The best coffee shop in my town is a mom-and-pop place. It has a personally invested owner, long-time employees, faithful regulars, and the best coffee, food, and atmosphere. It also has inconveniences. It’s closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, parking can be a hassle (I may have gotten a parking ticket or two), and the owner takes a break at Christmas, sometimes not opening back up until the end of January. Yet, with all the inconveniences, I still love it. Everyone knows my name. I rarely need to order because they already know it. I have gotten to know the staff and all the other regulars. We all share a bit of ourselves when we are there.

Even so, I sometimes have to go to a different coffee shop. It’s a larger, regional chain where the hurried pace hits you the moment you walk in. It’s always busy, with mobile orders turning over like subway turnstiles. Tables are filled with people pitching partnerships to each other. The coffee, food, and atmosphere just aren’t as good. The workers are many, uniformed, and always new. No one knows my name.

It would be a shame if my favorite coffee spot aspired to operate like that of a regional chain. The uniqueness and charm of what makes it great would be lost. And the regulars who show up at 8:00 am on Wednesday mornings would fade away behind the motion of constant transactions.

Sometimes there’s a pull for churches in small places or small churches in bigger places to want more “transactions.” If you are a pastor or ministry leader in a smaller context, you probably have a desire for your church to grow. There is nothing wrong with that, but it can’t come at the cost of the wonderful strengths that are unique to your church. If your church is in a small place, you have an opportunity to foster and deepen the kind of place where people are easily known by name.

Let’s sit down at a table together and take in some encouragement from 1 Thessalonians 2 to embrace the big strengths we can find in small places.

A Small Church with Big Strengths

The city of Thessalonica was the capital city of the Roman Macedonian province. It was an important and prosperous city under direct control of the Roman senate. As such, there was a strong hostility toward Thessalonian Christians (see Acts 17).

This letter from Paul would have been received shortly after he started the church during his second missionary journey. Paul wrote to encourage the Thessalonians for their growing, outward faith in the face of opposition, to strengthen them to keep clinging to the gospel in how they lived, and to defend the gospel ministry he helped to establish there.

When you read this letter, you see a small church with some big strengths. These strengths are relevant and realistic for us in smaller places.

Personal Not Transactional

Perhaps, it is a little too on the nose to call Paul’s ministry here a ‘mom-and-pop’ ministry. Yet, from his description in 1 Thessalonians 2, we see a real and personal one. We find three important characteristics of Paul and his fellow missionaries’ time in Thessalonica.

Firstly, they personally nurtured these new and growing believers. In 1 Thessalonians 2:7, Paul says, “But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.” A nurse fed and reared someone else’s child and did so with careful attention. Yet, how much more would the mother care for her own infant? That imagery captures Paul’s time with this church.

Secondly, they genuinely shared their lives with these new and growing believers. There was real affection for one another and a sharing of their lives with the church. Paul describes this in 1 Thessalonians 2:8, “So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves.” Paul and his missionaries opened their hearts to this church. They were relationally, personally, and affectionately accessible.

Thirdly, they intentionally invested in these new and growing believers to encourage and build them up. 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 shows this sort of care, “like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God.” Imagine a father helping his child learn how to ride a bike. Paul and his missionaries ran alongside these believers encouraging and instructing and releasing them to ride on their own.

The strengths of a church in a small place or a small church in a big place is something you already do! These characteristics can be pursued, fostered, and deepened in your church, right now. And people will know if you care about them or if they are simply transactions filling your building and budget.

Proximate Not Performative

From 1 Thessalonians 2:3-6, we can gather that Paul and his missionaries were dealing with accusations against their ministry. It appears that they were being accused of seeking to gain money and fame from their abilities to wow people with their speaking prowess.

Yet, Paul and his missionaries were proximate with their ministry, not performative in it. They were rooted in the place they lived and served, as evident in1 Thessalonians 2:9-10. The phrases, “as you know,” “for you remember,” and “you are witnesses” in 1 Thessalonians 2 speak to a shared, proximate experience that was foundational for trust. Paul and his missionary team lived out their ministry in proximity with the very people they were nurturing, sharing their lives with, and building up. They were close enough to be seen and to be known.

The encouragement for ministry in small places is that these strengths do not require better amenities. You already have what you need for your church to be strong in personal proximity.

Perhaps this summer, you and other leaders at your church can take some time to answer these questions: Where are you? Who are you? How are you?

The "Where are you” question is about the context of the wider community around your church. This question is to get you to look at your context from a fresh perspective because, sometimes, familiarity can dull the heart.

The “Who are you” question is about the context of your church community. Take time to consider your church’s history, the make-up of your current core, and the unique strengths within your church.

The “How are you” question is about evaluating the fit and health of your philosophy of ministry. Are people being nurtured, cared for, built up in a mutually affectionate and shared culture? Are you operating a mom-and-pop church with a regional chain approach?

Take to time build out the kind of questions you need to ask under each of those headings. Doing this exercise with other leaders in your church will be revealing, encouraging, and challenging. There will be things to change, things to stop, and things to start within your church. It will feel a bit overwhelming, so, let’s close with some encouragement.

Not In Vain

In 1 Thessalonians 2:13-14, we see Paul thanking God for the reception the new believers had to the gospel that came to them through his personal and proximate ministry. The gospel was shared, received, accepted, and was at work in the new and growing believer’s lives. Not only that, but this small church was also filled with believers who made much of the gospel even as they suffered for it.

What encouragement! No place is too small or too out of the way or too seemingly insignificant for the gospel of grace to bring powerful transformation.

Pursuing a personal, proximate ministry, where people are affectionately nurtured and intentionally built up in their faith will not be in vain in our small places (1 Thessalonians 2:1). In fact, our small places will have unique strengths and opportunities to that end!

Let us lean into the big strengths in small places. People will be saved, lives will be changed, the gospel will go out to others, and God will be glorified.

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