I must admit Dallas is a different world from my home in the Northeast. The church in which the conference took place, Bent Tree Bible Fellowship, is one I would consider a large church. I don’t know what the seating count is in the worship center, but my experienced eye would guess between 1500 to 2000 seats. If this church were located in the northeast it would clearly stand out as a large and significant church, but in Texas I would guess that it is pretty average. Practically right across the street is a larger Prestonwood Baptist, and as we drove around it seemed that the churches were everywhere and big. I know of many Christians in the northeast that look on the buckle of the bible belt with envy, but being the contrarian that I am, I feel a sense of caution when I look at this phenomenon.
I got into a fascinating conversation over dinner on Tuesday night with a couple of pastors from a church in Toronto, and two pastors from a church in Tulsa. Both where large churches for their area; the church in Tulsa seated about 4,000, the one in Toronto seated 400. The church in Tulsa was one of hundreds of similar churches. In Tulsa they boast that there are more churches than bars and gas stations. The church in Toronto is one of a dozen or so evangelical churches in the city. Tulsa is a city of around 300,000. Toronto is a city of 3 million. Now it is certainly a good thing to see such a large percentage of a population in church, but as I spoke with the pastors from Tulsa, I wasn’t intrigued to hear their concerns. The first revolved around the fact that each church in Tulsa acts as its own island. Rarely do churches look to fellowship with one another or share the resources of each other. Each is a silo committed to a certain demographic. On the other hand, the church in Toronto, which is situated in what is arguably the most multi-cultural city in the world, has no choice but to be diverse. There are multiple ethnic backgrounds, religious backgrounds, and cultural experiences that come, mix, and learn from each other. In Tulsa there may be a lot more people, but they are all in a sense the same person, which makes personal growth more difficult. A comment made by the pastor of Bent Tree earlier in the conference related to a time when Chuck Swindoll planted a church 20 minutes to the north and in one Sunday the church lost most of their 50 and over population – I wonder if having many churches may not increase choice, but may actually decrease it. I have often felt that God has called the church to missions not just because the world needs to be reached with the gospel, but also because the church needs to grow spiritually, and it can only do so in interaction with those who are different from ourselves.
The second concern on the minds of the group from Tulsa is the fact that those outside the church in Tulsa are almost impossible to reach. Everyone in that city is in constant contact with Christians, and many have been hurt or have developed hardened stereotypes that are difficult to break. Conversation is very difficult. But in Toronto the mission field is very large and wide open. Many seek conversations and are curious, since many come from parts of the globe that have little interaction with Christians. This is not about small churches being good and big churches being bad, both have their place in God’s kingdom.
The point I’m making is that there is something to be seen in the life of the church beyond raw numbers, and there is much hope and opportunity for us in the Northeast. I had some close friends a number of years ago that moved from Connecticut to North Carolina, and spoke of how difficult it was to find a church near their new home. I felt that this was ironic since there are dozens of evangelical churches in their city in North Carolina, and only one near their old home in Connecticut. But in talking to them further, I found that what they could not find, and what they missed most from their old church, was the rich diversity in life experiences that they saw as key to their own spiritual growth. In their old church everyone thought differently, in their new church it seemed that everyone’s thoughts were the same.
