Seth Godin wrote... Get small. Think big. One of the speakers this weekend (at ReSource) said that he thought that Emerging Churches shouldn't be afraid of being big... that there was nothing wrong with it... that there was no intrinsic value in being small... I'm really not sure I agree, is there no difference between 'big' and 'small'? It seems to me that there is value in being small if we think big... so often big groups/communities are sucked into thinking small... getting caught up in administration, in production, in meeting the needs of the community rather than being missional... it becomes too easy to be attractive, less easy to be humble... it becomes too easy to rely on the many and varied talents of the community and less easy to allow God to work through our failings and inadequacies... I blogged about Soul Survivor after the last ReSource about the comments of Mike Pilavachi that Soul Survivor, Watford had been at it's most dynamic, most missional in it's first year... before it came big! Now I'm not saying that is impossible to be missional when you are big.... but neither is it impossible for a "rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven", it is just much harder! I remember a piece of advice given to me by the internationally successful George Hamilton IV... "be small, be pure!" I'm not saying I ever managed that... but I think it is good advice, being small may mean being more aware of who we are both as an individual and as a community... being small may mean that it is easier to value each other for who we are, not just the things we contribute... being small may mean that we are all prepared to give all that we are, our strengths and our weaknesses, rather than simply look for the people of particular strength to fulfil a particular role... being small may mean not getting trapped in our own 'success' but recognising God in all, success and failure... being small may make us more aware of each other, more in love with each other because we are community and not just because we are like each other!
And Mr Skinny says that just maybe.... "Tiny is the new small!"... maybe if there is 'good' in being small, there is 'great' in being tiny!?photo by ceejayclark
Technorati Tags: Emerging Church: Mission
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