The following is an excerpt from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Sunday February 11th. (http://www.startribune.com/462/story/993598.html) The quote comes from Mac Hammond, the pastor at Living Word Christian Center, a congregation of about 10,000 in Brooklyn Park.

"I do think it's the will of God that every church grow," he said. "It really hurts my heart to see the kind of mentality that pervades much of the body of Christ right now, which is small church, friendly environment, know everybody, and they become little religious bless-me clubs. Our mandate is to exercise greater influence in the community than the ungodly elements seem to exercise."

I am struggling with how best to respond to this comment made by Hammond. While a great deal was said in the article, this quote about small churches stood out to me because of my own leadership of a small church. Maybe my church as meant to be excused from Hammond's allegation, but I doubt it. While small in size, Light of the Lakes has always sought to grow and reach ou to the community. Certainly I agree with Hammond that there is danger in a church becoming self-interested, and that the desire to form intense internal community, where everyone knows everyone, can come at the expense of knowing the community, I reject the notion that it is part and parcel of small churches, or restricted to small churches.

Now I do not want this to become a mud flinging competition, where pastors validate their own ministries by placing criticisms on others, so I believe while I am hurt by what Hammond says, the best thing to do is to understand why that is. One limit to growth is the fear of change. People are often concerned that growing will mean losing something that they have. I know that often churches use intimacy as an excuse to avoid growth, I want to use it at as a tool for growth.

Unlike Hammond I do not see "small church, friendly environment, know everybody, and they become little religious bless-me clubs" as such a terrible thing. Certainly the notion of a "bless-me club" is negative, but I think this is a concern for most churches. I believe that the self-interest of individuals is always a hurdle that has to be overcome in the quest to follow God. I believe churches should rise to the challenge of making themselves friendly environments, places where people can safely come to know everybody, I also think they should be places where people feel blessed. I think today's society is filled with the notion of bigger and better, and what gets lost is personal contact. I do not believe this gives a church a license to not reach out to the community, but I believe the very thing that Hammond is attacking is the sort of thing people truly need. The challenge is just offering it to them, letting them know it is there for them, and inviting them in, or bringing that warmth and blessing to them.