Leading the Small Church
Book Review
By Clark Reichert
Leading the Small Church
by Doran McCarty
Being the pastor of a small church has been a blessing to me and my family. It did, however, take a bit of getting used to. Because of my love of the small church, I can certainly appreciate the obvious love that Dr. McCarty has for this context of ministry. Indeed, the small church is not a scaled-down version of a large church or baby church waiting to grow but is a separate entity of its own.
The lessons of this powerful little book may best be related by telling of several impasses that arose between me and my small-church congregation that before reading Dr. McCarty’s book truly disturbed me. However, after learning the perspective of the small-church culture, it was obvious that they were not impasses at all; rather reflections of the power structure and way of thinking and acting that is characteristic of the small church.
In one case, a beloved saint, a pillar of the church died in a nursing facility in a neighboring state. I had never met this lady but she figured large in the church’s story. A community person, at the time not a church member, took the liberty of planning a large city-wide funeral in my church bringing in an outside pastor and musician and only informing me, the official pastor, as an afterthought. When I explained my dissatisfaction to the Parish Council they seemed genuinely puzzled as to how such a minor oversight could possibly upset me.
In another instance, I had used a small discretionary fund for the poor set up years before in a creative way, combining it with the resources of the community’s other churches and civic organizations to provide a central clearing house for aid rather than accepting the usual waste and duplication that multiple programs create. My church rewarded my efforts by cutting off support for my activities.
These actions by the church might seem patently unfriendly to the pastor and detrimental to his or her authority. They certainly did to me but I understand better now. I had failed to realize that in small church culture simply being the pastor did not automatically entitle one to authority or leadership.
Small churches, because of their tight budgets and relative lack of prestige attract a less-experienced, more transient clergy therefore power is located in the laity. Pastor Tom is a fine, young preacher and pastoral care provider but in approximately three years, he will be gone and the next pastor will be in place. Since it is the volunteer administrators that must take up the slack during the interim and beyond, this small cadre of leaders never actually relinquish control. The pastor has little invested in the church whereas these persons who have painted the building, repaired the handrail, cleaned the carpet, written the checks, put in new flooring have much invested.
The way that pastors in small churches can break into the monopoly of power held by the old guard is to become the old guard themselves. Dr. McCarty said it well;
“The minister maybe elected Pastor, but he doesn’t become pastor until after three to five years. Churches do not take a pastor seriously until seven to ten years of tenure. After fifteen years, they own the church as long as they don’t act like it.”
This is so because the small church does not function with a top-down hierarchy. Instead, power is recognized through a web of relationships. Sunday School for grades one through three is not the Early Elementary Class but is Miss Mollie’s Class, as it has been for many years. Uncle John has been in charge of the sound system for as long as anyone can remember. Miss Kate has always prepared the Communion. The pastor can enter into this leadership web but must do so as all the others have, through long familiarity and many years of devoted service alongside the sisters and brothers of the church.
Dr. McCarty has lovingly related a lifetime of experience and intimate knowledge of the workings of the small church in his book. Seminary students read so many books on church leadership during the course of their studies but none may be as relevant to their first appointments as this one. I wish that I had read it earlier.
Clark Reichert is formerly pastor of the Cedar Key United Methodist Church
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