Book Review: A Big Gospel in Small Places
Some food for thought about the good of ministry in small places.
Stephen Witmer, A Big Gospel in Small Places (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2019).
Introduction
Stephen Witmer has written a helpful and compelling book for existing pastors and aspiring ones as they consider their options for a lifetime of pastoral ministry. Witmer does not argue directly against the sort of vocational plan that many pastors employ, jumping from one church to the next after only a short time of ministry. No, Witmer seems to implicitly reject a short-termed ministry approach (and rightfully so). Instead, he assumes that a pastor will set down deep roots in whatever ground he finds himself, whether that be the clods of country or the concrete of the city. This way of thinking is beneficial for all pastors, but especially for young and enthusiastic ones.
What Witmer primarily offers his reader is an argument for the good of pastoral ministry in small places. However, this label is less about geography and more about “numbers, densities… perspectives, [and] ways of life.”[1] Witmer believes that the lack of “influence” (perceived or real) and “economic power” are major factors in identifying small places.[2] It is also important to note here that Witmer does not encourage his reader to embrace a partiality for rural ministry over urban. Rather, he pushes against what he believes is a common bias toward urban ministry (among missiologists, church leaders, and Christian apologists). Witmer simply wants his reader to resist the temptation to think that either one is better than the other. They are different, each with good and bad features, but they are both worthwhile and Christ-honoring.
The main difference between ministry in big and small places is that the big ones are presently getting all (or nearly all) of the attention and resources. Witmer’s goal is to highlight the good of ministry in small places and to encourage his reader to consider the real possibility that such a ministry may be exactly where he is needed. There certainly are billions of people living in small places, and they need to know about Jesus and learn what it means to trust and follow Him just as much as anyone else.
Book Summary
This book is structured in three main sections. Part one is a summary description of the present state of small places, including a substantial effort to describe the meaning of “small places.” Part two is the main substance of the book, which is the author’s theological vision for small-place ministry. And part three is a brief and fast-paced set of considerations to help the reader answer the question: “Should I be ministering in a small place?”
Part One
Witmer notes that there is now a renewed interest in the small places of America. There is increasing social and political distance between the city and the country, and Witmer says, “For the time being, the city mouse is more curious about his odd country cousin.”[3] This renewed interest is a good thing, it seems, but Witmer notes that small places are often despised and forgotten. American Evangelicals also seem to embrace such a perspective, and often ministries in small places are used as steppingstones for “better” ministry opportunities in bigger places. Witmer notes that rural churches are sometimes called “starter churches,” and that “small, rural communities have paid for the training of ministers who invariably go off to the big cities.”[4] But while small places “are frequently forgotten, despised, and used by our largely urban culture,” Witmer says, “I can testify from personal experience that life in small towns and rural areas is more fulfilling and rewarding than many imagine.”[5]
And yet, Witmer urges his reader not to idealize small places, either “from the inside” or “from the outside.”[6] From the inside, rural inhabitants can take pride in the sheer contrast of their own circumstances with that of their city-dwelling relatives. And from the outside, city-folk can imagine a pristine country life where nostalgia becomes reality. Neither of these idealized versions of small places are accurate, and Witmer says that “small places are simultaneously better and worse than we think.”[7] Both big and small places have their benefits and problems, and we ought to resist the temptation to despise or idealize either one.
Part Two
Chapters four through nine comprise the bulk of this book, not only in terms of absolute content, but also in terms of substantial argument and application. Witmer borrows Richard Lints’s term “theological vision,” and he aims to help the reader form “a way of seeing the world that derives from the foundation of Scripture and is influenced by our approach to the use of church tradition, engagement with culture, and understanding of human reason.”[8] Witmer notes that Tim Keller developed Lints’s concept further, and Witmer lists eight questions (borrowed from Keller) which his reader might ask “in order to develop a theological vision for ministry.”[9]
What is the gospel, and how can we bring it to bear on the hearts of people today?
What is this culture like, and how can we both connect to it and challenge it in our communication?
Where are we located – city, suburb, town, rural area – and how does this affect our ministry?
To what degree and how should Christians be involved in civic life and cultural production?
How do the various ministries in a church – word and deed, community and instruction – relate to one another?
How innovative will our church be and how traditional?
How will our church relate to other churches in our city and region?
