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If a church has a very small congregation, should it disband?

I guess I'm one of those christians that believe that the size of the church's congregation is not the determining factor as to whether it should have to close the doors or not. In all truth, a smaller congregation means a more personal experience for the practicing christian!

Having grown up in mostly small, rural communities, the congregations were never very large to begin with, and it was only as I grew older that I wanted to try the larger, better financed churches with the huge memberships. Honestly, I was extremely dissapointed with the nature of the larger fellowships. Something had been lost in the process of they're growth!

Somewhere in the process of finance, the true message of Christ had been either subverted or totally lost! In the process of becoming so large, and trying to dominate their particular order, in that particular region. The churches message had become financial in nature, and this is the last thing that you would want to find in your local neighbohood church!

Having discovered that the Lords message was somehow forgotten or misplaced in these larger congregations, it sent me running back to the smaller, more intimate churches that I remembered from my youth! There was true power in the churches of my memory, and that was what I was searching for, now that I was older!

There was absolutely no doubt about it! This was the house of God that I remembered, and now that I had found what I had lost, I would do everything in my power to make sure the doors stayed open. The size of the congregation had absolutely nothing to do with the power inside!
And isn't that what we're all searching for in a church to begin with?

It made me realize that the word of God had nothing to do with money! Of course we all realize that any church has to have funding. But a smaller church can exist on a much smaller budget than these huge conglomerates that dominate todays house of worship, and just because they're larger and more beautiful on the outside, dosen't mean they're better inside!

As far as the fellowship goes, it's much more in depth, real and personal. You can actually know every single person thats sitting next to you, on the church pew! It's truly wonderful.I don't know about you, but it made me feel like I had come back home, and I had been gone for a very long time indeed! I would not be leaving this small church again anytime soon. Not for any reason!

So, no. I do not believe that a church should close it's doors because of a small congregation! In fact, I feel just the opposite! Now that I know the actual difference between a church with a huge membership and a church with a congregation of thirty or so, I am even more determined that these smaller churches should stay open and alive! God lives there, and that makes them very vibrant in nature, and of that, I am absolutely certain!

Learn more about this author, Jonathan Clayton.
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