Recently, at a retirement get together for a Pastor in Lariat I thought about his twenty-three years of service to St. John Lutheran Church. Earlier the same afternoon I was at St. Paul Lutheran in Plainview to witness the procedures as the church voted to issue a Call to a new Pastor; a new opportunity for service in a new place, if he chooses to accept the Call.
The Devil wants us to believe small places and ministries do not matter. The Devil would have both members and clergy say, “I’m only at a little church.” We’d sound as if we are apologizing. Yet, as the late Francis Schaeffer once said, “With God there are no little places.”
The reality is every place we serve has significance because we serve those who are immortals.
We serve believers who will live together with Christ in eternity.
The average congregation size for the past 120 years has been about seventy in the church at large - half larger and half smaller. Research in the Early Church suggests gatherings, based on size of place, usually ran to no more than forty to seventy people. Yes, there were exceptions. My point is that people for centuries have made a difference in the service of small churches.
This is also true of members and officers in these churches. They serve the Lord in serving one another. Their actions may seem insignificant. The Lord of His Church knows their service is filled with significance.
If you serve in a small church, lay or clergy, never feel a need to apologize. God gives you a place of service with those who are so important that Christ died and rose for them.
By Rev. Dr. Robert Holaday, Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Littlefield