Where are all the great Small Churches? Would you know if you saw one? They exist. There’s no doubt about that. There are great Small Churches in every country, serving every ethnic group and virtually every language. They worship in every imaginable style of music, and they meet in every type of building – including no building at all.

But let’s face it, while most of us may know several good Small Churches, most people don’t know a lot of great ones. Some can’t think of one.

Many people don’t even realize that a church can be both small and great. That has to change. But there’s only one way to change it. We need a lot more great Small Churches.

We Can Do This

No more excuses. It’s time for Small Churches to become great churches!

Good isn’t good enough any more. And it will be less acceptable with every passing year. If that sounds intimidating, it doesn’t need to. Every Small Church has everything it needs to achieve greatness right now. You don’t need permission or even inspiration. We already have the Great Commandment.

Here are four principles any Small Church can use to achieve greatness.

Know that Small Churches Can Be Great

Perhaps the biggest impediment to an explosion of great Small Churches is Small Church pastors or leaderships who don’t know their church can be both small and great.

You don’t need one more person, one more dollar or one more square foot of building to start being a great Small Church. Your Small Church can be great. You need to know it, believe it and act like it’s true. Because it is.

Great Small Churches Don’t Look Like Great Megachurches

People don’t come to a Small Church expecting a scaled-down version of a megachurch experience. They come to a Small Church for a great Small Church experience.

A great Small Church won’t have a smoothly-paved well-lit parking lot with parking lot attendants and professional signage leading families to hi-tech, age-segmented children’s ministries.

What people want is to give them the space to meet with Jesus.

Then do something Small Church pastors can do that megachurch pastors can’t do — hang out in the lobby after the worship service. Build relationships. Pray with and for people. Tell dumb jokes. Laugh and cry together. Let people know how much they’re loved. Be a church family.

That won’t lead you to greatness. That is greatness.

Discover What Your Church Can Be Great At

Any church can become great at the things they’re already good at.

What we’re great at won’t be what your church is great at. You may not even know what you’re good at yet, let alone great. So do what we did. Start doing the basic Bible stuff. Experiment. See what works and what doesn’t. We have 10 failures for every success. So toss the failures and keep the successes.

Refuse to Settle for Anything Less than Great

The key word here is “settle.” Do what you need to do. Including doing some things at a less-than-great level when needed. But never, NEVER, settle for “I guess that as good as we’ll ever get.”

Settling is like sin.