How will we make our case to the culture about the truth of Christianity?[10]
These questions may help the reader begin to see that the gospel itself is the “source” for developing a theological vision for ministry in small places, and Witmer says that the “goal” is to see the “manifold wisdom of God” on display in churches of every size.[11] He asserts that pastors of churches in small places have the particular responsibility to understand and to aim for “the glory of God made distinctly manifest” among churches in small places.[12] In other words, small place ministries manifest God’s glory in distinct ways that larger place ministries do not, and pastors would do well to embrace and even take pleasure in these differences.
In chapters five, six, and seven, Witmer argues for love over strategy, small over big, and slow over fast. Of course, he does not mean to say that strategic, big, or fast is inherently bad or that the opposite is inherently good. What Witmer does in these three chapters is push against the prevailing church growth strategies among contemporary American Evangelicalism. The thoughts expressed here are worth the time of consideration, but I will argue in my critique that it is precisely here that Witmer failed to give the reader more practical ways to evaluate whether ministry in small places or big ones should be his aim.
Chapter eight may be the most helpful chapter of the whole book. Here Witmer lays out several ways pastors can better understand ministry in small places and lead well in light of these features. Witmer says that small towns are characterized by “municipal” limitations which form a “circle within which relationships and business occur.”[13] This is in contrast to the way “people from large places experience their communities,” which are “more like an arrow,” scattered about in one direction or another from their home.[14]
Witmer names five ways church leaders can “take small-place realities into account as we seek to embody and express the gospel in small places.”[15] First, small-place churches should be “local.”[16] In other words, these churches should aim to be comprised of the people of their own communities and not an amalgamation of Christians from a whole region. Second, churches in small places should listen and learn from the people of their communities. The leaders and members of a given church would do well to know and even to embody the same sorts of cultural and sentimental priorities of the people among whom they live. Third, small-place churches should serve their local communities in the same ways that other citizens serve one another in times of need (such as natural disasters or practical social services). Fourth, churches in small places should be visible participants in the celebrations shared by other citizens (such as holiday parades and town events). And fifth, small-place churches (just as those in larger places) ought to proclaim the gospel clearly and often.
Part two concludes with Witmer’s admonition for pastors in small places to battle against the “joy killers” that are common in their distinct setting. He names discontentment, envy, fear, and loneliness. Certainly, these are temptations for pastors in every place, but these can have a particular shape and texture among pastors in small places. So too, pastors in small places can often be helped by adopting similar strategies and perspectives in their battle against them. Witmer helpfully provides biblical aides and personal anecdotes for pastors who may find themselves lacking joy in their small-place ministries.
Part Three
In this last section, Witmer asks the direct question “Should I be ministering in a small place?”[17] And while he does offer some practical considerations, such as gifting and life-experience, Witmer spends a good bit of these three chapters addressing mostly emotional factors for his reader to evaluate in an effort to discern his personal ministerial direction. Chapter ten does point out several “bad reasons not to minister in small places,” and these deserve to be addressed and overcome.[18] No one should base their pastoral ministry on the fact that there are or are not enough coffee shops or cultural opportunities, nor should any pastor go into ministry with the goal of making a name for himself. And chapter twelve does confront the common reasons strategists often give for prioritizing big-place ministry. History, influence, and the eschaton do not provide us with a clear prioritization of the city over the country. But chapter eleven makes explicit the sort of emotional factors that Witmer implies throughout the book as good reasons to do ministry in small places, and I will delve more into this aspect of the book in my critique.
Critique
This book was recommended to me by a pastor friend I greatly respect, and so I had high hopes for it as I am thinking through some of my own pastoral convictions and ministry aspirations. Overall, I think Witmer’s book is a wonderful counterweight to a lot of the pragmatic and business-minded strategies that pervade church growth, church planting, and church revitalization materials these days. I sincerely pray (along with Witmer) that many aspiring and seasoned pastors will consider how they might use their time and resources to minister in small places. And yet, Witmer’s book is found wanting (from my perspective) as a resource to help those same guys think logically through why they might choose to minister in a given context.
As I noted above, chapter eleven makes explicit the sort of implicit rationale that Witmer employs throughout the book. His four good reasons to minister in small places are: “Your heart was formed in a small place,” “Your heart falls for a small-place church,” “Your heart beats for small places,” and “Your heart breaks for small places.”[19] One might summarize these by saying you can relate to small places, you love a particular church or community that fits this category, and you want to be a particular encouragement and help to small churches and communities.
