Combatant or Connoisseur?

The frustration of ministering to Christian ‘experts’ & the blessing of the willing Christian fighters

This article first appeared in the February 2020 edition of Evangelicals Now.

For full disclosure, I was converted and did a curacy in larger churches. I was a student and worked in a church that ended up being a fair size. But, for the past 16 years, I have been the Minister of two small churches (one Anglican, one Presbyterian) – each with times of rapid growth and decline. And let’s be clear: although in once sense size isn’t the best indication of spiritual health, most of us in small churches came with the idea (perhaps in arrogance) that we might grow them into bigger churches.

Sometimes smaller churches can be bitter and cynical about bigger churches: ‘they’re only big because they’ve compromised’; ‘they use marketing methods; ‘they suck the life out of the rest of us’; sometimes just a despairing; ‘they’re good, we’re not’. Smaller churches experience transfer growth, mostly from larger churches. And I’ve noticed that these people mostly come in two sizes.

Size 1: The combatant

The combatants are very keen and well trained. Smaller churches like to train people for evangelism and ministry, but it’s hard to sustain this with small numbers and one full-time minister (if that).

Larger churches often do this well and the rest of us benefit. These people move ready to be put into action, in young people’s work etc. They’ve also been well taught and are teachable themselves. They come to things and lap up the teaching. They know what church is, so when it’s tough they roll their sleeves up, beat their chest and call, ‘bring it on’.

Size 2: The connoisseur

For the connoisseurs, however, nothing is as good as the bigger church they were from. (Interestingly, when I was in a big church we still had connoisseurs, comparing us with the really big church). These people are ready with their score cards. Music is too modern or too old, sermons are too short or long or basic or complicated, and there is also the classic, ‘nobody here is like me’.

When we point out someone the same age, they’re the wrong class, marital status, height, and so on. The people their age are too posh, the non posh people are too old. They come about once a month, but eventually end up grazing – moving between churches and visiting friends around the country on Sundays. After a while I lose contact with them.

The Size 1 combatants show that bigger churches can be a great blessing to us in smaller ones. The Size 2 connoisseurs aren’t the big churches’ fault! At least not always. Bigger churches will attract consumers; just as small churches attract their tricky customers.

Challenges

Yet it is something for bigger churches to be aware of. What attitudes and culture are they fostering? Sooner or later people move area and the local Evangelical church could be small with few resources. Will they be ready? Will they see church through biblical imagery, or as a service provider? Will they see a small church in terms of its potential, as well as its current advantages and limitations?

There is a challenge for smaller churches too. We need to stop making excuses. A theology student asked me how large our church was, I said ‘small’; we were around 60 at the time. He said that was a Reformed mega-church! And it was true, in that we had at the time, for our size, a good number of preachers, team and musicians.

It’s easy to say, ‘we’re small and can spare nobody’. In fact, we can often help and bless those in tougher situations, and probably should be proactive in looking at how we can. And we should prepare our people, in whatever size church, to be combat-ready rather than connoisseurs.