Playing Big Church…
Posted on June 1, 2008
…Even When You Are Small
I met with a leader of a church a few nights ago. He took me out to his church so we can discuss adding some new equipment and it was a great time. This is a small country church, in the truest sense but it seems they don’t see themselves that way. They are thinking big.
We are adding a projector and motorized screen in the sanctuary, plus a projector in the fellowship hall. We spent a lot of time sorting through the options, such as one projector in the middle with a motorized screen or 2 projectors shooting on each side of the front wall and it’s really a toss-up. Near the end, I told him that some of the bigger churches actually run 3 screens, the 2 side ones have the words and the middle one may just have some sort of video loop.
I’m not sure why I mentioned this because I didn’t see that happening in this church, but Dave was all over that and figured, there’s no reason not to do something like that. (except maybe budget constraints) Now I’m going to give him a bid on 3 options, 1 screen, 2 screens, 3 screens and they can decide what works for them.
A few days before this, I had a late breakfast/early lunch with my pastor and we talked about how we are doing things like we are larger than we are, which, in theory, helps a church to grow to that next level. I shared this thought with Dave and told him there is nothing wrong with doing things like the big churches. Also, just the simple fact of having projectors and doing more with technology will likely attract new people to start attending.
Dave shared that his pastor agrees that they need to act bigger than they are, so I see a lot of potential for this church. It’s a big step to break the mold that this church has known for years and God can lead them through it if this is His will for them.
I’ll work up a quote for them and the leadership of this church will need to make some decisions, but regardless of what they choose, it will be exciting to see God lead this church in possibly a new direction for their ministry.
It’s encouraging to see a church step up and actively do more to reach out to more people and connect with people, young and old.
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Great post.
With the availability of technology today, there is no reason that smaller churches cannot do things that used to be reserved only for the “BIG CHURCHES”. From projection systems, to podcasting, webforms, and live streaming.
Our church is surely not the smallest in our area, but our proximity to a larger city means we are dwarfed by many mega-churches. However, our teams strive to make use of all the technology available to us to extend and expand our reach.
I am suddenly reminded that “we can’t” seldom comes from God.
Likewise, I wonder how much of “we don’t want to” comes from the same source.
It doesn’t seem to be about emulating one “size” church or another. But many of the larger churches are that size because they are intentional about their approach and the message.
At the same time, I can hear Frances Chan saying he can get 2500 people to come to church - without God.
Wonder if your friend Dave and his pastor have heard Chan’s message…
Great post.
I’m from a church of 100 in the UK but do a lot of media, are on TV, and all that jazz. We really do find that thinking like a big church pulls us up to bigger and better things.
Scott