The Beauty of Small Churches

By the Rev. Malia Crawford

Below is the sermon I preached at Church of the Good Shepherd, Watertown for the Institution of The Rev. Andrew Goldhor as their rector in February 2025.  Thank you, people of Our Saviour, for teaching me about the beauty of small churches!

 +++

Bishop Whitworth, Andrew, People of Good Shepherd, Siblings in Christ, Friends and Neighbors…

What a blessing it is for us all to be together this evening!  What a joy to be together for this Celebration of Shared Ministry!

My name is Malia Crawford, and I am the Rector at Church of Our Saviour in Arlington.  I knew Andrew before he came to Good Shepherd, and I have known Good Shepherd before Andrew arrived here in 2020.  Amy McCreath and I used to talk about the similarities between our two churches, and how we faced similar challenges and joys. We invited each other to hold vestry retreats in the other’s church for free so we could save money. And as many of you know, last summer our two churches held a summer collaboration to avoid the challenge of lining up supply priests. When I was on vacation in July, Andrew came to preach at Our Saviour, joined by the people of Good Shepherd.  And when Andrew was on vacation in August, I got to preach here at Good Shepherd, joined by the people of Our Saviour.  It was wonderful getting to know each other over the course of two months.

I was so happy to hear the news that you called Andrew to be your rector.  Gosh, what a journey you’ve been on!  It is not easy to be church during a time of transition in leadership.  And it is really not easy to be church during a worldwide pandemic.  And it is really, really not easy to be a small church with a transition in leadership DURING a worldwide pandemic. You have done something so hard, and look at how God has brought you through the storm!

I have been the rector at Our Saviour for 13 years, but before I arrived our church went through about 7 years where there were frequent turnovers in leadership.  This is stressful for any church, but for small churches like yours and mine, we know it’s really difficult. The lay leaders of the parish are working so intensely to keep things going, all while searching for the right clergy leader.  It’s hard to do much more that tread water.

And so tonight, we celebrate that you have gotten through this challenging chapter in the life of your parish, and you are turning the page to something new and wonderful… a new season in shared ministry. 

You and Andrew have gotten to know each other these last few years, and so I realize that you aren’t really NEW to each other.  But I want us to reflect on something for a moment.  Andrew, along with each one of you, has a particular combination of gifts and passions that will never be repeated again in the course of salvation history.  You find yourselves in THIS moment in time… this moment in time when Andrew’s gifts, and the gifts of you at Good Shepherd come together, with the possibility of doing something unique and particular.  Think about it… if you had found a different rector, you probably would be able to do wonderful things, but not the same things as you’ll be able to do with Andrew.  And if Andrew had wound up in a different parish, he would be able to pastor them in wonderful ways, but not be able to do what he will be able to do here at Good Shepherd.  And so think about this.  What is it that you can now do together, that our world so desperately needs?

I hope that in the coming months you will think about this.  The reality is, we are small churches.  We are NOT going to be all things to all people.  Small churches CAN’T do everything, but that’s not a problem.  Instead of aiming for breadth of ministry, we aim for depth of ministry.  That’s our strength.  Small churches offer a special glimpse of the Kingdom of God.  We can know our people—not just their names, but the names of their pets, and the name of their aunt who is sick… we know our peoples’ stories and passions and pains.  We can give people a taste of how God knows us profoundly and loves us as we are.  We can help individuals to grow as the particular disciples that only they can be.  And we can impact our communities in laser focused ways that are tailored to their specific needs.

The key for us in small churches to get really clear about who we are, what we are particularly good at sharing with our community.  Once we get really clear about who we are, what our charism is, what God can do with the particular people gathered, we can offer God’s powerful, powerful good news and love and healing to a world that desperately needs it.

You are starting this new season in shared ministry at precisely the moment in history where the world needs the Good News that you practice living, year in and year out.

In today’s gospel passage from Luke Chapter 10, we hear how Jesus sends people out—70 people out—in pairs.  70 people—that’s not a ton of people.  It is small-church-sized number of people.  They are to go forth to cure the sick and proclaim “The Kingdom of God has come near to you!”  This message is urgent and high risk. It requires bravery.  Those going forth are like lambs sent into the midst of wolves.  They should expect many to reject them, and when that happens, they shouldn’t stress out—they should simply let the peace they offer in Christ’s name to return back to them.

Beloved neighbors, we are also living in a time when the world is hungry for the true Gospel, the Way of Love our Jesus shows us…the Way of Love our Jesus proclaimed when he said,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor,
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives… 
to let the oppressed go free.”

So many of us were moved by Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde’s sermon and interviews a few weeks ago.  Yes, there were many who were angered by her words… we know from today’s passage that that is to be expected.  But what was more amazing to me is how she touched the hearts of people who don’t go to church.  How she touched the hearts of those who—up until now—only  have experienced church as cruel and uncaring.  As I was scrolling through the comments on social media, I kept noticing things like “If more Christians were like this, I’d go to church!” or “I’m atheist but I love this” or “Wow, growing up my church was so homophobic, so transphobic…her message is all about love.”

I have gotten to know you—people of Good Shepherd—as a wonderful, kind, caring group of people.  You have some much to offer, so don’t you dare keep it to yourself!  You have excellent, stable leadership now.  So go forth—find those who need healing in mind and in spirit!  You KNOW our living, loving, liberating Lord—so go forth and enable other people to FEEL that love… EXPERIENCE That liberation that is stronger than the ways of empire and death.  Be brave. Do this work in the particular way that only you can.  The world NEEDS to see a glimpse of the Kingdom of God.  The need to FEEL in their bones, that it has indeed come near.