After we chose “Small and Thriving” as our November issue’s theme, we read something that put the idea in a new perspective.

We had asked ourselves: What’s a small church? 100? 50? 25?

How about fewer than 1,000?

That’s how the Meserete Kristos Church, the Anabaptist denomination in Ethiopia, defines “small.”

We noticed this in a Mennonite World Conference Courier article on MKC and its 10 strategies for growth.

MKC is one of Anabaptism’s great success stories, having grown from 5,000 people 40 years ago to over 500,000 today. Its name means “Christ the foundation,” inspired by Menno Simons’ favorite verse: “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11).

MKC’s strategy No. 3 — “remaining small and growing” — is the one that caught our eye.

It says (calling it a “policy”) that a congregation with more than 1,000 people should divide into two “small” congregations. Limiting the size makes it possible to “provide effective services” and be a place where “people know each other and have meaningful fellowship.”

Beyond the immediate benefits, there are long-term goals: “Both the mother church and the offspring church [can] continue to grow [and] to bear other new congregations.”

This wasn’t what we had in mind when we thought of small churches.

In North America, growing too big probably isn’t on a congregation’s list of concerns. Remaining (or becoming) small isn’t a strategy. It just happens.

In Mennonite Church USA, the average congregation’s weekly ­attendance is 65. Total membership, or the number of active participants, might be larger than that. But not 1,000.

MC USA congregations are similar to their neighbors in size. According to a 2021 Faith Communities Today study, half of U.S. congregations have 65 people or fewer. Two-thirds have fewer than 100.

In North America, small is typical. It might also be discouraging, especially if the congregation used to be bigger. That’s typical, too, as churchgoing and religious affiliation decline and the “nones” increase.

As a result, a lot of people feel their church isn’t particularly healthy. A 2015 study by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research found that among people in congregations with under 100 in weekly worship, only about 18% said their church was thriving, and 29% said it was OK. Apparently more than half felt their church wasn’t in good shape.

There’s good news for small church­es: Those that thrive know their strengths and focus on what they do well.

Is smaller better? John Fillmore, a Church of the Brethren pastor in Idaho, believes so. Writing in the denominational magazine Messenger, he says a small congregation is better able to nurture the close relationships that foster mutual care and spiritual growth.

A small church avoids the large-church risk of diluting the gospel (because there are so many stakeholders to satisfy) and producing a “Christianity lite” that hinders the curiosity, questions and spiritual formation that happen more naturally in a smaller group.

Also, a small church leaves little room to be merely a spectator or a consumer.

Fillmore says it’s time to view smallness not as a problem but as “an alternate route that the Spirit of God wants us to take.” He advises 1) setting aside our fixation with programs and embracing community; 2) caring for each other instead of expecting the pastor to do it all; and 3) focusing on being representatives of Jesus in the neighborhood.

Jesus told his close circle of friends, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). And then he said they should get to work: “Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit” (verse 35).

A little flock with a shining lamp understands why it exists. It believes its presence, no matter how small, is important. Its light might shine from Anabaptist-inspired beliefs and actions like peacemaking and antiracism, social justice and service — showing a way of following Jesus that’s distinct from progressive mainline or conservative evangelical churches nearby. As Carmen Shenk says, small churches have superpowers. What’s yours?