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The Grasshopper Myth: Big Churches, Small Churches and the Small Thinking that Divides Us
90% of the churches in the world have less than 200 people. What if that's not a bad thing? What if smallness is an advantage God wants us to use, not a problem to fix? In The Grasshopper Myth, Karl Vaters takes on some of the unbiblical beliefs we've held about church growth, church size and God's will for the last several decades. Then he offers a game plan for a New Small Church. The title comes from the story in Numbers 13. When the Hebrews were at the edge of the Promised Land, ten of the twelve spies come back with this "All the people we saw there are of great size. ...We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them." - Numbers 13:32-33 The grasshopper myth is the false impression that our Small Church ministry is less than what God says it is because we compare ourselves with others. The solution is for Small Churches to see themselves the way God sees them. A church of innovation, not stagnation. A church that leads instead of following. A church that thinks small, but never engages in small thinking. If big churches are the cruise ships on the church ocean, small churches can be the speedboats. They can move faster, maneuver more deftly, squeeze into tighter spaces and have a ton of fun doing it. They just have to see themselves that way. If you read this book (make that when you read it, cuz if you've come this far you're hooked, right?) you'll find your presuppositions challenged, your heart encouraged and your life and ministry transformed. Let's rediscover a New Small Church.
231 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
56 people are currently reading
130 people want to read
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May 12, 2016
I began reading Karl Vaters blog last year because it so clearly spoke to me as the pastor of a small church. I can fairly easily say that he has nailed it; at least for me. So many of his thoughts, concerns and fears are word-for-word with mine. This is the most personal book I have read in a long time. There are many quotes of which I cannot fit them all:
Not to mention the tens of thousands of confused and damaged church attenders whose opinions and needs were belittled and shoved aside for newer and bigger things.
Many of them left their churches permanently and never went back to any church at all.
Yes, all healthy things grow. But growth is never as simple as older equals taller or healthy equals bigger. A pea will never be the size of a pumpkin and a rose won’t ever reach the height of a redwood no matter how much you water them, fertilize them or teach them redwood growth principles. It’s just not in their nature. All healthy, living things reach their optimal size at maturity, then they grow in different ways from that point on.
The next step was to take our healthy church and make it a healthful one for others to gain nourishment from. Not because we needed greater numbers, but because our community needed greater hope.
Now I felt like I was being punished as the unrighteous servant who had buried his talent in the ground even though I had tried so hard to invest it wisely.
the only way I was going to get there was to get past my angry feelings that God had let me down.
The first step in that process, Jim said, was to work on redefining success.
I argued that redefining success was just a euphemism for settling for less.
Many who had hung in to help through the crisis felt they could leave now, including many of the deacons who had been so gracious to me.
In a Small Church, when the pastor stops doing hospital visits, ceases having an open door policy and starts delegating those responsibilities to others, the congregation members feel neglected and unimportant.
Then they start looking for another church. I know. I’ve experienced it first-hand.
When I first read Bell’s account, while I was disarmed by his honesty, my first response wasn’t very sympathetic. It was more like sorry Rob, I’m having a hard time relating to the trauma of too much success too fast. Get back to me when you’ve had years of pounding your head against a brick wall trying to get people to show up, or losing a lot of the people you’ve already got. That’s something I can relate to.
I have such a high admiration for megachurch pastors who are able to maintain their composure and humility to keep healthy megachurches growing and going for decades.
Pastoring a healthy megachurch is a special and rare gift. I have learned to be grateful that I have not been burdened with it.
I spent too many years telling good people that the way they wanted to do church was wrong.
These people weren’t heel-draggers or vision-killers. Not all of them. Not most of them. They weren’t the grasshoppers. I was. They were followers of Jesus who attended the church I was pastoring because they found their spiritual and emotional needs met there. And they felt inspired enough by the spiritual guidance they received to want to share it with others. They didn’t need me or anyone else telling them they weren’t doing it right simply because one of the main things that attracted them to the church – its small, personal nature – was somehow inadequate, or worse, a mistake. But I did tell them that.
I hate to admit this, but as a Small Church pastor I have allowed myself to feel intimidated and despised by big church pastors on many occasions.
The next time you’re tempted to get frustrated about how many people are driving past your church to attend a megachurch, realize that there are more people who drive past megachurches to attend a Small Church.
“If your church is too small to survive without your tithe,” a minister on the other side of the argument answered, “maybe it shouldn’t survive at all.”
For the last several decades, the church leadership culture as a whole has despised Small Churches.
Jealousy is no way to build a great church of any size. Neither is fear, doubt or self-loathing.
Starbucks stores are small, not because they are failing, but because that’s what works for them, their product, their current customers and the customers they are still trying to win over. What works for one may not work for another. No one style works everywhere. No one size fits all.
In any other service industry, if half the people were drawn to a specific way of receiving what they had to offer, they’d find ways to serve those people according to their chosen needs instead of trying to convince people that the way they want it is wrong.
When I’m at home I don’t need or want my sheets changed every day and turned down every evening with a mint on the pillow. In the same way, I don’t want an overly programmed mood pre-set when I come to church. Don’t try to control how I feel or, even worse, tell me what I should feel. Let me feel how I feel, and let me, my interactions with others and the Holy Spirit set the tone and the mood. I want to feel intimate and cozy in my home and my home church. I want to be a participant in the process, not a customer. I’m willing to live with a little clutter and a bit of inconsistency if that’s what it takes to feel at home, needed, wanted and missed when I’m not around.
The study cites evidence that 45% of megachurch attendees never volunteer their time at the church, 32% give nothing or very little in the offering, 40% don’t belong to a small group, and 42% admitted they have very few close friends at the church.
One of the reasons people go to Small Churches is that its smaller size allows them to have a more personal stake in what happens. They know they matter.
Small Churches give people who spend their week in a dead-end job or alone in the house, the knowledge that someone cares, that what they do matters and that they’re missed when they’re not around.
Problem #1: It is Growth-Oriented, Not Health-Oriented Even though almost every church growth strategy claims that health is their goal, the assumption always follows that once you’re healthy, you’ll grow numerically.
Out of sheer frustration I decided I wasn’t going to worry about growth any more. I was just going to preach the word, feed the flock, minister to the community and let God take care of the rest. As soon as I stopped worrying about growing, my church and I started getting healthy again. It’s been almost five years now, and we still haven’t had any dramatic numerical growth,
“I wanted a small church because I knew that was the only place where I would be able to meet with the pastor on a Sunday morning without an appointment.”
don’t want three layers of secretaries or associates between myself and a congregation member during the work-week. And I’m tired of being told that this desire means I’m somehow limiting God’s work rather than doing God’s work.
I believe most people who attend a Small Church do so in large part because they want personal access to someone who can walk them through what it means to be a growing believer. Someone who will challenge them on a personal level because they’re known on a personal level.
I’ve actually begun to distrust any church service that makes worship too easy for me. It should take some effort on my part, no matter who I am. No, I don’t want a church service that hinders my worship experience, but it should challenge us, shouldn’t it? I want to be a part of a worship experience that requires my participation rather than encouraging passivity.
big churches there’s a high level of excellence required for people to serve, especially in areas of visible ministry – and rightfully so. So where do people at the beginning or in the middle of the learning curve get a chance to stretch and grow?
We’re told that we’re supposed to strive for excellence and that God deserves nothing but our best. I’ve read that in virtually every church growth book and heard it at almost every pastoral ministry conference, just like you have. Yet if I had insisted on that standard for our church in those early days I have no doubt the church would no longer exist today.
