Practical Ecclesiology 10 - Loaves and Fishes

I recently had a conversation with a friend who is a strong proponent of "large churches." As he puts it, "There are so many benefits to size, so many things you can do that you can't do in a small church." In his view, it's not just about programs or ministries or resources to support missionaries and projects (although that is certainly part of it). He sees that in larger churches people are more likely to find other people that they can connect with, people they "click" with. In a small church, you are pretty much stuck with what you have. 

I guess that can cut both ways. Kind of like family. 

In a family, you are pretty much stuck with what you have. A large extended family can certainly be a blessing, if you allow it to be. And it may require more effort to cultivate your love for certain people in a small family, because you have to...it's either love them or be an orphan. It seems it would be easier to strike out and start interviewing distant cousins to find somebody that you just LIKE better - to find a relationship that is more fun and not as much work. 

But then again, it is easy to get lost in a large family. To just drift. If you never attend the reunions, if you don't write letters and answer emails, if you never invite anyone over or even just drop by...you aren't really treating them like family. It's more like padding for your resume. Even if you go to the reunion, but stay just long enough to grab a few chicken wings, a bit of potato salad, get your picture taken and then leave, you've got a free meal, but not much of a family relationship. It's not the size of the group, it's what you bring to the group that seems to matter more.

I am coming to think that both options are fine. I used to be extremely suspicious of very large churches. I am tempering that somewhat. There are certainly drawbacks, but I am seeing that there are drawbacks no matter what the size. The drawbacks are different between big churches and little churches, but the world being what it is, there is no perfect situation. 

In the particular case of my church, the challenge seems to be size, but actually I suspect it is more a lack of understanding of how to leverage that size. Plus, in being small we are standing against the current of thought that likes to overlook the disadvantages of large churches, and inflate the challenges facing small churches. It seems the focus of many Churchy Anyalysts is "get big or get out" instead of how to best glorify God with your smallness. 

In considering this, I have often found the story of the loaves and fishes coming to mind. Here is a good retelling of it from Gary Haugen, president of International Justice Mission. He spoke at the Midwinter Conference for our denomination, The Evangelical Covenant Church. This is a conference specially for pastors to foster renewal, collaboration, and connection in their work. His account of the story goes to the heart of the matter for churches, especially small ones. 

Feeding the 5,000 - Speaker Gary Haugen from Covenant Communications on Vimeo.

I suspect that we have to do some real thinking about how to offer our loaves and fishes to Jesus. It seems it's mostly a matter of just passing the basket. If Jesus wants to do the miracle, he will do the miracle. If not...I guess that's up to him and folks will have to find their own lunch. But the precedent seems to indicate that He is predisposed to do the miracle. He tells us to just start passing the basket. He will decide how many He ends up feeding.

So the question is what are our personal loaves and fishes, and what does passing the basket look like for us? No matter what that looks like, in the final analysis, it's all about Jesus.

Another Parable

There was a farmer and his wife who had been married for several years. Like all married couples, they had started out with the fire of love burning hot in their hearts. They also carried the same vision of a large, orderly and prosperous farm. For this reason, it did not matter to them that their land was marginal at best, with thin soil, an overabundance of rocks, and too little water. They would stay up late talking many nights about their vision and their passion for their labor and for each other.
As time went on they both worked extremely hard to build their home and their farm. They worked so hard that they saw each other seldom and communicated mostly through notes left on the kitchen table. It became their habit to write the notes in bullet points to keep things brief and to the point. With this system they were able to very efficiently communicate most of their day-to-day needs to one another. Every month they would sit down at the table to review the books and cover any important issues that required decisions. The ate their meals quickly with little time to savor the food. At night, they would go to bed early, tired to the bone, beyond speaking, and fall into restless, dreamless sleep, far apart on a king size bed.
Their farm prospered and they became wealthy.
During one of their monthly meetings, they came to the end of their agenda. It has been a very good year. In fact, all that they had set out to do so many years ago had been accomplished. They sat across from each other in silence drinking in the fact of it. They realized that while they had been speaking the snow had been falling. The animals had plenty of food and bedding. There were no crops to tend or plant, for it was the dead of winter. The house was quiet. The farmer got a bottle of wine from the cupboard, opened it and poured each of them a glass. She lit a fire in the fireplace. They sat together at the fire. They did not talk for a long, long while, for they felt they had said enough about the farm that night. Instead they simply sat close together. They fell asleep right there in each other’s arms.
They continued their habit of monthly meetings, but now always ended it with wine and fire, sitting together and holding each other. Eventually they found that they did not need to write notes, because they began to find time to meet each day, often several times a day to talk. They often talked about other things besides business – a story about something that happened in town, or a description of a delicate mist rimmed sunrise on a fall morning on the field back by the river.
Their farm continued to prosper, but now they noticed that when they ate together their food was more flavorful and fulfilling, and their sleep was long and deep and full of dreams. Now they remembered the early days, when it was not just about their work, but also about their love. Now they realized that they had figured out how to build on that too.
Their farm prospered, and they continued to enjoy the blessings of their wealth, and they were filled with joy in the midst of it.

Parable

A little child wanted to give a gift to her father. She sat down with her crayons and a piece of paper and began to draw. She drew a beautiful picture with all of the things she loved most on it – her family, her house, her dog. She included the sun and trees too. When the picture was finished it filled the whole page with many colors and shapes. She was very excited about it as she walked over to him and stood in front of him, and held up her picture.
Now before she made this picture, she had been having a snack, and her face was very messy with chocolate and fruit stains. Her hands had left finger prints and smudges on the paper, and although she wasn’t quite sure how it happened, the paper was no longer nice and flat, but had many creases and crinkles in it. When her father saw her standing there, he smiled and knelt down to look at her. He took out a bandanna from his pocket and gently and carefully wiped all the stains from her face – even the syrup that had gotten into her hair. Then he looked at the picture she was offering him and she smiled again. He was a man who had seen many things, and knew a great deal about life. He himself was a great and renowned artist with his pictures displayed in museums and the homes of immensely wealthy patrons. He took the picture and could see beyond the smudges, creases, crude figures and scribbles, right into her heart. He loved it and told her so. He loved her, and told her so. She walked away feeling that very special joy of one who knows that she is loved completely. As she grew, and continued to speak through the work of her hands, she became in her own right a great artist – a beautiful woman full of grace and power. One day, her father invited her to work with him in his own studio. Even today she continues to create work of surpassing beauty, and she always does her best work for her father.