Tag Archives: small church

Middling, but Not Mediocre, Part 2

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by Carol

Be careful when you describe something as “medium.”  The Big Thompson River in Colorado is sort of a medium river.  It flows steadily throughout the year, swollen with mountain runoff in the spring and showing its rocky foundations in the summer heat.  I remember the canyon as a tourist attraction, with its old-fashioned motels and comfortable little cabins along the banks.

But one Saturday evening in 1976, the river turned into the most deadly flood in Colorado history, killing 143 people and injuring 150 more.   (See http://content-static.coloradoan.com/news/thompson/)

We’ve said that volunteers in the medium church (101-350 attendance in worship) tend to be steady, tolerant, numerically challenged, good (or great), contented volunteers who make competent leaders.  Like the Big Thompson River, the medium church can be a peaceful destination for fishermen or unimaginable power (destructive or positive) ready to be unleashed.  What makes the difference?

Think about the relationship between volunteers and the church staff (the paid kind).  Two words come immediately to mind:  vision and equipping.

Vision
In Part 1, we mentioned that volunteers need to be challenged.  Volunteers can keep on doing whatever they’ve been doing, whether it’s good for the church or not.  The paid staff needs to have the time and theological training to explore what the congregation ought to be doing.  Then the pastor and staff need to communicate these things to the members.  It’s called vision casting, and it should happen in any size church.

Equipping
The other important thing that the pastor and staff need to do is to equip volunteers. This includes spiritual growth, training, and managing “stuff” for them.

In the medium-sized church, “stuff” is where it gets tricky.  As soon as you start adding staff members, the pastor and staff have the opportunity to communicate on a day to day basis and get things done while the volunteers are not around.  Some things that volunteers were doing (or not doing) are done by staff without the input or participation of volunteers.

Let’s give a simplistic example:

The pastor sees a certain staff member every day, so the pastor asks the staff member to check the supplies in the children’s area.  The staff member sees a large tub of broken crayons.  The staff member assumes that the volunteers are not making good use of their limited storage space, so she throws them away. The volunteers come in the next Sunday night to find that the crayons they had expected to melt down for an art project are gone.  Ouch.

“Stuff” can also be dates on the calendar, equipment in the rooms, decorations on the walls, and on and on.  In the small church, the pastor doesn’t have time to look at crayons.  In the large, staff-driven church, the staff manages the materials and a whole lot of other stuff.  Between the two extremes, though, the staff and volunteers have differing expectations.  Let’s just say that, without really good communication, volunteers can be blindsided and caught off-guard — with very unhappy results.  It’s just human.

The Big Thompson flood was caused by an unusual weather pattern over the canyon.  The flash flood caught up trees and boulders.  But it was much more deadly because the rising waters also picked up cars, propane tanks, cabins, and even entire bridges along the way as the water came down the narrow canyon.  Human stuff.

Bottom line:  Don’t let human “stuff” destroy the dedication of volunteers in the medium church.  Clear the debris and keep the channels of communication flowing freely.

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.

The Twilight Zone of Transition

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— by Carol

We’ve looked at volunteers in small churches.  Before we move on to medium-sized churches, let’s pause to look at volunteers in the transition zone.  More than any other transition, volunteers make the difference going from small to medium (or medium to small, but let’s not go there…).

For our purposes, the dividing line is an average attendance of 100 in worship each week.  Volunteers, though, can push this number higher or lower.  Experts point out that a small church is organized around family-type relationships, while a medium church is structured around programs.  Here, too, volunteers can change the picture.adult programs

Watch for some of these signals that tell you that numbers alone don’t tell the whole story:

  •  Volunteers who are strong leaders, helping to organize and direct other members.  They can lead programs — especially start-up programs.
  • Lack of strong leaders.  In some churches, the volunteers don’t get the leadership training or experience at work or in other community organizations.  The pastor has to be more involved in everything, which may lead to burnout or turnover.
  • Talented / skilled volunteers who pick up some of the roles (music, for example) that other churches hire part-time staff to fill.
  • Volunteers who “push back” against growth.  They prefer the close relationships of a small church, even though they may want the church to grow.

 

Try these keys to a successful transition from small to medium:

• Help volunteers to understand and buy in to the medium church structure (where relationships grow in small or medium-sized groups rather than across the entire congregation).

• Develop and use volunteers’ skills in positions that staff would otherwise fill.  (Caution: Don’t treat volunteers unfairly when you can and should be paying them for the time and skills they bring to the church.)

• Make training in Christian leadership skills an on-going, intentional process.

graphic of kids' church programs

It’s no wonder that experts can’t agree on the cut-off point between “small” and “medium” churches.  When you are counting noses, the noses of volunteers can make a world of difference.

