5 Myths About Small Church Pastors

When I was a boy, our family attended a fairly large church—large enough for the children to have their own worship service. When I got older, I began attending church with my aunt. This church was even larger than the church my parents attended. They had two Sunday morning worship services, multiple youth programs, and activities for all ages.

After college, I attended an even larger church. Besides having multiple worship services, this church supported mission efforts across the globe. Many of the young people gave up their careers to serve the Lord in various capacities around the world. In fact, it was there that the Lord touched my own heart for ministry. It was large—and I loved it. I did my pastoral internship in a large church.

The assumption that small churches must be suffering from poor leadership is as common as it is false.

I planned to pastor in a large church. Why? Being honest, I wasn’t a fan of small churches. My uncle has served as pastor of a small church for 40 years. I remember visiting his little church. What is wrong with this ministry? I wondered. I assumed my uncle’s leadership was flawed or the church would be larger.

At least, that was my assumption until the Lord called me to a small church.

I’ve pastored Tree of Life Bible Fellowship for over 13 years. We’ve fluctuated between 100 to 125 people, depending upon job transfers, high school graduations, church discipline, new births, deaths, and a host of other things. Prior to this pastorate, I was an associate pastor of another small church for eight years.

The assumption that small churches must be suffering from poor leadership is as common as it is false. In the celebrity-minister culture of modern Christianity, ministry comparison is an epidemic, and false or condescending stereotypes of small-church pastors abound. The pastor of the small church is viewed as “not quite up to par.” He or she must be deficient in some way or else the church would be large.

Right?

Wrong. And troubling. Here are five myths that I continue to encounter regarding myself and other small church pastors:

Myth 1: Small church pastors lack vision

Normally, when we hear about a pastor lacking vision, it is in regards to something “big.” A number of years ago, the popular acronym was BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). We were challenged to paint a picture of what the future could look like for our people; the larger and more dramatic the vision the better. We were told that the reason God wasn’t doing great things in our ministry was because our vision wasn’t big enough. Unless we pursued something that in our own strength would fail, then we were not trusting God or challenging our people. In other words, the reason our churches are numerically small is because our vision is too small.

I do agree that pastors should have a vision for the future. Further, we should communicate that vision to our people. But the “largeness” of that vision does not determine the numerical size of our ministry. Many of us know of ministries that painted enormous visions for their congregations and failed miserably.

The most important criterion of our vision should be: “Is this God’s will for our church?”

Cutting to the heart of this myth, many pastors of small churches have great visions for their ministries, too. But it usually consists of what can actually be achieved with God’s help. The pastor of the small church is not in the business of “testing” God. We are more interested in helping our people see God’s faithfulness in their present circumstances—circumstances that we’re closely connected to. It is not that reaching the entire city for Jesus is not an honorable goal, but the small church pastor wants his congregation to walk across the street and reach their neighbors. We believe that that is a great vision.

The pastor of the small church is often bi-vocational, working not two part-time jobs, but two full-time jobs.

The small church pastor knows instinctively what Larry Gilbert espoused several years ago. He stated that “[Christian leaders] need to help pastors turn a 102-member church into a 112-member church, and then into a 122-member church. If this consistent growth, however small, were to happen in thousands of churches, it would revolutionize the body of Christ.” Now that’s vision! And it starts small.

Myth 2: Small church pastors aren’t innovative

“Being innovative” is another phrase stereotypically used to distinguish pastors of larger churches from pastors of small churches. The innovators are those who do not do things the way that they have always been done. They use “best practices” and adapt them to their context. They don’t limit themselves only to generally accepted Christian tools, but the best tools in every industry, whether business, music, arts, or communications. The world is changing, and innovators need to change to engage this generation.

This sounds great. However, what is not always communicated is that most of this type of innovation costs money. This, unfortunately, is what the pastor of the small church does not have. However, this does not mean that the small church pastor is not innovative. On the contrary, he may be extremely creative and resourceful, just not in the way that innovation is usually defined.

One of the more innovative ideas I’ve heard came from the pastor of a smaller church and involved the use of cell phones during a worship service. He encourages the congregation to text him questions about the sermon while he is actually preaching. In this way, the listener does not forget their question. After the worship service, he holds a discussion forum in one of the building’s classrooms where he addresses each of the questions received. Since he pastors a smaller church, most questions are able to be addressed to the satisfaction of those attending the forum. Hurray for low budget innovation!

