The Small Church

A sad phenomena of our changing culture is the closure of so many small churches which stood like solitary sentinels in the countryside and small towns.  In many situations it is the thing of its young growing up and looking for greener pastures.  Of course, it is also a reflection of the movement of our culture from an agrarian one to an urban one.  For those who have never lived in the smaller places, it is hard to understand the hold those small churches have on the ones who still live nearby and linger in their pews.   When one of them finally gives up and closes, it is like a funeral for the few who wish and long for another option.  

These smaller churches are more than just a church.   Each one is the center of life in a community and, therefore, the center of life for those who attend.  None of its member would consider leaving.  Those churches have problems like any church, but leaving is not an option.  Working it out is what churches do when the church is like family.  It is the place filled with memories of revivals, baptisms, weddings, and funerals.  It is the center that has held life together from birth to the grave and many of them give testimony to this reality with graveyards which surround the sanctuary.     

Some define these small churches as family churches which usually means most everyone is related to everyone else, or at least it feels that way to those who have grown up  knowing and sharing each other's joys and sorrows.    To see these small churches standing empty and unused now is sad because it speaks of a book of memories now closed.  There may be a thousand or more memories within the empty room, but there will be no more stories written in its future.  So many of the stories written which are now just memory are of ordinary, salt of the earth, people coming to faith in Christ and learning how to live with one another in that faith.  Though small and often not sought by ambitious preachers, they modeled Christian community in a way not always seen in the larger churches which now draw people to what is seen as a more attractive gathering where the spiritual things are done better.