What happens when you join a small church?

David Hall describes how one small Anglican church in rural Sussex mobilised for mission.

After a fitful night’s sleep, the soldiers emerge from their dug-in positions, stretch and check their weapons one last time. They have all written their final letters, now they scan the horizon apprehensively, grateful for air support, special forces already in position, artillery back-up, the naval blockade and, above all, their colleagues in the regiment.

The faint dawn glow ahead of them illuminates the sleeping countryside as if, in the distance, a furious conflict is already in progress. A discreet flurry of activity at the edge of the camp announces the arrival of the Commander-in-Chief. Calling the troops together, he makes a series of startling announcements. Anyone feeling a bit apprehensive is invited to head back. Amazingly, two-thirds of the troops pack up and leave. Bizarrely, seemingly something to do with the way they drink their early morning ‘brew’, thousands more are sent packing, until just 300 are left. ‘This’, the Commander-in-Chief announces, ‘is the army with which I will bring victory’. Crucially, he now remains, and the small force advances into the unknown.

Society and small churches

This scenario — although imaginary — comes close to a modern version of Judges 7, when God leads Gideon and the people of Israel to defeat the Midianites. It also resonates with anyone seeking to take the gospel into modern secular society through the witness of a small church. God’s instructions to Gideon to cut the size of his army are, in God’s words, ‘…that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her…’ (Judges 7.2).

In so many parts of Britain, the local congregation is reduced in number from a figure which might previously have generated arrogance to a figure which may now provoke despair. How does it fight-the-good-fight for the gospel with such small numbers and the limited resources which come with it?

The saints at All Saints

Our experiences here at All Saints, Danehill with Chelwood Gate, in East Sussex, may be a helpful case study for any small church seeking to formulate a growth strategy.

In September 2003, the church had an average attendance on Sunday across its service portfolio of eight at 8.00 am Prayer Book Communion, 35 at 9.30 am Common Worship, 25 at a twice-monthly special 11.00 am all-age service and 18 at 6.00 pm Common Worship.

I arrived at Danehill, grateful for the work of those who had gone before: significant and beneficial change had taken place; but there was a real need for numerical growth.

All churches face rising costs. They are also constantly changing as their members move away/move into the parish, get richer/retire and get poorer, fall ill/get healed and so on. With numerical growth, almost everything becomes possible, without it, we know we will not be here in a few years’ time.

Having said that, we are called to bear witness to Christ, not ‘please the crowd’. How do we grow without compromising the message? The good news is that a bold gospel message does attract the spiritually hungry, but the precise liturgical packaging is just one of the things which we can be endlessly flexible over!

Large church background

I had a large church background from my days as a student and curate-in-training. I was interested in borrowing things which they did well and implementing as many of them as possible in a smaller setting. Large churches are frequently the subject of envy and, of course, they have their challenges. But they often do many things well. I was also keen to avoid any rural ministry clichŽs and ensure that a small church with just a 2,000 parish population should have the very best ministry that could be provided.

At the start of my time at Danehill, I shared four principles of ministry which I believed would lead to growth and blessing. I made them all start with the same letter, because this made them hang together nicely like a well-developed theory for church growth borrowed from an expert, but they reflected my own personal convictions, soon to be tested by reality!

Here they are with the result of their application:

PROMOTION of the gospel

This, I said, was our central purpose in fulfilment of the Great Commission. The crucial ‘shop window’ for the gospel is still Sunday. We have achieved more growth from pursuing the highest possible standards of teaching and worship on Sunday than anything else.

Gospel promotion as a priority encourages a church culture in which we come down on the side of the spiritual and practical needs of the seeker, not the established member. A printed sermon summary helps those unused to sermons or unfamiliar with the Bible to see the main points clearly and the verses which support them. Attractive visuals on PowerPoint help hold the attention of those unused to the discipline of corporate worship. A first-class band — which includes professional musicians — encourages a positive attitude to the music dimension of worship. Sermons are preached with consideration for the seeker.

PIPELINE of care

We set out to care for people ‘from the cradle to the grave’. A gifted full-time youth minister has enabled us to keep expanding our Sunday young people’s teaching programme. This has attracted families who would not have otherwise joined us. It was a big investment, but the growth in numbers is beginning to pay off. Also, even our 11.00 am service is a careful balance of traditional hymns and contemporary songs; this has enabled the service to attract both young families and a good number of those in the more senior age categories.

PORTFOLIO of church

‘If you want to attend church on Sunday, we will look after you’ — that’s our message to young and old. This means that we value monthly sung Matins within our 9.30 am service as much as a first-class informal band at 11.00 am. Both extremes attract good numbers to the respective services. The same sermon is preached twice, but within very different service formats. Large churches are often forced to put on two contrasting services to accommodate the numbers, why shouldn’t small churches seeking to grow do the same? When you consider how much work goes into a good sermon, it is a pity we don’t preach them three times on Sunday!

When churches consider increasing their service portfolio, they often worry that the new service will not be viable. A good question to ask is this: how many people do you need to start a new service? Answer: two — someone to play the keyboard and someone to lead/speak. I will never forget the first Sunday we made the 11.00 am family service a regular weekly main service commitment. As people quietly filtered into church in numbers we had never seen before, I slipped out the back for a prayer of thanks with tears in my eyes. God had brought them here, now we had to look after them, making difficult choices as we considered their hugely differing spiritual needs.

The portfolio concept also extends to our teaching and nurture programme. The Alpha format attracts good numbers, who enjoy its meal/discussion format. Keeping the meal and bolting-on other study options for those who complete Alpha has maintained good on-going attendance and growth in maturity.

PRIORITIES of activities

There is ‘a season for every activity under heaven’, said the writer of Ecclesiastes. We have found that a small church can emulate many of the vibrant ministries and initiatives of the larger ones with good organisation and careful phasing of activities and resources.

Some things are a long-term and ongoing top priority, like prayer and the promotion of church prayer meetings. Other things have short-term seasonal priorities. For example, our Alpha / teaching programme runs only during two eight-week terms in autumn and spring. This gives us 16 weeks of teaching, while avoiding the busiest Easter and Christmas periods and freeing resources for our summer social programme.

Is it working?

To give you any meaningful indication of how things are developing, I must briefly break my vow not to talk numbers — we all know how discouraging other people’s figures can be!

Now, just over four years later, the more traditional services remain constant, but the 11.00 am service has more than tripled to an average of 80+ and recently, on what I thought was going to be a quiet Sunday, exceeded 100. The 6.00 pm doubles in size when the format changes to our monthly all-age ‘Cafe church’ service. More than 30% of those attending the 11.00 am service are under 16 and the male/female ratio is close to 50%. We employ a full-time youth minister and, as EN goes to press, are engaged in a mission with Rhema Theatre Company and Steve James as our speaker. It has not all been plain sailing. We face the same unity and relational challenges that all churches face, and regard them as signs of life. Longer term, our emphasis is changing from internal restructuring of ministry to praying for and seeking the lost, wherever they may be found.

If your church is a small one, be encouraged. Imagine what it would do if it were a big one, then do it — we are serving the same God as Gideon.

In Judges 6, God tells Gideon: ‘Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?’ ‘But Lord’, Gideon asked, ‘how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.’ The LORD answered, ‘I will be with you…’