Dear Sir,
Compliments to the Editor on his commentary (en June). The desire to be a celebrity leader seems to require charge of a large and/or growing church, for then will come the invitations to speak at conferences or write books. The consequences of this for small congregations in villages neighbouring ‘fashionable towns’ can be disastrous as potential members of these small churches are not merely drawn to the big church, but actively recruited. At the same time there is a concentration in the ‘growing church’ of gifted individuals who are underused where they are, and may be discouraged from helping the small congregation where they could be so valuable.
I am struck by the contrast to the actions of a previous generation, described in Luther Walker: a faithful minister of Jesus Christ which I have recently read and which tells us ‘the young people of the church were trained and sent out to conduct open air services and pioneer causes in the neighbouring villages’.
