The Blessing of "Just Enough"

Earnest Johnson

• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781098055509
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Ministry

Many of our country's inner cities and even rural communities are inundated with small churches. For the most part, these churches believe that their call to ministry is every bit as purposeful and meaningful as those that are much larger. Serving in small ministries can sometimes feel daunting and exhaustive, especially when one's focus is obscured by size or the lack of growth.

The false narrative associated with small churches is that small numbers is the result of small vision. Nothing can be further from the truth. Many great evangelists have led thousands to Christ and have never pastored a church. The value and worth in any ministry should not be placed on its size but rather on evangelism. We do not have to create new formulas or new categories to simulate church growth, "Christ Himself is enough."

God's greatest blessings in the church are often overlooked because of the perception of slow growth or maybe no growth at all. For many small churches, this reality has become a handicap. The difficulty, however, is the inability to see God in the midst of those difficulties. In church settings, God shows us many ways to navigate through the confines and constraints of spiritual impediments and in so doing we are able to benefit from the "Blessing of Just Enough."

Chapter 1

Be Thankful for Little, and the Next Little

The age of the mega-church, grand super structures with interiors that are flanked by giant monitors for optimal viewing built to invoke the presence of God with multiple locations, coveted personalized parking lined with luxury cars owned by ministry personnel; homes in gated communities, patrons of private clubs, and the fascination with religious titles and name dropping with who’s who. Welcome to the church age where commercials during the worship hour takes up more time than the delivery of God’s word, where worshipers are welcomed with smoke and laser lights, and positions can be bought based on celebrity and status, welcome to the church age where entertainment is preferred over spiritual empowerment no matter the size of the church.

From the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation God has always been emphatically more concerned about our relationship with Him than with anything else He has made available to us—yes, those of us who have committed years to ministry often wonder about the have and have-nots, the considerable economic gap between the larger ministries and the small seemingly ineffective ones, we often wonder why is there such a disproportionate number in people and resources. Why do some ministries seem to flourish while others seem to flail?

There is no doubt every ministry would love to shout its praise of souls added each year, numerous baptism performed, new converts and recommitments added to their numbers. The reality is, the church is not like any other business in the corporate world whose sole purpose is to base growth on its bottom line—the church is not a fleet of individual ships with individual captains trying to catch as many fish as they possibly can, and those who catch the most can boast about their strategy, technique, and formulas that created their phenomenal growth; on the contrary, the Holy Spirit is the only one who creates growth in any individual ministry, that is not to say that active involvement does not play a major role in ministry growth, but we must not point to human involvement alone as the source of that growth.

Let’s look at it this way, the Apostle Paul refers to the church as “The Body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12:12-14). Any pastor worth his salt is well aware that without Christ we can do nothing. The longevity and sustainability for ministries can be attributed to insight, hindsight, and foresight. These three components are vital when we consider the awesome responsibility of ministry. “Insight” means to be in tune and in touch with how God is leading us in the moment. “Hindsight” means to be in tune and in touch with where God has brought us. “Foresight” means to be in tune and in obedience to where God is leading us.

When we factor in the command to be faithful, it is not hard to figure out that the adversary who oppose us is equipped with many weapons at his disposal to short circuit our assignment, still, we are asked to do this one simple thing: “Be faithful.” The question is, is that enough? For many, being faithful can be exhaustive, and perhaps even too much to ask.

Each year, thousands of pastors and spiritual leaders leave the ministry for secular employment. In a 2018 article published by Church Leaders, Tim Peter sites the top three reasons pastors leave the ministry: discouragement, failure, and loneliness. In his article, he sites discouragement because “complaints speaks louder than compliments”; failure, because pastors unwittingly compare themselves to other pastors and ministries; and thirdly, loneliness because they can’t allow their true feelings to be known for fear of being to transparent and vulnerable. We would like to believe that persons accept pastoral appointments because they feel a call from God. But it is also true that many come into ministry and pastoral work as a career objective, but when they discover how spiritual ideas and endeavors are met with opposition, scrutiny, critics, saboteurs, foes from both the outside and inside, not to mention the lack of resources and personnel, being faithful is easier said than done.

