Looking for Answers

When I was assigned to the Talbotton Church back in 1976, it seemed like I was going nowhere.  My previous church had its difficulties and moving from there to wherever was not an option.  In some ways anywhere seemed better than where I was.  It turned out to be a place which gave me four years of good memories.  I learned to use a bike when doing visitation.  Every Friday afternoon I walked the courthouse square visiting in every store on its four sides.  It was an experience of being a big fish in a little pond which provided some much needed healing for a preacher who came bruised from battles in another church.   

I think those four years were good years of ministry for the church I served, but I am sure the people in the church I served never knew how much I was being blessed by being a part of this small town where denomination took a back seat to just being.  As I look back at those early years of ministry, I have often thought that it would be a good thing for every young preacher to have a place like some of the small churches I served.  Of course, most do, but it is also true that most preachers do not realize the value of what is happening in those places where the steeple is not quite so high.   

It saddens me that so many small churches have come to moments of having to close.  It saddens me to see them fighting and struggling to hold on when things seemed stacked against them.  It also saddens me the way closing some of these small churches seems to be the only answer the larger denominational leaders have for the plight being experienced by the small church.  There must be other answers.  Maybe we have to look outside the box to see them, but outside the box is not such a far piece to look for a way to keep alive what can continue to have an impact for Christ in the community where these small churches have been placed.