“We Can’t Add Another Service! We Won’t Know Everyone.”

Most pastors and other church leaders have heard this objection at one point or another. It might be a point of contention when the leadership suggests the addition of another worship service. Similarly, it might be the cry when leadership begins looking at the option of creating a new venue or adding a new site.

A pastor in our Church Answers community recently shared his frustration when a similar objection was raised because of the growth of the church. A church member really told him the church needed to stop growing because the longer-term members don’t know most of the new members. Sigh. I guess we can start a new emphasis and call it “reverse evangelism.” Ask the newcomers to leave so we can maintain the integrity of our holy huddles.

There are so many problems with this attitude and argument. Let’s look at a few of them. Read More

This is an issue that often pops up when a church has become a middle-sized church but its members still view it as a small church in which everyone supposedly knows everyone else. But I have found that even in small churches members' knowing everybody is not always the case. The long-time members may know each other but newcomers may attend the church for several years and not gain entry to this friendship circle. They are treated as outsider despite the length of time that they have attended the church. They are not included in the grape vine through which important information is passed to church members or the leadership circle which makes the important decisions in the church. This circle may be different from the church board or its equivalent that the church by-laws vest with the making of such decisions.  

Photo by Sarah Noltner on Unsplash