Rev. King said that most of the churches she visits worship much smaller than that.

Rev. King has a great deal of respect for these churches as the majority of them are lay led. Given that there is a significant shortage of clergy, these churches are too small to attract a full time pastor so their lay leaders have taken charge. This has created some edginess amongst the church hierarchy. In a system that has maintained the ideal of thou must go to seminary and be ordained to be a church clergy leader, lay leadership is not something that has been encountered before. In a nutshell, the hierarchy isn’t certain what to do, and in the meantime, the lay leaders can’t wait for the decision makers to figure it out so they continue on since they know that if they don’t no one will.

One common theme throughout the churches Rev. King has visited is the disappointment of the members at the lack of worshippers. In other words, they don’t want to be small. Rev. King states that being small is ok. She frequently finds more vitality in the small congregations and they are often willing to try new ideas since they really have nothing to lose.

Unfortunately, we long time church members have been conditioned, or perhaps reduced, to number counting. We view success as high numbers of warm bodies in the pews on any given Sunday. The bigger the number the better we feel. We stare longingly at the mega churches and their hundreds of worshipers, and we wish that was our church. One thing to remember, though, is that small isn’t necessarily bad and big may not be necessarily good. The larger the church, the more parishioners get lost in the crowd and become just another number. Small churches can better develop personal relationships amongst the members. The smaller the church, the more frequently that all members, or at least the majority, become involved in one way or another.

Whether you agree or not, I view Good Shepherd as a vibrant small church. We have a very active membership. When you consider that 50-75% of the membership attend every, or almost every, Sunday, that’s pretty darn good (as my mom would have said)! We have folks who want to do things and go places. There are always at least 4 or 5 faithful people participating on Zion’s bus trips. Many of you sign up to attend dinners or lunches when we have them. Good Shepherd is a congregation that acts like it’s very alive, hence my question for you during the congregational meeting. If we do nothing, Good Shepherd probably has a good five years left as a church, but if we transform our selves we can go beyond those five years. What can we do to transform Good Shepherd into a church that continues beyond the years we have left?

Only one of you have come back to me. Bob L. wanted to get together with my family and me to talk about his vision, but we had to take a raincheck as we were working to get the front porch roof finished before the massive heat wave. Bob, we’re still interested in your vision, and everyone else’s thoughts as well. Remember, small can be mighty! I think that’s a great thing for Good Shepherd to strive for!

Faithfully,

Lei Fahrner