I’m not going to go over Mehta’s impressions of the individual churches. It’s great material, but it’s best to just buy and read the book. Rather, I’m skipping way over toward the end where he summarizes his impressions. He begins with the positives.
Top notch preachers
He begins by noting how much he enjoyed listening to the better preachers — and how much he disliked some of the preachers for the smaller churches. He correctly observes that big churches usually have better speakers.
However, he also enjoyed the house church he visited, as the lesson was well taught and he could informally interact with the teacher. He thinks it’s critical that visitors be able to interact with the speaker.
Hence, he was unhappy with large churches where the preacher was not available afterwards for questions or discussion. And he loved it when the preacher mingled with membership before and after the service, even if he didn’t get to speak to the preacher.
Mehta understands that not all churches can have the best speakers, but he thinks the smaller churches can do much better with existing talent —
The worst preachers I observed stood in one place, read to us what we easily could have read on our own, and lacked individuality, energy, and a memorable delivery. …
Pastors who are unsure of which category they belong to would serve themselves well by videotaping during their sermons, but instead of having the cameras focus on the pastor, turn the cameras toward the audience. Are the people attentive? Are they taking notes? Are they smiling? Or are they staring at the same page in the day’s program for extended periods of time?
He suggests a refresher course on public speaking for many.
Community outreach
Mehta took particular notice of whether a church actually lives the faith they preach. If their bulletin was internally focused, with quilting bees for members and such, he was unimpressed. But if the church was active in the community, changing the lives of people trapped in poverty, disease, etc., he has impressed.
[Undertaking large, community-altering relief efforts] is not possible for smaller churches, of course. They don’t always have the manpower, the expertise, or the money. However, it is still possible for members of smaller churches to volunteers at soup kitchens or host charity functions. Better yet, gather members of your church — along with members of other churches, temples, synagogues, and mosques in your area — and do some community service together in your city.
That’s great advice. Sometimes we look for excuses not to do what we know we are called to do. Even a small church can work with existing social agencies to help those in need. Most existing private and public agencies desperately need volunteers — and many won’t mind if you talk about Jesus while you do it, so long as you don’t let the evangelism get in the way of helping people in need.
Mehta complains that Christians often limit their efforts to fellow Christians or likely converts. He finds this very un-Christlike, as the Jesus of scripture often helped people unlikely to convert. He helped many who never accepted his message.
I agree with Mehta on this one. I mean, people aren’t stupid. If we are only helping in order to win converts, then we come across as hypocrites. If our true motivation is love for our neighbors, then we’ll certainly preach Jesus to those who need it, but we won’t limit our efforts to fellow Christians or likely converts — and we’ll be more effective at making converts.
My bigger point is that the more work churches do for everyone, not just to help Christians but to come to the aid of all needy people, the more respect the church will get from outsiders. That said, the churches that made the biggest impact on me were the ones that knew their “church” was not limited to a building. They made it a priority to spread the values of Christianity by serving the real needs of people around them. In this case, actions speak louder than preaching.
🙂
Bigger churches can afford to PAY better speakers. If bigger churches paid the same as smaller churches, you'd see a different dispersion of talent.
Smaller churches are far too often not even known in their own neighborhood! If we really believe Eph 2:10, we will look around us for what God has prepared! Smaller congregations need to partner with the community right around their building. If "white flight" has caused a major change in the racial make-up of the neighborhood, so much the better! Sometimes I think God uses "white flight" in an attempt to FORCE his people to do the work of racial reconciliation. Sadly, we typically build a bigger building in the suburbs and relocate.
INVEST in where you are, because that is where God planted you.