3. Small Churches are a luxury good

Although I serve an urban congregation in Denver, about half the congregations in our Regional Church of the Dakotas could reasonably be described as “rural,” located in North and South Dakota towns which range from small to very small. Consequently, these congregations tend to be small as well: none is over a hundred in membership, and there are no realistic prospects for  significant growth in towns which have been steadily depopulating over the last few decades. Nearly every time a pastor moves on, the congregation must soberly assess its future. Can they really afford a pastoral salary? Is it time to think of something drastic, such as sharing a pastor or even merging with another Church?

Thankfully, there is a steady supply of older pastors, near or past retirement age, who are glad to serve where they are needed and don’t have the financial needs of men with young families and mouths to feed. These days, there seems an even greater supply of fresh seminary graduates with few or no children who are equally willing to take a call which will get them established in their pastoral careers: they know they may not be able to stick around

for more than a few years, but at least the pulpits stay filled.

That’s not an ideal situation, but it’s the unfortunate demographic reality of rural Church life. What, then, accounts for the presence of a similar model in urban areas such as Denver? Just to point out the obvious, the difference between a small town and a city is people. Lots and lots of people. Hundreds of thousands of people. With all those people, what accounts for multiple OPC and PCA congregations, some a little under a hundred and some a little over a hundred, in the same metropolitan area, especially when their members drive past other congregations of like faith and practice on the way to services? 

Here’s what accounts for it: a few years ago I was talking to a South Dakota pastor, originally from the Denver area, during our two presbyteries’ joint youth Bible camp. He had been solicited to begin a new Church plant in south Denver, just equidistant between a PCA Church and a URC which both happened to be pastored by friends of mine. Yes, they were friends of mine, which necessarily calls their good taste into question, but they also were ministers in good standing of Churches of like faith and practice not more than a 10-minute drive from the geographical area in question. Why had a “core group” begun talking with this pastor when they could easily join a small (around or under 100 members) Church in their area?

I can claim neither prophetic nor telepathic insight, but I’ll tell you why: they wanted a Church which was to their particular preference. Neither that PCA nor that URC was quite what they wanted, but they had learned from experience that there are plenty of pastors who need a job. All they had to do was demonstrate an ability to provide a nominal salary for a year or two, and they could get a pastor who would provide the kind of preaching and/or pastoral care they liked.

In my more cynical moments, I describe the OPC (and sister denominations) not as “small,” but as a “boutique” Church. Cities have plenty of stores which are small in size because they have to fit into cramped quarters. Cities also have plenty of boutiques which are small not out of  necessity, but by design: they provide luxury goods which are of interest and affordable to only a few, and especially the few who are willing to pay the price.

Many (although by no means all) confessionally reformed Churches have well-educated and relatively affluent members; if these members are willing to tithe or even give beyond their tithes, then a relatively small number of members can pay the relatively small salary asked for by a man who wants nothing more than to preach the Gospel. This concentration of wealth gives them the buying power to acquire a preacher who is not merely faithful to God’s Word, but who also provides the style of preaching which they’d like to hear on a regular basis.

Demographic reality dictates that rural areas will have small Churches. In an urban area, small Churches are a luxury good.