LARGE – SMALL CHURCH DIFFERENCES

Taken from

The Multiple Staff and the Larger Church – By Lyle E. Schaller

Preface

Approximately one-half of all Protestant congregations in the United States and Canada average fewer than 75 at worship on a typical Sunday morning, and three-fourths of all churches report fewer than 300 confirmed members.

In broad general terms one-half of all Protestant church members on the continent can be found in one-sixth of the churches and one-fourth of them can be found in approximately 6 percent of all congregations.

What does this mean? Why bring up the fact that a comparatively large proportion of all church members are found in relatively few congregations?

The first and most obvious answer is that statistics tell us where church members are to be found. One-sixth of the congregations account for one-half of all church members! So if the focus of concern is to be on people, large congregations merit a disproportionately large amount of attention.

A second reason for a book on the large church is that larger congregations are different.

A third reason is that the criteria and the process for staffing the large church are significantly different from those that are appropriate for most parishes.

A fourth reason for taking a special look at large churches is that they provide a radically different concept for the work of the professional program staff than is to be found in five out of six congregations.

A fifth reason why large churches deserve special attention is found in the imperative of Jesus, “Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of him to whom men commit much they will demand the more” (Luke 12:48)

A sixth reason for a special look at the large church is a result of the emphasis on church growth that emerged during the 1970s.

A seventh, and perhaps the most subtle reason mentioned here for looking at the distinctive characteristics of the large churches is their role as legitimatising forces in our culture.

An eighth reason for looking at large churches, and a major theme of this book, is that they offer employment for two of the most hightly specialized expressions of the professional ministry.

Finally, another reason for taking a careful look at the large church can be found in this very disturbing generalization. The larger the organization and/or the greater the emphasis on participatory democracy, the greater the chances that organization will repel the people it is seeking to attract.

CLASSIFYING CHURCHES BY SIZE

Average Total

Sunday Attendance Percentile Type

At Worship 35 25% Fellowship 75 50% Small 140 75%

Middle-sized 200 85% Awkward

size 350 95%

Large 600 98%

Huge 700 or more 100% Minidenomination

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES?

FOR LEADERSHIP

1. The larger the numbers of persons in the group, the greater the demands the collection of people place on the leadership to initiate. The vast majority of members of the large church expect the senior minister to be a directive and initiating leader.

2. The larger the congregation, the greater the temptation for many leaders to “play house” and to focus on real estate concerns rather than to grapple with questions of purpose, role, and mission.

3. The larger the congregation, the more disruptive are changes in the professional staff.

4. The larger the congregation, the more disruptive the shock that accompanies any radical change in the leadership style of the senior minister due to a change of pastors.

5. The larger the congregation, the more important it becomes for everyone, and especially for the senior minister, to recognize and accept the fact that he senior minister cannot be the shepherd, or pastor, to every member.

6. Larger the professional staff, the more likely there will be confusion over who a particular member will turn to as my pastor in time of personal or family crisis. In the typical large multiple-staff congregation most members view the senior minister as “my pastor”, but many turn to one of the other ministers for that role or to the director of Christian education, the minister of music, or to some other staff member to be their shepherd.

7. The larger the congregation, the greater the dependence for stability and continuity on (a) the staff and (b) the group life of the church during times of stress, tension, uncertainty, or external change, but the greater the temptation to build the congregation around the magnetic personality of one staff member, usually the senior minister.

8. The larger the congregation, the more disruptive is the change when one minister replaces another on the staff.

9. The larger the congregation, the more important it is to encourage long pastorates.

10. The larger the congregation, the more vulnerable that church is to an inappropriate match of pastor and people.

11. The larger the congregation, the greater the institutional pressure on the senior minister to place a higher priority on administration rather than on spending time with members in a pastoral role.

12. The larger the congregation, the greater the need for an organizational and decision-making structure that emphasizes performance.

13. The larger the congregation, the greater the need for carefully disciplined planning and preparation of every event and program.

FOR MINISTRIES

14. The larger the congregation, the more difficult it is to enlist lay volunteers. The larger the congregation, the greater the degree of persistence that is required of those responsible for recruiting lay volunteers. Why? Part of the response to that one-word question is that the larger the membership, the easier it is for a member to assume there is someone else who is better qualified, or more competent, and who has a more flexible schedule to accept that responsibility. The larger the congregation, the larger the proportion of members who feel they are outside that inner “fellowship circle”.

15. The larger the congregation, the greater the conflict over use of rooms and the greater the volume of complaints that “somebody has been using our room.”

16. The larger the congregation, the more critical the need for a systematic and intentional system for the development and maintenance of a network of lay volunteers. The larger the congregation, the more important and also the more complicated the system for caring for the network of lay volunteers and the greater the responsibility of the paid staff for this concern.

17. The larger the congregation, the more important the need on Sunday morning for convenient off-street parking spaces for visitors and potential new members.

18. The larger the congregation and the longer is has been in existence, the more complex the requirements of the staff. It usually takes longer and is a more complicated task to find a replacement for a program staff member in the large congregation than to find a new minister for a smaller congregation.

FOR PASTORAL CARE

19. The larger the congregation, the more necessary it is to plan for the care of the members rather than assume it will happen spontaneously.

20. The larger the congregation, the more important it is to have a carefully designed, systematic, and highly redundant internal communication system.

21. The larger the congregation, the more vulnerable that church is to unexpected changes. Large churches tend to be comparatively fragile and lack the stability of small congregations.

22. The larger the congregation, the greater the probability that when a member, who regularly attends one particular service on Sunday morning, come at a different hour, he or she will feel like a stranger or a visitor rather than a member.

23. The larger the congregation, the more crucial it is in program planning to use both the small group model and the large group model in program development.

Bill van Shie

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