When you’re outnumbered, when it seems as though the culture has outpaced you, when the neighborhood no longer recognizes your building as a holy place, when you feel like the only one left who still shows up, when the odds are against you—don’t panic.
Don’t let the empty pews do all the talking. Don’t let the numbers preach louder than the Gospel. Don’t let the cynical naysayers dominate the narrative. Don’t let fear have the microphone. Because that’s not the whole story.
This isn’t about battles with chariots and horses. It’s about all the quiet ways we feel overwhelmed: a neighborhood that’s moved on, a mission that feels like it’s run out of momentum, a church wondering if it still matters.
But right in the middle of the fear, God speaks. Not with shame. Not with a strategy. But with presence: “Don’t be afraid. Don’t panic. Don’t give up. I’m going with you.”
That’s what the priest says before the fight begins.* Before anything changes. Before there’s even a sign of hope. God doesn’t wait until we’ve secured the victory to show up. He’s already here. Already in the sanctuary with the leaky roof. Already in the nursery with just one baby. Already in every vacant pew. Already in the heart of the pastor who’s tired but still believes that resurrection is real.
As Pentecostal philosopher and theologian James K.A. Smith says, “the Spirit is always already present at and in creation.” (Thinking in Tongues, 103)
So let’s not rehearse our fears again. Let’s remember who brought us this far. Let’s remember that we were never meant to win on strength alone. Lets remember that the odds were never in our favor. Not in 33-ish AD when the Spirit fell at Pentecost and launched what we now call the Christian Church. Not in 1945 when our church was founded. Not in 2025. The odds were never in our favor, no matter what Christendom led us to believe.
May the odds be never in our favor. May we hope not in strategy, but in Presence. May we wager not on the odds, but on the God who goes with us. The God who fights for us. The God who has always been our hope. The God who who believes in a good future more that we do.
*Deuteronomy 20:1-4