A Small Church Redefines its Mission

What is a great church? For many Americans, great is synonymous with large, volume equals vitality quantity means quality. But a countertradition is quietly emerging. As more churches grow to stadium proportions, small congregations are coming to see their diminutive size as an asset for mission.

I had to learn this from experience in serving as part-time pastor of St. Andrew Lutheran Church on Chicago’s southwest side. With 167 members and 98 in worship on a typical Sunday, St. Andrew is a small congregation. But then so are the majority of Protestant churches. Of the approximately 400,000 congregations in the U.S., between 51 and 60 percent average 75 in weekly attendance, a percentage that holds true across racial and class boundaries. Small churches are often defined as those with fewer than 100 in worship on any given Sunday.

Whereas the average Protestant congregation is small, the average Protestant goes to a large church. Half of American Protestants are members of the largest 15 percent of churches. One school of prophets continually warns us that the small church has little future. One church official put into words what many silently believe: "A small church can be defined as one in which the number of active members and the total annual budget are inadequate relative to organizational needs and expenses. It is a church struggling to pay its minister, heat its building, and find enough people to assume leadership responsibilities."

Yet small churches are not dinosaurs destined to lose the struggle for survival. And it is not true that small churches don’t have the resources to do effective mission. As Carl Dudley writes, "When church size is measured by human relationships, the small church is the largest expression of the Christian faith," And David Ray reminds us that "small churches are the norm, primarily because many, many people still find them to be the right size In which to love God and neighbor. I expect they will continue to be the norm."

St. Andrew shares an all-too-common narrative about church growth and decline, and about how good Christians can build bad congregations. It is also a story of hope and renewal. Read more

This article first appeared in The Christian Century almost ten years ago. It describes a common problem besetting small Anglican and Episcopalian churches as well as small Lutheran churches in North America. It is not a problem of size but of a problem of vision. These churches understand their mission as providing a church home to Anglicans (typically conservative Episcopalians who have left The Episcopal Church  and Continuers moving to the area where the church is located) or Episcopalians (those who for one reason or another continue to be willing to worship with an Episcopal church.) This means that such churches have an extremely limited sense of the ministry of the church and target their outreach efforts at a very tiny segment of the population.

Sound doctrine is a major determinant in the health of a church. This includes a church's sense of its ministry. The lack of sound doctrine accounts largely for the lack of commitment to the Great Commission in both Anglican and Episcopalian churches in North America, not only in churches in the Anglican Church of Canada and The Episcopal Church but also the Anglican Church in North America, the Anglican Mission,  and the Continuum.