It’s a given that excellence is a moral imperative. But where, exactly does the Bible say that? Is it possible that we’ve elevated a biblically and morally neutral trait of excellence over a biblically essential trait of obedience?
Maybe one of the finest things we can do, especially in Small Churches, is to provide a safe harbor for all those gifts to be offered and developed.
we decided that we would be a teaching church much like some hospitals are teaching hospitals. As a result we’ve had a lot of people pass through our doors who’ve picked up some valuable ministry experience and life-lessons while they were with us. Some stuck around long-term, but most have moved on. Many departed when they graduated. Some of them left because they got so good at doing ministry while they were with us that they got hired by bigger churches with bigger budgets.
As you’re led by an inspiring worship leader, sit under excellent teaching or pick your child up from a top-notch Children’s Ministries Department, be grateful that the church you’re in is making that ministry available to you on a donation-only basis. Big churches are one of the few places in our culture still doing that without charge.
Then take a moment to thank a Small Church. That’s likely where the people providing those ministries got their start.
I told them that if God called me to pastor their church, I would spend the first several years working with them to discover that vision.
I blamed the people who were coming for the people who weren’t coming. Then I wondered why they left too?
So I turned to the only place left to blame. I blamed myself. I’m not working hard enough. I’m not applying the right principles in the right way. I’m not in the right church/town/type of ministry to fulfill my calling. I’m not good enough. I missed God’s call.
I used to think that the reason my church wasn’t getting big under my leadership was because “I’m just not that good.”
Healthy churches do not grow under the guidance of disgruntled, demoralized pastors.
a healthy church that’s not growing numerically is better than an unhealthy church that is.
That’s Step One to becoming a healthy pastor and a healthy church – being content with how God made you and what he called you to do and be.
Very few pastors are actually called by God to work in large settings among wealthy people with huge, almost limitless resources. Most of us are asked to dig in with the poor and disheartened, with limited space, money and resources.
For a lot of people, contentment (again) sounds like settling and settling sounds like giving up.
We need to be content with who we are, but never content with staying where we are.
Reach the Community You’re In by Pastoring the Church You Have
I have learned that the best way to utilize what we’ve been given is to appreciate and pastor the church we’ve got.
Too often we make the mistake, in church growth circles, of only counting the ministry we do in weekend worship services.
Fear keeps more churches on the defense than anything else. A defensive church can’t do anything but hang on for dear life to what it’s got – until it usually loses that too.
Several years ago we re-tarred our old, weathered church parking lot. The tar had barely dried on it when we started hearing a commotion outside. Local teens were showing up to skateboard on the smooth new surface. That’s right. Teenagers just showed up, hanging around a church parking lot, thinking they had the right to use it as their own personal playground. We had a choice to make. Did they have that right, or didn’t they? Was the building built to welcome the community or keep it out? Do we put up signs to keep them out, or do we find skateboard ramps to invite them in? Churches on defense put up signs. Churches on offense put up ramps. That was one of the defining moments of our church’s history. Not only do we still have the only skateboard park in the city, but those ramps and the attitude behind them have set the tone for everything we’ve done ever since. Grab the opportunities when God gives them to you. Determine that the church building is going to serve the ministry, not vise versa.
The world needs cafes, bistros and greasy spoons. Places that meet the needs of the locals, speak the language of the community and inspire other young restaurateurs to open their own establishments.
The church I pastor ministers to people, touches our community and reaches around the world in extraordinary ways. Despite that, we are probably never going to be a big church.
Churches that are great tend to be small and great for the same reason. They’ve figured out who they are and they’re focused on doing that one thing well. Such a focused, passionate “one thing” mentality is often the very factor that will both fuel its success and enforce a cap on its numerical growth. It will fuel its success, because that kind of focused passion will attract others who have a similar passion. But it will also cap that growth because it will automatically exclude those who don’t share that passion, thus limiting its possibility for numerical growth. The New Small Church isn’t trying to be everything for everyone.
When you focus on being who you are without worrying about who doesn’t like it, a lot of people won’t like it. But those who do like it will be completely sold on it.
To adapt a quote from Gil Bailie, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you (and your church) come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is more people (and churches) that have come alive.”
When you put church things in churchy places, church people show up, but few others do.
If those numbers are true (and I assure you they are conservative), why do so many of us feel alone, frustrated, underachieving, even bitter instead of excited, empowered, vital and needed?
the reason is because this is probably the first book you have read on the subject of pastoring that wasn’t written by a megachurch pastor or by a researcher whose main focus has been megachurches.
Another reason Small Church pastors feel frustrated is that we’ve been told for years that a successful church is always a numerically growing church. That, conversely, only numerically growing churches are considered successful.
Small Churches minister to 10 times more people every week than megachurches do!
Precisely because they are scattered in small groups across the face of the earth instead of being clumped together in larger quantities, Small Churches have immediate access to communities, families and individuals, making them the largest, most readily deployable force for spiritual transformation, emotional encouragement and material sustenance that the world has ever seen.
every pastor faces the challenge of trying to walk people through the stages of spiritual growth. Specifically, it’s hard to get some people past the stage where they believe that riding the pew for an hour or so in a weekend worship service fulfills some religious obligation in a heavenly attendance book.
More people are brought to Christ and are legitimately discipled in any single year through the impact of his ministry than are likely to be saved and discipled through the entire lifetime of my ministry.
the church is a family, according to the New Testament. How many families do you know that show their love for each other by counting their members every day? And how many people would say that a family with ten kids is more healthy or loving than a family, like mine, with three kids? Of course we wouldn’t. What makes a family healthy and loving has nothing to do with numbers. It should be the same in the family of God.R
Every year our church fills out a report on the vital statistics of the congregation – weekend attendance, tithing, missions giving, salvations, baptisms, etc. I understand the need for record-keeping. I also know that if the only thing you knew about our church was what you read in that report, we’d look like we were plateaued at best, and shrinking at worst.
Can a church be too small and not reaching its potential? Yes. We see examples of it every day, with church buildings sitting empty all week (and mostly empty on weekends too) and having little or no impact on their community.
When Jesus gets the credit, I should be just as thrilled when my efforts put someone into a healthy church down the street or around the world as I am when they come to the church I’m pastoring. That’s what a lot of Small Churches have as their mission. They’re senders, not attracters. They may not be growing numerically in their church building and may never formally plant another church body, but the people who are eating of their fruit are growing personally and dropping seeds everywhere they go.
Again, that doesn’t give us numbers for our annual church reports, so no one may see the results of that work except God. But God does. That should be enough.
First, let’s show up ready to go, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually for the job we’ve got, instead of dreaming about the job we wish we had. Second, let’s apply everything we’ve got to doing the best we can, then with God’s help, better things will happen than we’re actually capable of. Third, at the end of the day, don’t take anything that doesn’t belong to us.
When he hears stories of how other churches are growing, he’s no longer encouraged or excited about how many people’s lives are being touched by the Gospel anymore. He’s jealous that it’s not happening in his church. Other church’s success stories cause his frustration, anger and depression to deepen.
More than anything else, Small Church pastors would like to hear and see more evidence of what we know is in the hearts of our peers in ministry. That we matter to God. To our communities. To the church as a whole. To our denominations. And to the kingdom of God.
Tell us about your hard work, your unique gift-blend, the 300 tithers who came with you from your mothering church, the ministry team member who had strengths where you were weak, the pre-built audience from your days in a local rock band, etc.
