Small Church...Big God

I saw a roadside sign at a church this week that said, "Come to a small church with a big God." For some reason that sign just hit me the wrong way and I've been trying to figure out why. Here are some thoughts:

1. If you have a big God then why do you have a small church? Sure, success is stewardship. A church in Climax Springs, Missouri will probably be small because it's a small place. But this church is in a city of 200,000 people. And, it's not a new church. It takes the average new Assemblies of God church four years to reach 100 people in weekly attendance. It took us three--81, 99, 110 were our first three year's average.

2. Are they proud of being small? Is there a mindset that says to be big you have to compromise? You have to do something that appeals to people--meaning you have to water down the gospel? Is small pure and big polluted? Is small an attribute that attracts people?

3. What is small? I have no idea how many people attend the church, but I think it's over 125. In the Iowa Assemblies of God, there are only 25 of the 130 churches above 125 in weekly attendance. So, if you're above 125 are you really small? If you're above 200, you're in the upper 20% of all churches across the nation. This church isn't Assemblies of God so I can't check their attendance in our handy dandy church book.

4. Does the sign really reflect the philosophy of the church or did someone just think it was a cute thing to say? This happens all the time in churches--we really don't have a clear message that we send out through all of our media--roadside signs included. We don't always think through the message that we send to the culture or how the culture interprets our message.

Just some thoughts.