It is no secret that in North America, many churches are either closing down or shrinking. It is also said that the single largest growing pool of believers are the NONES, the non-affiliated, non-church-going, and non-aligned group of people who still consider themselves believers. Statistics are dire with regard to the state of the Church. At the same time, there is a glimmer of hope. Small churches do have their strengths. As far as Jesus is concerned, the minimum number of believers to form a community with His Presence is two or three gathering in His Name. Jesus must have foreseen our modern world long time ago! While many of us would like to see numerical growth, we need to learn how to take care of churches that are under 250 in size, which is the majority of North American churches today. What is more essential is to learn the tools and principles about how to lead these congregations toward healthy growth and life. Karl Vaters is proudly a pastor of small churches for over 30 years. He is the goto guy for the small church guy. Though his church, Cornerstone Christian Fellowship is located not far from megachurches in the area, he is convinced that small is good. Over 90% of the churches in the world are under 250 in size. About 1 billion people are in small churches worldwide, making small churches the single largest people group in the world! If that is so, why not focus on doing whatever we can to support and rejuvenate the small Church with big thoughts? This is exactly what the author seeks to do. Small churches must not let their size minimize their ministry. They need to see the greatness of God regardless of size. They need guidance on how to run a small church effectively and enthusiastically. What if small churches are centers of friendliness; neighbourliness; mission; innovational generosity; and worship? With these objectives in mind, Vaters proceeds to share how we can do just that.


Arranged in four parts, readers get an understanding ear from the author about the smallness of many churches. Just like the common saying, "down but not out," Vaters encourages readers that churches might be small but they are definitely not broken. On the contrary, this is the reality of Church ministry these days. A majority of pastors will pastor a small church, whether they like it or not. In fact, chances are most of us would never had the opportunity to pastor a larger church. Instead, there are many churches that are small for various reasons. Some are newly planted churches. Others are set up for a specific niche. Many due to socio-political reasons stick to house churches. Still there are those that are forced to be small due to limited resources and finances. The key is not to be distracted by the illusion of bigness but the potential of smallness. That is why the first three chapters of the book are aimed at changing the myth of bigness. Having settled that, Part Two begins the paradigm shift. Small churches are different in a good way. Being a great church has nothing to do with size. It has everything to do with attitude. What such churches lack for resources, they more than made up for creativity and innovation to work with what they have. Once our infatuation with numbers are dealt with, we are better able to look and work from our unique calling. We are better able to see eye to eye with many other churches who are similarly small. We are better able to learn and benefit from our calling. Part Three gives us practical tips about revitalizing existing small churches. This calls for strategic change to understand why churches are sized that way. Recognize what phase they are in. Prepare the roof regularly. Do not let small size discourage one from tackling big issues. Vaters gives us eight principles that are worth the price of this book. Leaders must not over-control but free members to be creative. Take time but not too much time. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Recognize that it is always God in control. We learn about the filling up through "worship, fellowship, and discipleship" and the flowing out through "discipleship, ministry, and evangelism." Vaters gives us wisdom with regard to existing ministries and new ministries to dare to try and start new ones, and to close old ones if necessary. Small groups too are discussed, and Vaters even said that small churches are a small group already by themselves! Part Four is the most exciting of all, to help churches become great small churches. We learn about welcoming people through the art of friendship and friendliness. We mentor and disciple one another through mentoring rather than curriculum. This means one on one connecting. We also learn about the planning process

Three Thoughts
First, numbers matter and that includes small numbers. Jesus loves all regardless of size. It is easy to take this book and start criticizing or belittling larger churches. No. That is not the intent. Though the author mentions something like churches with large numbers had diminishing returns, it is more to encourage small churches rather than put down large churches. In fact, the larger the church, the greater the emphasis on numbers because their assets and monthly upkeep of facilities would be greatly impacted with any sudden decline in numbers. More importantly, attendance is not for people to admire. In Church, people's hearts are what God looks at. Though numbers are important, people are even more important. Thankfully, people are not a mere number to look at but a whole person to love. Once this perspective is set, we are better able to overcome the false promises of size. Stand on the promises of God and not be distracted by numbers of people in the premises.

