Church Growth Ministries
Go Figure
Big benefits in small churches
by Susan Barnett
John Mellencamp’s song “Small Town” describes the benefits of growing up in a place where he knew everyone, was loved, and learned about Jesus. While his song is not about small churches, there are similarities. Small churches celebrate every birth in a big way; everyone is known and loved and learns about Jesus.
Small towns and small churches have another similarity: there are more of them than large cities and large churches. Of the 10,053 PC(USA) congregations, more than 50 percent (5,675) have fewer than 100 members. Among those congregations, the average membership is 45. Fewer than 2 percent of PC(USA) churches have more than 1,000 members. This mirrors the National Congregation Study that found that 59 percent of all churches have fewer than 100 members and that only 2.5 percent have more than 1,000 members.
Continue readingLegends at the end of the trail
Native American congregations, though small, labor to transform their communities and heal wounds from the violent suppression of indigenous identity and voice.
by Danelle Crawford McKinney
On a typical summer evening on the Haskell Indian Nations University campus in Lawrence, Kansas, the activities of the American Indian Youth Council (AIYC) Conference of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) were far from ordinary. As many as 60 Native American teens from more than 20 tribes walked silently on a trail named in honor of Billy Mills, a Lakota from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and the first person from the Western hemisphere to win the 10,000-meter race at the Olympics, in 1964.
The trail took the teens, led by Ron McKinney, a Choctaw pastor from Oklahoma, through preserved wetlands. As they walked in silence, McKinney invited the aspiring leaders to reflect on what times were like only a few generations ago, when communities would travel in the evening to protect themselves from enemies.
Here, 130 years ago, children were taken from their families and brought to this campus when Haskell was an institution whose mission embodied the motto of Richard H. Pratt, founder of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School: “kill the Indian, save the man.” This directive was part of the US government’s effort to “colonize” or “civilize” Native Americans by cutting their hair and stripping them of their language and religious practices. The children buried in a small cemetery on campus are a reminder of documented abuses.
Continue readingPreview of the JUNE 2015 Issue
Small churches,
big impact
Though small in size and budget, these congregations are making an enormous impact in their communities.
by Krin Van Tatenhove
It’s evident in nature. Split the atom, and unleash thunderous force. Plant one of the tiniest seeds on earth, and a sequoia arises.
It’s apparent in history. A woman trained in civil rights activism refuses the back of the bus and spawns a movement of justice. A Pakistani girl, gunned down by terrorists, courageously recovers and receives the Nobel Peace Prize.
It’s abundantly clear in Scripture. A stuttering 80-year-old leads his people out of slavery. A shepherd boy defeats a giant. A babe born in a feeding trough becomes the Savior for untold billions, teaching us that the meek will inherit the earth and that faith the size of a mustard grain can move mountains.
It’s a timeless truth: small can be mighty!
In this article you will meet congregations that may be modest in size and budget but are making an enormous impact in their communities.
Continue readingRural churches
Rural South Carolina churches find strength in numbers
By Edward Terry
Reprinted from The Layman, January 5, 2010
CLINTON, S.C. – A group of 15 Presbyterian churches in rural South Carolina have learned, as the old saying goes, there is strength in numbers.
Begun nearly 20 years ago, the Greater Laurens County Cluster of Churches (GLC3) has helped the group of small congregations pool their resources for the greater good in their community and the Kingdom.
“The key is having a vision that reaches beyond yourself and is bigger than any one of the participating congregations,” …
Websites
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Research Services
Research Services has developed a “Church Home Improvement Toolbox”, which is a variety of "do-it-yourself" research strategies for positive church improvement.
Multicultural Congregational Support
The ministry works to help the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s efforts in becoming a multiracial, multilingual and multicultural community of faith and empower congregations and governing bodies.
The Office of Public Witness
The Office of Public Witness is the public policy information and advocacy office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Its task is to advocate, and help the church to advocate, the social witness perspectives and policies …