I wouldn’t be comfortable in a church of over 100 people.
Never thought of attendance that way but it makes sense for a closely pastoral, know your parishioners pov.
I disagree with the unspoken assumption that growing beyond 350 is a good thing.
An Army squad today may have four to ten people, a platoon sixteen to forty, and a company one hundred to two hundred. Those are good sizes for various missions, sizes that have not changed significantly since the early Roman army. A squad of more than 350 soldiers would not be suitable for the typical squad mission, and the same is true for a church. My Sunday School class of twelve is the right size, while a discussion among 400 would not have the same character or serve the same need. There are many correct sizes for a church, and I'm okay with my own very large church, just as I am okay with the under 100 church that I visit during the summer.
The Church has the right leadership structures in place, including small churches to meet the needs of Christians who want the closeness of knowing everyone in the church, and larger churches that can offer multiple musical groups and various specialized Sunday School classes to members. I approve when a small church grows naturally, and when it maintain its size, meeting the community's and the members' needs.
Humans are not able to maintain a stable social network with >250 people
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar’s_number
THE SMALL CHURCH
In a big world, the small church has remained intimate.
In a fast world, the small church has been steady.
In an expensive world, the small church has remained plain.
In a complex world, the small church has remained simple.
In a rational world, the small church has kept feeling.
In a mobile world, the small church has been an anchor.
In an anonymous world, the small church calls us by name.
author unknown
Our upper-middle class Catholic church is bursting at the seams with attendance, especially on Good Friday, Easter and Christmas vigils. These people have good jobs that they have worked and sacrificed for...the American Dream realized through equal opportunity NOT equal outcomes.
Obama and the Democrats have caved off the low-information voters as single-parent women, blacks and Hispanics that pray at the alter of income inequality, gay rights & women’s rights. Socialism, communism and wealth redistribution have fundamentally transform the USA into a bastion of entitlements that will ruin our once great nation. They want wealth re-distribution over hard work and an opportunity to provide for their children what they could not achieve.
I remember some kind of Indian saying that went something like “White man make big fire and people stand far away. Red man make little fire and people gather close. “
If the church I grew up in had more than 350 in attendance on Sunday morning, the town fire marshal would be very upset.
When the man in the pulpit doesn’t believe what he is saying... Ravi Zacharias.
http://theothernewyorkststate.blogspot.com/2014/01/palmyra-ny-four-famous-churches.html
Used to live in Palmyra, N.Y.
http://www.visitpalmyrany.com/attractions/four_churches.html
But..............I think there were more bars than Churches.
Not at a Catholic Church!
How about four Masses at 600 plus! Two Masses on Easter morning will have people out the door even though extra seating has been provided. (Our church seats 800+ according to code.)
Our congregation has over 8,000. Once you’ve been there a few years, it can have the feel of a small church.
Most people prefer a happy therapeutic message over the whole unvarnished truth. In other words, they don’t want anything to do with the whole counsel of God. Churches that emphasize God’s love, Divine sovereignty, and Divine wrath are not likely to grow too large. Of course there are exceptions, but that seems to be the general rule.
Ping to read later
A variety of studies show that the human tribe is around 150 people.
For a normal church family to be around that number is not unreasonable.
Christmas, Easter and Mothers Day services we'll easily double that as we double the number of services. For Easter, we started "early" services starting on Thursday evenings for those leaving town.
Yes, it's a "Mega Church" and I'm often uncomfortable with the size of our church. I've been a member of this church since it was approximately 325-350 people 17 years ago. Our growth has been exponential.
Our Church leadership, the Elders, etc.. have done a great job managing our growth. We're not hugely in debt for the building we're in, and our church is chock full of young families. Many are Catholics who come through our doors because the local Catholic Churches are too small to accommodate the area's population growth. Others who come include Baptists, AG's, Lutherans, Protestants, etc.. It's a big mix.
Yes, in a large church it's easy to get overwhelmed and "lost in the crowd." If someone really wants to get involved in the church or a small group, it's easy enough to do and it's our church's small groups where more personal relationships develop.
There are times when I really don't like belonging to such a large church. Those times are heavily outweighed by all the community outreach our church does.
On any given weekend when we have a "pack the pantry" thing going on, we'll collect more than enough food to fill 7-10 local food pantries. Around holidays (before Thanksgiving and Christmas) when the call goes out to help pack the local food pantries we'll fill several semi-trailers full.
Our men's groups have everything from mechanics, plumbers, carpenters and computer guys (like me) who help those who cannot afford repairs for their cars, homes, computers, etc.. all capable of stepping in and filling the gap to help those in need, single moms, military families, etc..
So whatever my reservations about being in a large church are, I remind myself of two things. First, that often we can do things that a smaller church cannot, simply because of our size. Second, I'm keen about keeping a Christ Centered church and pay close attention to what our Elders decide, how our church's finances are maintained (they're published quarterly so every church member see's where the money goes) and most importantly THE MESSAGE of Christ's gift to each and every one of us.
Last week we had an open baptism -- just over 170 people were baptized.
I don't see a church that's "off message" or not "Christ Centered" having those kinds of impacts on the community and people.
The downside of being in such a large church: We've had two Military Funerals at our church, the most recent for PFC Aaron Toppen who was killed in Afghanistan last year.
I cannot tell you how moving it was to see THOUSANDS of people come through our doors to comfort his mother during his wake. More than 20,000 people came through for his wake. Many of those 20,000 people weren't members of our church, they were there to support Aaron's mother who lost her only Son, after losing her husband six months prior.
Absolutely heartbreaking.
But if you want to see a church that lift's someone up in their time of grief and is there to help whenever she needed it --- that was our church.
So some things make me proud of being a member of a church like the one I attend, and others make me uncomfortable. I don't think there's a "perfect" church anywhere. There are always trade-offs to be had. I can say I really like the impact our church has on our members, our community, and outside our community. Our size lets us do things other smaller churches can't. That's not a knock on smaller churches by any stretch of the imagination. It's just a matter of scale.