5 Surprising Benefits of Joining a Small Church

Many of my friends have left traditional, smaller churches.  I am talking about churches under 100 in Sunday morning attendance.  I have had the opposite migration.  I have been a minister and a member at both larger and small churches.  When I was a minister at a larger church I was arrogant and looked down my nose at smaller churches.  Now that I am a pastor at a small church I have had to work through being arrogant and looking up my nose at the larger churches that 'steal' our members and have youth ministry budgets larger than our entire church budget.

While I was on sabbatical last summer our family visited several larger churches and saw that they are doing a great work.  For a long time I had hidden my jealousy (since I pastor a small church) of larger churches through little criticisms about their programming and impersonal atmosphere.  I will admit I was wrong.  There are a lot of great churches that are large, in fact we sent our kids on a mission trip with a larger churches youth group and they treated wonderfully.


However, there are a lot of great small churches as well.  There are benefits to being a part of a small church that can only be found in a small church.

1. People get to know your name; everyone gets to know your name. You don't get as close to everyone in a small church, but you do feel like Norm coming into Cheers, everyone knows your name.  In our day of having so many social interactions online, it is nice to have multi-generations say hello to you by using your name each week.       Part of the deal in a small church is that most of these people really care about you and will be there if you need them.  You may have heard it said that if you find a perfect church don't join it because you will just mess it up.  Every church has its warts, yet in a small church those warts are overshadowed by loving and supportive relationships.

2.  The smaller church needs your support, there are a lot of places to serve and try out your gifts and interests.  Many small churches have a leadership void.  They also have multiple needs and places to serve.  If you are wanting to put your faith into action, a small church can offer immediate places to use your gifts, try out interests and push your leadership limits.   Smaller churches can have leadership structures that take a while to break into, but that is because the people want to know you before they welcome you into leadership.  But don't you want to know and trust people who lead you as well?

3.  Pot-lucks, need I say more.    Smaller churches love to get together for pot-lucks.  If you have never been to a church pot-luck you have missed something spectacular.  If you don't know what a pot-luck is it is too wonderful to try to explain.  In fact you need to find a friend who goes to a small church and tell them to invite you to their next pot-luck.  People bringing their favorite home-made recipes, nothing goes together, but everything is delicious.  At our church people are known for their dishes, one will bring authentic tamales, one will bring a home-made pound cake, one will bring broccoli salad...the result is synergism at its finest. (And as a pastor often I get to take home left-overs...God is good!)

4.  Cross generational interaction for your family.  One of my favorite times of the week is about 30 minutes prior to Sunday School when I sit with several of the men of our church and visit.  My youngest son, who is 11 often comes and sits down with us and visits as well.  These men vary in age (all are older than me), treat my son with respect and dignity allowing him into their conversation.  All three of my kids have grown up in small Sunday School classes where they had individual attention and instruction.  My oldest child spent a year with a wonderful woman his grandmother’s age and they studied the Bible together for an hour each Sunday.  He was in 6th grade and loved every minute of his time with her.  Opportunities such as this are the norm in smaller churches.

5.  They are not 'cool', but Jesus hangs out at small churches.  Small churches do not have glitz and glamour; they are not where the cool kids or families go on Sunday morning.  Movers and shakers rarely attend smaller churches, but Jesus does.  Jesus was from a small and insignificant town and that means something special to me.  A small church, with all its warts is a place where real people open their hearts to Jesus and share their lives with each other.

I am happy to say that even though we have been in large and small churches, our family continues to love our little church where we worship with people we know, connect with our fellow Christ followers in a very personal way and serve the individual needs of the community we live in.  I think being members of a small church is one of the best things that has ever happened to our family.