How Big Is Big Enough?

Stage fright is wrongly named. I've never known a person who's actually afraid of stages, but lots of people are afraid to stand on a stage speaking to a large crowd. "Audience fright" would be a better label.

Most of us are not afraid of heights; we're afraid of falling. I enjoy mountain scenery, but I will never be one of those mountain climbers you see in photographs standing on the edge of a cliff. I don't mind driving across a bridge or taking an elevator to the top of a tall building, but you will never see me imitate those construction workers who walk nimbly across metal beams several stories above the ground.

Recently I watched an arborist trim some tall trees. He appeared unfazed no matter how high he climbed. I suppose he might welcome the challenge of climbing something larger than the overgrown oak in my neighbor's yard. Some spruce, Douglas fir, eucalyptus, and mountain-ash trees tower over 300 feet into the air—longer than a football field! A giant sequoia (coastal redwood) growing in California's Redwood National Park has been identified as the world's tallest living thing. Named "Hyperion," it towers 379 feet above the earth and measures 26 feet in diameter.

When we follow Christ, we shouldn't be afraid of big things. We're already part of a very big thing—the kingdom of God—which Jesus compared to a tiny mustard seed that "becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches" (Matthew 13:32).

And yet, the Lord has established natural boundaries beyond which created things cannot grow. With careful tending, gardeners manage to produce enormous tomatoes and cabbages the size of basketballs, but no green thumb can grow a 10-ton vegetable. Even a redwood tree doesn't grow to 1,000 feet. Botanists say that the theoretical maximum height of a tree is limited to approximately 400 feet due to gravity and the friction between water and the vessels through which it flows.

So while it's good to think big, it's even more important to be wise—especially when we think about the kingdom of God. Someday in Heaven we will worship along with "a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language" (Revelation 7:9). We belong to a church so big that it started with thousands on the Day of Pentecost and has reached around the world with the gospel for 2,000 years, bringing throngs to the foot of the cross. However, every member of God's kingdom enters it one person at a time—and many of Christ's followers make their choice to serve him in the context of a small group. How many Christians follow the Lord because a family member influenced them, a minister in a smaller church persuaded them, or a friend taught them one-on-one?

We shouldn't be afraid of big things, including big churches. But we also must ask, How large do our church buildings and budgets really need to be? How many paid staff members do we really need to get the job done? Do our church-sponsored programs need to be so complicated, or is it time to simplify and down-size?

Nothing in God's kingdom is insignificant. So whether you belong to a "small church" or a "mega-church," thank the Lord that you're part of a very large enterprise indeed.

And don't be afraid to keep climbing.