Years ago, my dad went to a leadership conference in the early ramp-up days of the church growth movement. He was impressed by the ability and passion of the speaker. He had a chance to go up and shake his hand after a session. He walked up and said, "I'm a pastor, and I appreciated your talk!" The speaker grabbed his hand, pumped it enthusiastically, and said, "Great! Are you growing?"
My dad was serving as a pastor at a church on a dirt road in rural Alabama. The church was 18 miles from the closest post office, and 24 miles from the closest real grocery store.
Using the Wrong Measuring Stick
When my dad shared this story with me (years later), he frowned thoughtfully, and told me, "At that moment, I thought, 'Something's off here. There's a missing piece.'" He couldn't put his finger on it, and he didn't have any evidence or years of narrative to know what it was. (The church growth movement was really only mainstreamed in the 1980s.) But he instinctively felt that something was off.
He was right. Something was off.
Not morally -- that speaker has gone on to have a meaningful ministry.
Not spiritually -- I believe that man loves Jesus.
No, the thing that was "off" was a VALUE, a PRIORITY... a disordered way of measuring pastoral ministry. When this value is off, small church pastors are unseen, less important, uncertain that they mattered as much as those who serve somewhere... BIGGER.
In this day of celebrity pastors, platforms, social media followers, and Google... what my dad felt back then has not gone away. In fact, it's just:
bigger
faster
more pervasive
Thousands of conference, books, trainings, podcasts, and conversations later, the idea that bigger is better is so ubiquitous, so ingrained, that it's become more like an operating system than an app. It runs under the surface of everything else, affecting and undergirding it.
Enter Karl Vaters
Karl Vaters' ministry has been much needed oxygen for pastors ever since he published "The Grasshopper Myth" in 2013.
I don't know of any voice that's been more consistently affirming of small-church pastors than Karl. His new book, De-Sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became A Science, Then An Obsession, and What's Next, is no different -- it's insightful, and relentlessly affirming of the real work of pastoring that's done by so many out-of-the-spotlight elders. This is my brief review of his book.
The Major themes of "De-Sizing the Church"
Theme #1: Our obsession with growth isn't healthy
Just in case you're not convinced, Karl gives specific ways in which it has affected the American church.
Theme #2: How did it get this way & how has it affected us?
In sections 2-3, Karl delves into the history of the church growth movement. For those who are interested in that, it's a helpful survey of the history of the movement and how it came to dominate 40 years of focus in the American church. He even deals with the growth of suburbs and how some of those kinds of cultural dynamics interplay with the church world. I found that interesting, because we tend to be blind to the ways in which the "shoe tells the foot how it must grow."
In Chapter 7, there's an analysis of the dangers of Christian celebrity that is very timely considering the enormous number of scandals we've seen in the past few years from high-profile Christian leaders.
But De-sizing is not death on large churches either. One of the things I really enjoyed about the book is a chapter called "What the Church Growth Movement Got Right," that was very fair-minded and helpful.
Theme #3: What's next? How do we move toward a healthier model?
The chapter titles speak for themselves, but I'll add some comments:
Integrity Is the New Competence
Living in integrity and faithfulness
Discipleship Fixes Everything
This is worth reading just for the "Rule of 4" study about Christians and Bible reading.
De-sizing the Pastor
How do you know if you have been caught in this mindset, and how can you begin to get out of it? Karl gives 7 really helpful steps for pastors who need to "de-size".
De-sizing the Church
If you're interested, grab a few copies of the book, to help your church leadership team think through what this looks like. This chapter also includes Karl's Church Health Assessment tool link, so you'll want to check that out.
De-sizing Evangelicalism
Powerful, prophetic chapter on how we need to re-think things broadly so that our definitions of success and fame match those of heaven. The closing illustration itself is worth the price of the book.
The purpose of the book isn't to create a comprehensive roadmap out of the mess we're in... but it does a great job of furthering the conversation.
Conclusion: What Did this book do for me?
1. It helped me have a greater respect for what you and I do as small church pastors.
Sure, I was convinced of this. But reminders are necessary, because I'm human and the Devil is mean.
2. It helped me enjoy the success of others without envy.
I'm a guitarist. I frequently watch Tommy Emmanuel or Emil Ernebro on Youtube, and then scroll down and read the comments. Usually, one of the top comments will be something like:
"My guitar saw this and filed for divorce"
"Decided my guitar would make excellent kindling."
I know they're joking, but they're talking about a real dynamic: A lack of enjoyment of success based on my inability to replicate it.
But when you believe in what you do, feel seen and respected, you're able to enjoy the work of others without envy or cynicism. Karl Vaters helps me do that.
And I'm glad. It's a valuable service to the church, and the pastors who serve her faithfully.
3. It helped me grow in appreciation of the "small," right things.
Eugene Peterson said, "Legacy is a long obedience in the same direction."
And frankly, I need to be reminded of that. I cherish any person or resource that helps me to avoid deception in this area.
There are some pastors of both large and small churches who have broken their legacies by a lack of integrity and holiness. I put "small" in quotes above, because it's not really small at all. Holiness is literally what God chose for me before the foundation of the world -- no way that can be called small!
But sometimes, we feel like it is, because we are tempted to view numerical success or influence as a big thing compared to holiness.
It's not, and this book helped me remember to "right-size" things like holiness and integrity.
Karl Vaters deserves our thanks for writing this book, and you should get a copy here.
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