Don’t Despise Small Things

We tend to despise small things in our culture…except maybe diamonds.

We think small things are less exciting than the big things.

Less impacting.

Less effective.

Less worthwhile.

Until we run into stories like this.

The young man was nineteen years old and living through the confusing years of teenage rebellion.

He was raised Roman Catholic and catechized into a Christian worldview, but none of that had any impact on his day-to-day lifestyle or choices.

Then a cousin invited him to attend church with him in a small town in rural Ohio.

It was a small Assemblies of God church of less than 100 members.

I don’t know this for a fact but, since I have known many churches just like it, I am guessing that it was a tightly-knit group of people who loved God, with a humble pastor, doing life together, but with no sense of having much impact on the world.

Maybe even a little intimidated by their small size in comparison with other bigger churches nearby.

I don’t know what the pastor preached on the Sunday when the young man in our story had been invited. But being a pastor myself, I can be pretty confident that the pastor stepped into the pulpit that day without any sense of his message making a huge difference in anyone’s life, much less impacting the world.

I don’t know what the quality of the worship music was, the skill of the musicians or the capability of the sound system that Sunday.

Or whether they had multi-media slides.

We don’t know all the ministry activities a church this size was able to put on the pavement, but I am going to guess that whatever Sunday school classes, youth ministry, mid-week Bible study or discipleship programs were offered were fairly simple and depended on the size of the budget and the number of volunteers available for leadership.

But on the Sunday, Kenneth Archer attended with his cousin, the Holy Spirit was present and working because Kenneth was convicted of his sin and gave his heart to the Lord. The life of that little church then provided the basis of Kenneth’s spiritual formation.

Reflecting on his formative years as a young Christian at this church, Kenneth says that the life of the community was clearly shaped by the identity of Jesus as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, Spirit Baptizer and Soon Coming King. It came through in everything they did. It was what they talked about, sang about. The life of the church, he writes, was dynamic, pietistic, and Christocentric…even though at the time he would not have known to use those terms.

The result of those early years of his spiritual journey at that little church is what Kenneth calls an “embedded spirituality.”

It was deeply ingrained in him and would shape his life and faith for the rest of his years.

I don’t know a lot about Kenneth Archer’s life and ministry, except that he is now an internationally recognized theologian whose books and articles are influencing the Church of Jesus around the globe. I am on an annual study leave and this morning I am reading a chapter in a textbook on the theology of the Church written by Dr. Kenneth Archer.

And it all started in a little church of 100 people in a small town in Ohio…a church that embraced a young man just starting out his life in Christ. They had no inkling their walk with Christ would have a global impact as they discipled Kenneth by their lives, their worship and their faithfulness to that body of believers.

In a world that magnifies the big, it is usually the little things that make the biggest difference.

This little church and its pastor had a huge impact.

It’s no wonder that God asks a young man struggling to rebuild the City of God against unbelievable odds, “Who despises the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10)

Don’t be intimidated by the enemy that what you are doing for the Lord is a small thing. Just stay faithful and stay joyful in the small things and see what God will do with your faithfulness. Who knows what God is going to do with your investment of time and energy in your children or the children of others. In the words of the old Gospel song, “Little is much when God is in it.”