No amount of prayer, passion, planning or great Bible teaching will turn a church that’s supposed to be a Small Church into a megachurch. Or a Small Church pastor into a megachurch pioneer.
The Matthew Effect may be happening in the church. Once your church has been labeled small in a church culture that sees being small as a problem, it’s hard to break free from it. That’s why the longer a church stays small, the more likely it is to remain small.
Then I go to pastoral seminars and I hear how important it is to take time away from the church for several weeks every year, and several months of sabbatical at least every five years or so. I agree, especially after my experiences with burnout, that those break times are essential for effectiveness and longevity in ministry. There are megachurch pastors who have taught that a part of the reason for their success in ministry is that they take forty days or so annually to get spiritually refreshed, re-cast vision and/or write sermons for the coming year. They recommend that others do the same. I recommend it too. But forty days off for rest or sermon prep is a laughable pipe-dream for most pastors. When many of them read or hear such advice, their reaction is often to feel even more disenchantment, resentment and feelings of disconnection from their fellow pastors.
It’s about time somebody told the people who put these conferences on, that putting such stats front-and-center
Not to mention the tens of thousands of confused and damaged church attenders whose opinions and needs were belittled and shoved aside for newer and bigger things.
Many of them left their churches permanently and never went back to any church at all.
Yes, all healthy things grow. But growth is never as simple as older equals taller or healthy equals bigger. A pea will never be the size of a pumpkin and a rose won’t ever reach the height of a redwood no matter how much you water them, fertilize them or teach them redwood growth principles. It’s just not in their nature. All healthy, living things reach their optimal size at maturity, then they grow in different ways from that point on.
The next step was to take our healthy church and make it a healthful one for others to gain nourishment from. Not because we needed greater numbers, but because our community needed greater hope.
Now I felt like I was being punished as the unrighteous servant who had buried his talent in the ground even though I had tried so hard to invest it wisely.
the only way I was going to get there was to get past my angry feelings that God had let me down.
The first step in that process, Jim said, was to work on redefining success.
I argued that redefining success was just a euphemism for settling for less.
Many who had hung in to help through the crisis felt they could leave now, including many of the deacons who had been so gracious to me.
In a Small Church, when the pastor stops doing hospital visits, ceases having an open door policy and starts delegating those responsibilities to others, the congregation members feel neglected and unimportant.
Then they start looking for another church. I know. I’ve experienced it first-hand.
When I first read Bell’s account, while I was disarmed by his honesty, my first response wasn’t very sympathetic. It was more like sorry Rob, I’m having a hard time relating to the trauma of too much success too fast. Get back to me when you’ve had years of pounding your head against a brick wall trying to get people to show up, or losing a lot of the people you’ve already got. That’s something I can relate to.
I have such a high admiration for megachurch pastors who are able to maintain their composure and humility to keep healthy megachurches growing and going for decades.
Pastoring a healthy megachurch is a special and rare gift. I have learned to be grateful that I have not been burdened with it.
I spent too many years telling good people that the way they wanted to do church was wrong.
These people weren’t heel-draggers or vision-killers. Not all of them. Not most of them. They weren’t the grasshoppers. I was. They were followers of Jesus who attended the church I was pastoring because they found their spiritual and emotional needs met there. And they felt inspired enough by the spiritual guidance they received to want to share it with others. They didn’t need me or anyone else telling them they weren’t doing it right simply because one of the main things that attracted them to the church – its small, personal nature – was somehow inadequate, or worse, a mistake. But I did tell them that.
I hate to admit this, but as a Small Church pastor I have allowed myself to feel intimidated and despised by big church pastors on many occasions.
The next time you’re tempted to get frustrated about how many people are driving past your church to attend a megachurch, realize that there are more people who drive past megachurches to attend a Small Church.
“If your church is too small to survive without your tithe,” a minister on the other side of the argument answered, “maybe it shouldn’t survive at all.”
For the last several decades, the church leadership culture as a whole has despised Small Churches.
Jealousy is no way to build a great church of any size. Neither is fear, doubt or self-loathing.
Starbucks stores are small, not because they are failing, but because that’s what works for them, their product, their current customers and the customers they are still trying to win over. What works for one may not work for another. No one style works everywhere. No one size fits all.
In any other service industry, if half the people were drawn to a specific way of receiving what they had to offer, they’d find ways to serve those people according to their chosen needs instead of trying to convince people that the way they want it is wrong.
When I’m at home I don’t need or want my sheets changed every day and turned down every evening with a mint on the pillow. In the same way, I don’t want an overly programmed mood pre-set when I come to church. Don’t try to control how I feel or, even worse, tell me what I should feel. Let me feel how I feel, and let me, my interactions with others and the Holy Spirit set the tone and the mood. I want to feel intimate and cozy in my home and my home church. I want to be a participant in the process, not a customer. I’m willing to live with a little clutter and a bit of inconsistency if that’s what it takes to feel at home, needed, wanted and missed when I’m not around.
The study cites evidence that 45% of megachurch attendees never volunteer their time at the church, 32% give nothing or very little in the offering, 40% don’t belong to a small group, and 42% admitted they have very few close friends at the church.
One of the reasons people go to Small Churches is that its smaller size allows them to have a more personal stake in what happens. They know they matter.
Small Churches give people who spend their week in a dead-end job or alone in the house, the knowledge that someone cares, that what they do matters and that they’re missed when they’re not around.
Problem #1: It is Growth-Oriented, Not Health-Oriented Even though almost every church growth strategy claims that health is their goal, the assumption always follows that once you’re healthy, you’ll grow numerically.
Out of sheer frustration I decided I wasn’t going to worry about growth any more. I was just going to preach the word, feed the flock, minister to the community and let God take care of the rest. As soon as I stopped worrying about growing, my church and I started getting healthy again. It’s been almost five years now, and we still haven’t had any dramatic numerical growth,
“I wanted a small church because I knew that was the only place where I would be able to meet with the pastor on a Sunday morning without an appointment.”
don’t want three layers of secretaries or associates between myself and a congregation member during the work-week. And I’m tired of being told that this desire means I’m somehow limiting God’s work rather than doing God’s work.
I believe most people who attend a Small Church do so in large part because they want personal access to someone who can walk them through what it means to be a growing believer. Someone who will challenge them on a personal level because they’re known on a personal level.
I’ve actually begun to distrust any church service that makes worship too easy for me. It should take some effort on my part, no matter who I am. No, I don’t want a church service that hinders my worship experience, but it should challenge us, shouldn’t it? I want to be a part of a worship experience that requires my participation rather than encouraging passivity.
big churches there’s a high level of excellence required for people to serve, especially in areas of visible ministry – and rightfully so. So where do people at the beginning or in the middle of the learning curve get a chance to stretch and grow?
We’re told that we’re supposed to strive for excellence and that God deserves nothing but our best. I’ve read that in virtually every church growth book and heard it at almost every pastoral ministry conference, just like you have. Yet if I had insisted on that standard for our church in those early days I have no doubt the church would no longer exist today.
It’s a given that excellence is a moral imperative. But where, exactly does the Bible say that? Is it possible that we’ve elevated a biblically and morally neutral trait of excellence over a biblically essential trait of obedience?
Maybe one of the finest things we can do, especially in Small Churches, is to provide a safe harbor for all those gifts to be offered and developed.
we decided that we would be a teaching church much like some hospitals are teaching hospitals. As a result we’ve had a lot of people pass through our doors who’ve picked up some valuable ministry experience and life-lessons while they were with us. Some stuck around long-term, but most have moved on. Many departed when they graduated. Some of them left because they got so good at doing ministry while they were with us that they got hired by bigger churches with bigger budgets.
