Karl Vaters is pastor of Cornerstone Christian Fellowship in Fountain Valley, California. He writes about the value and needs of small churches at Pivot and is the founder of NewSmallChurch.com, a blog encourages, connects, and equips innovative small church pastors. He is also the author of The Grasshopper Myth.
Key Questions for Karl Vaters
– What does it mean to pastor a small church?
– Why is there so much pressure on pastors to grow numerically?
– Shouldn’t healthy churches grow?
Key Quotes from Karl Vaters:
“Churches of under 250 have really been under-resourced.”
“You have a lot of pastors out there who have given up on church growth because they aren’t growing.”
“If your church is healthy, it doesn’t matter what size it is.”
“All healthy things grow but they don’t grow in the same way.”
“There are all kinds of ways for churches to grow, and they aren’t all numerically.”
“Being small is not a problem, virtue or an excuse.”
“The power of the Holy Spirit is not more concentrated simply because there are more people in the room.”
“Fully half the christians in the world go to churches of fewer than 250 people…to suggest there’s a problem at smaller churches undercuts half the body of Christ and the contributions they can make.”
“The gospel works in both large and small environments.”
“You can’t lead a healthy church if you’re an unhealthy pastor.”
“In an unhealthy small church, they typically look like the church when it was founded or during the last great pastorate.”
Links Mentioned by Karl Vaters in the Show:
Karl Vaters on ChurchLeaders:
The First Step in Turning Your Small Church Around
