Ministry in the Small Church

By Tyler Somers

One size does not fit all, especially when it pertains to a church’s role in ministering to a community and its people. It is a fact that most churches in America are small in size. Many of these churches are steadily shrinking. As a response to this need, there have been many books written about Church growth and Church health.

Books regarding ministry and church leadership are often written by pastors of large churches that may not have the same perspective about Ministry In The Small Church.

Ministry In The Small Church focuses on working in the hearts, minds, and attitudes of ministers and the leadership of small churches for the glory of Christ. It is a call to renew the ministry that God has apportioned to all His people.

The goal of Ministry in the Small Church is to encourage and aid the focus of ministers of all types in small churches. The author, Tyler Somers, has a unique love and perspective for Christ’s Church, particularly in the small church setting.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Sep 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781973675853

Tyler Somers

Tyler Somers has a passion for serving Christ by serving His people. Christ has led him on a unique path of ministry. He has worn many different hats including training among pastors and missionaries at the Lutheran Brethren Seminary, serving as a youth minister, serving as a trustee, serving on church councils and boards, and serving Christ in any capacity as the Lord leads. It is from this variety of experience that the author provides a unique point of view regarding ministry in the small church setting.

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Copyright © 2020 Tyler Somers.

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This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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ISBN: 978-1-9736-7586-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-7585-3 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 05/05/2020

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First I want to thank God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit because He is worthy. I would like to thank Pastor Jack S., Pastor Brad H., Pastor Jim J., Pastor Phil H., and Pastor Marty V. for your faithful service to God’s people and for the examples you all have been to me. I would like to thank my youth pastor growing up Adam. Adam, thank you for investing your life into mine and for helping me discern God’s will for my life.

I thank those who supported me while writing this book. I want to thank Matt P., Justin B. and Annie S for assisting in the development of the book.

Lastly I would like to thank all of those who have shown Christ’s love to me over the years. I would like to thank Shane D. and Brian D. from chapter three.

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Section 1 The Small Church

Chapter 1 Why write about ministry in the small church?

Chapter 2 What is the measure of a small church?

Section 2 Instances of Observed and Performed Ministry

Chapter 3 Ping pong and a smile

Chapter 4 The Lord’s timing, and a youth ministry from scratch

Chapter 5 Setting up the ministry

Chapter 6 The new idea

Section 3 Inner Workings of a Small Church

Chapter 7 Priorities

Chapter 8 Church commercial appeal

Chapter 9 Part-time youth ministry

Chapter 10 Working with a pastor of a small church

Section 4 Thoughts Regarding the Church and Ministry

Chapter 11 Candid expressions of a part-time youth minister

Chapter 12 Thinking outside of the box

Chapter 13 A wish for youth ministers

Chapter 14 The malleable local congregation

Section 5 Thoughts and Conclusions regarding the Church

Chapter 15 A reformation of the heart of the church

Chapter 16 Closing thoughts

About The Author

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SECTION 1

The Small Church

CHAPTER 1

Why write about ministry

in the small church?

It was an oddly silent forty-five minute drive through a seemingly endless waving sea of amber colored grass randomly speckled with farming equipment and the shells of antique cars.

The pastor and I both had many things on our minds. I found myself distracted as the little car we traveled in hurried at its top speed down the empty highway. The vast expanse of land was not unfamiliar to me, but it was nothing like home. My surroundings are normally much less wide open since I come from the Pacific Northwest. It is not normal for me to be able to see far enough to see the curvature of the earth. It intrigues me to see so much empty space.

This particular Sunday morning I was shadowing the pastor to learn more about the ministries of the church that I was candidating to fill a ministry position for.

This Pastor would drive about forty miles to a little country church to preach a service in the little farming community every week. That service would last about an hour and then he would drive back to the church back in town to preach at that service.

The pastor was fairly silent on the trip home as he was mentally preparing to preach for the second time that morning. I was mentally preparing for my introductory address to the congregation as well as thinking about how to help this pastor if I was called to serve in this church. However, to be honest, I spent much of the forty five minute ride thinking of just how many small churches like the one that we just came from must litter the United States.

To satisfy my curiosity, I performed a simple Internet search of how many churches are in the United States? The consensus among the top sites showed that there are a couple hundred thousand churches in the United States alone. In fact, the first site I looked at said there were about three hundred thousand. The first site not only provided me with this information, but it also provided me with a somewhat surprising detail. Most of the people who attend churches belong to churches with fewer than five hundred people (89 percent of church attendees) while 59 percent of all church attendees belong to churches with fewer than one hundred people.

Whether the numbers of this quick internet search are completely accurate or not, it is clear that most followers of Christ in North America belong to, what many would consider, small churches.

Admittedly, it bothered me how small the church my family attended growing up was, even though now I would consider this church to be fairly large sized in the realm of small churches. Seeing the production of larger ministries was frustrating. I wanted to do the cool things I saw elsewhere at my church. At the time my logic assumed that the church must not be doing something right or we would be larger.

As I grew, the charm and beauty that comes from small churches became evident. Time has shown me many mighty works of God coming from the smallest congregations. The beauty of small churches comes from the unmistakable, and at times, miraculous work of God that is evidenced time and again through the ministries of small churches.

Large churches have their place in the work of God just as small churches do. The venue and the strategy of communicating the Gospel are all that is different. At this time, in this culture, and in the pluralistic first world that we all live in, be assured that God will still use you, dear reader, and His Church to reach the people He has given you to reach.

My perspective comes from my experiences as a staffed and volunteer youth minister of small churches. Many of my observations come from the various types of ministries led by others whom I have collaborated with. Beyond youth ministry, I have assisted in musical worship functions, children’s ministry functions and in service ministries such as a food kitchen for those less fortunate. I have served as a trustee, and taken part in church councils. I share this, not to feed an ego or gain the praise of the readers, but to express a sympathetic understanding of the struggles, trials and triumphs that go into ministry in many forms. The Holy Spirit has given me a love for the work of the Church. May God be given glory in any triumph in ministry. May His presence, comfort, and perseverance be given to ministers who are in times of trials and are experiencing dark times.

My experiences have been galvanized by the stories and relationships with other ministers I have had the pleasure of serving with over the years. Many of the subjects and thoughts in this book come from listening and discussing the ministry late into the night. My life has been blessed with many examples of Godly ministers who have opened their hearts and expressed their deep love for God and love for God’s people. Often, these expressions come from great faith in times of struggle.

In the same sense, it is my goal to express the same love for God and for His people. Ministry leaders, whether staffed or volunteer, hold a special place in my heart. Youth workers’ struggles in small churches are particularly special because their struggle is very real to me. The struggle has been very real in my own life as well as in many of whom I would count as friends. Some of these friends have been burned, hurt, and alienated by the very church institutions that they so sacrificially serve. My heart breaks for them and for the churches they have been a part of.

I thank the Lord for a perfect savior that transcends these situations and the pain that comes from this broken world’s influence that can creep into God’s people. The Lord is good even as people disappoint us and cause us harm.

This book will spend a lot of time discussing youth ministry. It will become evident that I unapologetically see ministry in the Church through a youth minister’s eyes since the entirety of my staffed ministry experience is in this field. However, I believe that the ideas, concepts, and stories contained in this book are still relevant to all ministers and program leaders.

The goal of this book is to be an encouragement for ministers (both staffed and volunteer) that are in the trenches. Hopefully this will also lend insight and perspective to assist and help strengthen ministries.

Continuing from here it is necessary to