I was reminded of this statement the other day in a book I was reading (another story for another day). It was a reference to those who “despise the day of small things” (Zechariah 4:10). It was intriguing as it stirred my mind to recall a number of similar perspectives.
The context was the early days in the post-exilic temple construction in Jerusalem. Some scoffed. Zechariah rebukes those who derided and scorned these beginnings because they seemed so small. It could be referred to as ‘the day of small beginnings’ (the word ‘things’ is not there in the Hebrew).
Whether small things in general or small beginnings, all of us know how this feels as all ministry, always, starts small and often remains relatively small. Church planters know this. Leaders of small international churches (ICs) know this. All project managers know this. Every ministry leader that seeks to serve real people knows this.
You would have noticed that the larger ICs tend to get more attention, tend more to be looked at for best practices and ideas. Nothing wrong with being a large IC, nor with learning what we can from their experience. But most ICs are not large.
It is good to remember that every endeavour of any size is a collection of small things. In her prize winning novel, The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy lays out the lives of a family whose lives are impacted in major ways as the result of small choices, everyday kind-of decisions and actions, that build into sizeable changes. A moment in just one small experience in a world full of small things, so often unnoticed, evolves into considerable upheaval.
Leo Tolstoy, in his epic classic, War and Peace, lays out a philosophy of history that rejects the view of history that attributes pretty much everything to the decisions and actions of the wealthy and powerful, the politicians and the generals. Rather, history unfolds as it does as the result of the thousands of everyday decisions of ordinary people. The soldier on the battlefield makes choices that affect the outcome just as much as the general back in the safety of the rear.
Taking a different tack, Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered by EF Schumacher, challenges the economic perspectives that assume bigger is better. The point is that the bigger it is, the less individual persons are valued or even just noticed. The larger an enterprise is, the more it will become self- serving, the less individual persons will be taken seriously. Schumacher effectively is advocating for people- centred economics, rather than the more common priorities of economic growth and profits. All economic systems need real regulation because without these they take on a life of their own, they become self-justifying, they become more easily manipulated by the principalities and powers.
These three writers all reflect the Biblical values given to each person and the small everyday things, the small choices which may or may not have long term consequences.
Jesus came into the world to turn the whole world upside-down and inside-out. “All things”, the whole creation, every nation and society, totally transformed. Yet, one of the stand-out characteristics of Jesus’ ministry is His consistent compassion for individuals, the small people, the people so often passed over.
Seeds are small, so much smaller than what they become. Jesus chose one of the smallest of seeds to enable us to see the Kingdom (Luke 13:18-19). There is nothing instant about the Kingdom. It is not a click- here happening. It began with one seed, it grows gradually in the world, but in time is large enough for all.
This one seed is Jesus, the Word of God, a small baby born in the back-blocks of the Roman empire, a man powerless and humiliated in an unjust execution. Yet this one seed brings salvation, new life, and growth across “all things”, all nations, becoming a global new society when Jesus returns. A society of faith and justice, holiness, and love.
From this one seed, countless more seeds are generated. The Gospel fleshed out in word and deed. Every new work of the Kingdom is much the same. It begins in small things, the planting of a seed. But, remember well this parable of the scattered seed (Mark 4:26-29). Neglect this and your ministry will be corrupted, tempted to take over the Spirit’s work.
Every ministry is ultimately a collection of small things. When we lose sight of this, we begin to become triumphalistic, to celebrate how big we are, how fast we get things done, how much we achieve, how impactful is our movement, how great our programmes are, how many staff we have, our expensive buildings and fancy offices, and how great we are in using technology. Self-sufficiency easily permeates the culture of a large and successful church. We risk serving the god of fast is better, big is better, exciting is better, and then we measure our ministries and churches by the values of the world. Others will do likewise. “Woe to you when all speak well of you” (Luke 6:26). God does work to enable some ICs to become quite large but never forget the inherent risks. Success, whether worldly or Godly, has much power to deceive and corrupt.
Paul understood this. Read again his input on the nature of ministry and church growth (1 Corinthians 3:5-9). God takes hold of the myriad of small things we do, the sowing of seeds, and the watering of plants, to grow and build. His work, not ours. Small beginnings but the size of the growth is His call, not ours.
We sometimes come across the outcome of the seeds we had sown. At the time there seemed to be no germination, or the growth was stunted. We lose touch and then a couple of decades later we discover that much good growth has come. Our ministries and ICs may be small, but we do not know the plans God has to bring growth long after we have moved on. For there to be a harvest, the ground needs to be prepared, the seeds sown, and the plants watered and pruned. Sometimes it is years before the first fruit.
A poor widow had no idea of what God might do with her small offering (Mark 12:41-44) but for two millennia her example has been teaching us much about the nature of what Paul referred to as a whole-self “living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1-2). Most if not all of those New Testament churches we know of were small house churches. Yet their experience generated apostolic letters which have blessed the whole body of Christ ever since. The ministry of Epaphroditus continues today.
God has blessed the IC world with many large churches. This is good! He has also blessed the IC world with an even larger number of small churches. This also is good! Multiple factors affect how large your church might become, many have nothing to do with how you go about your ministry. By all means aim for growth and impact, large programmes and effective ministries. But do not despise your ministry of small things. Do not measure the worth of your ministry by the size of the impact, or the size of the church. Do not presume to know what growth God purposes in your ministry and church. It is His call.
Whatever the size of your IC, take heart, the Kingdom grows through a plethora of small things, small people, small happenings. Attend to the small things and let God blend them together into what He wants for your church. Never despise your days of small things.
Graham Chipps
