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What Size is Your Church?
Jim was a second career pastor. He went to seminary in his 50's after a successful business career. His home church was large, over 1000 members. Following seminary he accepted a call to be a supply pastor of a very small church - around 25 in attendance on a typical Sunday.
He ran into some difficulty when he started pushing them to do some significant thinking about their mission and vision. Further, he preached sermons that reflected the rather deep sermons he had been used to in his home church. Some complained that he didn't make them feel good like the previous pastor.
Sue had been pastor of a church with around 100 on typical Sundays. They had part-time secretary and choir director and even less time organist. She was the nerve center. She knew everyone. If someone was ill, she called on her. She attended all the committee meetings. Her sermons were well developed and preached. Worship was creative. The church flourished.
When she decided to seek a new call, she became pastor of a 500 member church (around 250 in attendance). It had an Associate Pastor who focused on education and a full time Director of Music/Organist. It was a busy metropolitan area.
Suddenly things started spinning out of control. She simply couldn't keep up with things. Pastoral calling ate up an enormous amount of time. Her sermon study suffered. People complained she was a bottle-neck. Attendance started dropping.
What was happening in these situations?
Sizing up your church
Alban Institute has done seminal work on the importance of understanding the implications of a church's size. Senior Consultant Roy Oswald summarizes them very succinctly in his paper How to Minister Effectively in Family, Pastoral, Program, and Corporate Size Churches. It is available on the Alban Website. (here's the link)
Briefly, here are the sizes and some of the implications:
- Family - or Patriarchal/Matriarchal Church - up to around 50 active members. A pastor must be adopted by the key people. Oswald notes that churches of this size are the most difficult for a newly minted pastor to enter. They are typically very tough and resilient and are pretty independent of the pastor since pastors come and go. However, if a congregation has dropped from a pastoral to a family sized church in the past five years or less, then there is likely a lot of frustration and anger, perhaps many contributing factors.
- Pastoral Church - from 50 - 150 active members - the pastor is the hub of the wheel. Communications and decisions flow through the pastor. Active members expect the pastor to give them pastoral care. Problems arise when the church has either grown or become significantly smaller. Confusion about roles and responsibilities ensue. This is especially the case when the church has grown towards the upper end of this size. Trying to stay in the center of things, the pastor can become a bottleneck.
- Program Church - from 150 to 350 members - Here the pastor becomes more of an administrator and leader of leaders. Typically there are several part-time or full-time staff members. If the church has recently grown to a program sized church, then leaders typically have difficulty adjusting to changed roles. Pastoral care is often shared between the pastor, other staff members, and trained lay leaders. The pastor will oversee many programs while not necessarily directly leading them. Roles and responsibilities must be carefully spelled out.
- Corporate Church - 350 or more members - In larger churches, the pastor is more of a CEO and spiritual leader. At this and larger levels, the pastor will be leading both staff teams and lay leader teams. Often, the pastor of such a large church will provide pastoral care only in crisis situations or for weddings or other important celebrations.
The church's size has a tremendous effect on what members expect of one another and of the pastor. Here are some questions to help you reflect on your church's size and your role:
� How long has it been this size? What is the rough percent of growth or decline over the past decade? What are some of the factors that have led to this change in size? (e.g. neighborhood growth or decline, demographic change, pastoral competence, a trauma in the congregation)
� Is it in between sizes, i.e. on the boundary between one size and another?
� (for the pastor) How does the size of this church compare with the church from which you came? With other churches which have shaped you? Contrast your expectations about your role and responsibilities with those of this church.
� (for lay leaders) If the church's size is significantly different from what it was a decade ago, how have you adjusted expectations for yourselves, the pastor(s), and other staff in response to the change? How has the church's organization and leadership structure changed?
As you reflect on your church's size, what insights do you have? How might you change your behavior? How does it help you understand the behavior of certain members?
I would love to help you reflect more deeply on your leadership as you deal with size and transitions - and help you raise your leadership to the next level.
Email me and we can set up a demonstration coaching session by telephone (or in person if possible).
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Here's to healthy churches - with healthy leaders! | 
