Small on Purpose ― Life in a Significant Church

You find yourself in a small congregation. Voices of doubt whisper inyour ears: not enough young people, not enough money to keep thebuilding open, not enough programs to attract new persons, and most ofall, not enough time to reverse the decline of congregational life.Before you head for the door or settle into a resigned sleepwalk, listenalso for the voices of hope coming from without and within.

Moreis going on in your small congregation than you might think. Small OnPurpose offers a vision of the small church as a Spirit-animatedorganism that releases native religious creativity and energy in itsworship; makes claims on a future by making plans; and discoverssurrogate family ties that bind. This small church learns how to blessrather than curse its location, how to craft beauty and hospitality from itsbuildings, and how to bequeath its faith to the younger generation. Asmall church in dynamic equilibrium looks to its past for wisdom, notnostalgia, and projects continuity, not disaster. It has a sense of thevalue of its story within the larger story of God’s project to build apeople to be a blessing to the nations.