Tag Archives: mega church

Middling, but Not Mediocre, Part 1

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by Carol

Like the middle child, medium-sized churches often don’t get a lot of attention.  They don’t have the big, flashy programs of the mega church.  They don’t have the hand-to-mouth financial struggles of the small church.  They just go about their business on Sundays and throughout the week, doing their best to grow believers and share Christ in their communities.

So, what makes volunteers in the medium church (101-350 attendance in worship) different?

Steady
For one thing, these volunteers tend to be steady.  (Not all of them, of course, but more often than not.)  They know that people are counting on them, but they don’t have grandiose plans to wow the world.

Leaders
There are enough levels of leadership in a medium church for leaders to rise up and yet not be in over their heads.  It’s small enough that leadership flaws, when they exist, are not fatal.

Tolerant
Members in conflict, at least to a certain level, can co-exist under the same roof in the medium church.  On the Up side, people can simply avoid those with whom they disagree.  On the Down side, though, conflict may fester and remain unresolved.

Numerically Challenged
Where one or two volunteers could handle something in a small church, most projects or programs need more staffing (or funding) in a medium church.  It’s common for the medium church to take on more than its volunteer base can actually run.

Good / Great
Volunteers can be excellent, but they don’t have to be professionals — especially those with technical skills and in the area of worship arts.

Contented
In a medium church, volunteers can get locked into tradition.  Maybe it’s because the status quo is working, and there is no apparent reason to risk it.  But medium churches actually have more opportunities to experiment — they are neither a small rowboat that sinks easily nor an ocean liner that is difficult to turn.

In Part 2 on medium churches, we’ll look at the relationship between volunteers and staff (especially the pastor).  Volunteers in a medium church need challenges so that they don’t become mindless sheep.  The pastor and other staff members have a significant role to play in casting the vision and gathering resources for volunteers to fulfill their potential.  But that comes with a price that is often overlooked.

Big Church / Little Church

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by Carol

What size is your church?  Are you sure?

For many years, I was in a church that I called “a small, neighborhood church.”  We lived in the shadow of a super church (bigger than a mega church) that was the size of a zip code.  As we considered relocating, though, we realized that we had members from 10 different cities!  And, according to experts in church size, we were at least a medium-sized church.  By some standards, we were large!

Big church little church

You can imagine the difference that made in how the members of the congregation viewed outreach, staffing, budget, and a host of other issues.

The concept of size has an impact on volunteers, too.  Have you seen one of these scenarios?

  • Volunteers visit a larger church.  It doesn’t have to be a “mega” church — everything else looks mega to these volunteers.  They underestimate themselves for being “only” a small church.  They “can’t” do the things they see in this big church.  They are overwhelmed at the supply rooms (compared to a supply cabinet) and enormous murals.  They feel like grasshoppers in a land of giants.
  • Volunteers attend a church that has television outreach and a well-known pastor.  Their ministry year always begins with in-house training and retreats led by highly educated staff members.  Although these volunteers are invited to training sessions outside of the church and have access to all sorts of ministry workshops, the volunteers in this church assume that the resources are for smaller churches that don’t have the expertise of their church staff.  They are missing out on the benefits of learning from (and fellowshipping with) folks with a different perspective.

In both cases, it would help for the volunteers to adjust their mental image.  Too often, we feel like small is inferior and big is self-sufficient.

For the next few posts, we are going to explore the categories of church size and what we can learn about the strengths / weaknesses of each — and what that means for volunteers.