Without hesitation the prospector answered, “My water and my hat.”

The old prospector understood exactly what was important and what was just baggage. That is probably why he had lived to such a ripe old age.

Churches today, while not crossing the desert, are facing the same kind of forced choices as we seek to faithfully follow Jesus in an increasingly hostile and complex environment. We have to look carefully at all that we carry and make sometimes difficult choices as to what we keep carrying and what we will have to leave behind.

In no case are these choices more difficult than in our smaller churches.So many of these have already lost so much of what they consider to be of value. They have delayed or neglected maintenance of physical property due to dwindling income and escalating costs. Their membership numbers are dwindling as potential new members move away, drift to other churches with more programs, or simply drop out from the church scene. As they struggle to match income with expenses they cut corners on leadership training and pastoral salaries. They are not choosing to cross a dangerous and hostile desert. They are already in the midst of it!

What are the small church equivalents of water and a hat? What are the absolute essentials for them to carry on this journey toward a complex and challenging future? Are there things, practices, memories that need to be left behind in order to better exercise faithful mission and ministry?
Property, staff, tradition – all become weighty burdens on this journey. What parts are absolutely essential, and what can be safely left behind?

Before setting about to reduce its burden the smaller church needs to carefully assess what is essential to its purpose. Everything and anything else is expendable!

We believe that this is a wrong-headed approach that falsely equates size with effectiveness. Like Gideon’s army (Judges 6-8), some churches are small for a purpose. They can be more effective precisely because they are smaller. Gideon’s army was reduced in size so that when they drove the Midianites from the land they would know it was God’s work and not their own cunning and courage. Healthy small churches place their trust in God rather than in programs and personalities. Their energy is directed toward discovering what God is doing within and around them so they can join that work.

Healthy small churches have distinct advantages in this age of post Christendom: They can communicate rapidly and effectively; their relationships are deep and strong; they can be nimble in response to changing circumstances; they have a rich experience of trusting God to lead and support them in difficult times; they know and understand the resources (even if limited) that God has placed at their disposal; they often have a history of strong lay leadership; and, they tend to act without waiting for permission if the need requires.

If we want to strengthen our small churches, we will shift away from our emphasis on numbers. We will find ways to help these churches build on their trust in God identify their strengths and claim their worth as effective tools in Christ’s work. Our small churches don’t need more dollars or members. The path to strength and effectiveness is more theological and spiritual than programmatic. They need to acknowledge that they are smaller for a purpose and seek to claim and live that purpose faithfully.

Whether cooperating congregations remain in their own buildings or leave some or all of those facilities, their sense of LOCATION will be altered. They will no longer be known as the little church at the corner of …… The RELATIONSHIPS between pastor and congregation, between congregation and neighborhood and between members within the congregations will be upset and re-formed. And the MISSION of the newly formed cooperating churches will change, not only to include the traditions and patterns of the individual participating churches, but will begin to take on a shape of its own – perhaps quite unlike that experienced by the individual participating churches.

These fundamental changes in identity can produce no small amount of anxiety for members, pastors and friends of the churches. Even the parent denomination(s) are not immune to these anxieties. Old assumptions about everything from worship to education, from pastoral care to outreach, from tradition to innovation come into question and are subject to revision. In the old configurations, each person knew where they fit. In the new, each one must search for their place in negotiation with others.

Such fundamental changes in church identity have within them the seeds for either confusion or excitement, for exhaustion or enthusiasm, for decline or growth. For some, these cooperative efforts will be just one more stop on the road to extinction. For others, these same efforts will enable them to thrive as effective outposts of mission in a struggling world. The challenge is to find ways to weight the process toward thriving.

When a church sets out to address conflict, transition, changing demographics, reduced income, increased costs, loss of members, or any of a host of other challenges, it cannot simply reach for one of these business models and expect to become a healthier and more faithful church community. Unlike any other organization in the world, a church is directly connected to matters of faith – to God. Because the church is a people of God, it receives its direction and its sustenance from that holy relationship. As a result, when a church faces organizational challenges, it turns to God – it seeks to put itself in God’s way.

This process of putting oneself in God’s way is known as “discernment” – seeking to align oneself with God and with God’s yearnings. It is not magic and there is no one way of discerning what God is up to in our world. But all of the ways have in common Bible study, prayer, reflection and listening. This kind of discernment is unique to the church. None of the methods suited to other organizations address that identifying characteristic of a church – a community that exists only because God nurtures those relationships.

When a discerning church faces challenges, it turns first to the question, “What is God’s yearning in the context of this challenge our church is experiencing?” We don’t have to guess. The Biblical narrative offers a history of how God’s people have asked this question before. A continuation of that experience lives in the history of the Church. We know where to look, where to find the kind of attitudes and actions God yearns for us to live. Being aware of what God has been doing and yearning, we can observe carefully what is happening within and around us. We can ask, “How might God be calling a people of faith to respond?” Then we look at all that God has given us – our people, our experience, our financial and physical resources – and we answer, “Here we are, Lord, send us!”