Tag Archives: large church

Where were we? (more on church size)

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by Carol

Where were we?  Oh, yes.  We were looking at the impact of church size on volunteers.  We had just looked at the large and very large churches, but we didn’t look at the difference between them.

IS there a difference between large and very large churches when it comes to volunteers?  The size categories we’ve used are small (up to 100 in worship attendance), medium (101-350), large (351-750), very large (751-1800), mega (over 1800) and super (more on that in a later post).

So, what’s the difference when you go from 600 up to 1,500?  You are going to have a larger campus, more staff, more programs, more diversity in the congregation, higher quality in everything you do, and more distinction between skills of staff and volunteers.

If you ARE a volunteer, you are going to see these differences in the church.  But, honestly, you might not feel the difference in terms of how volunteers are led or organized.

Staff members and volunteers who lead volunteers, though, will find that it requires
**more intentional communication,
**more intentional recruiting, and
**more lead time for events.
By the time you get to 1,500 in worship, the staff members are learning from the mega churches — the tips, the tricks, and the systems.

For the volunteers, other things matter more than mere numbers.  A church in the midst of explosive growth (because of relocation, a new pastor, etc.) may not have all of the policies, programs, and systems in place yet.  The newly-large will look much different from a church that has been large for a decade.  A church that has been slowly succumbing to outdated leadership may be an unpleasant atmosphere for volunteers, even if it has all of the bells and whistles of the very large church.

Yes, there are differences between large churches and very large churches, but they aren’t as easy to spot  — which is probably why you don’t see many books and articles about their unique characteristics.  In fact, they often get lumped in together.  It could be that more people just means more of what you’ve been doing, rather than requiring anything distinctly different.

If you have some ideas about how volunteers are influenced by the unique features of large or very large churches, leave a comment.  Let’s explore this together!

3 Reasons for a Happy Dance

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Happy Danceby Carol

Between Medium and Mega lies the land of the Large Church and the Very Large Church.  For many church volunteers, this is the Land of the Happy Dance for at least three reasons:

1.  Volunteers leaders are needed and supported.  By the time you get to the mega church, many volunteer leadership positions have been taken over by pastoral staff, support staff, and even interns.  But the large church still relies on volunteers to lead volunteers.  These leaders often work closely with the support staff (ministry assistants and shared secretaries).  In fact, it is not unusual to see volunteer leaders hired onto the staff as the church grows to the next level.

2.  Volunteers can develop an area of interest.  Unlike the small church, where the jack-of-all-trades is crucial, the large and very large churches have room for specialists.  Musicians who aren’t professionals, for example, can shine in a variety of roles without feeling guilty that some other ministry of the church is struggling.  Volunteers gain experience and expertise, but they don’t have to be exclusively dedicated to a niche.

3.  Volunteers appreciate participating in programs that are done well.  Benefits come from having more people, the leadership of well-trained staff, and more resources (financial and otherwise).  The church doesn’t hesitate to foot the bill for training and workshops.  And the volunteers get positive feedback from church members who appreciate the quality of the music, children’s activities, teaching, interior décor, etc., etc.

Right Fit
Volunteers don’t always know what they are looking for, but they feel the difference when they find the right place to serve. Large and very large churches aren’t right for everyone, of course.  I always think about the question of whether you want to be a big fish in a little pond or a little fish in a big pond — assuming that being a big fish in a big pond isn’t one of your options.

So a few questions are in order:

Are you a jack-of-all-trades?
Are you a professional in some field and do you want to use that expertise in a volunteer capacity at church?
Do you like feeling that you have made a difference in whether a ministry will continue to function?
Do you put a high value on excellence above other things?
Are you more concerned with finding a place for everyone, even those with limited skills?

These are the trade-offs that volunteers consider, whether they think about them consciously or not.  It helps when the volunteers and their leaders are aware of what the trade-offs are.  In fact, they may even launch their happy dance!

The Twilight Zone Revisited: From Medium to Large

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by Carol

It’s interesting being in a medium-sized church that has a high proportion of members who have come from much larger churches.  I didn’t realize what was driving my expectations and those of other folks in the church until I started writing this post.

A Different Transition
A while back (see 10-30-2015 post, The Twilight Zone of Transition), we noted that volunteers make the difference going from small-sized church to medium. The transition from medium to large, though, can be uniquely difficult to maneuver. Members of the congregation, including volunteers, struggle to adjust their relationship to the lead pastor.  While members of the small church expect direct access to the pastor, members in the larger church understand that the pastor can’t do everything.  As the church adds paid pastoral staff, members look to the staff for matters within their areas of responsibility.

Half & Half in Medium
In our medium-sized church, I get the best (and worst) of both worlds!  Folks who have been with the church since it was small go directly to the pastor with their questions and concerns.  Folks who came from larger churches come to me, expecting me to know everything and expecting me to have the ability to make adjustments.  They are familiar with going to the staff member instead of the pastor.

As a volunteer myself, though, I am frequently out of the “staff” loop and can’t make the adjustments.  We are a medium church — so I got the title, but no office or day-to-day communication with the pastor.  (Let’s just say that I like the ministry, and I knew what I was getting into.)  Nevertheless, the expectation is there.

Armed with this new insight, I can revise my expectations.  We live in a fuzzy area, where some members will go to the pastor and some will go to the pastoral staff responsible for the program.  Neither way is wrong in the medium church.  But what about the large church?

Transition to Large
As the church continues to grow, members need to learn to look to the staff members instead of going to the lead pastor.  It is becoming an Acts 6 situation, protecting his time to lead the church and prepare sermons.  And, of course, the church will probably hire a paid staff member to take my position to the next level (1 Timothy 5:18).

Take-aways
We could say that communication becomes critical during this transition — which is true.  But even more, leaders and other volunteers need to be flexible and tolerant.  Medium churches can do things that won’t fly in the large church.  Until it is a large church (and everyone in the church thinks like large-church members), there will be differences of opinion of how things ought to be done.

If you want the medium church to become a large church, let people learn and grow into the structure.  If you want to be sure that your medium church will never become a large church, be rigid and intolerant, insisting that everything be done the way that the large churches do it.