While it used to take a church from 15 to 50 years to grow larger than 2,000 worshipers, it now appears to be happening in as little as 5 to 10 years.

Based on research by John Vaughan, the following chart gives evidence that churches are continuing to grow above 2,000 in size, and at a faster pace than ever:

Sizing up leadership

One key issue for any growing organization is the function of leadership at various levels of size. Henry Mintzberg, Bronfman Professor of Management at McGill University, acknowledges the importance of understanding the impact of organizational size on management practices. 

“The size of the overall organization appears to have a considerable effect on what senior managers do,” writes Mintzberg.  “Specifically, we find that chief executives of smaller organizations engage in fewer  activities but are much more concerned with the operating work of their organization.”

This observation easily relates to churches and pastors. The smaller the congregation, the more the ministry staff works hands-on with every operation. Mintzberg observes that in business enterprises senior executives of smaller companies tend to focus on 1) operating the organization 2) internal issues 3) maintaining workflow 4) real-time concerns, and 5) informal connections.

In contrast, executives of larger companies tend to focus on 1) directing the organization, 2) external issues 3) maintaining wide perspective, 4) future-time concerns, and 5) formal connections. We can relate this behavior to pastors of larger churches as well. It is impossible for a mega church leader to focus on the entire scope of operations, workflow and other tasks. Like executives of large companies, leaders of large congregations must  concern themselves with broader picture issues.

In a later book, Mintzberg suggests three hypotheses concerning effects of size on organizational structure:

1. The larger the organization, the more elaborate its structure—that is, the more specialized its tasks, the more differentiated its units, and the more developed its administrative component.
2. The larger the organization, the larger the average size of its units.
3. The larger the organization, the more formalized its behavior.

We can relate these size dynamics to churches as well and understand clearly how church staff members’ roles shift with the growing structure of a larger congregation. We can also extrapolate from this theory how a large church may lose its focus on relationships as various areas of ministry grow and thus become more formalized.

Meta-church growth

During the 1990s, church consultant Carl George wrote two books based on the hypothesis that as churches grow they must change their organizational structure. “Prepare Your Church for the Future” focused on answering the question, “How can a church be large enough to make a difference in the world while remaining small enough to care about people?”

 “Almost every growing church I’ve encountered faces insurmountable limits on its ability to expand its structure without serious disruption in quality,” George wrote. He further attests, “Churches find that each time they grow a little, their quality lessens, so they must scramble to implement a new organizational system geared to their current size.” The answer to this organizational dilemma, according to George, is to become a meta-church.

A meta-church is quite distinct from a mega church. This new label allows for greater numbers, but its deepest focus is on change: pastors changing their minds about how ministry is to be done, and churches changing their organizational form in order to be free from size constraints. A meta-church pastor understands how a church can be structured so that its most fundamental spiritual and emotional support centers never become obsolete, no matter how large it becomes.

Meta-church theory calls for a new social architecture that is people-centered, ministry-centered, and care-centered. It builds on the analogy of yeasts (geometric growth of small groups over time), which allows for continual growth and personal care regardless of how large a church becomes.

“The meta-church can grow to any size without revising its social architecture for ministry or sacrificing quality of discipleship,” George writes.

Growth plateaus

Usually churches will plateau at various sizes because they are trying to change and adapt their programs and staff for larger numbers of people. A summary comparison of the breakdown of church sizes and where they plateau, according to church growth writers is as follows:

Also at work in the growth numbers is sociological theory that suggests a difference of scale in addition to proportion. That is, some groups have sociological structures that make it impossible for them to increase in size.

What are the lessons of growth for churches?

Providing a social framework—such as small groups, where individual needs are met—is critical to a church not outgrowing a ministry of care and love for people. In addition, the influx of new members will present challenges in maintaining a unified purpose and direction. The larger a church becomes the more important regular communication of its vision, values, mission, and philosophy of ministry is in order to maintain common norms.

Communication pathways have to shift with growth as well. The increasing number of relationships means the use of the grapevine, which was used to effectively communicate when the church was smaller, no longer works. Larger churches must be much more intentional about the messages they want to spread. Simplifying these messages is critical as well.

Excerpted from a presentation made at the American Society for Church Growth conference, November 2008.