A Place Where Everybody Matters

Small churches need the work of all of their people to survive, and this means that there's a productive place in the church family for every person, no matter how gifted or challenged. Small churches are uniquely personal, and they provide an unparalleled opportunity for Christians to learn, grow, and live out their faith consciously, every day. Small churches become a family, children of God, and brothers and sisters of Jesus together. There's no place to hide in a small church. The normal human dramas of good and evil, sin and repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation all happen in our relationships in the family. A small church is a place where people can serve an apprenticeship in faith, learning from those before them and passing on their experience to those around them. In a small church the pastor provides context by preaching and teaching, serves as a role model in encouraging the ministry of others, and, by loving the people, helps them see themselves through God's eyes. The rest is up to the people themselves and to God.

Jean Risley is an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and a candidate in the Doctor of Ministry program at Andover Newton Theological School. Her interests include the implications of the Jewish background of Jesus and Paul, the challenge of living faithfully in contemporary culture, and the relationship between religion and science. Her website at www.JeanRisley.com provides a forum for discussing these issues.

Leslie Ann McKinney serves as Pastor of Community at Pilgrim Church of Beverly, Massachusetts, a union church of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) and of the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference. She specializes in women's ministry and is a spiritual director. She is a board member of Life Together International, a nonprofit ministry encouraging biblical justice, unity, and reconciliation.