First, an admission: there is no perfect size of church. The truth today is there are all sizes of churches available in nearly every community. I have been the pastor of small, medium, and mega-size churches. Each has a unique dynamic. Positives and negatives can be found in each. Some positives and the negatives are unique to the size of the church.
Second, another admission is necessary to correct the neutrality of admission #1: there is too much fascination with large church size. Within 2,000 years of Christian church history, the very large church is a very recent development. For centuries and centuries, the fascination given to the large church today was entirely missing inside of the Christian community, ministry, and mission.
Third, various thought leaders are saying out loud what all of us suspect: the formation — and transformation — of souls does not happen easily in large churches. Some say it more boldly, perhaps to make the point: the dynamic of a large gathering hinders, and even endangers, soul formation. Eugene Peterson, as an example, said once that spiritual formation is an impossibility in a church of more than 300 people. Whether the number “300” is the “correct” size marker might be debated. But Peterson was adamant in his conviction that size is an outright threat and danger to spiritual formation:
“crowds are a worse danger, far worse, than drink or sex.”
He was tapping into something said before him by Kierkegaard:
“the more people, the less truth.”
Ideas like this are more frequently found in blogs, pastoral conversations, and classrooms. Yesterday, I read an article by Rachel Joy Welcher on Substack. I restacked her article on Substack Notes. I was so impressed by the simple beauty of this statement, and how it resonated with my own understanding of how church can retrieve its formational and transformational power, that I want to feature it here again. I recommend you check out her Substack, called Dear Hildegaard, which offers letters, poetry, and theology. Here are her good words:
Some of you would be so blessed in smaller churches. It's not that small churches aren't also full of sinner-saints, but there can be a built-in humility to being small & not particularly cool - just there to worship, fellowship, and taste of Christ's body and blood.
I realize this isn't always the case, but often it is. And some people who have been hurt in mega-churches that [emphasize] performance and cult-personalities, continue to go to other mega-churches. Maybe it's time for a change?
Maybe it's time to go to church not for the programs or amount of people the same age or cool worship band, but for the sake of faithfulness. To be among God's imperfect but beloved people, singing off-key together, hearing the Word spoken, and praying to the God of All Comfort.
Maybe it's time to take a widow out for coffee.
Maybe it's time to attend the church cleaning day and scrub some toilets.
Maybe it's time to go to a Bible study with people you wouldn't be friends with by choice.
Maybe it's time to set your alarm on Sunday.
Allow yourself to heal by loving others the way you have always wanted to be loved in Church.