Dear Sir,
I appreciated the thoughtful letters from Geoff Chapman and Priscilla Seidler (March EN) in response to my article on growing a rural church, which appeared in the February issue.
Both of your correspondents picked up on my suggestion that a small church might need to close. Praise God for the fellowships that they have been part of and seen God at work in! My comment was not that smaller churches ‘must’ close, only that they ‘may’ need to. I thank God for the faithfulness of very small groups of believers meeting among unreached people’s groups around the world.
However, I want to encourage honest consideration of closure as a strategic decision, in order to join forces with other local believers and possibly stop wasting money on expensive buildings. Better that than have closure forced upon us. There is a fine line between faithfulness and stubbornness among Christians!
Yours in Christ,