As you’re led by an inspiring worship leader, sit under excellent teaching or pick your child up from a top-notch Children’s Ministries Department, be grateful that the church you’re in is making that ministry available to you on a donation-only basis. Big churches are one of the few places in our culture still doing that without charge.
Then take a moment to thank a Small Church. That’s likely where the people providing those ministries got their start.
I told them that if God called me to pastor their church, I would spend the first several years working with them to discover that vision.
I blamed the people who were coming for the people who weren’t coming. Then I wondered why they left too?
So I turned to the only place left to blame. I blamed myself. I’m not working hard enough. I’m not applying the right principles in the right way. I’m not in the right church/town/type of ministry to fulfill my calling. I’m not good enough. I missed God’s call.
I used to think that the reason my church wasn’t getting big under my leadership was because “I’m just not that good.”
Healthy churches do not grow under the guidance of disgruntled, demoralized pastors.
a healthy church that’s not growing numerically is better than an unhealthy church that is.
That’s Step One to becoming a healthy pastor and a healthy church – being content with how God made you and what he called you to do and be.
Very few pastors are actually called by God to work in large settings among wealthy people with huge, almost limitless resources. Most of us are asked to dig in with the poor and disheartened, with limited space, money and resources.
For a lot of people, contentment (again) sounds like settling and settling sounds like giving up.
We need to be content with who we are, but never content with staying where we are.
Reach the Community You’re In by Pastoring the Church You Have
I have learned that the best way to utilize what we’ve been given is to appreciate and pastor the church we’ve got.
Too often we make the mistake, in church growth circles, of only counting the ministry we do in weekend worship services.
Fear keeps more churches on the defense than anything else. A defensive church can’t do anything but hang on for dear life to what it’s got – until it usually loses that too.
Several years ago we re-tarred our old, weathered church parking lot. The tar had barely dried on it when we started hearing a commotion outside. Local teens were showing up to skateboard on the smooth new surface. That’s right. Teenagers just showed up, hanging around a church parking lot, thinking they had the right to use it as their own personal playground. We had a choice to make. Did they have that right, or didn’t they? Was the building built to welcome the community or keep it out? Do we put up signs to keep them out, or do we find skateboard ramps to invite them in? Churches on defense put up signs. Churches on offense put up ramps. That was one of the defining moments of our church’s history. Not only do we still have the only skateboard park in the city, but those ramps and the attitude behind them have set the tone for everything we’ve done ever since. Grab the opportunities when God gives them to you. Determine that the church building is going to serve the ministry, not vise versa.
The world needs cafes, bistros and greasy spoons. Places that meet the needs of the locals, speak the language of the community and inspire other young restaurateurs to open their own establishments.
The church I pastor ministers to people, touches our community and reaches around the world in extraordinary ways. Despite that, we are probably never going to be a big church.
Churches that are great tend to be small and great for the same reason. They’ve figured out who they are and they’re focused on doing that one thing well. Such a focused, passionate “one thing” mentality is often the very factor that will both fuel its success and enforce a cap on its numerical growth. It will fuel its success, because that kind of focused passion will attract others who have a similar passion. But it will also cap that growth because it will automatically exclude those who don’t share that passion, thus limiting its possibility for numerical growth. The New Small Church isn’t trying to be everything for everyone.
When you focus on being who you are without worrying about who doesn’t like it, a lot of people won’t like it. But those who do like it will be completely sold on it.
To adapt a quote from Gil Bailie, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you (and your church) come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is more people (and churches) that have come alive.”
When you put church things in churchy places, church people show up, but few others do.
If those numbers are true (and I assure you they are conservative), why do so many of us feel alone, frustrated, underachieving, even bitter instead of excited, empowered, vital and needed?
the reason is because this is probably the first book you have read on the subject of pastoring that wasn’t written by a megachurch pastor or by a researcher whose main focus has been megachurches.
Another reason Small Church pastors feel frustrated is that we’ve been told for years that a successful church is always a numerically growing church. That, conversely, only numerically growing churches are considered successful.
Small Churches minister to 10 times more people every week than megachurches do!
Precisely because they are scattered in small groups across the face of the earth instead of being clumped together in larger quantities, Small Churches have immediate access to communities, families and individuals, making them the largest, most readily deployable force for spiritual transformation, emotional encouragement and material sustenance that the world has ever seen.
every pastor faces the challenge of trying to walk people through the stages of spiritual growth. Specifically, it’s hard to get some people past the stage where they believe that riding the pew for an hour or so in a weekend worship service fulfills some religious obligation in a heavenly attendance book.
More people are brought to Christ and are legitimately discipled in any single year through the impact of his ministry than are likely to be saved and discipled through the entire lifetime of my ministry.
the church is a family, according to the New Testament. How many families do you know that show their love for each other by counting their members every day? And how many people would say that a family with ten kids is more healthy or loving than a family, like mine, with three kids? Of course we wouldn’t. What makes a family healthy and loving has nothing to do with numbers. It should be the same in the family of God.R
Every year our church fills out a report on the vital statistics of the congregation – weekend attendance, tithing, missions giving, salvations, baptisms, etc. I understand the need for record-keeping. I also know that if the only thing you knew about our church was what you read in that report, we’d look like we were plateaued at best, and shrinking at worst.
Can a church be too small and not reaching its potential? Yes. We see examples of it every day, with church buildings sitting empty all week (and mostly empty on weekends too) and having little or no impact on their community.
When Jesus gets the credit, I should be just as thrilled when my efforts put someone into a healthy church down the street or around the world as I am when they come to the church I’m pastoring. That’s what a lot of Small Churches have as their mission. They’re senders, not attracters. They may not be growing numerically in their church building and may never formally plant another church body, but the people who are eating of their fruit are growing personally and dropping seeds everywhere they go.
Again, that doesn’t give us numbers for our annual church reports, so no one may see the results of that work except God. But God does. That should be enough.
First, let’s show up ready to go, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually for the job we’ve got, instead of dreaming about the job we wish we had. Second, let’s apply everything we’ve got to doing the best we can, then with God’s help, better things will happen than we’re actually capable of. Third, at the end of the day, don’t take anything that doesn’t belong to us.
When he hears stories of how other churches are growing, he’s no longer encouraged or excited about how many people’s lives are being touched by the Gospel anymore. He’s jealous that it’s not happening in his church. Other church’s success stories cause his frustration, anger and depression to deepen.
More than anything else, Small Church pastors would like to hear and see more evidence of what we know is in the hearts of our peers in ministry. That we matter to God. To our communities. To the church as a whole. To our denominations. And to the kingdom of God.
Tell us about your hard work, your unique gift-blend, the 300 tithers who came with you from your mothering church, the ministry team member who had strengths where you were weak, the pre-built audience from your days in a local rock band, etc.
No amount of prayer, passion, planning or great Bible teaching will turn a church that’s supposed to be a Small Church into a megachurch. Or a Small Church pastor into a megachurch pioneer.
The Matthew Effect may be happening in the church. Once your church has been labeled small in a church culture that sees being small as a problem, it’s hard to break free from it. That’s why the longer a church stays small, the more likely it is to remain small.