Myth 3: Small church pastors lack initiative

Good leaders take initiative. What good is a leader who always waits for the followers to decide what should be done? When we read about great leaders taking the initiative and going the extra mile for their congregations, we are deeply touched. We think of times when someone took the extra step on our behalf, and we’re thankful. It caused us to trust him or her with other areas of our lives. As a result, we are more willing to follow that person. It is assumed that pastors of large churches take the initiative to secure what’s needed for the church to succeed.

The truth is that the pastor of the small church does the same thing. However, the initiative is in a different form. The pastor of the small church is often bi-vocational. He does not work two part-time jobs, but two full-time jobs. The pastorate is more of a labor of love than a full-time profession. The pastor is always on call and yet works a full-time job in a different arena. It is because the pastor takes the initiative to work outside of the church that the church can continue to thrive.

Tim Sisk, who pastors Faith Fellowship Church of Oak Brook, Illinois, is one of those pastors. He pastors a congregation of 50 people out of his love for them. Besides his duties of preaching, teaching, and serving at Faith Fellowship, he works as the chair of the Mission Department at Moody Bible Institute. There is no lack of initiative on his part. He sacrifices so that the church can thrive. I find this true for most small church pastors.

Myth 4: Small church pastors lack organizational skills

For an organization to run smoothly, people have to work together for a greater goal. How well people work together depends a great deal upon the leader’s organizational skills. This is especially true when it comes to the church. The job of a pastor is to direct, encourage, empower, and align people toward that which honors God and is best for the church. This entails aligning peoples’ gifts, talents, and personalities in order to achieve the best result possible. The stereotype is that pastors of larger churches have great organizational skills and pastors of smaller churches do not.

I have found that many pastors of smaller churches have great organizational skills. When you consider that the percentage of volunteers to paid staff in the small church is extremely high, the pastor must organize around peoples’ passion, interest, and giftedness.

Scott Kennedy, who pastors Parkside Church in Lake County, Ohio, leads a church of approximately 250. Although he doesn’t consider himself to have great organizational skills, he has skillfully organized his church. Since Parkside is a relatively new church plant, he created seven key teams in order to facilitate a seamless worship experience. The seven teams are Communications, Welcome, Children’s, Music, Media/Sound, Tear-down, and Set-up. Each team has a leader and each leader is responsible for recruiting help and finding their eventual replacement. Pastor Scott seems pretty organized to me.

Myth 5: Small church pastors aren’t great leaders

Depending upon who you read, leadership is the key to successful ministry. Leadership is different from management. A manager oversees the status quo and makes sure that things run harmoniously. A leader, by contrast, is one who leads followers to the next stage of development.

John Maxwell once stated, “He who thinks he leads, but has no followers, is only taking a walk.” Some have taken Maxwell’s statement and proportionalized it. In other words, if one has a lot of followers, then one must be a great leader. If one has a few followers, then he must be a poor leader.

At first glance, that rationale seems good. However, if you look deeper you realize that leadership is often situational. It depends upon external factors as well. Winston Churchill was a great wartime leader, but he wasn’t as effective in peacetime. We need the right person to lead at the right time. Often small church pastors have tough assignments. The locale in which they pastor is not flourishing, the problems are enormous, and the culture may be resistant to change. Yet people are following the brave pastor who will not give up the task to which God has called him.

Stacey Foster is the pastor of Life Changers International Ministries in Detroit, Michigan. He pastors a church of approximately 200. Pastor Stacey leads a men’s character development ministry at his church. In a city with one of the lowest high school graduation rates and highest out of wedlock birth rates, Stacey is going against the grain. His three-year program teaches men what it means to be godly, a man of integrity. Men ages 12 to 82 have followed Pastor Stacey as he models what a man of integrity looks like. Stacey is a leader.

While it’s true that not all pastors of small churches excel in all five of the areas listed above, I don’t know any small church pastor who doesn’t exhibit some of them. It is unfair to judge a person’s abilities by the size of the church he pastors.

Eric W. Moore is assistant professor of pastoral ministries at Moody Theological Seminary-Michigan. He is also the pastor and co-founder of Tree of Life Bible Fellowship Church of Southfield, Michigan.