When we consider what faithfulness entails, for many of us who serve in ministry, being asked to “be faithful” might be too much to ask. When God tells us to be faithful, be mindful that the word faithful itself is a loaded word whose synonyms implies perseverance, endurance, forbearance, tolerance, longsuffering, and complete loyalty to the call of being a servant of the Lord. The majority of us who serve in ministry “faithfully” have more than once contemplated quitting the ministry, not leaving the faith necessarily but leaving the work; it is an honest assessment because the work of ministry is extremely difficult. We know at least one instance when Jesus was faced with this very real dilemma himself, it was in “The Garden of Gethsemane” and we know how that turned out; “Father, not my will, but let your will be done.” I’m sure we all have had our “Garden of Gethsemane” moments.

Earlier, I stated that many of us view the church as a fleet of individual ships with individual captains competing to haul in more fish than the other; the size of our ministries have become notorious for bragging rights and to some degree exhibitions that their size is indicative of God’s presence. Large or small, the size of a ministry is not an indication that God is part and parcel to said ministry.

In a nation built on capitalism, bent on secularism, and promoters of populism, it is no doubt we have been conditioned to believe that bigger is better. TV commercials are filled with advertisements imploring us to strive to exceed all others, leave the competition in the dust, but this overcommercialization to achieve, to be the best, and to have the best have become a battlecry for not only individual aspiration, but a concept held in high esteem in the mind-set of many who follow Christ.

The church must be careful not to adopt its mandate from the world but rather the scripture. Trying to accomplish great works and climb great heights in ministry can be both elusive, and exhaustive, not to mention costly. Honestly, no one wants to be small or subjugated to smallness, but when it comes to ministry what exactly does small mean?

Not only have we allowed the size of our ministries to divide us, we have allowed it to define us, unfortunately we live in a country where eleven o’clock Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in our nation, some ministries have allowed themselves to be defined by race, some are defined by numbers, and some are defined by their wealth. The categories by which we define ourselves are numerous. I’m sure you have heard the phrase “We need to build ministry.” Christ never told us to build ministry; he said, “Upon this rock ‘I’ will build my church” (Matt. 16:18). His followers are commanded to go out into the world and spread the Gospel; we are not ignorant in this matter, the disconnect is in the definition. The Church (Gr. ekklesia, “called out”—ek, “out”; kaleo, “to call”). The church are those who are spiritually related to Christ because he calls us out of or from the world; therefore we are united organically to one another and to Christ by the adoptive work of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:12, 13; Rom. 6:3, 4; Gal. 3:27; Eph. 4:5; Col. 2:10–12). According to the NT the church is the spiritual body of Christ of which He is the head (Eph. 1:22, 23). We know it is the Gospel of Christ that both defines us and unites us.

Though we are sent out to spread the good news of the gospel it is Christ who does both the building and the calling. This is not a put down on mega-ministries; in fact the Holy Spirit has richly blessed the church that its effectiveness is not confined to size but rather it’s service. The church are the believers themselves weather two or three, or a congregation of thousands, we assume all sizes, and styles, weather store front, or stadium, inner city, country side or downtown, the church meet spiritual, emotional, and material needs in communities across this nation and the world. The Church is not an organization, but an organism that lives and multiplies, the church is more like Noah’s Ark, a vessel floating on a turbulence of chaos yet able to save any who will enter, and this ark having one captain, “Jesus Christ” with a single message: “Go preach, teach and baptize as many souls who will accept the gospel message of redemption, the process of multiplication is based on acceptance not force, coercion or enticement.”

So where does this idea of a “small church” fit into the scope of ministry? One thing we have to admit is that when you see yourself as small and are treated as small, you have a tendency to behave as small. A well-known pastor once told me “Bigger is not always better.”

So why do some accomplished ministers look back on their small home churches with a sneer of dissatisfaction and disassociation? Why do so many accomplished preachers hesitate to acknowledge the “little home church” they along with their parents grew up in? Why is it so hard to give credit to those on whose shoulders we now stand? Many new-age scholars point to their education and connections as a reason for their success while giving little to no recognition to their less credentialed predecessors, some are even critical about what “old school pastors” lacked in terms of technical skills. The reality is, had it not been for those “old school pastors and country churches,” where would any of us be today?

It is no doubt people are attracted to the more prominent ministries and large crowds these days, and they are well within their prerogative to do so, but the question is, are they sacrificing anything in terms of spiritual information or that close-knit family feeling? On the other hand, are they gaining greater insight in the teaching and preaching of God’s word, or is it mere perception and hype? Weekly individuals from underprivileged areas drive miles passing the smaller ministries to attend the larger ones, perhaps this gives them some sense of satisfaction and self-worth, maybe the idea of getting lost in the crowd gives people a sense of escapism and anonymity. In some cases, we are attracted to the mega-church because it gives us the allusion of financial freedom and prosperity, sitting in sanctuaries that seats thousands can be awe-inspiring. “It’s not your grandfather’s church” maybe people have embraced the idea that bigger really is better.

