I was ordained July 10, 1987, when General Superintendent, Dr. Earle Wilson, laid hands on me, shook my hand, and declared, "Take Thou Authority to Preach the Word!" I was thinking about that recently, and began to wonder how far back I could go with the succession of my ordination. So, I did a little research. I was ordained by Earle Wilson Earle Wilson was ordained by Pilgrim Holiness General Superintendent, William Neff William Neff was ordained by the Pilgrim founder, Seth Rees Seth Rees was ordained by Nazarene founder, Phineas Bresee Phineas Bresee was ordained by Methodist Bishop, Levi Scott Levi Scott was ordained by Elijah Hedding. Elijah Hedding was ordained by Francis Asbury Francis Asbury was ordained by a renegade Anglican priest named John Wesley John Wesley was ordained by Anglican Bishop (of Oxford) John Potter. From Potter -- there's a trail all the way back to St. Peter!! You can see the chart here. (Potter is at the bottom of the page #90. Now, how abo...
But how many were convenant members?
ReplyDeleteaka..."True Wesleyans"
50% of all Wesleyan churches average 58 or fewer people in attendance. (2007 annual statistical report)
ReplyDeletebut how many people do those "smaller churches" send into the missions and ministry fields???
ReplyDeleteAlso what is the size of the community that the large churches draw from?
Interesting stats! I took it one step further and averaged the top 49 churches and their average attendance is about 1,100. The average for the bottom 1,200 is 46, not far from the average the Mark G. quoted. Which is not much bigger than the size of the church I pastor.
ReplyDeleteMost of the missionaries I've known have come from small churches. Rick Warren, Billy Graham, Peale and Shuller all were sons of either farmers or small town pastors.
ReplyDeleteMy take home point for the post is that the smaller churches -- working collectively -- are a mighty force -- about the same as the big churches.
it just takes more of 'em!
ReplyDeleteAs far as DEPTH of impact - -I cam from a rural church -- and they let me sing solos when I was ten, teach Sunday School when I was 15, and preach when I was 16.
Not many large congregations would have allow that kind of ministry training experience.
Mark, great point and thanks for putting things back in perspective for myself. Small churches account for a great deal of ministry. I think that's the reason there were so many at your seminar last January. Most of us Wesleyan pastors can relate to the small church. I was raised in two small churches and I am pastoring the second of two rural churches.
ReplyDeleteI gave you a plug over on my blog, because you will be teaching Pastoring the Rural/Small Church this summer at ReKindle/FLAME X. I'm looking forward to seeing you there.