Strong Small Churches - The Bigger A Church ...

Strong Small Churches - The bigger a church grows, the worse it becomes both in quality and in its capability to reach new people. This surprising finding comes out of a Germany -based Institute of Church Development study of churches worldwide. In churches with attendance of less than 100, 31% of the people practice their spiritual gifts to help their church grow vs. only 17% in those over 1,000. In all areas except one, the quality decreases with the size of the church. That area is more inspiring worship services. Smaller churches are stronger in each of the other 7 characteristics measured; empowering leadership, gift-oriented ministry, passionate spirituality, functional structures, holistic small groups, need-oriented evangelism, and loving relationships. More megachurches are needed because they have opportunities others don’t have, but even more strategic is celebrating and multiplying small churches. (BuildingChurchLeaders.com 6/8/06)