Great-granddad doesn t respond to anything or anyone anyway. In the thinking of many, the small church is like the great-grandfather. It won t respond to any outside stimuli, and God must be wishing that it would die already. Then he could get on with his life and spend his time hanging out in the Crystal Cathedral, Willow Creek Community Church, and Coral Ridge. Often the powers that be in denominations and even within small churches themselves don t really expect much to happen in these churches.
Many pastors don t expect much to happen in small churches either.
A young pastor confessed to me, When I came to this church three years ago, I threw myself into the work. I tried to start new Bible study groups, researched outreach programs, and set about to determine how the congregation could best minister to the community. Basically, they want me to preside at business meetings, preach a sermon during the worship service, teach an adult Sunday school class, marry, and bury and that s it. So that s all I do. I ve given up trying to move them forward.