Then I go to pastoral seminars and I hear how important it is to take time away from the church for several weeks every year, and several months of sabbatical at least every five years or so. I agree, especially after my experiences with burnout, that those break times are essential for effectiveness and longevity in ministry. There are megachurch pastors who have taught that a part of the reason for their success in ministry is that they take forty days or so annually to get spiritually refreshed, re-cast vision and/or write sermons for the coming year. They recommend that others do the same. I recommend it too. But forty days off for rest or sermon prep is a laughable pipe-dream for most pastors. When many of them read or hear such advice, their reaction is often to feel even more disenchantment, resentment and feelings of disconnection from their fellow pastors.
It’s about time somebody told the people who put these conferences on, that putting such stats front-and-center
January 11, 2021
Karl says so many things I have thought. I am reading along in 'Grasshopper Myth' and I read some sentence, and I think to myself, "I have said or thought that exact sentiment." And if Karl thought and wrote it, and I thought it too, it must so, right?
Ha!
Great, great perspective on ministry and life in the church. Way to go, Karl!
Ha!
Great, great perspective on ministry and life in the church. Way to go, Karl!
May 26, 2018
How do you perceive your small church? Do you see it's smallness as a problem to be fixed? Or is it possible that it is small by God's own design and in his delight? Karl Vaters, Teaching Pastor of Cornerstone Christian Fellowship in Fountain Valley, California, tackles these questions and many, many more in his heart-lifting 212 page paperback, "The Grasshopper Myth". The book's appellation comes from Numbers 13 when the twelve spies returned from reconnoitering the Promised Land, and ten of them recounted how tall and big everyone and everything was, and then exclaimed, "and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them” (13.33). Viola! The Grasshopper Myth!
Without being jaundiced or jaded, Vaters challenges our self-imposed expectations that gut many a minister, and asks all of the "wrong" questions. Why is small a bad thing when an overwhelming majority of our churches in the U.S.A. and the world have less than 250 congregants? Is it possible that small churches are the normal plan of God for a host of reasons? Can a small church be a great church? "The Grasshopper Myth isn't the result of being small. It comes from feeling small and believing those feelings" (51). Instead we need to recognize that "each church has its own mission and shouldn't try to duplicate the mission of another church, no matter how successful or large that other church is" (53). And further, "there is no place on earth where a Small Church won't fit" (142).
Though "The Grasshopper Myth" is ideal for church boards, elder boards, and other leadership groups, it is especially beneficial for pastors and ministers. The book looks into our pastoral hearts through (1) the lens of Vaters' own nearly-catastrophic-congregation-destroying story, (2) the grid of the church-growth programs that have been trumpeted for over four decades, and (3) the realities of Scripture and circumstances. From Vaters' own nearly congregation-destroying catastrophe, to the probing analysis of church-growth attitudes, to the very pointed chapters to pastors, the author brings a breath of fresh air and buoyancy for sinking ministers! In fact his chapter on "Stages In the Emotional Life of the Small Church Pastor" was spot on. I saw myself clearly in those pages, remembering well the disillusionment and high dudgeon during a particular season of my ministry.
If your pastor is downhearted and defeated, hand him a copy quick, and offer to meet for the next three weeks over a cup of coffee or tea to discuss the book (there is even a discussion guide in the back to help you do this). If you're a minister and about to quit, seeing the black clouds of Mordor looming over your ministry, and disgusted with where God has you, then get "The Grasshopper Myth" yesterday and pour over it today! This handy manual would also be valuable for a pastors' retreat or a book discussion in a ministerial alliance. So, if you can't tell, let me simply say it clearly: I recommend this book with all the verve I can muster!
My thanks to Karl Vaters for sending the copy of the book used for this review. The recommendation and reflections are mine, all mine! No one put me up to them, and they are freely and happily given.
Without being jaundiced or jaded, Vaters challenges our self-imposed expectations that gut many a minister, and asks all of the "wrong" questions. Why is small a bad thing when an overwhelming majority of our churches in the U.S.A. and the world have less than 250 congregants? Is it possible that small churches are the normal plan of God for a host of reasons? Can a small church be a great church? "The Grasshopper Myth isn't the result of being small. It comes from feeling small and believing those feelings" (51). Instead we need to recognize that "each church has its own mission and shouldn't try to duplicate the mission of another church, no matter how successful or large that other church is" (53). And further, "there is no place on earth where a Small Church won't fit" (142).
Though "The Grasshopper Myth" is ideal for church boards, elder boards, and other leadership groups, it is especially beneficial for pastors and ministers. The book looks into our pastoral hearts through (1) the lens of Vaters' own nearly-catastrophic-congregation-destroying story, (2) the grid of the church-growth programs that have been trumpeted for over four decades, and (3) the realities of Scripture and circumstances. From Vaters' own nearly congregation-destroying catastrophe, to the probing analysis of church-growth attitudes, to the very pointed chapters to pastors, the author brings a breath of fresh air and buoyancy for sinking ministers! In fact his chapter on "Stages In the Emotional Life of the Small Church Pastor" was spot on. I saw myself clearly in those pages, remembering well the disillusionment and high dudgeon during a particular season of my ministry.
If your pastor is downhearted and defeated, hand him a copy quick, and offer to meet for the next three weeks over a cup of coffee or tea to discuss the book (there is even a discussion guide in the back to help you do this). If you're a minister and about to quit, seeing the black clouds of Mordor looming over your ministry, and disgusted with where God has you, then get "The Grasshopper Myth" yesterday and pour over it today! This handy manual would also be valuable for a pastors' retreat or a book discussion in a ministerial alliance. So, if you can't tell, let me simply say it clearly: I recommend this book with all the verve I can muster!
My thanks to Karl Vaters for sending the copy of the book used for this review. The recommendation and reflections are mine, all mine! No one put me up to them, and they are freely and happily given.
April 20, 2016
Some good thoughts on the expectations and frustrations of pastors in smaller churches, but, in the end, his is really not a small church. As well, he goes back to asking pastors to right down action steps and dreams (p. 181), very similar to "church growth"models. I believe he needs more practical implications for churches who are 50 - 150 in size. He does make some good points about the importance of small churches.
November 18, 2017
I really enjoyed this book, particularly his personal testimony in the beginning. The author seemed very reasonable, generous, and I really appreciated his transparency in sharing such a personal part of his life. The book does very well at exposing how misguided the "church growth movement" has become over the last few decades, pointing out the very real truth that you don't need a big church to be successful, and offering advice to pastors who struggle with those issues. Unfortunately because of modern church growth culture, some pastors adamantly assert that numbers aren't the most important thing, yet their conduct and church policies say otherwise. Numbers aren't the main thing, but the leadership team is pulling their hair out when they look at annual and quarterly attendance charts. Karl Vaters does a good job of pointing out this sort of fakery as well as the way in which such a culture puts a heavy and unnecessary burden on Pastors. The reality that I think a lot of church leaders don't want to hear is it's ultimately not about your church or how big it gets or the growth of your own little kingdom. It's about the difference you're making in the big picture.
So, why only the three star review? For starters it was a bit lengthy at over 200 pages; it was a bit repetitive in some of the points and honestly the same message could've been said if it were condensed a bit more.
But the main issue of disagreement I have is that he doesn't go far enough in denouncing church growth culture. Early on in the book he has a section titled "The true price of the Megachurch." Here he describes how being a Megachurch pastor means sacrificing being intimate with your congregation and having a significantly higher level of stress. He then goes on to say "We need Megachurches." He goes on to describe how small churches are advantageous in many cases because the pastor can meet the people on a more personal basis. MegaChurches, by his own description, seem to alienate people and cause emotional harm to the Pastor and his family in a way that would be unrecognizable to Jesus or the apostles.
