News / Education
‘Impact 2008’ focuses on role of smaller churches
Majority of SBC churches have less than 200 attendees
Les Puryear, pastor of Lewisville Baptist Church in Lewisville, N.C., felt the same way.
After discussions with LifeWay Christian Resources and others within the SBC, Puryear organized and hosted “Impact 2008,” a conference just for small-church pastors. About 110 pastors from 13 states attended March 27-29 to hear messages about finances, critical issues and possible solutions and how God is at work in the small church.
“This was needed,” said Schenewerk, who received an invitation to attend from Thom S. Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources. “The small-church pastor feels isolated and neglected. It’s not intentional, but resources of the denomination go where they will do the most good.”
Puryear led off the conference with a discussion about small churches in the SBC. Referencing a 2006 LifeWay Research study, Puryear pointed out that 62.7 percent of all SBC churches have between one and 99 Sunday attendees, while another 20.7 percent have between 100-199 Sunday attendees. Those figures debunk the myth that the SBC is a large-church denomination.
“It’s not bad being a small-church pastor,” Puryear told the pastors. “We’re just as important as the largest church in the world. Jesus Christ is the One who builds the church. Jesus must love the small church because He’s built so many of them. Two or three gathered (with Jesus), not 2000-3000 or 200-300.
“There is the ‘bigger is better’ mindset,” he added. “Most people don’t see the beauty of the small church. Too many people look at numbers. Christian bookstores are full of books which tell you how to be successful written by large-church pastors with large church principles. We may seem like failures to the eyes of the world but to say we are unsuccessful is wrong.”
Puryear said small-church pastors need to be involved not only with each other but with the SBC at large. Likewise, entities that produce ministry materials need to keep the small church in mind, Puryear said.
“The SBC needs to step to the plate and support small church pastors,” Puryear said. “They don’t know you and you don’t know them. We have to step to the plate. We have to be involved in state conventions and the SBC. The leadership needs to find out whom small-church pastors are and what we need.”
Highlights of the conference included:
-- SBC President Frank Page on the role of the small church in the SBC;
-- Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary professor of evangelism Alvin Reid on God’s call on the small-church pastor;
-- Greg Lawson, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary professor of Christian education, on financial considerations in the small church;
-- Brad Waggoner, vice president of B&H Publishing Group, on critical issues and solutions for the small church;
-- Tom Elliff, senior vice president for spiritual nurture and church relations with the International Mission Board, on how small churches can partner locally to reach internationally;
-- North American Mission Board evangelism resource manager Dick Church on innovative evangelism strategies for the small church;
-- Chris Schofield of the Office of Prayer for Evangelization and Spiritual Awakening at the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina on effective prayer ministry in the small church;
-- Kevin Bussey, a church planter in Charlotte, N.C., on how the small church can be involved in church planting;
-- C.B. Scott, senior pastor of Westmont Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., on how God is at work in the small church;
-- Chris Hauser, associate pastor of South Oak Ridge Baptist Church in Yadkinville, N.C., on how to have a vital children’s and youth ministry in the small church;
-- Micah Fries, senior pastor of Frederick Boulevard Baptist Church, St. Joseph, Mo., on affordable technology for the small church;
-- David MacEachern, senior pastor of Bat Cave (N.C.) Baptist Church, on how success should be measured in the small church.
Page, whom like most of the speakers preached from Matthew 16:18, said he can sympathize with the small-church pastors. Even though his church – First Baptist Church of Taylors, S.C. – runs more than 4,000 on Sunday, Page never considered himself a “SBC insider.” He told the pastors they need to speak up, stand up and get involved in the SBC.
“You have to let go of the inferiority complex,” Page said. “Some people think you do not have the right to be heard. You need to step up to the plate.”
Reid told the pastors they have to be a Barnabas and support each other. Preaching from 2 Timothy 2:1-10, Reid said the men were called to be pastors, not pastors of a small church. He also gave seven principles which relate to leadership from the passage: be grounded in the Word of God, lead by equipping others, lead others in humility, lead others to greatness, lead with faith, lead by defining reality, and lead by the strength of your character.
“You are the buck that stops here,” Reid said. “Be faithful where you are. It’s a tough job.”
Several speakers stressed prayer as the most important support mechanism for the small-church pastor. Schofield said the first response to any situation in the church should be prayer. He added that for a healthy praying church, it needs a healthy Bible-based prayer ministry, strategic Kingdom-focused prayer patters and that will then allow people to experience God’s activity and His “manifested presence.”
“Prayer puts us back in touch with God’s agenda,” Schofield said.
MacEachern closed the conference with a passionate plea for his peers to stay strong and believe that God is always working for a believing church.
“If you believe there is a formula to build a church to where your peers say you are successful, move to Texas,” MacEachern said. “God’s way of measuring success and your way of measuring success are worlds apart. God is responsible for measuring success. He will build the church. God has called you and equipped you to scatter the seed. We’re just His instruments.
“If you get your seminary degree and have only 10 people in your church, then make sure they are the 10 best blessed people,” he said.
For up-to-date news and information regarding LifeWay Christian Resources, visit www.lifeway.com/news.
