“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed — or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” — Luke 10:41, 42
Living in a small town has its advantages and its challenges. Perhaps especially those in small churches can appreciate this. The Wrangell Church held a Vacation Bible School Jan. 1–3. The theme was God’s creation, and members put up posters, ads on the radio and a blurb on Facebook. The opening night was little nerve-wracking when only three girls showed up. The second night was the same, and finally Sabbath morning the same three girls appeared. The VBS team outnumbered them.
You can point your finger at so many factors (weather, lack of advertising, illness, etc) for why the turnout was so low, and some other small churches can relate to this scenario. What was most surprising is that not one person on the VBS team voiced any of the discouragement that might be expected in this situation. They looked at the story of Mary and Martha and noted that Mary was doing the one thing that Jesus was trying to get Martha understand.
The team found this encouraging. The numbers don’t matter when you are doing the “one thing,” which is connecting with “The One.” So what if only three girls showed. As long as the team shared that “one thing,” they did the right thing. And that won’t be taken away from them or from those three girls who came to Wrangell Church VBS this year.
