Last spring, while driving through the far western Oklahoma panhandle, I had to slam on my brakes and pull over. In a wide-open field stood two wind-powered machines, one towering, sleek, and modern; the other smaller, simpler, and easy to overlook.
Yet both were turning. Both were catching the wind. Both were doing exactly what they were designed to do. The image has stayed with me.
The smaller windmill reminded me of the many normative-sized churches, and even house churches, spread across our state. They may not carry the visibility or scale of larger congregations, but they are steady and faithful. In rural Oklahoma, small windmills often draw water from deep beneath the surface to sustain livestock and in some places, even households. In much the same way, these churches faithfully draw from the deep well of God’s Word, week after week, offering life-giving truth to the people they serve.
The towering turbine, on the other hand, catches more wind, produces more energy, and may provide power for an entire grid. They represent larger churches, those with more reach, broader influence, and greater resources. We thank God for them. Their capacity allows them to impact communities, support missions, and mobilize people on a significant scale.
But here’s the truth we cannot miss: size does not determine value. Faithfulness does.
In church planting, this reality becomes even clearer. Some new churches are prepared, equipped, and resourced to launch large. Others begin with far fewer people and resources, sometimes out of necessity, sometimes out of philosophy or strategy, and sometimes simply out of capacity. Neither approach is better or more important than the other. Both are needed. If we are going to reach and minister to the full landscape of lostness across Oklahoma, from urban centers to rural communities, we will need both kinds of churches.
And both share the same dependence.
Neither the windmill nor the turbine produces its own power. Their effectiveness is entirely dependent on the wind.
The same is true for the Church.
As Zechariah 4:6 reminds us, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.” The real power behind any church, large or small, is not its structure, strategy or size. It is the Holy Spirit.
Whether a church gathers 15, 50 or 5,000 people, when the Spirit of God is at work and the sails are lifted, there will be movement. There will be life. There will be Kingdom impact.
So smaller and normative-sized churches don’t need to envy the “turbines.” They were never meant to be that tall. But they were created to turn—to draw living water and to serve their communities faithfully in the power of the Spirit.
At the same time, larger churches must be careful not to overlook or undervalue these smaller works. The Kingdom is not built on prominence but on partnership. Healthy large churches recognize the vital role smaller churches play in reaching places and people they may never reach on their own. They celebrate them. They partner with them. They invest in them—financially, relationally, and missionally—because they understand that multiplication, not just accumulation, is the mission.
And when churches of every size catch the wind together, there is movement that can shake the plains and stir the heavens.
