Why smaller churches find it hard to grow.

Too often small churches struggle to grow. The reasons for this struggle are multiple. Small churches, while effective in some ways, tend to be more family oriented and do not allow visitors to feel at home as readily. Lyle Schaller refers to churches under the two hundred mark as “Collie” churches. “Some people tend to wonder why these churches remain on a plateau in size or why church shoppers often do not return after that initial visit. Collies tend to have strong affection for members of the family, but they often bark at strangers”. When any church falls into this mode of operation, growth becomes almost impossible. Myriads of books and articles have been written about the growth problems of the small church. The key to avoiding these problems for a new church is to reach the two hundred mark quickly. New church plants that do not grow rapidly will develop a “Collie” mentality, stifling their ability to reach out and impact the community. Planting new churches should be an attempt to overcome growth problems, not emulate them.

A church in the city, which never reaches the 200 barrier, could have a very limited ministry future. Why? Because 200 “is the minimum number of adults needed, in a metropolitan setting, to provide the services people want in a church”. A church plant is no exception. It, like all churches, will experience a plateau in its attendance. If the church plant experiences a plateau below 200, its effectiveness in delivering the gospel through multiple ministries will be severely hampered.

Several difficulties will need to be overcome if a church plant doesn’t grow quickly.

Ministry Options

We live in a culture that loves choices. In fact, we live in a culture that has come to expect choices. If you go into any convenience store looking for pop, how many choices do you expect to find at their fountain? Two? Unthinkable. Four? Probably not. I’m guessing, but I bet most have at least eight different spouts to choose from. The same idea of choice holds true in today’s church. Once a church plant finds itself limited by low attendance and resources, it will inevitably be limited in what services it has to offer a community. Limited choices and services will make further church growth very difficult to accomplish. By contrast, if a church plant can reach the 200 mark quickly, it will be better able to provide multiple ministries quickly and avoid losing the momentum needed to continue effective ministry. So, if a new church isn’t able to offer multiple ministry options quickly, it will find itself unable to compete among the myriad of already established churches that do. PPPTo some degree, every church struggles with this problem, but the church plant is even more vulnerable. While an established church may be able to do adequate ministry with an average attendance of less than two hundred, over an extended period of time, a church plant cannot. Established churches have differing advantages that baby churches do not.

Credibility

Most established churches have buildings that give them visibility. Established churches also have been able to build credibility over many years in their community. In some case, these older churches have become a community institution. They have a proven staying power and an accepted reputation a new church hasn’t had time to build. Too often, church plants are viewed with suspicion and even labeled as cultish. Rapid growth of a new church can create enough “buzz” on the street to help give it the credibility it needs.

Finances

Established churches have had time to build a loyal membership. Often, this loyal membership consists of extended families that have invested themselves in the history of the church. This loyalty creates a stronger financial foundation. Members give because they have always given or because Mom and Dad gave. Many established churches take for granted the material possessions they have gained over years of existence. The church plant rarely has the advantage of traditional and institutionalized tithe. A church plant almost always starts out with a smaller number of attendees and thus, is limited by their financial resources. The acquisition of little things, like tables, chairs, sound systems, computers, and things that will be needed to grow can become huge financial issues for a church plant.

Corporate Esteem

Of all the problems that new church experience, this may be the most difficult to overcome. Crowds attract crowds. Think about it. The last time you were in an unfamiliar town and needed to choose a restaurant to eat at, didn’t a part of your selection process include counting the number of cars in each parking lot? I bet you turned to your spouse and said something like, “Wow, that barbeque joint sure is busy. I bet they’re good.” Whether you realized it or not, you were attracted to the size of the crowd, not their sign or their building’s façade. To create new missions that break out of the mold of the self-serving, survival-minded, family-run organizations, leaders must find a way to plant churches that can pack out their pews and parking lots in a very short period of time. When a church is able to grow rapidly and gain momentum, this will create a healthy attitude among the members. “A primary difference between growing and declining churches is their attitude. Growing churches feel they have something worthwhile to offer to their community. Their high level of self-esteem provides the energy and strength to share the gospel of Christ with people in the community”.

Church plants that do not grow beyond the 150 average attendance mark within a few years will lose momentum and fall into the small-church trap that will result in a low sense of congregational morale. Church plants are infused with a heightened expectation for success. Very often, these new congregants are driven by an exciting desire to change the world.  This desire and expectation make them more vulnerable. When the young churchgoer’s experience is not met with immediate success, a palpable discouragement can set in. This can be a fatal blow for the young church.

The members involved in an established church usually possess fairly level attitudes and expectations. Most have settled into a routine way of “doing” church. Members may pray for, expect, and hope to grow, but the level of expectation for dramatic and rapid changes is not as high as in a new church. In contrast, the expectation of those involved in a church plant is one of rapid growth within a short period of time. When expectations are not reached at the level anticipated, a sense of failure is certain.

Once an attitude of defeat settles into the hearts and minds of the church planter and the new congregation, they can very easily begin to view themselves “as small, weak, unattractive, powerless and frustrated with a limited future”. Unfortunately, this attitude is the state in which many church plants find themselves. If conventional wisdom is true, two-thirds of church-planting attempts will begin to develop a small-church self-image. In essence, church plants need to reach the two hundred mark quickly or face a myriad of problems.