Many types of churches fulfill the Great Commission without seeing their own numerical growth.
This has been an underlying assumption of many in the church growth
movement. (Although it’s usually more subtly stated than that.) But, as
with any assumption, we must always ask one vital question.
Is it true?
I say no.
Certainly many churches that stay small are unhealthy. Thankfully, unhealthy churches tend not to grow.
But, as I’ve written in The Myth of Inevitable Congregational Growth, some healthy churches don’t experience the numerical growth we expect.
Some healthy churches don’t experience the numerical growth we expect.
So I’ve started compiling a list of the types of healthy small churches
whose numbers will often stay static, even though they’re doing great
kingdom work.
It’s not a definitive list. Just what I’ve discovered so far. And it's
not universally true. Every one of these has exceptional cases of
significant numerical growth.
Also, I am not offering these as an excuse for laziness or any other
form of ill-health. Enthusiastic participation in the growth of the
church through the Great Commandment and Great Commission is a
non-optional essential for every congregation. But many types of
churches do that without seeing their own numerical growth.
Here are 11 of them:
1. Planting Churches
Some churches contribute to the body of Christ by growing bigger. Some
are like spiritual Johnny Appleseeds, planting other small churches all
over the place.
2. Training Churches
Small churches are especially well-suited to be hands-on training centers. Including the church I pastor.
During the school year, up to one-third of our church attendance can be
college students. Plus we have internships in both the school year and
the summer months, during which students from all over the world get to
interact with every aspect of the church body. Interning in a small
church allows them to see the church as an integrated whole, not just in
one narrow department.
3. Sending Churches
This usually goes in tandem with being a Training Church. We train them, then we send them.
In the church I pastor, for example, members are always leaving us for
active ministry elsewhere. Last Sunday is a typical example, in which we
said goodbye to three people. 1) A member of our worship team who has
accepted a full-time position leading worship at another church, 2) an
intern who is heading back home to Austria, and 3) a long-term member
who will be training missions teams all over the world.
4. Retirement Community Churches
This is a valid and growing, but often overlooked segment of the church.
I have a friend who pastors a wonderful, healthy church in a retirement
community. Every year, he performs funerals for 20 percent of his
congregation. So he has to maintain 20 percent growth just to keep his
attendance level. Which he does. In any other circumstance, 20 percent
growth every year for over a decade would get you noticed. In his case,
he has to fight completely unwarranted feelings of failure.
5. Niche Churches
I’m convinced this will be a growing segment of the church world in the
coming decades. Especially in large population centers. Churches that
serve a peculiar segment of the population – as in, people who would
never attend either a traditional church or a modern contemporary one –
are needed now, more than ever.
Churches that serve a peculiar segment of the population are needed now, more than ever.
Sometimes the niche is ethnic or language based. Sometimes it's a group
that feels alienated from mainstream society. Often, these segments are
so small that there will never be enough of them to build a big church.
But they need to hear about Jesus in a way that meets their unique
sensibilities and needs.
6. Counter-Cultural Churches
This often overlaps with Niche Churches, but not necessarily.
Big and megachurches usually grow large and fast because they use
methods that tap into the ethos of a surrounding culture. This is an
important part of contextualizing the Gospel message, adapting methods
to fit the culture while maintaining a message that often remains
counter to it.
But some churches are planted in cultures where the ground is very hard
and rocky. Or they're called to be counter-cultural in their methods,
not just their message. These churches don't tap into the culture, they
swim in 180-degree opposition to it.
7. House Churches
House churches are a valid, but far-too-often overlooked expression of
the body of Christ. And, like Niche Churches, they are likely to
multiply in the coming decades.
8. Impoverished Churches
With some wonderful exceptions, most megachurch success stories happen
where the populace has an income level well above average.
But there are many communities where the median income is low and
dropping, usually along with a diminishing job market and population
base. The faithful, prayerful, hardworking, wise and loving people who
are called by God to live and minister in these communities – usually
living at poverty levels themselves – should not be placed under
unreasonable expectations of unlikely numerical growth.
9. Persecuted Churches
While we're writing about the inevitability of numerical growth, our
books and blogs are being read by church leaders in regions of the world
where the church is undergoing massive oppression. They want help, but
some of our church growth messages are adding to their burden, not
relieving it.
This is not a theory to me. I've sat with pastors in persecuted
churches who have told me heartbreaking stories. Entitled church leaders
from well-to-do countries have told them their churches would be bigger
if they had more faith or adopted their church growth methods. But even
a rudimentary look at their neighborhood would tell anyone with any
sensitivity that those methods won't work here. And as to not having
enough faith? All I could think, as I sat in their tiny homes and
churches, was "if I had half your faith, I'd be a giant of a man."
10. Transitional Churches
Many churches exist in communities that are undergoing massive
demographic shifts. Leading a church to health and growth is a huge
challenge when the sands aren’t constantly shifting beneath your feet.
But when they are, it’s that much harder.
I know pastors in communities where 20-25 percent of the population
moves out every year, only to be replaced by a new group of people who
are unlikely to stay longer than three to five years. Certainly these
new people bring great opportunity, but it takes an enormous amount of
work to maintain a church’s current size – let alone grow numerically –
when you lose that many people every year.
11. Strategically Small Churches
Some churches are small intentionally. And they play a vital role in the Great Commission.
Yes, some churches are small intentionally. And they play a vital role
in the Great Commission. I’ll explore some of what that means in my next
post, How to Tell If Your Small Church Is Strategic Or Stuck.
Again – No Excuses
None of this should be taken as an excuse to settle for less or to stay stuck.
It's also not a a slam on big churches. Big churches are great. But
they're not for everyone. We must always provide vibrant, healthy
alternatives for people who prefer to worship, minister and be discipled
in a smaller environment.
Healthy small churches are one essential element among many in fulfilling the Great Commission.
Karl Vaters is the author of The Grasshopper Myth: Big Churches, Small Churches and the Small Thinking That Divides Us.
He’s been in pastoral ministry for over 30 years and has been the lead
pastor of Cornerstone Christian Fellowship in Fountain Valley,
California for over 20 years. He’s also the founder of
NewSmallChurch.com, a blog that encourages, connects and equips
innovative Small Church pastors.
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