Think Small: The value of Small Churches

Imagine you’re an accountant by trade. And one day, someone asks you to become a mechanic. With no training at all. Just fix cars.

You wouldn’t excel, would you? You have skills—amazing ones! But they’re not at fixing cars.

The world needs mechanics. But the world also needs accountants.

When you’re a small church, sometimes it’s like you’re an accountant trying to be a mechanic. You’re trying to replicate the big church down the street, but that’s not you.

And it’s okay that it’s not you.

Because the world needs accountants. And the world needs small churches.

The reality is, you can’t replicate the big church down the street because God made your church with different needs and strengths.

We want to celebrate those strengths and help you shine even brighter with them! So read on to find out the strengths you bring to the table.

Small Church Strength #1: Discipleship

Maybe you’ve thought that unless you grow in number, you don’t have value. Like teaching only 2 or a few kids isn’t really making that big of an impact. But consider this: Jesus loved small.

When Jesus was brought just a small offering of fish and bread, he made it work. When Jesus saw a mustard seed, he said that’s what faith should be like. When he saw a woman giving just two small coins, he held her up as a standard of generosity.

Jesus can do a lot with small.

And sure, Jesus taught big crowds. But his really invested his time in a relationship with 12 men. And even among them, he picked out 3 to pour into the most.

Jesus set the discipleship model for us. And the discipleship model wasn’t a huge church. In fact, read John 6. Massive crowds are following Jesus. 5,000 hungry men, plus women and children. And Jesus feeds every single one of them. The next day, a lot of that crowd goes looking for Jesus.

And what does Jesus do? He teaches about how much sacrifice it will take to follow him. He delivers hard truths that drive many people away. If Jesus was about numbers, this was a bad strategy!

But Jesus was about genuine discipleship. And that happens best in small groups. That’s why big churches often break into small groups! But you don’t need to adapt to small—you’re already just the right size for discipleship.

Small Church Strength #2: Helping Kids Be Seen and Known

Here’s a fact: one of the greatest emotional needs kids have is to feel seen, known, and loved.

Those needs can be hard for big churches to fill. It takes a lot of hard work and intentionality.

But for you? That’s your greatest strength! When you only have a few kids, you can’t help but connect with them! Every child who comes into your church is seen, known, and loved.

Maybe you’ve envied big churches and their ability to put on elaborate dramas or have the latest and greatest technology. You’ve tried and tried but you can’t replicate that on a shoestring budget.

So stop trying to replicate it!

There’s a place for big churches in the kingdom…but there’s also a place for you. Some people go to the big church so they can disappear and be anonymous. But you? People come to you to be seen and known.

Small Church Strength #3: Creating a Sense of Belonging

There’s so much change in our culture today, it’s hard to feel like you have a real community. But people are hungry to have that sense of “I belong here” and “people would notice if I weren’t here.”

In a group of 50 kids, it’s hard to notice who didn’t show up one week. Without checking attendance charts or check-in records, our brains just aren’t wired to keep track of that many people.

But in your group of 5? You’ll notice when Timmy is missing.

That helps kids feel like they belong to your church. They matter to you! And that will help them want to stick with church for life.

Small Church Strength #4: Strengthening Relationships

Good discussion is important in any children’s ministry. Group is all about using strong debriefing questions to help kids make discoveries, and “Tell about a time…” questions so kids can share personal stories.

But when you have a huge group of kids, they’ll need to form pairs and share with a partner in order for everyone to have a turn talking. And if they do that, it means that you don’t get to hear everyone’s story.

In a small church, there are few enough kids that everyone gets a chance to share—and you get to strengthen your relationship with kids.

This is critical for faith development. According to a 2021 study by Barna, only 2 in 5 kids who regularly attend church have a meaningful relationship with an adult at church.

Barna then measured various faith metrics—how well does the child integrate biblical principles in their lives, study the Bible on their own, learn what it feels like to be part of a team at church, learn how to use gifts outside the church—and so much more. In every single metric, kids who have a meaningful adult relationship were about twice as likely to respond yes.

Small Church Strength #5: Everyone Is Involved

Kids love to do stuff. If there’s an object lesson, they don’t want to watch one or two kids do it upfront. If there’s a game, they don’t want to wait for 10 kids before they get a turn. Kids like action!

With big groups, sometimes it’s logistically difficult or just impossible to involve everyone well.

But in your church? Everyone has a chance to be actively involved in the lesson.

Small Church Strength #6: Generations Learn From Each Other

The concept of splitting into age-graded groups is really a modern idea. In most of Christian history, intergenerational ministry was the way to go! People of different ages can learn from one another. It seems like the bigger the church, the more silos there can be.

But in a small church? Kids are more likely to have just as meaningful relationships with adults as they do with other kids. That means kids are learning from adults and adults are learning from kids.

And since Jesus told us adults to be more like kids…isn’t that an important part of our faith growth?

You don’t have to grow or be like the big church down the street in order to make a kingdom impact. Jesus is working through you. You have unique strengths and gifts to offer—just by being small! So for a curriculum that’s specifically built around your strengths, check out Two or More!