Start thinking like a small church

18th May 2009 by Jarrod Newton

"We try hard to have the mindset of a small church."

I picked up this quote in a recent article in Catalyst Leadership, a free online magazine for Christians on leadership. The interview is with Bobby Gruenewald from Lifechurch.tv, one of the most innovative and forward-thinking churches in the world when it comes to embracing technology.

Here's the quote in context...

"Once your team believes your church is big you’ll start to hear excuses like, “We’re like the Titanic, and it takes a long time to adjust our direction.” But when we compare the 26,000 people who might walk through our doors any given week with the 6.7 billion people alive today that God has called us to reach, our church is tiny.

"The shift in mindset is significant. If you see your church as tiny you’ll be more willing to take risks and your focus becomes more outward rather than inward. You’ll think less about protecting what you have, and more about what God has called you to do. We try hard to have the mindset of a small church."

Obviously Bobby isn't talking about having small thinking, or having a small vision, because he really clearly says that his vision is to see the whole world won for Jesus! So what then does 'the mindset of a small church' look like?

Here's a few questions I've been pondering since reading the article...

How would our youth ministry at Ryde look different if I worked on adopting a small church mindset?
How do I learn to think like a small church while still dreaming big dreams?
How relevant is a 'small church mindset' to the work I do at THQ, and to the wider Salvation Army in general?

Keen to hear other people's thoughts and responses via comments below!

Till next time,

Jarrod Newton

Comments

Jake

May 18, 2009 at 10:47am

We should have the mindset of a small church in the sense that we should always be taking risks and investing into our community so our churchs can grow, but i believe that our churchs should not remain small, that if we are effectivly communicating the gospel then people will start coming into our churches, but its about brining the church to the people! But bring on churchs with not just hundreds of people but thousands! God is good, God is big

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Matt G

May 22, 2009 at 11:05am

Great thought Jarrod!

Challenging questions!

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