He argues that one of the main reasons we "need" megachurches is because of the large amount of funds they can supposedly generate and put to good use. Any basic study on the financial breakdown of churches will reveal that more often than not, a larger church will spend as much as 50% or more of its revenue on overhead expenses, such as salaries, utilities and building maintenance, so I don't totally agree with him on that point. That is not to say larger churches can't be effective, but I do think larger churches have unique issues to watch out for, such as people being alienated, funds being wasted and ministers rising to an unhealthy celebrity status. He seems to write some of these issues off as par for the course of having a larger church, but I don't really agree with that assessment. But aside from those issues, it is a very well written and thought provoking book.
So, why only the three star review? For starters it was a bit lengthy at over 200 pages; it was a bit repetitive in some of the points and honestly the same message could've been said if it were condensed a bit more.
But the main issue of disagreement I have is that he doesn't go far enough in denouncing church growth culture. Early on in the book he has a section titled "The true price of the Megachurch." Here he describes how being a Megachurch pastor means sacrificing being intimate with your congregation and having a significantly higher level of stress. He then goes on to say "We need Megachurches." He goes on to describe how small churches are advantageous in many cases because the pastor can meet the people on a more personal basis. MegaChurches, by his own description, seem to alienate people and cause emotional harm to the Pastor and his family in a way that would be unrecognizable to Jesus or the apostles.
He argues that one of the main reasons we "need" megachurches is because of the large amount of funds they can supposedly generate and put to good use. Any basic study on the financial breakdown of churches will reveal that more often than not, a larger church will spend as much as 50% or more of its revenue on overhead expenses, such as salaries, utilities and building maintenance, so I don't totally agree with him on that point. That is not to say larger churches can't be effective, but I do think larger churches have unique issues to watch out for, such as people being alienated, funds being wasted and ministers rising to an unhealthy celebrity status. He seems to write some of these issues off as par for the course of having a larger church, but I don't really agree with that assessment. But aside from those issues, it is a very well written and thought provoking book.
April 15, 2018
This book is about how Pastors and congregation members define success. Is success a certain number of people at a worship service or a particular number of mission activities? Or is success about impact in the community? Is success a congregation where people know and serve one another? Is success a congregation that attracts new members.
Determining what “success” is leads Vaters to grapple with two cultures. First, American culture’s fascination with big and busy. Second, Church culture that is interpreted through the lens and theology of the church growth movement.
Vaters operated for years with the notion that the success of his ministry can only be evaluated in terms of how many people were in the worship service and how large the facility was that housed them. When Voters’ congregation outgrew their facility because of numerical growth, he discovered that he was not happy with how his role as a pastor changed. Vaters took some time to evaluate his ministry and learn about himself. He learned some things that were counter to what he always knew to be true.
First, he learned that he prefers to relate to and know congregation members and their families. When his congregation grew he could no longer related to people in the way he enjoyed.
Second, he learned that the vast majority of congregations in the world are small congregations of two hundred average attendance or less. And, that the majority of pastors come out of smaller congregations.
Third, larger congregations are not necessarily better, only bigger. Larger congregations function differently and do not have the intimacy or flexibility of smaller congregations.
Fourth, smaller congregations allow potential leadership to rise to the surface faster. Individuals have more impact quicker in smaller congregations. This is both a positive and negative.
Fifth, success is not about numbers but about impact of ministry within the congregation and in the community.
For those who feel unsuccessful because the congregation isn’t “growing” in size, this book will offer important insights. One of the most helpful images in the book is the comparison between Starbucks and IKEA. They are both successful businesses but they have two different focuses and ways of conducting business. Starbucks would not be Starbucks if it tried to be IKEA. Vaters argues that the congregation that is small can be successful. But, it will fail if it tries to be a small version of a megachurch. Be a successful small church!
Vaters gives suggestions about how to evaluate success in a smaller church. He also makes a useful distinction between a healthy small congregation and a congregation that is diminishing and has lost its way.
Definitely a good read!
Determining what “success” is leads Vaters to grapple with two cultures. First, American culture’s fascination with big and busy. Second, Church culture that is interpreted through the lens and theology of the church growth movement.
Vaters operated for years with the notion that the success of his ministry can only be evaluated in terms of how many people were in the worship service and how large the facility was that housed them. When Voters’ congregation outgrew their facility because of numerical growth, he discovered that he was not happy with how his role as a pastor changed. Vaters took some time to evaluate his ministry and learn about himself. He learned some things that were counter to what he always knew to be true.
First, he learned that he prefers to relate to and know congregation members and their families. When his congregation grew he could no longer related to people in the way he enjoyed.
Second, he learned that the vast majority of congregations in the world are small congregations of two hundred average attendance or less. And, that the majority of pastors come out of smaller congregations.
Third, larger congregations are not necessarily better, only bigger. Larger congregations function differently and do not have the intimacy or flexibility of smaller congregations.
Fourth, smaller congregations allow potential leadership to rise to the surface faster. Individuals have more impact quicker in smaller congregations. This is both a positive and negative.
Fifth, success is not about numbers but about impact of ministry within the congregation and in the community.
For those who feel unsuccessful because the congregation isn’t “growing” in size, this book will offer important insights. One of the most helpful images in the book is the comparison between Starbucks and IKEA. They are both successful businesses but they have two different focuses and ways of conducting business. Starbucks would not be Starbucks if it tried to be IKEA. Vaters argues that the congregation that is small can be successful. But, it will fail if it tries to be a small version of a megachurch. Be a successful small church!
Vaters gives suggestions about how to evaluate success in a smaller church. He also makes a useful distinction between a healthy small congregation and a congregation that is diminishing and has lost its way.
Definitely a good read!
April 6, 2024
In "The Grasshopper Myth," Karl Vaters challenges the prevailing assumption that bigger is always better in church ministry. Drawing from his extensive experience and research, Vaters unpacks the misconceptions surrounding small churches and offers a compelling argument for embracing their unique strengths.
Vaters argues that the cultural obsession with numerical growth has led to the marginalization of small churches, perpetuating what he terms "The Grasshopper Myth" – the belief that small churches are ineffective and insignificant compared to their larger counterparts. Through insightful analysis and practical wisdom, Vaters dismantles this myth and champions the vital role of small churches in the Kingdom of God.
Throughout the book, Vaters shares anecdotes, statistics, and biblical principles to support his thesis. He explores the diversity of small churches, highlighting their potential for deep community, meaningful discipleship, and impactful ministry. Drawing on examples from his own pastoral journey and interviews with small church leaders, Vaters provides tangible evidence of the transformative power within these often-overlooked congregations.
"The Grasshopper Myth" is divided into concise chapters that address various aspects of small church ministry, from leadership and vision to outreach and worship. Vaters offers practical strategies and encouragement for pastors and leaders navigating the unique challenges and opportunities of small church contexts. With clarity and conviction, he challenges readers to reassess their perspectives on church size and to embrace the inherent value of every congregation, regardless of its numerical size.
Vaters' approach is both insightful and accessible, making complex concepts understandable without oversimplifying them. While he acknowledges the legitimate struggles faced by small churches, he refrains from portraying them as victims or lamenting their perceived limitations. Instead, he empowers readers to leverage the distinct strengths of small churches for Kingdom impact. However, some readers may find the book's shortness limiting, craving deeper exploration of certain topics.
