“I tremble for the church of which I am the pastor”

Great perspective from Spurgeon for churches of all sizes:

I tremble for the church of which I am the pastor. I never trembled for it when we were few, when we were earnest in prayer, and devout in supplication, when it was a thing of contempt to go into “that miserable Baptist Chapel in Park Street,” when we were despised and maligned and slandered. I never trembled for them then; God was blessing the ministry, souls were saved, and we walked together in the fear of the Lord and in love. But I tremble for it now, now that God hath enlarged our borders, and given us to count our members not by tens but by hundreds, now that we can say we are the largest Baptist church in England. I do tremble now, because now is just the time when we shall begin to say, “We are a great people,” “We shall do very much,” “We are a great agency,” “The world will look upon us, and we will do a great deal.” If we ever say that, God will say, “Cursed is he that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm,” and he will hide the light of his countenance from us, so that our mountain that standeth firm shall begin to shake. O churches! — all of ye here that are representatives of churches, carry ye the tidings. O churches! take heed lest ye trust in yourselves; take heed lest ye say, “We are a respectable body,” “We are a mighty number,” “We are a potent people;” take heed lest ye begin to glory in your own strength; for when that is done, “Ichabod” shall be written on your walls and your glory shall depart from you. Remember, that he who was with us when we were but few, must be with us now we are many, or else we must fail; and he who strengthened us when we were but as “little in Israel,” must be with us, now that we are like “the thousands of Manasseh,” or else it is all over with us and our day is past. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord.” (Spurgeon’s Sermons, Volume 3)