Church Planters Corner
Keys and Issues in Planting the Local Church
Size Matters
(but not in the way you think).
by Missionary David R. Cox
Today there is a belief circling in Christianity that bigger is better. We go to the hamburger joint and they want to supersize our fries and drink and put three beef patties on our bun. The thinking is clearly taught to us on one hand that bigger is better. On the other hand the doctors are trying to beat into our heads that portion size is what is causing sickness and obesity in America, producing a whole host of diseases that wasn't seen in previous years. The real lesson here is that size does matter, but not in the way you think.
Perhaps we can be more precise. The correct size needs to be larger than nothing, but not so big as to cause problems in itself that shouldn't be there, or need not be there.
Those pushing the bigger is best in Christianity are basically from a few sources, but the easy believism crowd is the main culprits. We need to understand that God never obligates us to be big but to be faithful. The Bible repeatedly represents the Christian community as being a "remnant", never a majority or a great big work. This is not our goal.
Consolidation is better than independence