The Small Church

On this year's Mother's Day a church up the road a piece which I served for a little over four years after retiring offered an outdoor worship service in an area known as the Prayer Garden.  It is a lovely cared for area which was envisioned by some of the folks who have left us for eternity.  It has been seven years now since I preached each Sunday from the pulpit of the Rocky Ford Church.  It was then and continues to be a small congregation empty of political maneuvering and full of the joy of fellowship.  After long years of serving larger congregations, it was such pleasure to be somewhere where it was just about church.     

Unfortunately, the small church is dying.  There are many reasons.  Chief among them is the fact that those who grow up in small towns no longer stay as they used to do, but now move to urban areas where there are more jobs.  And another not so obvious factor is the dominant influence the larger regional church has in an area and the way it pulls people away from the small church where the programs are more limited by smaller resources.  The small congregation is in a tough place.    

Yet, it is still true that the smaller church provides things larger congregations cannot offer.  While it may sound trite, fellowship is one of those things.  Small churches are where everyone knows your name, where your children are our children, and where people have learned to stay instead of leave when there is disagreement.  What was so good about ending up in a small congregation after retirement was the feeling that I had come full circle and returned home for it was the small church which nurtured me in my faith and where I heard God calling me to ministry.