Second, this is a book written by a small church pastor for fellow small church pastors. A major point he made is this: "Big churches need to prioritize vision, process, and programs. Small churches need to prioritize relationships, culture, and history." I think the distinction is overly simplistic and all churches need vision, process, and programs. Likewise, big churches need relationships, culture, and history. Perhaps, it is mere semantics and readers would have to read the explanations before understanding Vaters's reasoning: PRIORITY. At the heart of it all is insecurity of the human heart. When a church is large, the pressure is to keep the church minimally the same. This calls for techniques and strategies to keep it that way. In contrast, smaller churches are encouraged to try new things without worrying about rocking the status quo.

Third, it is deeply encouraging. We need new and fresh understanding of what a healthy church is. Far too often, we have heard about churches being measured by the three B's: Bodies (numbers); Buildings (assets); and Budgets (financial strength). When we are free from being locked into these three Bs, we can progress to the three As: Acceptance; Appreciation; and Anticipation. The single biggest encouragement in this book is this: "Yes, Your Church is Big Enough." This is no longer about the size of the building but the size of the heart; no longer the bigness of the budget but the quality of our spending; not the multiplicity of activities but the singularity of purpose.

If you are a leader or a member of a small church, which most likely you are, this book is a godsend for you.

Karl Vaters is Teaching Pastor of Cornerstone Christian Fellowship in Fountain Valley, California, not too far away from Saddleback Church. He blogs on Christianity Today on Pivot. He is also author of "The Grasshopper Myth," a book that dispels the myth of small thinking in God's ministry.

Rating: 4.25 stars of .5

conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of Moody Publishers and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

I am grateful to net galley.com and Moody publishers for a generous review copy of this book.

First of all the negatives the formatting on this book made it very difficult to read on Kindle which is a problem I am sure will be ironed out. Secondly as a pastor of a small church i found this book very heavy on jargon but very light on actual principles to put into practice in my small congregation.

Positively this book encouraged me to make a relationship and deepening that relationship with Jesus the goal for all of our church members. I recognised in myself the sin of comparing myself to others and always wanting to be bigger but not necessarily more holy.

The thing that will stay with me from this book is the emphasis that every church regardless of size needs to be a healthy church.

I’m writing this review from the perspective of a layperson who is active in several areas of her church. Throughout my lifetime, I’ve attended both very small churches and churches that would be considered “ mega churches”. I was interested to see the author’s view on both extremes.

I found it very encouraging and comforting. Pastor Vaters makes it clear that small churches can be quite effective in sharing the Gospel and building up the lives of the members of the church, I think he gives sound advice and encouragement to the pastors of these smaller congregations about the great value of their ministry for Christ. Although I am not a pastor, I was encouraged by realizing once again that Christ uses His people in different situations and roles.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review. I was not required to give a positive review for this book. This is my honest opinion of the book.

In the book Small Church Essentials, pastor and author Karl Vaters, takes on the myth that small churches are not valid to the Church world and that bigger is always better. With the fact that 90 percent of churches are under 200, Vaters writes:

“What if we changed the paradigm for church success? Instead of insisting on numerical growth for every church, what if we did the hard work of helping churches discover what they are good at, then encouraging and resourcing them to do that ministry well, not in the future when they get bigger, but right now at their current size? That one change alone could transform our churches and the communities they’re called to reach and serve for Jesus. The limitations within small churches shouldn’t cause us to settle for business-as-usual. They should spark us to become more creative. Virtually every historical innovation happened, not when everything was going well, but when we faced challenges. If smaller churches were encouraged to look for fresh, new ways of doing ministry instead of being forced into a preconceived definition of success, a lot of them would step up and surprise us—maybe even lead us.”

Vaters gives practical tools that can help many churches understand their value to the Kingdom of God and fresh ideas to help them reach their communities. I wish I had this book when I began pastoring small churches 25 years ago! This is an excellent resource for churches and pastors! I would highly recommend this thought provoking book. I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve been serving in a small church (less than 250 people is a small church), which is quite different from serving in a megachurch. So it was timely that I read this book. The book is Small Church Essentials by Karl Vaters. It comes out March 6th.

