Size Doesn't Matter

Calvary Presbyterian Church

I walked into Calvary Presbyterian Church in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin this morning along with my family and Julie's cousin Nicole and her fiancé Dustin. Nicole and Dustin are getting married in this church in May of 2014 and I have the joy of officiating the service.

We thought it would be wise for all of us to see the church together and get the "lay of the land."
Calvary Presbyterian Church was built in 1870. A Cathedral style built church, the ceiling and the expanse of the interior were impressive. There were no pews in the church, just chairs that provided a "flexible" pattern of setup for any type of worship service or experience that you wanted.

What shocked me the most was in the middle of this historic and beautiful cathedral of a church building were about 50 chairs set up in a semi-circle with a table in the middle adorned with oil, incense and a podium enveloped by Advent colored "sails" suspended from the ceiling.

The service started at 10:30 am and at 10:29 am our two combined families in tow represented 25% of the attendance. By 10:45 there were about 37 people in the church for the service.

I have to confess... I was a little saddened by the smallness of attendance in contrast to the huge expanse of the sanctuary.

My iWitness...

By 11:35 am I was ready to join the church.
I have never been so openly welcomed and received into the life of a church than I was this morning at Calvary Presbyterian Church, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

We live in a world and a culture...especially in the church, of "bigger is better."

Bigger church means better church...
Bigger attendance means better ministries...
Bigger budgets means better programs to build up God's people...
Bigger sanctuaries means better opportunities to invite and welcome newcomers...

Today, I discovered that "size doesn't matter" in the sense that "bigger is not better."

What did matter is that the people that were gathered together extended to all of us the love and hospitality of God...

Isn't that what matters...?

And that's my iWitness...
Laugh often and Fear not!
David!

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Matthew 18. 20)