Leading Ideas: Lewis Center for Church Leadership for WednesdaY, 12 February 2014

Leading Ideas: Lewis Center for Church Leadership for WednesdaY, 12 February 2014
Doing Community Ministry in the Small Church by Joy F. Skjegstad
Sometimes I interact with small congregations that assume that any significant community ministry effort is beyond their reach. They often keenly feel their limitations as they work to keep internal church programs going with limited staff and volunteers. So how could they ever engage the community in any significant way?
With the right approach, it is possible for a small group of people to make a big impact. It will take focus and clarity about what you are trying to accomplish, but the small church can make a big impact in the world through partnerships, creative use of resources, and a focus on relational ministry. Small congregations have unique strengths that can result in strong and effective community ministry.
Focus. A small congregation has to be more disciplined about not “biting off more than it can chew.” Identifying just one thing to focus on (tutor kids at the local public school, collect diapers, sponsor a community garden) may well help you be more successful, as you will have clear outcomes in front of you. I think sometimes there is a temptation for larger churches to make ministry efforts bigger and more complex than they need to be. Internal ministry programs may have many bells and whistles, so we think we need to do that with work in our community as well — right? Wrong! Sometimes simpler is just what the community needs.
Relationships. Another advantage of being small is that your church may be better at relational ministry than larger churches, and it is the relationships that you can build with people in your community that will make the greatest impact. People who are drawn to attend smaller churches are often there because of the “family” feel; in your small congregation, you can really get to know each other, go deep in your relationships, and bear one another’s burdens. A pastor of a rural congregation in West Virginia told me that his small church is “a place of gathering, celebration, and common community. We still celebrate each person’s birthday here!” Carrying that affinity for relationship into the community may well help you make a greater impact than if you brought hundreds of volunteers or thousands of dollars. Everything you’ve learned within your own congregation about really listening to one another and devoting time to relationships will bless your community in myriad ways.
Partnerships. Small churches often have no choice but to partner with others to carry out ministry, and partnerships, if done well, can result in exponentially greater impact in the community. You aren’t limited to the gifts and perspective within your own congregation; you can seek others who make up the other half of what you don’t have. Particularly when working on complex community issues when all kinds of people, expertise, connections, and resources are needed to move forward, the small church can truly shine as one piece of a more complex partnership puzzle. Recently, I worked with several smaller churches that were developing partnerships with public schools. We started with a goal of recruiting just ten volunteers from each church, and they met that goal. Next people from the church started going into the school every week, learning about the needs of students, interacting with teachers and other staff, and making an impact by being faithful. A small group of people who are willing to keep at it can make a big difference!
Ownership. In a small church, members may also feel a greater sense of ownership for the ministry. Without many paid staff, it is up to church members to develop the vision and the plan, find partners, and enlist other church members to get involved. You can’t just look around and say, “Pastor So-and-So is going to do that.” In a small church, when you look around, you might only see yourself and a few of your friends. If you don’t do it, no one else will! This strong ownership by lay leaders can help ministry be sustainable over the long term, long after paid staff members have moved on.
Accountability. Finally, those in small churches may be better able to hold each other accountable for following through on ministry goals and commitments because you are small. If just a few of you are working on a project and two of you don’t show up, it’s pretty obvious who isn’t holding up their end of the work! It is harder to be anonymous and go back on what you’ve agreed to. It is harder to give up when your friends are on your case!
Small churches are all too aware of the challenges facing their ministries — the limited funds, only a small number of church members, and a building that needs work. But even in the face of such challenges, your small church may be able to start some very powerful community ministries. Take stock of what you do have rather than what you don’t have, and build on those assets. Be creative about finding partners, raising money, and securing in-kind donations. And most importantly, keep going. Some of the most successful community ministries programs are small and focused and don’t require lots of money and people.
Joy F. Skjegstad is a consultant who works helping churches develop programs to meet community needs. This material is excerpted and adapted from 7 Creative Models for Community Ministry by Joy F. Skjegstad. Copyright © 2013 by Judson Press. Used by permission of Judson Press. The book is available at Amazon, Cokesbury, or Judson.
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REdesigning Churches: Creating Spaces for Connection and Community Reviewed by Ann A. Michel
Kim Miller’s REdesigning Churches: Creating Spaces for Connection and Community (Abingdon, 2013) provides valuable how-to advice on reviving tired church interiors and offers inspiring examples from her own work at Ginghamsburg Church in Ohio. But the book’s more significant contribution is the angle of vision she brings to this subject — a perspective solidly grounded in the theology of hospitality, the imperative of responsible stewardship, and the spiritual dynamics of team ministry. Reminding us that human creativity is a “vestige of the thumbprint of God on our souls” (Andy Stanley, Deep and Wide, Zondervan, 2012), Miller understands that preparing the places where people experience connection with God and others is an essential ministry.
Within this framework, she invites congregations to consider what their interior spaces communicate to those arriving. Bemoaning church buildings that feel like a Sunday school version of the reality show Hoarders, she gently reminds us that “how our church buildings are cared for, how the gardens are weeded, how the glass shines, how the spaces are intentionally designed — these details all whisper to human guests that they will or will not be cared for. It’s really the only manual we have on such matters as we enter a space for the very first time” (p. 2). 
She then poses the question: How might the aging structures we inhabit be reimagined toward kingdom growth and vitality? The tone of the book is inspiring and positive, particularly since she advocates that churches work with what they already have — their existing structures, volunteers, and their own unique creative vision. Miller’s antidote to the Sunday school version of Hoarders takes a page from the script of another reality show — Design on a Dime!
A growing chorus of church leaders is singing the strains of a tune lamenting how cluttered, tired, and out-of-date church buildings are not only uninviting to newcomers, but demoralizing to the church community itself. Miller’s voice, with its “can-do” optimism and genuine spiritual clarity, adds a fresh note to this refrain. While some of the specific design ideas in her book may eventually go out of vogue, the foundation she builds on will endure.
Ann A. Michel is associate director of the Lewis Center for Church Leadership. REdesigning Churches: Creating Spaces for Connection and Community (Abingdon Press, 2013) is available through Cokesbury or Amazon.
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Quotable Leadership
Collaboration drives creativity because innovation always emerges from a series of sparks — never a single flash of insight.~~Keith Sawyer
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Register for Increase Generosity in Your Church in Charlotte, NC 
Saturday, March 29, 9:30 a.m.–1 p.m., Myers Park United Methodist Church
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Charlotte Conference on funding
Learn to develop sound approaches to stewardship and finances at Increase Generosity in Your Church, this year’s Funding Your Congregation’s Vision conference. Lovett H. Weems, Jr., will present three practical and engaging sessions to help congregations enhance resources for ministry. The conference is ecumenical and designed for both laity and clergy. Register today.
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The Right Question
Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
Many have noted that a leader’s demeanor often sets the tone for a group. Edwin Friedman talked about how a leader’s “anxious presence” is picked up by others and thus encouraged leaders to practice a “non-anxious presence.” With that in mind, it may help to ask yourself this question:
If my emotional state is contagious, what will those around me catch?
Want more Right Questions? Check out “Right Questions for Church Leaders: 2013 and 2012 Collections.”
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Editors: Lovett H. Weems, Jr., and Ann A. Michel. Production: Carol Follett
Lewis Center for Church Leadership of Wesley Theological Seminary. 
4500 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington, DC 20016 United States
(202) 885-8757 lewiscenter@wesleyseminary.edu
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