How big?
22/08/14 05:23
“How big is your church?” It is a question that I often get. Usually I answer by giving an estimate of the number of members. It is one way of measuring the size of a congregation, I suppose, though I suspect it isn’t as accurate a measurement as it once was. There are people who are members of the congregation who are infrequent worshipers. There are people who are actively involved in the life of the church who haven’t taken the step of official membership. There are some who have moved on to other congregations without transferring their membership. The levels of activity and involvement mean that it is hard to get an accurate count of members.
By that method of counting, however, our congregation is remarkably stable. The official count of members goes up and down year by year but it has been in a rather narrow range for the last 50 years.
Another way of measuring the size of a congregation is to take a look at the annual budget. How much money do we handle in a year. That, too, is pretty difficult to grasp. If you just take our operating budget, we’ve been growing steadily, and rather remarkably over the last 20 years. With a stable membership, it might mean that our people are becoming more deeply committed and picking making larger and large donations. It might also mean that inflation keeps raising the prices or the amount of money people have to donate. It might mean that our congregation is growing older. Donations to charities and causes tends to go up with age. But even that is a poor measurement because we actually do more mission and ministry than is reported in the budget figures. There are lots of special funds and projects. There are significant ministries that don’t cost money from the church’s budget. There are many other ways to give than just the contribution of money.
Sometimes we think of our church in terms of the number of people in worship. That number is also quite steady, though it goes through dramatic swings in a week-by-week basis. On average, our worship attendance has been fairly stable over the years. The problem with using that number as a measurement of the size of the congregation is that every time we gather to worship, we can all name dozens of people who are active and important in our congregation who aren’t present at that particular service.
So I am not sure how to answer the question about the size of our congregation. Perhaps the best answer is, “Come and visit. Get involved. You’ll discover there is a whole lot more to this congregation than initially meets the eye.”
The volunteers who have been working on the rummage sale this week are reporting to me that this is the biggest rummage sale ever. My colleagues in other congregations tell me that our rummage sales are the biggest and best in the community. I don’t know that having a big rummage sale is a particularly valid way of evaluating a congregation, but I know that the volunteers who get involved work very hard and put in long days of service. I know that the conjugation is very generous in donating items to be sold. I know that the proceeds from the sales fund many important ministries and support a lot of community organizations.
I am inclined to look at depth of commitment and path of discipleship when I think about the value of our congregation. There are congregations that gather bigger crowds. And to a certain degree nothing gathers a crowd like a crowd. There are always folks who drift towards the place with the biggest parking lot and follow the crowds to see what the fuss is all about. More interesting to me is how deeply people become involved. There are quite a few volunteers in our congregation who have given the majority of their waking hours to the church this week. There are people in our congregation who have worked hard to understand the stories of our people. We’ve got a lot of of folk who aren’t contented to skim across the surface of their faith, but who dive deeply for the wonderful resources of multi-generational commitment to God.
How big is our congregation? Big enough to produce disciples of Christ who carry the gospel into the world in the form of compassion and care for others. Big enough to engage hundreds of people in delivering firewood to warm cold homes and keep people healthy in harsh Dakota winters. Big enough to support one another in journeys of grief and in celebrations of new life. Big enough to remember the past and invest in the future.
Maybe that is the real answer to the question: “How big is your church?” “Big enough.”
I know that there are those who want to quantify everything. There are some who think that if we don’t have more members and more money each year we are somehow a failure. Our culture is full of the urge to make everything bigger and bigger and bigger. But not all growth is sustainable. There have been many churches that have come and gone from our community in the 135 years of our history. The titles of fastest growing and largest church change all the time. It’s pretty hard to stay “king of the hill.” And in that game you only get to be king of the hill, you don’t gain authority to engage in meaningful leadership.
So we will continue to work at inviting new people to become involved in our congregation. And we will continue to work to accomplish meaningful ministry. And we will continue to grow in depth of commitment and to follow the path of discipleship.
And maybe we won’t ever know the answer to the question about size. I’m pretty sure it isn’t the most important question of life after all.
By that method of counting, however, our congregation is remarkably stable. The official count of members goes up and down year by year but it has been in a rather narrow range for the last 50 years.
Another way of measuring the size of a congregation is to take a look at the annual budget. How much money do we handle in a year. That, too, is pretty difficult to grasp. If you just take our operating budget, we’ve been growing steadily, and rather remarkably over the last 20 years. With a stable membership, it might mean that our people are becoming more deeply committed and picking making larger and large donations. It might also mean that inflation keeps raising the prices or the amount of money people have to donate. It might mean that our congregation is growing older. Donations to charities and causes tends to go up with age. But even that is a poor measurement because we actually do more mission and ministry than is reported in the budget figures. There are lots of special funds and projects. There are significant ministries that don’t cost money from the church’s budget. There are many other ways to give than just the contribution of money.
Sometimes we think of our church in terms of the number of people in worship. That number is also quite steady, though it goes through dramatic swings in a week-by-week basis. On average, our worship attendance has been fairly stable over the years. The problem with using that number as a measurement of the size of the congregation is that every time we gather to worship, we can all name dozens of people who are active and important in our congregation who aren’t present at that particular service.
So I am not sure how to answer the question about the size of our congregation. Perhaps the best answer is, “Come and visit. Get involved. You’ll discover there is a whole lot more to this congregation than initially meets the eye.”
The volunteers who have been working on the rummage sale this week are reporting to me that this is the biggest rummage sale ever. My colleagues in other congregations tell me that our rummage sales are the biggest and best in the community. I don’t know that having a big rummage sale is a particularly valid way of evaluating a congregation, but I know that the volunteers who get involved work very hard and put in long days of service. I know that the conjugation is very generous in donating items to be sold. I know that the proceeds from the sales fund many important ministries and support a lot of community organizations.
I am inclined to look at depth of commitment and path of discipleship when I think about the value of our congregation. There are congregations that gather bigger crowds. And to a certain degree nothing gathers a crowd like a crowd. There are always folks who drift towards the place with the biggest parking lot and follow the crowds to see what the fuss is all about. More interesting to me is how deeply people become involved. There are quite a few volunteers in our congregation who have given the majority of their waking hours to the church this week. There are people in our congregation who have worked hard to understand the stories of our people. We’ve got a lot of of folk who aren’t contented to skim across the surface of their faith, but who dive deeply for the wonderful resources of multi-generational commitment to God.
How big is our congregation? Big enough to produce disciples of Christ who carry the gospel into the world in the form of compassion and care for others. Big enough to engage hundreds of people in delivering firewood to warm cold homes and keep people healthy in harsh Dakota winters. Big enough to support one another in journeys of grief and in celebrations of new life. Big enough to remember the past and invest in the future.
Maybe that is the real answer to the question: “How big is your church?” “Big enough.”
I know that there are those who want to quantify everything. There are some who think that if we don’t have more members and more money each year we are somehow a failure. Our culture is full of the urge to make everything bigger and bigger and bigger. But not all growth is sustainable. There have been many churches that have come and gone from our community in the 135 years of our history. The titles of fastest growing and largest church change all the time. It’s pretty hard to stay “king of the hill.” And in that game you only get to be king of the hill, you don’t gain authority to engage in meaningful leadership.
So we will continue to work at inviting new people to become involved in our congregation. And we will continue to work to accomplish meaningful ministry. And we will continue to grow in depth of commitment and to follow the path of discipleship.
And maybe we won’t ever know the answer to the question about size. I’m pretty sure it isn’t the most important question of life after all.