Josiah was a minister from Nigeria. He came to the United States to attend a school of evangelism. After graduating, he remained in the U.S. for about nine months. That is when we met. He needed a place to live - cheap (actually free was better.) I was still a bachelor, and had a funky little cottage in the roughest neighborhood in Vista. He had a need. I had an answer. So, Josiah spent about nine months living with me.

I learned to eat "swallow." With a ball of dough rolled up in my left hand, I would scoop up the turkey stews Josiah made. When I first learned this skill, Josiah would laugh at me. It was a funny sight. More dough was on my hand, than in my stomach by the end of the meal. After a few months, I actually became quite proficient at eating swallow.

In turn, Josiah learned many of the strange American habits, and of all our peculiarities, what he loved most was our slang. He would listen intently for interesting slang phrases, ask about their meaning, their origin, and their appropriate use, and then go about the task of using these phrases. Of the dozens of phrases he learned, his favorite was, "That dog don't hunt." In his thick African accent, it sounded a bit different, and actually quite comical. So, Josiah always got a laugh when he said, "Daht duhg duhn't huhnt."

I was reminded of Josiah's favorite slang phrase, after attending a recent church leadership seminar. Often I find, that the plans, and suggestions offered by the "experts" have only limited use in the life of the small congregation. Many ideas are completely unusable, and I am forced to shake my head and say, "Daht duhg duhn't huhnt."

It's not that these are bad ideas. It's just that in a small congregation, there are not the adequate resources to accomplish the suggested ministry tasks. There is not enough room, not enough money, not enough people to help, (or even to be ministered to within the congregation), and not enough time. Many of the plans for growth are used by large churches to grow larger. As such, they are impractical for the smaller church.

What then, can the leadership of the small church do with the massive amount of church leadership, and church growth info which seems to be aimed well over our heads? Here are a few suggestions when "daht duhg duhn't huhnt":

1) Shoot it. If it doesn't make sense for your church, don't even take the time to feel guilty about not being able to do what the "big boys" do. A long time ago, I learned that I didn't have to be Paul Cho, Jack Hayford, Robert Schuller, Chuck Smith, Chuck Swindoll, Bill Hybels, or Billy Graham.

2) Train it. Turn the plans into principles. Many of the great ideas don't fit into the small church plans, when we hear about them from the large church leaders. Yet, they often are full of important church life principles, which work in any setting. I'm sorry to break the news to you, but it will take some creativity to adapt most "church growth plans" to fit the small church.

3) Keep it as a pet. If it is something which you really like, but can't even dream of implementing right now, wait for another day in which it will become more practical. Just because you have discovered a great idea, that doesn't mean you should kill yourself trying to make it happen. This is one of the great reasons ministers become discouraged: They poured all they had into someone else's "great idea," and they felt burned when it didn't work.

Take this truth to bed with you, it will keep you warm on a "three dog night": Make sure that an idea fits the needs, and peculiarities of the small church before you try to implement it.

Like a dog, if a church leadership plan doesn't hunt, shoot it, train it, or just keep it as a pet. If "daht duhg duhn't huhnt," don't take it hunting.