Double-Digit Churches
The unique struggles and joys of pastoring a congregation of less than a hundred.
Marshall Shelley
October 1, 1983
Pastoring a small church, like driving a subcompact, can make you feel inferior. You're buffeted by passing eighteen-wheelers, the turbulence making control difficult. Luxury cars cut you off, and their drivers never look back. You feel fragile, unnoticed, insignificant-until you start looking around. Then you realize how many smaller models there are. They're everywhere. Small churches, too, are actually a majority. Well over half the churches in the United States are ecclesiastical subcompacts. Of United Methodist churches, 69 percent have an average Sunday morning attendance of less than 100. The Assemblies of God, perhaps the fastest growing denomination, reports a full 70 percent of their churches with membership of less than 100. Southern Baptists report that 59 percent of their churches have a Sunday school enrollment of less than 150. Despite lip service to "small is beautiful," the unique struggles and joys of small-church ministry don't get much attention. Larger churches often claim that they "maintain the small-church feel," and they're referring, of course, to a warm sense of belonging, intimacy, and acceptance. Is that an accurate picture? Or a stereotype? What are the things small-church pastors think about? LEADERSHIP assigned assistant editor Marshall Shelley to find out. Initial contacts came from the LEADERSHIP subscription list, but as Marshall phoned readers to ask, "What small churches in your area are doing a good job?" the list quickly grew. Then Marshall and his wife, Susan, spent ten days in New York and Vermont visiting a dozen of the pastors recommended. Each of the churches has an average attendance of less than one hundred. Here's his report. Garden City, New York, has one problem other cities wish ...
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