3 Unique Challenges Faced By Churches With Less Than 500 People In Weekly Attendance

3 Unique Challenges Faced By Churches With Less Than 500 People In Weekly Attendance

Later this month, Thursday June 26th at 2:00 PM EST, I will be interviewing Chad Aukland of INJOY Stewardship Solutions (ISS) during a FREE live webinar where we will discuss the 3 Unique Challenges Faced By Churches With Less Than 500 People In Weekly Attendance.  If you are a church leader in this type of setting, don’t miss this.  You can sign up by clicking here.  It would be great to have you as part of the webinar.
In addition to his work with ISS, Chad is the Executive Pastor of The Crossing Church, a non-denominational ministry located just north of Atlanta.  He is a gifted leader and we cannot wait to provide solutions to the challenges small church pastors face.
In preparation for this upcoming event, Chad was kind enough to give us a preview.  We will be diving much deeper into these topics during the webinar but until then, the following are 3 Unique Challenges Faced By Churches With Less Than 500 People In Weekly Attendance:
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No other environment faces more complex leadership challenges than the local church. As challenging as the business, non-profit, athletic, government and civil service sectors can be, the local church faces a constant enemy the others may not on a daily basis (Satan) and its leaders must lead volunteer armies.
The local church’s largest sub-group is congregations with less than 500 in weekly attendance. This group faces its own set of unique obstacles. The following are 3 Unique Challenges Faced By Churches With Less Than 500 People In Weekly Attendance:

1. Leadership

In leading a church with fewer than 500 people, there needs to be a tremendous ability to focus on the mission and vision at hand. With fewer staff to go around, the pull on a pastor’s time is unparalleled. Therefore, it is really important to not deviate from what God has called you to do. He has called you to shepherd a congregation and lead the church to consistently advance the vision He birthed in your heart.

2. Staffing

Staffing smaller congregations requires a clear perspective as to what is required to effectively shepherd a congregation of this size. We need to staff to the specific needs of the congregation which God has entrusted to us.
It is often premature to force our ministry a mile wide and an inch deep by filling a myriad of staffing positions prior to the need presenting itself. For instance, if our church exists in a community saturated with people 65+ in age, it stands to reason we may not need a children’s pastor right away. Conversely, if our church is located in a community populated with young families, a youth and children’s pastor would certainly be a top priority.

3. Stewardship Education For The Families In Our Church 

Leaders must be a picture of the desired destination at which others should wish to arrive. Therefore, before we can help our church with stewardship education, we MUST first ensure our personal stewardship is in proper order. We cannot ask our people to participate in something we are not already practicing as a daily discipline. Only then can we begin to shepherd our people toward making stewardship a part of discipleship.   A culture of stewardship is a process, not an event. Going back to focus, this must be a commitment to seeing our people take a journey which culminates with them becoming fully-devoted stewards. Our mentality must be as Andy Stanley stated, “Our people need to know what we want FOR them before we ever communicate what we want FROM them.”
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