Which is better when it comes to a church, to be big or small? Some people attend and love mega churches. Others attend small traditional congregations or house churches. Still others attend churches with congregations somewhere in the middle. Regardless of their size, each of these types of churches share a few things in common: there are people who both love and hate them. Some Christians will argue for the merits of small churches, while others do the same for large congregations. So here is the question: Is one church size better than another? And if so, which one is best when it comes to growing and discipling Christians in community?

Here’s the conclusion that I have come to: We want big, they want small, and God wants both! Before we get into that though, I want to take a look at a few Biblical passages that I believe support both the big and small church community.

Big Church History

“Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.”  -Acts 2:41 NLT

 On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached a sermon and over 3,000 people were baptized into the church. A church is considered to be a “mega-church” if it averages 2,000 or more people in weekly attendance. So technically, we see a “mega-church” type congregation from the beginning of the church.

“And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had.”  -Acts 2:44 NLT

 All of the believers in the church met in ONE place. 3,000 people meeting in one place is a pretty big church service!

“They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity —all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.”  -Acts 2:46-47 NLT

 Each day the Lord added to the church those who were being saved. By Acts 4, there are over 5,000 men in the church, so counting women and children the church was most likely well over 20,000 people. In Acts 6, the Apostles are dealing with systems and processes to raise up leaders to take care of serving the people’s needs so that they can lead the church spiritually. These growing pains came as “the believers rapidly multiplied.” I don’t know how large the church in Jerusalem had grown by this point, but if it continued to have rapid growth from 20,000 or so people, it was pretty massive! In Acts 6:7, we find that after the food distribution problem was solved that the church continued to spread and greatly increase in number. The early church was one BIG church. 

Small Church History

“They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper,” -Acts 2:46a

     When the early church was around 3,000 in size, they also met in homes. Meeting in a house limits your group to just a few families. It automatically makes the congregation smaller, even it’s part of the larger community. So at the very least, the early church was both big and small, as they met both “in one place” and in homes. By Acts 8, the church has scattered due to persecution, and begin meeting in smaller groups and secret. They become many smaller congregations essentially.

     Not only do we see the case for small churches in Acts, but we also see this with Jesus’ ministry. Jesus would often teach large crowds. For instance, the feeding of the 5,000 happened after a day of Jesus teaching and preaching to this crowd. However, after spending time in the crowds, Jesus would retreat to quiet places and pour into the small band of 12 apostles. Jesus spent much of His ministry pouring into a small group of people rather than a large crowd. So again, I see evidence here for the importance of small groups and smaller churches.

We want Big, they want small, God wants BOTH.
So, which type of church is best for reaching and discipling people? In my opinion, BOTH are. One is not better than the other. I actually believe the Church as a whole is healthiest when both exist. 

     I have met very few pastors who didn’t want their churches to grow. We want the church to grow because that represents more and more people hearing the Gospel and being transformed by Christ. We know we are commissioned to make disciples of all nations and share the Gospel, so church growth is a good thing. And for most of us, we pray for, work for, and strategize for church growth. I am this way as well.  I believe that healthy things grow, so if the church is healthy it will grow. Most pastors and church leaders want big, but is that what the people we are reaching want?

     In a December 2015 article from Religion News Service, Warren Byrd from Leadership Network states that church “Congregations are getting bigger by getting smaller.” He explains that many “mega churches” are meeting in smaller sanctuaries of 1,200 people or less and having more services across more locations. These churches are still growing and reaching more and more people, but part of their health and growth is found in a strategy to make church feel smaller. Many of these churches also have small groups of 20 people or less that meet in homes throughout their various communities. Churches like these are simultaneously big and small, and that is actually causing them to grow larger!

     I’m convinced that while most pastors want big, most congregants want small. It can be intimidating and hard to be known in large churches, but real community and accountability flourish in smaller faith communities. The people in our churches deeply long for these small communities where they can share theology and life. However, most Christians also get excited to see growth as other people come to faith in Christ. It’s exciting to see and be a part of this life change and faith movement!

     We want big, they want small, and God wants both. Does God desire for people to come to know Him? Yes. Does God desire for us to share our faith and serve our communities? Yes. Does God want His people involved in real fellowship and sharing life in community together? Yes! Could it be that the Church is at its healthiest when we are simultaneously big and small? I believe this is the case. We want big, they want small, God wants both!

What this means for Church Leaders:

 I believe there is an huge take away for church leadership in this! When we look at the history of the church and God’s design and desires for us, I believe it is pretty clear that people grow and develop best when they experience both the largeness and smallness of the Church. So here is the challenge for us as church leaders: It is vital that we think strategically about how to grow the church by reaching people and how to shrink the church for the people we reach.

     We need to have a clear strategy for reaching people far from Christ, because healthy things grow. Your youth ministry won’t be healthy if it stops growing and students aren’t being saved. On the other side, your youth ministry won’t be healthy if it keeps growing and you don’t have a working strategy for connecting students in smaller communities. So what is your growth strategy for your ministry? What is your strategy for making the big small when you grow? If you can’t answer both questions in about 30 seconds, you probably don’t have a strategy. If your strategy for community is “small groups,” then you don’t have a clear strategy.

     We want big, they want small, God wants BOTH. So what is your strategy for BOTH? How does this work in your ministry context? We would love to hear from you in the comments below!