Why the Small Church Is the Future of Christianity
Church hierarchies love big churches. They offer a sense of accomplishment and power. Big churches can be featured in the résumé and portfolio of each pastor or bishop that played any hand in their growth—or who rode the coattails of predecessors.
Big churches make church leaders feel rich. There is the illusion that large churches will provide the revenue to keep things going. There is short-term truth in that. In the long-term, even larger congregations are going to have to hoard more of their offerings to keep the lights on.
Little churches seem like work. In reality, they probably demand less from the regional body. They have been forced to me more self-sufficient and the more self-sufficient they are, the less money they share with regional body—the foundation for bad relationships!
If you study church statistics, you will find that big churches are in decline, too. One of the largest congregations in our area lost a third of its members and income in the last ten years. They’ll get along fine for a while, continuing to support a large staff and plant while offerings wane, but they are traveling downhill on a wide highway. They will be sending less and less to the regional body.
Meanwhile, the self-sufficient small churches are gaining strength because the ways of the world are handing them tools that make regional bodies less important to everyone. Small churches are no longer dependent on centralized publishing houses and managers of mission services. The internet has changed that.
Large churches will have a hard time breaking from traditions, established customs and expensive obligations. Small churches have no choice but to use all the new resources to mission advantage.
The future of the church is growing today — in the small congregations.
Somewhere in church hierarchical thinking there is a tipping point where the value of the church property becomes greater than the value of the people who own the property. At that point the people and mission become expendable. And the attitude of regional bodies can change from shepherd to predator. The tipping point is reached more quickly when the regional body is, itself, scrambling to meet expenses. These are dangerous times for any church with average weekly attendance of 50 or less.
Here is what is happening in many small churches across the United States. (Our parable, Undercover Bishop, tells the story.)
- Small churches, ignored by regional bodies, are free to redefine church.
- When regional bodies fail to find adequate professional leadership, small congregations develop their own.
- When the centralized church publishes worship materials and curriculum designed for use with professional leadership in graded settings, small churches develop methods that work with small, mixed groups led by members.
- Large churches can get by with 20% of members contributing 80% to ministry. Small churches can’t survive if they allow the bored and uninvolved to define their mission. They will seek the passionate and they will find them.
- While members of large churches can wait for someone else to carry the ball, members of small churches scramble to recover fumbles and head for the goal.
- They will develop leaders, recognized on the local scene, if not by the regional bodies, further alienating neighborhood churches.
The pendulum will swing back. Neighborhood ministries will be valued again. There will be a new tipping point. Land will be needed to conduct ministries in neighborhoods where they have squandered congregational assets on their own salaries. With a little luck, some of these churches will still be open.