THE November, 1968, issue of Eternity magazine reports a most unusual reason for a congregation to want to get rid of the pastor. The pastor happens to be young Peter Marshall, son of the famed Peter Mar shall, late pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., and chaplain to the United States Senate.
The trouble is that under the ministry of young Peter Marshall the church is getting too big. You see, he is pastor of a small community church in East Dennis on Cape Cod, and the congregation wants "to keep it that way."
Unfortunately, this kind of thinking is not entirely foreign to some Seventh-day Adventist congregations. One of our aggressive young evangelistic pastors was asked, upon assuming his responsibilities in his new parish, "Why should we be interested in holding evangelistic meetings, or trying to get more members for our church? The church is full now, and this is the size church we want."
In this instance there were other Adventist churches in the area for the folks to attend. In fact, this one was the child of one of them. But what can the future hold for a congregation that is small and wants "to keep it that way"?
Larger numbers may mean the loss of a parking space in the parking area, or the giving up of that favorite pew. Crowded conditions may cause other inconveniences and some problems—for growing conditions do bring on growing pains. But aren't these the problems we love to meet? Let us evangelize, evangelize, evangelize. Let us preach and preach and preach—until parking space becomes a real problem, until every pew is filled and extra chairs crowd the aisles, until growing pains necessitate building committees, fund-raising campaigns, and the organizing of new congregations. If winning souls makes us unpopular with our congregations, let us be the most unpopular preachers in the conference.
But lest this be misunderstood, let it bestated that once a congregation—any congregation—becomes thoroughly involved in a going soul-winning evangelistic program in the church, the members will become the most enthusiastic members to be found anywhere and will be ready to sacrifice money, time, and talent to meet the "pain" and inconveniences that may come with growth.
