Brandon J. OBrien - Small Church, Big Impact

I pastor a small church that we planted nine years ago. I love our congregation and what God is doing through it. So why is it I feel insecure every time someone asks me how many people attend our church? Why do I think the success of my church plant is going to be judged by the number of congregants we have? And why do I feel the urge to report higher numbers? If you pastor a small church, be honest, you struggle with the same thoughts.

A couple of years ago, I attended a large pastors conference close to my home in Orange County. The speakers were amazing, the program exciting, and the energy contagious. On many levels it was inspiring, but something about it made me uneasy. On my second day at the conference, I realized what it was: Every one of the speakers on the big stage pastored a mega-church of thousands. Yet the vast majority of the pastors in attendance were at churches of less than five hundred. How do I know? Because these are the facts. According to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, 94 percent of all existing churches have less than five hundred attendees, and two-thirds of these have less than one hundred. Churches of more than two thousand attendees represent less than one half of one percent of all churches in America. As I sat at the conference, I wondered why we hold these mega-churches up as the model of ministry for every church. Is it because, I asked myself, they are large and successful? Yet if the majority of pastors are serving at small churches and these conferences are meant to equip and encourage these pastors, why are there no small-church pastors up on the big stage who can teach us what it means to be a small-church pastor? Certainly there are some amazing leaders and teachers at small churches. Could it be because we have bought into the notion that small churches are failed churches and they can only become successful if they follow a certain plan and grow to a certain size? Why have we allowed the ministry experience of one half of one percent of all churches to become the standard by which we judge the remaining 99.5 percent of churches?

What if we saw reality differently? What if Gods plan for most churches is to be small? What if the best model for the church is to stay under five hundred people, and even closer to the tipping point of one hundred fifty? Could it be that we have hundreds of thousands of insecure, depressed small-church pastors who have no reason to feel inadequate? And if we changed our perspective, dreamed a different dream, what difference would it make, not just for the psyche of the pastors in America but for the advancement of Gods kingdom purposes?

This is the dream that Brandon OBrien has dared to dream. He is out to change the perception that small churches have failed models of ministry. Never does he say that all small churches are healthy just because of their size. They may not be. But what he does in these pages is show that small churches have amazing strategic advantages.

Brandon is involved in the exercise of changing perceptions. And I found my perspective shifting as I read. I felt less trapped in the narrative of obscurity that is the birthright of small-church pastors. I became more emboldened and confident that I am part of a missional movement of churches that is changing the world in the global South and someday in this country, as well. It is my hope that small-church pastors, leaders, and members will read this book and stop wasting valuable energy trying to imitate large-church ministry, and instead recognize the inherent and strategic strengths of small churches. This means getting excited about what God is doing and plans to do through your church. Read this book and be inspired. I was.

Jim Belcher, author of Deep Church