Anyone who begins to pastor a church should recognize two big things: There are lessons to be learned if you are ever to do this well, and most of them are learned the hard way. Your scars will attest to your education.
Most of this is counter-intuitive; that is, not what one might expect.
One. Bigness is overrated.
“It doesn’t matter to the Lord whether He saves by the few or the many” (I Samuel 14:6).
Most pastors, it would appear, want to lead big churches, want to grow their church to be huge, or wish to move to a large church. Their motives may be pure; judging motives is outside my skill set. But pastoring a big church can be the hardest thing you will ever try, and far less satisfying than one would ever think.
Small bodies can be healthy too; behold the hummingbird or the honeybee.
A friend says, “At judgement, a lot of pastors are going to wish they’d led smaller congregations.”