Why join a small church?

Henry Ford famously declared, ‘History is bunk!’ I disagree with him. Actually many historical events are not only great sources of inspiration, but also contain vital lessons for today.

For example, there is a great lesson to be learned about the usefulness of what is small from one particular operation during the Second World War.

By the early summer of 1940 the Nazi armies had broken the French and Belgian defences and the British Expeditionary Force was in full retreat. Hundreds of thousands of troops were stranded in the town and on the beaches of Dunkirk on the French side of the Channel at the mercy of the Luftwaffe and the German Panzers. An evacuation plan, codenamed ‘Operation Dynamo’, was hastily put into action to ferry the beleaguered British, French and Belgian soldiers back to England.

Miracle of deliverance

It was expected that perhaps 30,000 troops could be saved. But, in the event, from late May through into June, under constant attack from the air, the ships were able to save no less than 338,000 allied soldiers to fight another day. Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, called it a ‘miracle of deliverance’.

But how did it happen? What was the key to his great escape? Crucial to the success of this rescue operation were the ‘little ships’ — the motor yachts, fishing smacks, dinghies, pleasure craft and paddle steamers which got involved in this very dangerous operation. They were crucial, because, once Dunkirk harbour became blocked with sunken vessels, the troops had to be taken off the beaches which the large ships could not get near. But what the big boats could not do, the ‘little ships’ could.

Little ships / churches

Just so the church today is involved in a great rescue operation, seeking to save the souls of men and women. And just as at Dunkirk, it would seem that the ‘little ships’ (small churches) have a crucial role to play. The large churches of our land tend to be in the cities and big towns, often miles away from the areas where many ordinary people live. To go there to church is a half hour’s car ride if not more. But there are still small churches which are local, and can get right alongside those in need of salvation. They are just around the corner. They operate right there where the people live, not miles away. This is why small churches are crucial. This is why it is worth joining a church local to where you live.

And God is using small churches today. Another story which comes to mind is of a little fellowship tucked away in the backwaters of a quiet village in East Anglia. Its building is a typical old ‘tin tabernacle’ which would not win many design awards for architecture today. However, through the people of the church making themselves useful to the village, through things like a mothers-and-toddlers group, the church has begun to grow. People are coming in. People are getting saved. As I write, the church has had to think through how it can expand the building to cope with the newcomers; and the Lord is providing the finance. God uses small churches. Never doubt it.

Opportunity for how long?

In his autobiography, Just As I Am, the famous evangelist Billy Graham tells of a missed opportunity.

Just after his election, Billy Graham had a conversation with President John F. Kennedy. The President had asked if the evangelist really believed in the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Billy Graham told him he did and explained one or two things about it. ‘Very interesting’, Kennedy had said. ‘We’ll have to talk more about that someday.’ Then they parted.

A few years later, Graham and Kennedy crossed each others’ paths again, at the 1963 National Prayer Breakfast. ‘I had flu’, Billy Graham recalls. ‘After I gave my short talk and he gave his, we walked out of the hotel to his car together… At the curb, he turned to me. ”Billy, could you ride back to the White House with me? I’d like to see you for a minute.” “Mr. President, I’ve got fever”, I protested. “Not only am I weak, but I don’t want to give you this thing. Couldn’t we wait and talk some other time?”

‘It was a cold, snowy day, and I was freezing as I stood there without my overcoat. “Of course”, he said graciously.’

But the two never met again. Later that year John F. Kennedy was shot dead.
Billy Graham comments, ‘His hesitation at the car door, and his request, haunt me still. What was on his mind?

It was an irrecoverable moment.’

Reading this we feel for Billy Graham. He had missed an opportunity which never came again.

As we conclude this series of articles encouraging Christians to get involved with small churches I feel I must press the invitation by reminding you that it may well be that this present time is ‘an irrecoverable moment’ for the church in our land. Many people in small churches are elderly. If Christians do not take up the challenge to join small churches and get involved with these works soon, then within a generation the vast majority of them will be gone. If younger Christians are only interested in big ‘successful’, ‘all-singing all-dancing’ churches, then the small churches all over our land will close. The light of the gospel will go out in countless communities. And it seems more than likely that those gospel lights will never be lit again.

Big church culture

Many young people have been drawn into an ‘entertainment’ view of Sunday worship by big church culture. They are attracted to the services by the ‘performances’ of a spectacular music group or the big name preacher with his superbly crafted sermon. Such things are simply not to be had in small churches. Sadly, even unwittingly, many large churches are thereby fostering a culture which, as it stands, probably guarantees the demise of small churches. Will the larger churches be prepared to change this? The rising generation of young Christians are often being groomed (unintentionally?) to become religious consumers who treat churches like spiritual supermarkets, not to become humble servants willing to take on uncomfortable situations for the wider needs of Christ’s kingdom. But if the small churches close, our land will be even more spiritually impoverished than it already is. The next ten to 20 years will be the make or break.

To join a small church and be useful to God is the opportunity of a lifetime. But, unless Christians take up the challenge within less than a lifetime, that opportunity will be gone.

Why join a small church?

Part 4: Do the churches in Britain stand at an irrecoverable moment?

Miracle of deliverance

Little ships / churches

Opportunity for how long?

It was an irrecoverable moment.’

Big church culture

Why not join a small church?

John Benton

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