Why the Small Church?

November 15

There is what I like to call “The Great Debate” going on today about whether the large or small church is better. I use the relative term here for a special reason. It means I am offering an opinion
that I believe is solidly based on scripture, but has little if any bearing on one’s salvation. There is strong biblical support that most if not all churches met in homes until nearly 400 A.D. During that period the church grew as fast, or it could actually be argued faster, than it did after that time. I’ve
explained that situation numerous times in prior writings, so I won’t waste space here beating that horse. What I will say is that it is extremely arrogant to suggest one church of 10,000 members can do more that 100 churches with 100 members each. There is little point in attempting to prove either to be true.

The important point to point out is that those who suggest the larger church can do more for the kingdom of God are very much like those in Babylon who built the tower of Babel into the heavens and said to themselves, “My, what a fine thing we have done.” God’s word makes it clear over and again He can deliver by many or by few. One man of faith can do more for the kingdom of God
than 10,000 mighty men without that faith.

I will point out why I believe it is so crucial that we keep our churches small. As a matter of fact, I would vote for all churches moving into homes, eliminating the buildings altogether,
appointing a group of men in a given area to eldership of the flock as it meets throughout that region. Have the pastor/teachers, prophets, evangelists, and apostles rotate in each of those places doing the teaching as they meet two or three times a week each. My personal experience has been that isn’t likely in most places in America because we have become so accustomed to the traditional
place to meet as a church that we have come to believe that building is actually the church. That is one of Satan’s most effective strategies. He has gotten the real church (those saints who meet together) to believe the real church is nothing more than a cold, inanimate structure that can save no one
nor can it grow anyone to maturity in Christ.

I will go so far to declare the millions of dollars denominations build on structures in America in one year alone would feed, clothe, and shelter every true, born-again believer in every nation on this planet for life. Please trust me, God is appalled at the billions of dollars those who claim to be His waste each year in this wicked, blasphemous, ungodly nation. We are so weighed down with the burden of the guilt of our sin we can’t see Him or hear His voice when He speaks. I am weary of hearing pastors stand in pulpits and ask for money for this project and money for that project. One local church is asking for shoe boxes to send presents to children in foreign countries. That action clearly identifies the major problem we in America have with evangelism. We see pictures of children’s eyes lighting up as they open the first package they have ever gotten in their entire lives with things in it that will decay in a few short years, or in some cases days. I watch in horror as mealy mouthed, listless, fools drool and tear up when they see such utter idiocy. Those children need food, clothing, and shelter, not stuffed animals, dolls, and monopoly boards. They need books they can read, warm caps, underwear, good inexpensive shoes, and coats.

To suggest that the smile on their faces makes it all worth, is like suggesting my wife’s smile at the sight of the 5 karat diamond I bought her for her 30th anniversary is proof buying it was the
right thing. Of course children will smile when getting presents, but we are telegraphing our screwed up priorities when we give them such things on Christmas rather than make sure they understand the Christian message about the birth of Christ. Maybe we should give them gold, frankincense, and myrrh. All of which goes to make my point. If we had been meeting in a home as is described in I Corinthians 14 and a pastor had said something so incredibly unbiblical, it would have provided a chance for another of the pastors to address the problem, or at the very least, confront that ill advised pastor privately at a later time. The small church is a perfect environment to make sure everyone is accountable, including the pastors.

Some mega-churches throughout the land are attempting to have their cake and eat it. They are forming hundreds of small groups where the closeness enables them to be accountable to one another.
It’s better than those churches that are making no such attempt, but the problem remains that they are accountable to one man usually, the “senior pastor”, who rules like the Caesars of Rome. Even churches with less than 100 members, under the traditional structure of the church, are wasting the
overwhelming majority of the money they collect in offerings on repairs, heating, air-conditioning, grounds maintenance, and salaries of pastors, most of whom could support themselves by getting a real job most of the time.

I’m not suggesting the church should not reimburse financially those elders who are working hard and preaching and teaching. I Corinthians 9 and I Tim. 5:17 make that clear. Certainly, Paul taught such men ought to make their living at preaching the gospel. That said, aul never suggested those men should live in the lap of luxury while claiming to be servants of Jesus. I can’t begin to number the many pastor/teachers I have known who insisted they were worth a lot more than their congregations
were paying them. The statement alone is enough to make me want to slap them upside the head (in a good Christian way) and tell them to get out of the ministry if that is the order of their priorities. How can a pastor/teacher ever teach humility, sacrificial living, and the need to give to help the orphans, widows, and downtrodden of society if he isn’t setting the example of what that actually means in the life of a real person?

In closing today’s devotional I would like to suggest the small church, even the house church, has a much better chance of fulfilling the variety of responsibilities the bible indicates is its
calling.  While many large churches are trying today to overcome the impersonal atmosphere such a church, by its very nature, sets. I humbly suggest most are failing miserably. And that’s God’s word for us today.