The great thing about small churches...

At the end of April I spent a few days at EQUIP, an event put on by Canadian Church of God Ministries to encourage and train leaders for ministry. We had the privilege of listening to a guest speaker named Karl Vaters. He’s written a few books on why small church is not a problem and some of the ways to make small churches healthy.

Over the past couple decades there’s been many attempts to help churches grow and improve, but a large percentage of those ideas have come from people who minister in large churches with lots of resources. But most churches in the world are small. In fact, over 90% of our churches are under 200, over 80% are under 100. Being small is not a problem to be solved or something to be fixed.
 
Large church and small church are two different types that operate very differently. Both are useful, important parts of the body of Christ. Quality looks different in each context. Big doesn't equal good and small doesn't equal bad. There are strengths and weaknesses of each.

When we're aware of it, we can embrace the superpower of small churches: relationships! We can welcome, know and care for each other in fantastic ways. I'm so proud of how you do this each Sunday and at our special events.
 
Karl mentioned that, in his experience, the top two reasons people attend a small church (under 200 people) are that: 
1) Pastor knows their name and 
2) they feel they can make a difference. 

Would you agree? 
What are the reasons you have chosen to attend a “small” church? 

I’d love to hear from you. You can respond to this email or send me a text or chat with me another time, but I’m interested to know your thoughts on this.
 
Your Pastor,
Nate