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Megachurch v. Mini-church

November 12th, 2008 Posted in Church Strategy

I have so many thoughts about the webinar I attended today, put on by Digital.Leadnet.org, but I’ll save those for another post. There’s a good recap and discussion going on over at Barker Banter and a gem of a recap at Digital. Suffice to say, the mind was officially blown.

I read a newsletter recently from 2002 written by Greg Johnson of the Center for Christian Study. I then promptly sent it out to my leadership team and the leadership team of my church. The whole piece was full of prophetic insight, but my favorite passage discusses what the church has looked like, currently looks like, and will need to look like in order to be effective. Greg Johnson:

1. The church without small groups, which worked fine for congregations of thirty in pre-modern contexts where everyone lived in close proximity, such that shared community life was easier. If small enough, the church essentially was a small group.

2. The church with small groups, where small groups exist as optional extracurricular activities within the church. This is by far the dominant model today.

3. The church as small groups, a more radical community- driven model. Membership is not gained by taking a class or by attending a service, but by maintaining a healthy commitment to a small group of the church. If you’re part of a small group, you’re part of the church and take its vows. If not, then not. No long-term pew warmers as members. The group provides the mutual pastoral care and shepherding in the church, and the Session oversees the groups. Corporate worship is understood as the joining together of the groups of the church into the whole assembly. I’m drawn toward this model precisely because the community relationship, not the individual, is the basic unit of the church. I think American churches would do well to consider this direction as a viable option.

If it’s one thing I learned from the webinar, it’s that Internet campuses are allowing churches to exist as small groups like never before. What, if any, thoughts do you have on that? Let’s hear some flavor.

Update: The full, recorded webinar I keep talking about can be found here. Enjoy!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 9:01 pm and is filed under Church Strategy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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    We're moving towards this model to become a member. Small groups are the lifeblood of our church, and the only way i can see the era of the digital pastor bearing much fruit. Got to plan for community time.
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    Realizing that might not make much sense to people who don't actually know me. By "we're moving towards this model to become a member", I specifically mean the church at which I'm a pastor. Potentially true in the church-at-large, but not what I meant.
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    @Sir Dave: Amen. If digital pastoring is an end in and of itself, it will become toxic and voyeuristic. Technology needs to be an aide to community, not a replacement for it. Frankly, it's one of the reasons I'm not real keen on sites like Second Life. They don't correspond to reality in any way whatsoever.
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    Small groups are the only way mega churches will survive.

    I have mixed feelings on this topic. We have strength in numbers, but I'm often concerned that mega churches get lost in the details. It takes a huge amount of effort to organize a church of that size. And from my experience, highly organized process always leads to less freedom and discovery. There are so many gears and parts moving at the same time that it limits what people can do. The church has to be set in jello to allow God to mold and form it.

    I used to be heavily involved in the music ministry because it was a beautiful place for fellowship, creative expression, but most of all to connect with God. As my church has reached mega proportions it required reorganization to a much more rigid, standardized process to the music ministry. My involvement began feeling more like a job and less like joy. If I'm not filled with joy in my service, my time is better spent elsewhere.

    So there is an important balance that is very difficult to achieve. Big church . . . but somehow small at the same time.
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    @Alex: What would you say was the single biggest factor to you stepping away from the music ministry you were involved in?
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    There were several factors. Admittedly one of the biggest being a personal decision to find life balance with 2 young children and a demanding job.

    But the single biggest factor was the "mega churching" of the ministry. I used to play with the same people every week and every church service. It was a creative band and a small group that shared much more than music. We connected with the music, each other, and most of all with God. With the new structure I couldn't have felt more disconnected. The small group was gone, the music became a cookie cutter approach and the structure made me feel more like a cog in a machine than a member of a ministry. I stood playing at a church service and realized how much more I'd be worshiping by singing praise in the congregation with my family. Rather than standing on a stage with people I barely know plunking on a bass.
 
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