A Ministry of Small Things
Each month, we send out a note from Erik reflecting on life in the church, current happenings, and more.
March 15, 2026
Dear City Church,
By now, I hope you’ve had a chance to look through the 2025 City Church Annual Report. Each of the last six years, our Communications Team (led by the inimitable Val Catrow) has worked hard to produce an annual report. It is one of the best things we do as a church. This year, the report is titled Everyday Faithfulness. I love that theme. It captures the heartbeat of our church. It also points us back to the everyday faithfulness of our God, whose mercy is new every morning (Lam. 3:23).
In church, as in life, it is so easy to get distracted by special initiatives. We deceive ourselves into thinking that a new diet, a new technology, a new spiritual regime, all of them dressed up in colorful advertising and certified by celebrity endorsement, is what we need for success. Everyday faithfulness reminds us that what really matters is a steady commitment to showing up day after day and month after month. What really makes a difference is a long obedience in the same direction.
I was reminded about everyday faithfulness earlier this year, reading a book called The Ministry of Small Things by Reuben Bredenhof. It’s a slim book filled with short chapters (30 in total), each one a reflection on “the small but significant moments of ministry.” Like the best books always are, it is both convicting and encouraging. It helped me see ways that I tend to neglect some of the small habits central to being a pastor, and at the same time, reinforced some of the small habits that are hallmarks of my work.
I particularly liked the chapter titled “Be the Predictable Pastor”. That’s the sort of pastor I want to be. In this usage, predictable doesn’t mean boring or uninteresting or non-spontaneous. It is not talking about behavior that would elicit an exasperated eye-roll of “How predictable!” It means consistent. It means reliable. It describes a steady rhythm of ministry. By constitution, by habit, and especially by God’s grace, predictable is something true of me as a pastor. I think it is more and more true of City Church as a whole, too.
Years ago, during a small group Bible study, men mentioned the impact of simply showing up. They didn’t talk about the impressive Bible studies I led. They didn’t share stories of profound insights gleaned from our times together. They testified to the mere fact that every other Wednesday morning at 6:30 AM, I was there. They couldn’t remember many weeks when I wasn’t there. They couldn’t remember the study being canceled. While I realize that some (a lot?) of my predictability is rooted in stubbornness (and a refusal to acknowledge sickness), it’s also rooted in a belief that steadfastness matters.
Predictability is also a characteristic of City Church. Early on, our ruling elders emphasized the importance of always having worship on Sunday afternoons at 4PM. Weather, conflicting events, people being out of town never led to a cancelled service. At 4 PM on Sundays, the doors are open, and we worship. Similarly, since I started working at City Church, we’ve met every other Wednesday morning at 6:30AM for prayer. It’s just what we do. We want to be reliable. We want church to be something you can count on. We want to be predictable in all the best ways.
Another predictable part of every City Church worship service, and every City Church prayer meeting, is that we do the same things. We open the Bible and read God’s Word. We share its message of grace, joy, and hope. Together, we believe the gospel is true, and we model how God’s Word speaks with unwavering truth into every single circumstance of our lives.
Honestly, my heart is often tempted by flashier things. I hear about pastors promoting books they’ve written and feel twinges of jealousy. I see pastors platformed as keynote speakers at conferences or retreats and wonder why that’s not me. I talk with pastors who are leading big capital campaigns for shiny buildings and sense the impostor syndrome descending over me.
But then I remember that God has called me first to the predictable ministry of small things, to everyday faithfulness. So I show up. I listen. I open the Bible. I remind you of what Jesus has promised. I pray with you (even when you don’t have the words to pray yourself).
I am going to keep on being a predictable pastor, committed to a ministry of small things. I hope you’ll be a predictable person, too. Showing up to worship, reading your Bible, praying for yourself and for others, reaching out to others with the welcome of God’s grace. That’s the way City Church will be a predictable church, full of God’s steadfast love.
It may never make headlines, but it might just be enough to change the world.
Stay Well & Do Good,
Erik