The Top Ten Reasons I Love Ministry In My 200church!

Let's finish out this week of focusing on ministry in a 200church! Here are the top ten reasons I love doing ministry in my 200church...

#10 – I can shape a culture and environment that will outlast me, if I stay long enough. In a larger church, no one person will define the culture or environment of the church, unless they are a very strong personality and overpower other leaders. In a small church, we can, over 5-10 years, strongly shape the culture, attitude, and ethos of a congregation. The longer the ministry, the better!

#9 – These people need a pastor too, who will love them and lead them. If I ever feel like I should go elsewhere, I always remind myself that this church right here, these people, they need a pastor who will love them sincerely and genuinely and who will lead them both by Scripture and by example.

#8 – I can be in touch with every ministry in my church, and those who lead them. I can involve myself personally as much or as little as I want to in every ministry in my church – and – I can build a relationship with the leaders of these ministries.

#7 – I am available to my church family. I have the time, mostly, to be available to a member of my church who has a need. Surely I can get to them in 24 hours or less and spend quality time with them. Their pastor can minister to them personally.

#6 – The children in my church can have a relationship with their pastor. The kids in my church can know me personally. They can form their understanding of what a church is and what a pastor is through that personal connection. I love getting to know kids, and I love personally affirming and encouraging them!

#5 – I can do funerals and weddings. I can personally be involved in these most important days of people’s lives. I get front row seats to the history as it happens in families, and I can help to make their good days better and their painful days less so.

#4 – I can visit new babies, and new moms and dads in the hospital. I often get to be the first person to pray for and over a new little life. Again, this is history in the making as I pray God’s blessing and love on them and for them to grow up to be people who will love, serve, and obey God. These are the easy, happy visits that make up for the really tough ones!

#3 – I personally know most of the people I preach to. As I stand on the platform, and look out at the people, I personally know most of them and have built a rapport with them. I am not speaking to a “crowd”, I am talking to Steve, Lynette, John, Bev, Todd, etc. We have done life together and have built a friendship through shared experiences.

#2 – I can leave a legacy of love and faith. Because I personally relate to people in my church, I can form their understanding of who God is, what a church is all about, and how a pastor cares for his people. If I spend a long enough time loving and leading people, I can strengthen their faith in God and deepen their love for others – by my example.

And the #1 reason I love ministry in my 200church - I do more ministry than management. I can do as much management as I want to, but I always have the option to move toward people. I spend way more time with people and relationships than I do with management, technology, and administration. This also fits better with my gifts and wiring. Someone once said: “you can impress people from a distance, but you can only influence them up close.” I got into ministry not to be a manager or CEO, but to be a pastor, and in a 200church I can do that. Of course we will always have a level of management responsibility, but in a 200church there’s a natural leaning toward people.

These are reasons I love ministry in a 200church. My best friend is a lead pastor in a 2000church! Yes, that’s TWO THOUSAND. He would write a different list, one that is titled: The Top Ten Reasons I Love Ministry In My 2000church, and that would be a great list! The body of Christ needs all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people and all kinds of communities. I admire and respect my friend’s leadership – he has endured “brutal” (his word!) demands of ministry to reach the people he has reached. He and his pastoral staff would have it no other way.

But if you are a pastor in a smaller church, a 200church, take your leadership, your shepherding, and your influence very seriously – you are making a huge impact for the Kingdom of God!

Would there be other items in your top ten list? Share them with us in the comments section below…