​If I could change the title of this book, I’d call it “Make Small Church Great Again” because that’s what it’s about. A few things to note. This is not a church growth book, i.e., how to make your small church into a big church. But also, he’s not defending how
small churches are great, or that big churches suck. He’s not trying to grow small churches into bigger ones. ​

There’s nothing wrong with a church being small, and he’s not saying it’s better or more intimate. And churches that suck can be big or small. He’s simply saying: You can be a great small church, and this is how you do it. He defines the “greatness” of a church, the health, not measured by growth, but measured by effectiveness. In addition, he doesn’t believe in the mantra, “If a church is healthy, it will naturally grow bigger.”

Although much of my ministry experience has been in big churches, I am aware that 90% of churches out there are easily categorized as under 250 (small church). However, I’ve realized that most conferences out there come from a big church point of view. From vision statements to game ideas, they are sourced from “successful” churches, i.e. “big” churches. There are unique challenges in a small church and particular issues that come up. But those are not specifically addressed, just a typical footnote I’ve heard so often “you may have to modify these ideas to fit your particular church context.”

From experience, those conference ideas from big churches actually work in every big church, regardless of denomination, tradition, or region, with very little modification. However, two small churches in the same area, in the same denomination, can be vastly different, needing vastly different strategies to work for change and discipleship. When those conference ideas and values need to be vastly modified, then you need a different type of conference. or a book.

Karl Vater’s insights and advice are very practical, coming from his experience of pastoring a small church for many years. After being discouraged many times that the church growth methods weren’t working for his church, he switched gears and perspective about the purpose of his church (and The Church). He realized it was possible, and very probable, that some small churches are healthy churches. But why?

Some parts of the book seem quite typical, e.g., give people a heads up before you start changing things. But he also writes about things that are not so obvious, and others that are surprising. For example, he says that not every small church needs a small groups ministry; that’s more a big church necessity. And if you’re creating a small groups program because you actually sense a need, not because the “experts” say you need one, then use your instincts. You may know more about implementing small groups at your church than the small group “experts” who don’t know the unique characteristics of your church. And if you can’t find someone else who will be trained to lead the small groups ministry, then forget about it, because you shouldn’t lead one yourself (burn out).

Also, churches less than 250 in attendance don’t really need mission or vision statements. The book also points out that “vision-casting” is done very megachurch style, and in a very Old Testament fashion, like Moses (the pastor) directing the people. It made me realize I was taking the ever-popular vision-casting verse out of context “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Prov 29:18), and the only time most of us quote from the KJV.

Before doing new things, get rid of the old things. We have limited space. not just physically, but also emotionally, psychologically, spiritually. Before creating new programs, make space for it, or see if the “closet” is big enough. Either revamp ineffective programs or close it down.

Yeah, really good insight that I haven’t read elsewhere. Plus, he gets to the point. I’ve noticed an upward trend in new Christian books of 2018: the author starts off each chapter with a long story or two. This book doesn’t do that. He acknowledges that small church pastors are way too busy to read books for enjoyment, so he gets to the point and writes matter-of-fact.

Actually, this book has little value for pastors working in megachurches. However, for those in small churches, it will serve mostly as an encouragement, and as a side, some helpful tips on making your church strong and effective. Well worth the read!

I am a 5th generation at my small church and everything in this book is spot on. I am hoping that with this book as a leader of my church it will help me with making our church flourish we have never wanted our church to be a mega church just a church that is stable financially,Spirtually and a be in for the community that needs it! With this book I think it will keep us stable. We are almost at our 100yr anniversary and we can see 100yrs more I know it.

In his upcoming book, Small Church Essentials, Karl Vader highlights the value and significance of the small church. With an opening argument that small churches are not an indication that the church is damaged or broken, Vader sets readers up to discover that great numbers are not a prerequisite for great ministry. Vader presses further by insisting that the church doesn't need to wait for growth in order to be effective, but instead insists that your church - however small - is big enough for the ministry God is calling it to today.