Size Really Doesn't Matter

This reflection isn’t about what you might think it is.

When we think about worshipping churches I guess most of us think of churches with a couple of hundred or more people (perhaps even thousands).  We think of churches that use modern worship songs, churches that have worship leaders and bands with guitars and drums.  We think of raised arms, or clapping hands and dancing.  We do not usually think of small chapels with maybe a couple of dozen members singing traditional hymns accompanied by an organ.

This morning I led the last service I will take on my placement Circuit.  The congregation meet in a small memorial chapel that could maybe seat fifty and there were around fifteen people present, the normal Sunday congregation.  They were middle aged and older, a mixture of men and women, white and Afro-Caribbean.  This was a very small traditional Methodist congregation; but it was also quite definitely a worshipping church.

The sincerity of these worshipping Christian people took my breath away from the opening verse of “Immortal Invisible God Only Wise”.  They sang with such enthusiasm and the volume of singing belied the number of people present; it was almost as if some extra angelic voices had come to join us, and maybe they had.  On the faces of the people before me I could see expressions of love and adoration for the one they were worshipping.  It was truly humbling to lead worship and preach to such a congregation.

By most considerations that tiny congregation would not be considered a ‘worshipping church’.  They sing very traditional Methodist hymns accompanied by an organ and do not raise their arms or dance; yet their worship was obviously genuine, sincere and heartfelt.  I felt more edified by joining them in their worship than I have in some of the bigger congregations where the worship seems designed to whip people up into an emotional frenzy rather than to lead to a loving encounter with the living God.

The worship of that small congregation this morning was, for me, deeply meaningful and transformatory and I thank the God we all worship for that faithful worshipping congregation.