The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, “. . . the good deeds of some people are obvious. And the good deeds done in secret will someday come to light” (1 Timothy 5:25 New Living Translation). God gives some churches spiritual tasks that require them to move in unity through prayer and obeying the Holy Spirit. Sometimes these churches are small, because it’s more difficult to unify a larger group. A church’s spiritual assignment can, at times, be more important than its growth.
We see one example of this with a congregation pastored by Rev. and Mrs. J.R. Goodwin, important Pentecostal minsters of the mid-20th century. The Lord used them and their church mightily in prayer and spiritual things, but their small building was often overcrowded. A minister once asked their friend Kenneth E. Hagin why they never moved into a larger building. He said one reason was, the Lord never told them to.
When we plant churches, we’ll make room for the reality of the Lord’s specific assignments. Of course, we want to see ever-larger churches. But we recognize the great value of spiritual assignments. And we won’t trade those for the allure of large crowds. We’ll grow spiritually deep in order to be fully useful to the Master.
“Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” (Revelation 22:20)