Zechariah 4:10 "Small Beginnings"
R. James Breiding wrote a book published in 2019 entitled “Too Small to Fail.” The title is a play on the phrase, “Too Big to Fail” which became popular in the mid-80’s to describe the theory that some corporations are so big that the government must prevent their failure for the good of the national economy. Breiding proposes in his book that smallness can be a strength, too. In fact, he shows that many small nations are achieving success in education, health care and satisfaction among citizens that larger nations find difficult to achieve.
Breiding’s book is not written from any religious perspective that I can detect although he has an appreciation for the contribution religion makes in the creation of social cohesion, and that cohesion is an important quality for a successful democracy. So “Too Small to Fail” is not a religious book, but it has implications for the church. Zechariah 4:10 written in reference to the small beginnings of the exilic Temple project reads, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin. . .” (NLT). For many people bigger churches are thought to be better than smaller churches, but that operating assumption is beginning to show weakness. Two pastors of very strong (meaning larger) churches have told me this week that they see a shift coming. Partly, the Covid-19 pandemic is responsible, or better said, the pandemic is accelerating a trend which had already begun toward the recognition that smaller can be and often is better. Some church growth strategists see the next expansion of the church happening through extension or creation of new churches rather than a large church just getting larger.
One church I know about has gotten ahead of the “curve” in this matter. The church grows to a certain size, and then it starts a new church in its own building. The pastor issues a call to members of the congregation to walk down the hallway to the chapel where a new mission church is starting. The mission holds worship at the same time as the “mother’ congregation. The mission incubates or grows inside the “mother” church until the new congregation has the numerical and financial strength to purchase property in another neighborhood, and the mission moves out to form a new independent church. The “mother” church then grows until it fills its building again and repeats the process. Several churches have been formed in this way.
Another model is for a stronger church in partnership with a smaller church develop a strategy in which the larger church issues a call to its membership for fifty people to go on mission. Their call is to join the smaller church partner that is struggling financially and struggling in finding leadership and struggling to connect with its community. The fifty missionaries stay with the smaller church until it gains viability. At that point some return to the “mother” church and some discover a new place of ministry in the smaller but now better functioning church. Instead of growing bigger and bigger the “mother church” re-seeds smaller congregations which enables those smaller churches to flourish.
It may be that the small to medium size neighborhood church is growing more attractive as a way to gather for worship, fellowship and service. The Covid-19 crisis has helped people see the benefits of smaller groups. Also, people are discovering that even though the phenomenon of video conferencing helps the church to stay connected, it is a poor substitute for in person community. The desire for community is leading to a new appreciation for the smaller church which offers a way to know and be known, a way to experience an extended faith family. Large congregations have an important place in church life, but today people are seeing that smaller congregations, also, have an important place in church life. They are not too big to fail; they are too small to fail.
