In Any Size Church!

Last night I went to one of my charge conferences. It's a small church in the heart of Anderson....50 people in worship....they run a ministry for children who have a parent in jail...most of the new people in the church and in the community come from broken situations in life...out of the 50 people attending worship, 15 sing in the choir...and they continue to become like Jesus for the sake of others.

What I have discovered as I have visited 40 churches so far is that God's Mission can happen in any size church! I have some large churches who are working very hard and doing some amazing things to touch people's lives both in and outside the building. And I have small churches that are alive and well and seeking to be faithful and change one life at a time.

I must admit that somehow I and most of the UM's I've known have lost sight of this over the years. We have dismissed the reality and power of the small and medium sized churches. Growth in church size is indeed one of the signs that the Kingdom is happening in our midst but so are other things like people deepening their faith and seeking to do God's will both inside and outside the community of faith. And this church in Anderson, even though they are indeed having some numerical growth, are also being faithful by the planting of spiritual seeds in the hearts of at risk children and others.

So, this Jesus follower says,
Hey, check it out, there's good news and that is that the Kingdom of God is happening right now in and through all sizes of church communities!