What’s the ideal size for a local church?

The Bible doesn’t say. So neither will I. I will concede that different sizes have differing advantages and disadvantages. We live in the era of the mega-church. Churches that measure their membership in the thousands are positioned to support many missionaries, to serve their unbelieving neighbors, to create helps to the broader church.

Where they tend to be weaker is in strong relationships between leadership and laity and among the laity. Accountability is lost in the sea of faces, which sadly is part of what draws so many of those faces. Finally, such churches tend to let slip, remain silent, or seek safe spaces on the issues of the day, so as not to offend.

Churches that measure their membership in the tens, not surprisingly, tend to have the opposite strengths and weaknesses. They tend to be cash poor, unable to pay their pastor, often without a building to meet in, and often invisible to the broader world. They tend to be stronger in pastoral care and the blessings of community. Accountability can, however, slide over into a church body full of busy-bodies.

It may be that what works best is shaped largely by the state of the church as a whole, and the state of the broader culture. When the Christian faith is strong and the broader culture is less hostile, big churches may be more effective. When, however, the church is both given to worldliness and being overrun by the world smaller might be better. The church in our day is less effective and more worldly which in turn makes the world more worldly. Compromise with the world doesn’t bring peace but greater aggression from the world.

Smaller churches do not have to face mass departures and budget deficits when they confront the sexual insanity of the world, or sexual shenanigans inside the church. Smaller churches have smaller targets on their backs when the state encroaches on our call to gather for worship.

As the world becomes more hostile to the Christian faith, as it descends deeper into its madness large churches will either stand firm and become small churches or flee from the battle and remain large and largely insignificant. Thus far, it seems, we’re seeing far more of the latter than we are of the former.

I suspect smaller churches will become increasingly common in the coming years, and that such is a good thing. That doesn’t mean large churches are sinful and small ones pious. I haven’t forgotten where I began- the Bible doesn’t say how big churches should be. I do believe, however, we would be wise not to assume that which is normal right now is how things always ought to be.

Remember this- ear tickling preachers have large flocks precisely because both sheep and goats like having their ears tickled. Even the pew-sitters long to be on the winning team. The winning team, however, just may be the twenty faithful folks who just got kicked out of the local YMCA for not being inclusive enough. Give some thought to how you think about your church.

This is the first of an ongoing series of pieces here on the nature and calling of the church. Stay tuned for more.