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My mind keeps turning back to Lek Chailert, the tiny Thai elephant lady, and how she symbolizes the fact that small is great. But you don't have to go to rural Thailand to learn this lesson. In small churches and small-scale ministries in your city or town, God is turning small beginnings into great blessings. God values the risk of rescuing one lost person over the security of organizational maintenance. And every single person who is rescued is cause for heavenly celebration.

God wants his kingdom to be received by those with a "small attitude," not by people who want to give God a global marketing plan. God wants to begin in a hidden way, because he is full of surprises. God does not hold media events—except perhaps for humble shepherds. He does not invite celebrities to show up for star-studded evenings. There are not zillions of flashbulbs going off when God begins his work.

A wise bishop ordered his ministry in terms of the maxim, "What don't start small, don't start at all." God calls his people to a frank willingness to receive the challenges of the small-scale opportunities he provides, and then to celebrate the blessings of those encounters.

David Neff is editor of Christianity Today. This article is adapted from a talk he gave at a benefit dinner for Emmaus Ministries of Chicago (www.streets.org). Articles about Emmaus from Christianity Today (1999), Today's Christian (2000), and re:generation quarterly (1998) are available at www.christianitytoday.com.

Copyright © 2006 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

National Geographic's feature package on Sangduen Chailert is available from their website.

David Fitch's The Great Giveaway is available from Christianbook.com and other book retailers.

Members of the New Monasticism also preach a "small is beautiful" message.

More about Emmaus Ministries is available from their website and ours, including

Angels of the Night | A Chicago street ministry reaches out to male prostitutes working the street. (Christianity Today, January 11, 1999)

John Green | A light for Chicago's "night community" (Today's Christian, March/April 2000)

Hustlers on the Road to Emmaus | One-thirty a.m., mid-February, ten degrees below zero. I found myself wondering what I was doing standing at the corner of Waveland and Halstead, waiting for a male prostitute to walk around the corner so I could talk to him. (re:generation quarterly, October 1, 1998)

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February 2006, Vol. 50, No. 2