I will admit that some smaller churches are so far down the life-cycle and so dysfunctional that they are unlikely to ever turn around, but I also know that there are many smaller churches that are just praying that someone will come to lead them who believes in them. When such a person accepts the call to serve those churches, good things will happen. Please don’t automatically discount a call to a church that is the smaller than the one you now serve. You could be missing out on an incredible ministry opportunity.

“Breaking News: Pastor accepts call to a smaller church!”

That’s not a headline you see very often.

Most pastors nearly always are called to a larger church than the one they are leaving.

Recently, I had lunch with one who accepted a call to a much smaller church than he has now pastored for the past 15 years. In fact, it’s almost a tenth of the size of his present church.

No, he’s not planning to retire and just serve this church to supplement his retirement income. He plans to bring leadership and health to this church, so that it can once again begin to minister to the community God has given it.

It’s also not the case that his present church is struggling or having problems. In fact, it is probably one of the healthiest churches I know and has just experienced a significant growth in its facilities and the number of people who attend there.

There is absolutely no reason for my friend to leave his present church except one: God has called him to this other church.

He and I have had more than one discussion about this move. Mostly, I just listened as he tried to sort out the various reasons why he believed God was calling him to a new place of service.

I would occasionally ask questions or offer ideas for him to consider, but mostly I listened. After the first discussion we had, I felt certain he would make the move, and I was not surprised when he called a few weeks later to let me know he was going there for a candidate weekend.

I was expecting that call because during that initial discussion it was clear, at least to me, that this was God’s doing. I had little doubt that God was calling him to this new place of ministry.

As we ate lunch, it was obvious that he was feeling great sorrow at leaving the people he had ministered with for the past decade and a half. But, as he talked about the new church he will soon be serving, there was much excitement in his voice.

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