"The Grasshopper Myth" is a timely and empowering resource for pastors, church leaders, and anyone passionate about revitalizing small churches. Vaters' heartfelt advocacy for the small church movement challenges readers to reevaluate their assumptions and embrace a more inclusive vision of ministry. By dispelling the myth of insignificance, Vaters equips readers to cultivate thriving communities of faith, regardless of their size.
Vaters argues that the cultural obsession with numerical growth has led to the marginalization of small churches, perpetuating what he terms "The Grasshopper Myth" – the belief that small churches are ineffective and insignificant compared to their larger counterparts. Through insightful analysis and practical wisdom, Vaters dismantles this myth and champions the vital role of small churches in the Kingdom of God.
Throughout the book, Vaters shares anecdotes, statistics, and biblical principles to support his thesis. He explores the diversity of small churches, highlighting their potential for deep community, meaningful discipleship, and impactful ministry. Drawing on examples from his own pastoral journey and interviews with small church leaders, Vaters provides tangible evidence of the transformative power within these often-overlooked congregations.
"The Grasshopper Myth" is divided into concise chapters that address various aspects of small church ministry, from leadership and vision to outreach and worship. Vaters offers practical strategies and encouragement for pastors and leaders navigating the unique challenges and opportunities of small church contexts. With clarity and conviction, he challenges readers to reassess their perspectives on church size and to embrace the inherent value of every congregation, regardless of its numerical size.
Vaters' approach is both insightful and accessible, making complex concepts understandable without oversimplifying them. While he acknowledges the legitimate struggles faced by small churches, he refrains from portraying them as victims or lamenting their perceived limitations. Instead, he empowers readers to leverage the distinct strengths of small churches for Kingdom impact. However, some readers may find the book's shortness limiting, craving deeper exploration of certain topics.
"The Grasshopper Myth" is a timely and empowering resource for pastors, church leaders, and anyone passionate about revitalizing small churches. Vaters' heartfelt advocacy for the small church movement challenges readers to reevaluate their assumptions and embrace a more inclusive vision of ministry. By dispelling the myth of insignificance, Vaters equips readers to cultivate thriving communities of faith, regardless of their size.
April 7, 2024
I loved this book. As a pastor of a small church, this was able to speak to my soul in such an encouraging way. The book is NOT an attack on megachurches. Vaters makes it abundantly clear throughout we need mega churches and they serve essential purposes. But this book is a reminder it is ok to be a pastor of a small church. That God may want it to be smaller because just as a megachurch can do things a smaller church cannot, a smaller church and smaller church pastor can do things the mega church/pastor is unable to do. Vaters wants small churches to believe and have big visions, but understanding they are not competing with the larger churches and it is ok. In a world where so much of your "success" as a pastor is measured by how many people are sitting in your seats/pews and how much money you are bringing in, Vaters helps remind his readers there is so much more. It's not that I was questioning my value or how much God loves the church I am at, I know both are abundantly true. This was so refreshing to read though. There may not have been any new, mind blowing concepts, but it was such a deep well of spiritual encouragement for me. I loved this book, I will absolutely be reading it again in the future. I just became a pastor of a smaller church in Nov, so this was such needed encouragement.
July 15, 2025
From the way the pages were laid out to the (what felt like to me) repeated content, it just seemed the author was trying to meet a certain page count...
I picked up the book because I have listened to the author's podcast (and enjoy it). I believe this book was a point that we started to be a more recognizable name. I'm not connected to a mega church, I actually am within the author's targeted demographics-a small church pastor; however, it didn't feel like he was talking to me. Perhaps it has to do with the following: 1) I'm not caught up in the church growth movement, in the same way the author was. 2) I don't struggle with looking at bigger congregations and going "I just need to do what they do" or "golly, I wish that was us".
Whatever the reason, I found myself struggling to finish this book...from not reading it, to reading another book, to skimming pages, and even skipping pages. Whether it was style of writing, the way the content was laid out on the page, or just the fact that I failed to connect with the content I found the book to not be great.
I picked up the book because I have listened to the author's podcast (and enjoy it). I believe this book was a point that we started to be a more recognizable name. I'm not connected to a mega church, I actually am within the author's targeted demographics-a small church pastor; however, it didn't feel like he was talking to me. Perhaps it has to do with the following: 1) I'm not caught up in the church growth movement, in the same way the author was. 2) I don't struggle with looking at bigger congregations and going "I just need to do what they do" or "golly, I wish that was us".
Whatever the reason, I found myself struggling to finish this book...from not reading it, to reading another book, to skimming pages, and even skipping pages. Whether it was style of writing, the way the content was laid out on the page, or just the fact that I failed to connect with the content I found the book to not be great.
November 20, 2016
The main point of the book is to assure pastors of small churches that it's okay to be a small church pastor; God uses churches of every size and the small church is an integral part of his mission in the world. This necessarily means a critique of the large church mindset that sees small as inadequate (the grasshopper myth). The drawback of the book is that it can't decide if it's a critique of the megachurch or a "let's all just get along" paean. I don't think you can have it both ways. But the author doesn't articulate any ecclesiology or biblical framework for church life that provides an answer to this tension. So what we're left with is a mixed bag of advice that seems to apply to small churches but is really advice for any size church and still leaves the small church pastor wondering about his or her place in the body of Christ. 2 1/2 stars for at least getting the discussion going.
May 5, 2017
This book is a game changer. Ministry changer. Life changer. If you are a small church pastor who has ever thought about giving up or have felt like a failure you need to read this book. If you are a large church pastor who has ever wondered about God's place for the small church I also recommend reading this book. It's a fresh perspective on what it means to "grow" God's Kingdom and have a "great" church no matter the size.
August 2, 2020
Brother Karl just absolutly nails it. I really think the Church Growth Movement was a nice infuse of good information and worked for some, but God's doctrine never changes only people do. For many years businesses tryied soming new to infuse they're businesses it worked then it didn't. What they siad aftwords, "Let's get back to Basics" God's whod is not Rocket Science. Thank you Pastor Karl for your book.
September 3, 2018
Finally! A Book About Small Church Becoming Healthy Church Not Just Big Church
This is a great accessible read that pastors should check out and seriously consider. It's by a pastor who realized Church attendance is not the end all be all of ministry! Discipleship Health is far more biblical!
This is a great accessible read that pastors should check out and seriously consider. It's by a pastor who realized Church attendance is not the end all be all of ministry! Discipleship Health is far more biblical!
January 10, 2018
An excellent read for all small church pastors. Vaters is a good writer. I like how he addresses the bigger is better mentality that is prevalent in the church today. I also found his practical advice on being a small church pastor to be thought-provoking.
September 5, 2018
Overdue
This book holds a long-needed perspective. Most small churches, pastors and people have seen their size as their failure in the bigger-is-better church/business culture. This encouragement is likely to do more, long-term, than any church growth conference. Thanks Karl.
This book holds a long-needed perspective. Most small churches, pastors and people have seen their size as their failure in the bigger-is-better church/business culture. This encouragement is likely to do more, long-term, than any church growth conference. Thanks Karl.
January 15, 2024
Simple but profound truth! A must read for all pastors
This book really helped put words to feelings. As a pastor, something about the western church just doesn’t sit right with me. This book helps us see the issue and move towards a healthy solution!
This book really helped put words to feelings. As a pastor, something about the western church just doesn’t sit right with me. This book helps us see the issue and move towards a healthy solution!
January 2, 2025
Needed to read this for research. It isn’t bad bad and has some good insights and challenges presumptions about smaller churches. It comes from a very American male pastor perspective and assumptions about who leads churches was a turn off.
