Pastor Meg Lacy Vega talks to us about how congregations function differently depending on their size.
This podcast is a supplement to our ongoing discernment dialogue as we explore what God has in store for our congregation and the universal church. We invite you to listen each week as we share thoughts, articles, questions, and ideas about our discernment process.
You can read more about church size dynamics in the article Leadership and Church Size Dynamics: How Strategy Changes with Growth by Time Keller.
Meg,
I thoroughly enjoyed getting to go deeper and listen to this podcast! I was somewhat familiar with the 4 different sizes of congregations but I liked how you explained how the pastor functioned in each and how they each processed energy differently and where conflict tended to arise. I liked when you said it’s not always about getting to the next level. As we discern what kind of church God has called us to be we need to remember that our size is only relative to what God can do through us. The size of our church doesn’t have to equal the size of our ministry to others. The size of Jesus’ ministry was 12 fishermen strong but God changed the world through them. God is in the business of using what we tend to think of as small or not enough to do wonderful things so that we remember to glorify God and not ourselves. Thank you so much for this good word!
Thank you for listening, Emily! Love your reference the Jesus’ 12 disciples and the amazing, worldwide impact such a small group has made over these past 2000 years. It only takes a small group deeply committed to their calling!
I enjoy large and small congregations. I do feel that a smaller group however has a closeness we all need.