BiblicalInsights.net

     Are there any advantages to being a small church?  Bigger is better, right?  According to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, there are 177,000 churches in America with fewer than 100 weekly worshipers and another 105,000 churches between 100 and 500 in attendance each week.  On the other hand, there are only 19,000 churches–or 6 percent of the total–with more than 500 attendees.  That means that if there were 100 churches in your town, 94 of them would have 500 or fewer attendees, and only 6 would have more than 500.  Mega-churches (regular attendance over 2,000) make up less than one half of one percent of churches in America.  “We have allowed the ministry experience of 6 percent of pastors to become the standard by which the remaining 94 percent of us judge ourselves” (Brandon J. O’Brien, The Strategically Small Church, p. 25). 
     Sociologist Rodney Stark estimates that at the end of the first century there may have been only twenty-five thousand Christians in the entire known world.  By the fourth century, before the Roman Emperor Constantine legalized the practice of Christianity, there may have been as many as 20 million (O’Brien, p. 30).  This growth occurred primarily through the combined efforts of small churches.
     Many of the megachurches have swelled in size due to transfer growth (members from other denominations) rather than conversions (new converts to Christianity).  The flagship church of the evangelical movement during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s was the Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton, California.  Over five thousand people made their way to the worship service each Sunday.  Chuck Swindoll was the preacher.  They had become a church growth success story.  However, Swindoll admitted that 80 to 85 percent of attendees were from other churches (William Chadwick, Steeling Sheep, pp. 70-71). Megachurches often have a crippling effect upon small churches much like a Walmart store does to a mom and pop grocery store in a small town. 
     Are there any advantages to small churches?   Since small churches make up the majority of churches among churches of Christ, this question seems pertinent to us.  Here are some things to consider.
     1.     Small churches are better at building intimacy.  In a small congregation, individuals come to know one another more intimately.  Megachurches are forced to find ways to break down into smaller groups.  In effect, they attempt to copy the intimacy and fellowship present in small churches by doing this.  In a smaller church, all of the members get to know the preacher serving them.  In a megachurch, most members only see the preacher on a big screen!  The level of fellowship and intimacy in small churches can provide strength through a sense of connectedness and unity.  Small churches are better at meeting relational needs.
     2.     Small churches are better at allowing ministry opportunities.  Most megachurches are run by staffers.  In a small church, the various gifts/talents of the members are put to more significant use.  This leads to a sense of  real meaning and purpose in serving the Lord and others.
     3.     Small churches are better at financial efficiency and consequently are better stewards of God’s money.  Smaller churches are generally more frugal with the money given into the church treasury.  They look for ways to cut costs and get the most value for every dollar spent in the Lord’s work.  Larger churches have more overhead, administrative costs, and tend to splurge to give the appearance of success.  After all, success is what attracts people to them in the first place. 
     4.     Small churches are better at evangelism.  There is a greater evangelistic energy on the part of the individual member.  In large churches, evangelism is left up to the experts.  In small churches, more individual members become involved in evangelism through the outreach of the church.  Members are involved in visitation programs, advertising church events, and inviting friends and neighbors to worship assemblies.  
      The size of a church does not necessarily mean that it is or is not more faithful to the truth of God’s Word.  Bigger doesn’t mean “more faithful.”  Sometimes “bigger” means less faithful as church leaders attempt to compromise the truth in order to have more people in attendance on Sunday morning.  Smaller churches may not be as appealing to the masses as they attempt to hold to the moral and doctrinal distinctiveness of the New Testament church.  Faithfulness to God should be the real measure of success in the work of the kingdom.  Jesus described two different “ways” in the Sermon on the Mount.  A “broad way” that leads to destruction and a “narrow way” that leads to life.  Many are on the broad way.  Few are on the narrow way (Matthew 7:13-14).  We must give diligence to be found on the “narrow way” that leads to life.