First, the ability to relate is relative. One may have grown up in a small place but find himself particularly useful in a big-place ministry. On the other hand, outsiders can sometimes be the most helpful in understanding and ministering to a particular demographic of people who are unable to understand themselves very well and how the gospel applies specifically to them. Your particular upbringing may or may not have any bearing whatever on the sort of context in which you might be a useful pastor.
Second, love is not an emotion; it is a decisive commitment to give yourself away for the benefit of others. If a pastor does not love his church members or the non-Christians around him, then he should not be in pastoral ministry. Witmer’s second good reason to pastor in small places is applicable to virtually every pastor everywhere, small place or otherwise.
Third, the desire to encourage and to meet the needs of a given population should be embodied by Christians in every community. The goal for Christians (pastors included) should not be to discover what they feel about a people or a place, but to note what resources they have and to discover how those resources might be particularly useful to the people and place around them. And this is where Witmer gives his readers almost no practical help at all.
I used the word “rationale” above to label what Witmer implies throughout this book as a positive argument for why aspiring and seasoned pastors should consider ministry in small places, but it is my contention that logic and reasoning is what is actually missing here. Is it good rationale for a gifted leader to go to or to stay in a small place where even a weak leader might do just fine? Is it good rationale for an efficient manager to go to or stay in a small place where the management of people and resources is quite simple? Is it good rationale for a prolific disciple-maker to go to or stay in a small place where even moderately active Christians could exhaust the total population in a matter of weeks or months?
None of these questions assume that small places do not need good leaders, efficient managers, or prolific disciple-makers. But these are just some of the questions that one must consider if he is to think (and not just feel) about what sort of context and ministry opportunities might suit him best. Witmer argues against the zero-sum assumptions that provoke many to focus so intently on ministry in big places, and he is right to do so on the larger scale. If one pastor goes to the country another may still go to the city. Yet Witmer does not seem to address the fact that each man must necessarily decide for himself where he will spend his life, which is (by definition) a zero-sum question. Each pastor must decide to go to one place or another, and that will necessarily mean that he will not be anywhere else.
Conclusion
Aspiring pastors must take all sorts of factors into consideration when they are deciding what ministry opportunities to pursue and which ones to leave on the table. In fact, most people who enter vocational pastoral ministry do so by way of their own efforts to be recognized and welcomed as a pastor. It is not typically young or inexperienced pastors who are being invited to open pulpits, but those pastors who have already shown themselves to be capable pastors. Therefore, young and aspiring pastors are not usually considering options that are already not the table, they are pursuing what they hope will become options for them after having made a significant effort toward them.
It is possible (maybe even probable) that many of the factors in an aspiring pastor’s mind ought to be questioned or even jettisoned. If an immature man places too high a value on convenience or pleasure, then he will certainly need to have such priorities challenged before he enters into ministry. This book will help many pastors shape their perspective and how they might begin to think more realistically and compassionately about ministry in small places. For that reason, I wholeheartedly encourage pastors (young and aspiring pastors, as well as seasoned and experienced ones) to read this book. It will push against many of the assumptions we are prone to embrace without thinking much about them.
Wherever we minister, Witmer does a great job of reminding the reader that our time spent in doing good among both big and small places is worthwhile, and for that I am grateful. However, I am hopeful to discover another resource that will address the hanging questions that this book does not address. Once our emotional aversion to small place ministry is countered by Witmer’s emotional plea to take a second look, we must still evaluate more objective factors that will push us in one direction or another.
[1] Stephen Witmer, A Big Gospel in Small Places (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2019). 25.
[2] Ibid, 24.
[3] Ibid, 20.
[4] Ibid, 36.
[5] Ibid, 37.
[6] Ibid, 44.
[7] Ibid, 56.
[8] Ibid, 62-63.
[9] Ibid, 63.
[10] Ibid, 63-64.
[11] Ibid, 69-70. Witmer also cites Ephesians 3:8-10.
[12] Ibid, 74.
[13] Ibid, 115.
[14] Ibid, 115.
[15] Ibid, 116.
[16] Ibid, 116.
[17] Ibid, 143.
[18] Ibid, 148-153.
[19] Ibid, 155-158.