The material that follows is drawn from experiences and reflections upon more than a decade of experience as a bivocational pastor in rural and village settings, discussions and interviews with many who serve in this setting, and from reading and hearing the insights of close observers of small churches such as Carl Dudley, Lyle Schaller, and Garland Hendricks. It remains open-ended, realizing that it is not yet a complete list. While the quality of your sermons is important, the caring quality of your life is even more so i.e., a pastor is remembered kindly and loved more for what he was and did in the sick room than behind the pulpit.
Small churches have character, but more so, characters, and they are usually very visable.
A congregation may or may not want the leadership of a pastor, may or may not need much pastoral leadership, and yet actual needs and wants for leadership may not mesh. Styles of leadership vary and they should match the character of the pastor, the needs of the congregation and the context. The Big Fisherman charisma 5. Generally, in a normal, everyday context small churches operate more like a family than a corporation. Yet most pastors are trained in seminary to use corporate management principles and practices.