A Few Things About Volunteers in the Small Church, Part 2

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by Carol

As we started this series on church size, I mentioned the poor-little-me syndrome that occurs with volunteers in many small churches.  But there are some definite positives to being in a small church.

POSITIVES

Making a Difference
For one thing, it is easier for volunteers to see where they make a difference.  The same volunteer who is chairman of the deacons may also teach the only children’s Sunday morning Bible study class.  At Christmas, the choir has to have all hands on deck or there is no program.  It’s harder for people to fall through the cracks — everyone is needed for something — and people seldom wander the halls unattached.

Generalists
It is easier to help, too.  Volunteers don’t have to be experts since jobs in a small church are less specialized.  A jack-of-all-trades is highly valued.

Haven for the Young and Old
Although generalists are valued, many small churches are blessed to have older members who bring expertise and wisdom.  Some small churches are blessed with young members who are highly enthusiastic and willing to find a way to get a job done.  These same younger and older members are attracted to the small church when they get crowded out by staff or mainstream members in a larger church.

Unique
The skills and interests of the individual members of small churches tend to shape the church’s personality and strong points.  As a result, each small church is unique — sometimes novel, sometimes innovative, sometimes quirky, sometimes bordering on cultish.

This uniqueness can be a strength that carries volunteers through hard times.  But it can also insulate them from beneficial change and engaging the culture around them.  A good antidote to this drawback is to interact often in training workshops that draw an attendance from multiple churches.  Denominations, Christian publishers, and non-profit ministries offer lots of options to cross-pollinate with participants from other churches.

UNEXPECTED

There are a couple of unexpected things about volunteers in a small church:

Core, Not Clique
First, small groups that hang together in a large church are known as a clique (with all the negative connotations).  In a small church, that same group is the church core.  Yes, they may need to soften their edges to let newcomers in, but the solid relationships they have forged over time are the foundation of the church’s resilience.

Volunteer Pockets
Second, the budget in a small church may look miniscule and locked in, but that is not the whole story.  Volunteers in small churches often reach into their own pockets — because they can, with such small numbers — to fund things that really matter to them.  And sometimes they foot the bill for the fun fluff!

KEY TAKE-AWAYS

The key to taking advantage of the small church is to find the up-sides of having a small campus, small numbers, and a close network.

  • Use chatter in the network to encourage others in a round-about way.  Example: Talk up what some volunteer did and share your appreciation for them.  Positive attitudes spread even faster than gossip!
  • Use the instances where economy of scale works in reverse.  Example: Meet off-campus at a local ice cream parlor.  Example: Buy a fun (or inspirational) book for all of your volunteer team.
  • Use the established familiarity.  Example: When you need help, tap into what people know of each other and their talents.

Small churches are great, and the volunteers in them matter!

A Few Things About Volunteers in the Small Church, Part 1

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by Carol

We’re looking at how church size influences volunteers and volunteer coordination. If you want to learn about the characteristics of a small church, there are quite a few good books about small churches, with more coming out periodically. We will review some of them, so come back and check our Reviews page. For this post, we will look at a few basics and a bit of what that means for volunteers.

How big is a small church?

When I did my doctoral research, I defined a “small” church as one averaging 100 or fewer in worship each week. Some experts would go as low as 50 and some as high as 150. An argument can be made for either one, but a better argument can be made for looking more at the organizational structure than at simple numbers.

Small churches are often said to be like a family in their organizational structure. Be careful, though, that you don’t assume that the pastor is the “father” of this “family.” The comparison with a family simply means that the church is organized on the basis of relationships. The congregation is small enough for people to know each other, at least on some level.

Think about a family reunion. All of those people are related to you in some way, even if you are a little fuzzy on what it is.

How big can the extended family grow before you have trouble remembering which toddlers belong to which of your cousins? At some point, the people you see at the far picnic table don’t feel like “family” anymore.

How does this impact the volunteers?

There are some obvious implications for volunteers in a small church. For example, due to numbers alone, small churches don’t have as many programs. As a result, volunteers have fewer choices of programs in which they can serve.

On the flip side, if there is an unmet need in the church, a volunteer may have more opportunity to start a program to meet that need and to serve in a leadership position. (And down the road, they may have a higher risk of burnout because they tried to meet the need without enough manpower, training or resources.)

Next time

But what about the not-so-obvious implications? How do the relational aspect and other unique characteristics of the small church impact volunteers?  In Part 2 on Small Churches, we will look at the less obvious ways in which the characteristics of a small church influence its volunteers.