Your Church Is Too Small

Most of us think too small about church.

You're probably hearing in that statement an echo of the church-growth language '80s/'90s, which held local churches should always be growing larger. Breaking the "200 Barrier" was the big goal of the 1980s. Nowadays 1,000 is the new 200, and the threshold for a megachurch has been notched up to 2,000. 

Yet all of that is essentially small thinking because it concentrates our energy on us--the local church--and fails to connect us with the real body of Christ--the worldwide church.

Two thousand may seem like a huge crowd in a single auditorium, but it's a teeny number compared with 2,100,000,000 (that's 2.1 billion) the estimated number of Christians in the world. 

This week I'm working on a message based on Eph. 4:3-6, which stresses the need for unity in the church. "There is one body." Rather than applying that thought to your local church, what if it were applied on a global scale? What would it take for us to generate unity among Christians worldwide? What could be the result?

Local to Global. We'd have to break the long habit of thinking of church as the building at 116th & Olio Rd., or even as the group of people that meets there.  In our minds, church  would have to become a much larger, more diverse, wider-spread concept, comprising all people who are followers of Christ--"one baptism."

Consumer to Contributor. Most of us are attracted to a local church based on what it offers to us--a good youth group for the kids, good preaching, lively music, a good location. To connect broader, we'd have to starting thinking about what we can offer to the body--both as individuals and as a local church.

Competitor to Coworker. When we think of the church as a purely local entity, we see other congregations as either competitors or consumer options. To unite broadly, we'd have to quit that. Church hopping among parishioners and one-upsmanship by leaders would have to end.

Conformity to Unity. To get any group to agree on something is difficult; to agree on everything is impossible. To unite broader, we'd have to limit our agenda to those things that really matter--in "Jesus said this" kind of way. We could still have our own preferences as a local churches, but we'd have to give up insisting that everybody do it our way. 

What would result from worldwide Christian unity? Here's my short list, I'd like to hear yours.

Christians in both larger and smaller churches would be empowered as they saw themselves as part of a global Christian movement and thought less about the number of people attending their local church. 

The world mission would be completed in our lifetime as every person on earth had the opportunity to hear the gospel message.

Many world conflicts would be ended as large groups of people advocated in unison for tolerance and forgiveness.

Persistent global problems would be solved, such as the lack of clean water and human trafficking, as Christians concentrated their resources, expertise, and social power.

The number of conversions would rise exponentially as nonbelievers saw the church corporately behaving like Jesus Christ and were drawn in by its authenticity, humility, and power.

So what do you think?  What would it take for the church to get beyond local thinking and unite on a broader level? Is it possible? What would result?