Feeding the Four Thousand
8 In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, 2 “I have compassion for the crowd because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. 3 If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way—and some of them have come from a great distance.” 4 His disciples replied, “How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?” 5 He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” 6 Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute, and they distributed them to the crowd. 7 They had also a few small fish, and after blessing them he ordered that these, too, should be distributed. 8 They ate and were filled, and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9 Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10 And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.[a]
Hello and thank you for this opportunity to worship and be with you.
It’s great to meet you online.
Glad to see your congregations, Prospect UCC and Keystone, sharing this worship time together.
I bring greetings from UCC and the UCC Church Building & Loan Fund. Thank you for your generous support of OCWM and the special mission offerings through the years. Thank you for your spirit and years of commitment to a wide welcome and inclusion, social and environmental justice, as well as community services, from meaningful movies to community luncheons and food banks.
Talking about meals and food, let’s look at the feeding of the 4,000 in today’s scripture from Mark. It always surprises me that no matter how many times I read the scripture, I often hear or see something new. Indeed, God is still speaking. As often as I have heard and preached on the feeding of 4000, I never noticed one word: that word is ‘small.’ I always knew that the disciples had some loaves and fishes, but I never noted before that the scripture stresses that the fish were small…small fish.
In our culture, we call something small fish to suggest something unimportant, not noteworthy. And I think that’s what the scripture is ironically saying as well. What is seen as just a few small fish turns out to feed thousands. Indeed, it is amazing to see how what seems insignificant can do remarkable things in God’s realm and service. What seems small can make a big impact.
I think of this as we in the UCC begin to realize that we are a denomination of small churches, congregations with small membership and worship participation. Over two thirds (67.9%) of all UCC congregations now have a weekly worship attendance of 1 to 50 individuals. Here in our own Pacific Northwest Conference, we are a conference of small churches, with two thirds of our congregations reporting 1 to 50 participants in worship. Including your congregations.
Today, as we talk about being small churches, remember the scripture of small fishes—never underestimate the power of small.
The power of small churches includes being communities where everybody knows your name, a place where new faces are easily seen and welcomed. The power of small churches comes from the resilient commitment of lay leaders and members like you who do the work of the church. There are challenges of being small as well, including financial needs, building cost and upkeep, and leadership burnout.
How can churches, your churches, prepare for the future being small?
Well, you are engaging in a good way of living into the future right now, as you worship together. You are collaborating. This is an age for collaboration. The feeding of 4000 with a few small fish likely happened with a lot of collaboration. Good things can happen when congregations large and small, ecumenical and interfaith partners, service agencies, business entrepreneurs, non-profit and/or profit organizations work together to make a difference. Together collaborations can strengthen partners sharing vision, mission, space, resources, staff, music, and expenses. Think of all the small congregations in Seattle like yours. Think of the possible ways that your congregations can work together and support each other: office work, equipment and supplies; children and youth ministries; Bible studies, camps, kitchens and cooking, gardens, and mission projects.
Three churches from different denominations in Minneapolis, including Lyndale UCC, came together to create a combined Ministry Center in one of the congregation’s buildings to house all three congregations with separate worship spaces and shared common ministry spaces.
Small churches can do big things. Rev. Gail Irwin, a UCC pastor, author, and interim pastor, recently wrote a blog called “Little Church, Big Mission.” She wrote that a church’s mission project can be bigger than its worship community. A small worship community can have a big mission.
Here's a mission statement of a little UCC church that I know with a big mission. ‘We are a small, inclusive, welcoming community of passion and purpose who have been living our faith and loving our community since 1862. Even though we are small, we are a strong, cohesive group of Christians with similar values and goals. We meet every Sunday at 5:00pm for worship or learning. But our primary mission is to identify areas of need in our community and to take action through direct support or by connecting with other non-profits to form partnerships of compassion and justice. These critical partnerships allow us to work together to make an effective impact on identified needs. And that’s what they did.
Another good example of just such a community impact mission is the Meaningful Movies project birthed in Keystone congregation, which has grown into its own organization and into multiple communities to build a more just and peaceful world.
Never doubt the power of a small church to do ministry bigger than itself. Or, as Margaret Mead said, “Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world.”
At the end of our scripture passage today, after feeding the 4000 with a few small fish, Jesus and the disciples get into a boat to go on to their next ministry and destination. They head out in a boat on a path to future ministry and mission.
The church has often been imaged as a boat. The church is seen as a lifesaving ark traveling across the deep waters. Many modern churches have ceiling arches and roofs that look like an upside-down ark.
There are also a multitude of stories in the Bible of disciples in troubled waters, overwhelmed in boats taking on water or being shipwrecked. In these times of challenges and transitions in church life, how is your boat doing and what path is it headed? I imagine that each of your congregations are in times of assessing your boat, your path, and your future. What collaborations are you called to, what mission can you birth, or perhaps a path of faithful ministry bringing the ship safely into port to complete its ministry and leave a living legacy for future missions?
Zion Reformed UCC in Allentown PA, founded before the American Revolution, is called the Liberty Bell Church. With 20 in worship, it decided to donate its big building to Resurrected Life UCC, a new African American UCC congregation that uses the facility for worship and also for its Freedom School for children and youth during the week. This summer, Resurrected Life gave thanks for the living legacy gift of a Festival of Freedom on Juneteenth. The Liberty Bell Church continues, now celebrating freedom as Resurrected Life UCC.
As you consider your churches’ futures, I encourage you to chart a path of collaboration focused on building missions of social transformation, or earth care ministries, or freedom celebrations, or a path that completes your ministries with a living legacy for the future.
What’s important is that you consider what path you are on. Imagine what Jesus, who feeds thousands with a few small fish, can do with a few small churches. Whatever path you set, the God who feeds the 4000 with small fishes can do remarkable things through you in God’s mission of nurturing a new earth and world. Blessing as you go forth to do so.