It is no doubt large ministries are most appealing, especially when they offer services to just about anything domestically problematic, from child care, grief care, divorce care to pet care—you name it, they have a care for it. Please don’t see this as an attack on mega-ministries; in fact to whom much is given, much is required. It is a fact that to whom those the Lord has given more are more able to serve our communities and reach the lost.

The reasons people flock to the larger ministries varies, but we should not be carried away with the idea that less is required of us just because we sit among crowds—or that more is required of us if the ministry is small, any born-again believer must understand that there is a mandate handed down to us all—like the piece of bread given to Elijah by the widow woman who only had a little, “just enough” for her young son and herself, still she gave to Elijah first (1 Kings 17:12–16). Far too often our idea of God’s favor is equated with excessive materialism rather than the promise of his presence.

Have you ever asked yourself, what was the woman surviving on before Elijah showed up? Simply this, she was surviving on “just enough” but upon her encounter with Elijah per his request she made a little contribution of her last meal and her faithfulness to the prophet translated into a little more, she was not given an excess of what she needed in that given moment, scripture teaches us that her jar of flour never fail, nor her container of oil, and they ate for many days; meaning, they ate what was given them for that day, and God added a little more as needed the next day, and this continued until the drought ended. Just as he did with Israel when he rained down manna from heaven, they were told to gather and eat only what they needed for that day (Exodus 16:15).

Sometimes we fail to see the blessing of “just enough.” The things we wish for, hope for, work for, and yes even pray for, may never be realized. Throughout my years of ministry God has allowed me the blessing of “just enough” in so doing I have been able to see what really matters, like any pastor we believe that if we remain faithful, and undaunted in the face of trials God will certainly grant us favor in terms of ministry growth, material wealth, retirement packages, and all the accruements that comes with faithful service, and sometimes that does transpire, but not all the time.

There are special benefits that come with the blessing of just enough, one of which is the benefit of being able to see that just because some have it big don’t mean they necessarily have it better.

Those of us who share in years of faithful service in small ministries should give pause and be thankful for the little.

If God has granted you the blessing to serve in a small ministry, be thankful; after all, he did say, he that is faithful over little will be faithful over much. Now God’s much, and our much is never the same. We have a tendency to be fooled by greener grass when we equate it with having much, but only God knows how “much” we can bear whether it be much possessions or much problems, he knows how much we can bear. I’m simple saying we should be thankful for the little, and never underestimate the impact of small ministries. There is something about little things that especially resonate with God. In a 2011 article posted by The Prodigal Thought, 50 percent of America’s evangelical churches have less than seventy-five members in attendance weekly, 90 percent have less than 350 in attendance weekly, but numbers do not affect ministry, nor do they impress God, since He is not into counting numbers, but rather into making the numbers count.

On one occasion, Jesus was observing people giving monies into the temple treasury (Mark 12:42), people of means gave large amounts of money, but a poor widow woman put in two small copper coins (together worth only a fraction of a penny) her gift resonated with Jesus in such a way that he used the occasion as an opportunity to give example to teach his disciples about the blessing of a little, he said that she put more in than anybody because she gave out of her poverty. What does that mean, “To give out of your poverty”?

For many years, I struggle with comparing myself to others, when I compared myself to others relative to my service, I felt appreciated but undercompensated. There’s a special reason I can be thankful for the little he allowed me to do. It is the small things you do that stand out in the eyes of God. Small, insignificant things seem to translate into big accomplishments in the eyes of God.

Jesus said the widow woman gave more than all the others because she gave out of her poverty, which means she had no reserve. God had to show me that the times I was most frustrated, having so little to work with, so little to draw from after I had given all I could give was the times I should have been most thankful, those were the times He was telling me that I was giving more, because I gave out of my poverty, not out of an abundance. The Holy Spirit whispered to me, God has given you “the blessing of just enough.”

We should be thankful for little, and the next little, but don’t confuse being grateful for little as a settlement for less than what can be accomplished or acquired. Being grateful for the little does not mean being satisfied with little...