CHAPTER 8 - THE BEAUTY OF MINISTRY IN THE SMALL CHURCH

Ministry in the small church is a church-wide affair. The typical small church does not have the resources to allocate to ministry teams as such. Everyone pitches in to minister to everyone else.


Small churches have something called a "Church Clean-Up Day." It is usually held on a Saturday and most of the people turn out to paint, sweep, clean, mop, repair, wash, anything and everything that needs to be addressed with the physical plant of the building where the church meets. The day typically begins at 8:00 am and adults as well as children pitch in. A lunch is normally prepared and the work is finished and everyone eats and has a grand old time of fellowship.


The widows in the church are a very important ministry in the small church. The small church takes seriously the biblical mandate to take care of widows (James 1:27). My father-in-law is a deacon in a small church in Raleigh, NC and he told me about a tradition in their church where the deacons hosted an annual dinner each Christmas for the widows in the church. I thought it was an excellent idea and I brought it to my deacons and they loved the idea. Even now, each year in that church I pastored several years ago, the deacons honor the widows in the church at an annual Christmas dinner. The church where I now serve as pastor has a deacon assigned to the widows so that they will be checked on regularly and any needs identified and addressed as required.


In the small church, many of the church's ministries are handled through Sunday School. The adult Sunday School classes regularly discuss the needs of people in the community and they pray for those needs. After time for prayer, the class will then discuss how they can best meet the needs of the people. The wonderful thing is that it doesn't matter whether or not the needful ones are members of our church or not a church member anywhere. They believe it is their Christian duty to help the less fortunate and afflicted and that is what they do. They don't make a big fuss about it or talk about it outside of the Sunday School class. They are not looking for recognition of any kind in reaching out to the people in their community. They just take it for granted that they are the hands and feet of Jesus and they serve Him accordingly.


Other ministry needs such as nursery, children and youth are handled by a continuous rotating stream of volunteers. Everyone in the church is expected to take a turn and they do so without hesitation or complaint.


The ministry methods of the small church are organic in nature rather than programmatic. It is a beautiful sight to behold.