I recently read a post by a Christian man who said it was incorrect to attribute doing well materially to the blessing of God. The premise was that if having things was a sign of God’s favor then a lack of things would have to be a sign of His disfavor. We thus would be spiritual snobs to imply the good things we have are thanks to God. Just think how bad we would make people feel who have less.

As you can probably tell by now I disagree with the author’s take on things. I absolutely believe everything I have is a gift from the Almighty, and I believe the same is true for everybody else. I believe that I have exactly what God feels I need. Thus the person who has more is not blessed more than me for he has what God feels he needs also.

As is often the case, thinking about that post got me to thinking about how it might apply to churches. Are big churches more blessed than small ones? Are megachurches super blessed? Some would say “well of course they are…it’s obvious.” But I don’t think so at all.

Let’s go back to material things for a minute. Abraham had great possessions and the Bible is clear it was because he was highly favored of God. Solomon on the other hand states that it’s better to have little with righteousness than plenty with wickedness. These two truths show that while God does indeed send worldly riches, the lack of them is also a gift. Now apply this to church size. God sends each church just what they need. If you pastor a small congregation you have no reason to feel like you are lower on the ladder than some big church. That megachurch pastor is not more favored by God than you are just because he leads thousands while you only lead dozens. Your church is unique and if it were large it would not be the same. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t reach out and bring as many disciples to Christ as possible. It just means that while you do your work you realize your congregation is a blessing from God just as much as any big church.