June 26, 2025
I’ve read this book several times over the years. It’s one of the most encouraging books I’ve read as a pastor and I would recommend it to anyone. I love that Karl doesn’t just focus on one size fits all and reminds us that every church has a purpose.
June 20, 2017
I wish I had been given this book when I started out as a local church Pastor. It would have saved me so much heart ache. Great book, fully recommend.
March 7, 2018
One of the most encouraging books I've read on small town and rural ministry. Highly recommend
October 22, 2022
Interesting to see how people can go in the wrong leadership direction, by imposing a large church mentality, on small churches, as the fixture for success or correctness.
July 12, 2023
Awesome
Definitely a book to hold onto and re-read. Or to take a look at a specific chapter when needed. Loved it.
Definitely a book to hold onto and re-read. Or to take a look at a specific chapter when needed. Loved it.
October 17, 2025
Great!
A down to earth honest look at church. I appreciate the candor and reminders Karl shared. It a challenge to churches of all sizes. Exactly spot on!
A down to earth honest look at church. I appreciate the candor and reminders Karl shared. It a challenge to churches of all sizes. Exactly spot on!
November 23, 2017
A much-needed book. Written for those in small churches (he generally defines this as 200 or less, though sometimes includes 350 or less). Vaters clarifies what small church leadership can glean from the teachings of mega-church pastors and what we cannot. A lot of food for thought and encouragement for leaders and pastors in small churches (and by default, the pastors' wives who love them)....
June 26, 2014
In America it is easy to become obsessed with size and to equate a large size with success. However, when it comes to the Church, Jesus never told us that a large church meant you were successfully spreading the gospel. In this short book, Mr. Vaters points out that the vast majority of churches, even in America, are small churches (he doesn't like to throw numbers around in this book, but for the sake of argument he classifies a small church as being 350 regular attendees or less). Mr. Vaters criticizes some of the thinking behind the church growth movement of the past few decades while dedicating some space to say that he is not criticizing any one pastor specifically or personally (Rick Warren comes up a few times in this regard). He illustrates all the benefits and problems both big and small churches can have and he writes about his own struggles as a small church pastor to show how corrosive the church-growth mentality can be for those who weren't called by God to pastor a large church. He rightly points out how small churches can be more intimate and offer pastors the opportunity to counsel their congregation on a more personal, 1-to-1, basis than big churches can. And he also illustrates how small churches can be a practical testing ground for new pastors fresh out of seminary. Through it all, Mr. Vaters hammers the point that if your church is small and not growing, so long as your church is healthy, you ARE NOT a failure. In fact, your small church size is where God wants you to be at. There were two small problems I had with this book. First, every paragraph is separated with a line break, sometimes even every sentence. It is a strange way to lay out a book, but after a while I got used to it. Second, Mr. Vaters repeats the point that small church size ≠ failure so often that it can be difficult to distinguish the different points he is making in each chapter. But considering how deeply ingrained the church-growth mentality is in America, I think it is a point that does need to be repeated often. This book is geared for small church pastors, so regular church attendees may not get as much out of it as them, but it has certainly made me think critically about how I act in my small church and whether or not I am helping or hindering it by comparing its size to other churches I've been too. I would highly recommend this book to small church pastors and to their congregations.
February 6, 2018
Hope for the small church pastor!
If you are a small church pastor and you need encouragement, read this book! I found Vaters' book helpful and insightful to the small church and their challenges.
If you are a small church pastor and you need encouragement, read this book! I found Vaters' book helpful and insightful to the small church and their challenges.
July 25, 2019
It's a good reminder that we need churches of all sizes, and that "small" churches contribute greatly to the kingdom of God.
I think for most of his book, though, Karl Vaters is still trying to convince himself of this idea. He often writes that he's not settling by being a small church pastor, but that he's realized this is what God has equipped him to be. But then he also says things to make me doubt he really means this. He writes, "Believe me, I wouldn't turn down a larger building if we had a good chance at getting one." But he also writes about how he DID turn down a larger building 5 miles away (granted, it would have meant that the church would have had to move out of their neighborhood). He also writes, "I'll gladly accept any numerical growth that comes our way, and I'll do whatever adaptations are needed to allow and promote such growth."
But I think I'm being too critical. I tend to be that way when I read. Karl, if you're reading this, I apologize.
Like the author, I also wish there were more conferences and books aimed at equipping small church pastors to do ministry well in their context. Most of the ones that exist seem to say, "Think like a big church." This isn't helpful.
But this book is. It gives practical beginning steps to stop thinking like a big church, and start utilizing the unique gifts and abilities of small churches. I do appreciate this book, and hope it encourages small church pastors everywhere to simply be thankful for where God has placed them, and seek to serve God there faithfully.
I think for most of his book, though, Karl Vaters is still trying to convince himself of this idea. He often writes that he's not settling by being a small church pastor, but that he's realized this is what God has equipped him to be. But then he also says things to make me doubt he really means this. He writes, "Believe me, I wouldn't turn down a larger building if we had a good chance at getting one." But he also writes about how he DID turn down a larger building 5 miles away (granted, it would have meant that the church would have had to move out of their neighborhood). He also writes, "I'll gladly accept any numerical growth that comes our way, and I'll do whatever adaptations are needed to allow and promote such growth."
But I think I'm being too critical. I tend to be that way when I read. Karl, if you're reading this, I apologize.
Like the author, I also wish there were more conferences and books aimed at equipping small church pastors to do ministry well in their context. Most of the ones that exist seem to say, "Think like a big church." This isn't helpful.
But this book is. It gives practical beginning steps to stop thinking like a big church, and start utilizing the unique gifts and abilities of small churches. I do appreciate this book, and hope it encourages small church pastors everywhere to simply be thankful for where God has placed them, and seek to serve God there faithfully.
April 22, 2013
So many times, churches and pastors measure themselves by their size. If they aren't big, that is an indictment of the pastor's ability or the people's faith. But this book helps show that the size of our church is what God wants it to be at that particular time. And rather than getting upset that there aren't 5,000 people in worship, the pastor should relax and love and appreciate the ones who are there. Not every church can be a megachurch, but small churches have advantages that big churches don't. And God can work through small churches just as much as He can through big ones. The miracles are the same. We spend so much time and energy worrying and fretting about becoming the biggest church in the state, but this helpful book helps remind us that isn't about that. It is about people's lives and reaching out to the people around us. This is a helpful and encouraging little book.
March 10, 2014
Vaters, pastoring a small church in the shadow of the famed Saddleback Church of Rick Warren, shares his story of zeal, frustration, and burnout in his efforts to build a megachurch of his own. Through that experience, he came to realize that not every church should be a megachurch, nor is every pastor a megachurch pastor . . . and that's okay, because God needs churches of every size to reach people for Christ and build them up in him. Vaters dispels the notion that small churches should feel inferior, pointing out their strengths, and encourages small church pastors to be themselves and to let their churches be what God has called them to be. Every small church pastor ought to read this book.
October 14, 2015
This book is a MUST READ for all pastors and church leaders. The author's premise is that God has a purpose for churches of all size and that its wrong to look down on the small church just because its small (or to praise the large church just because its big). Small churches have so much to offer and they collectively make the biggest impact for the Kingdom of God. If 90% of churches are under 200 people, why do all the books and conferences focus on the other 10%? This book describes how churches of all shapes and sizes can and should work together. I highly recommend it.
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