The theory of congregational size that I find most workable is Arlin
Rothauge's, described in his booklet "Sizing Up a Congregation For New
Member Ministry". Rothauge sets forth four basic congregational sizes.
Here is a brief description of each and my understanding of what members
expect of clergy in each size.
THE FAMILY CHURCH
Fewer than 50 active members
This small church can be called a Family Church because it functions
like a family with appropriate parental figures. It is the patriarchs
and matriarchs who control the church's leadership needs. What Family
Churches want from clergy is pastoral care, period. For clergy to assume
that they are also the chief executive officer and the resident
religious authority is to make a serious blunder. The key role of the
patriarch or matriarch is to see to it that clergy do not take the
congregation off on a new direction of ministry. Clergy are to serve as
the chaplain of this small family. When clergy don't understand this,
they are likely to head into a direct confrontation with the parental
figure. It is generally suicide for clergy to get caught in a showdown
with the patriarchs and matriarchs within the first five years of their
ministry in that place. Clergy should not assume, however, that they
have no role beyond pastoral care. In addition to providing quality
worship and home/hospital visitation, clergy can play an important role
as consultants to these patriarchs or matriarchs, befriending these
parent figures and working alongside them, yet recognizing that when
these parent figures decide against an idea, it's finished.
Clergy should watch out for the trap that is set when members complain
to them about the patriarch or matriarch of the church and encourage the
pastor to take the parental figure on. Clergy who respond to such
mutinous bids, expecting the congregation to back them in the showdown,
betray their misunderstanding of the dynamics of small church ministry.
The high turnover of clergy in these churches has taught members that in
the long run they have to live with old Mr. Schwartz who runs the
feed-mill even when they don't like him. Hence it is far too risky for
members to get caught siding with pastors who come and go against their
resident patriarch/matriarch.
Because these congregations usually cannot pay clergy an acceptable
salary, many clergy see them as stepping stones to more rewarding
opportunities. It is not unusual for a congregation of this size to list
five successive clergy for every ten years of congregational life. As
Schaller claims, the longer the pastorates, the more powerful clergy
become. The shorter the pastorates, the more powerful laity become.
These Family Churches have to develop one or two strong lay leaders at
the center of their life. How else would they manage their ongoing
existence through those long vacancies and through the short pastorates
of the ineffective clergy who are often sent their way?
One of the worst places to go right out of seminary is to a Patriarchial
/ Matriarchial Church. Seminarians are up to their eyeballs in new
theories and good ideas. They want to see if any of them work. Even
though some of those good ideas might be the ticket to their small
church's long-term growth and development, the church's openness to
trying any of them is next to zero. Sometimes, through the sheer force
of personal persuasion, a pastor will talk a congregation into trying a
new program or two. Pretty soon parishioners find themselves coming to
church events much more than they really need to or want to. As they
begin then to withdraw their investment from these new programs, the
clergy inevitably take it personally. Concluding that their gifts for
ministry are not really valued in this place, they begin to seek a call
elsewhere.
These congregations need a pastor to stay and love them over at least
ten years. This pastor would have to play by the rules and defer to the
patriarch's or matriarch's leadership decisions for the first three to
five years. At about year four or five, when the pastor did not leave,
the congregation might find itself in somewhat of a crisis. At some
level they would be saying, "What do you mean you are going to stay? No
clergy stay here. There must be something the matter with you." Then the
questioning might begin:
"Can we really trust you? Naw! You are going to leave us like all the
rest." In this questioning we can see the pain of these congregations.
For a minute, let's put ourselves in their shoes and imagine an ordained
leader walking out on us every few years, berating us on the way out.
Would we invest in the next pastor who came to us? Not likely! It would
be simply too painful. The Family Church may have invested in one five
years ago, only to find that the pastor left just when things started to
move. Basically these people have learned not to trust clergy who
repeatedly abandon ship when they see no evidence of church growth.
I believe long-term tent-making ministries offer the best possibility
for ministering to many of these Patriarchial / Matriarchial
congregations. If placing newly ordained clergy in these churches, they
should lay out this theory for these clergy, helping them discover who
indeed are the patriarchs and matriarchs of the church, suggesting some
strategies for working with them.
THE PASTORAL CHURCH
From 50 to 150 active members
Clergy are usually at the center of a Pastoral Church. There are so many
parental figures around that they need someone at the center to manage
them. A leadership circle, made up of the pastor and a small cadre of
lay leaders, replaces the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Family
Church. The power and effectiveness of the leadership circle depends
upon good communication with the congregation and the ability of the
pastor to delegate authority, assign responsibility, and recognize the
accomplishments of others. Without such skill, the central pastoral
function weakens the entire structure. The clergyperson becomes
overworked, isolated, and exhausted, may be attacked by other leaders,
and finally the harmony of the fellowship circle degenerates.
A key feature of a Pastoral Church is that lay persons experience having
their spiritual needs met through their personal relationship with the
pastor. In a Pastoral Church it would be rare for a Bible study or a
prayer group to meet without the pastor. The pastor is also readily
available in times of personal need and crisis. If a parishioner called
the pastor and indicated that she needed some personal attention, the
pastor would see her, probably that afternoon but certainly within the
week - a qualitatively different experience from being told that the
first available appointment to see the pastor is two weeks from now. The
time demands upon the pastor of a Pastoral Church can become oppressive.
However, most members will respond with loyalty to a reasonable level of
attention and guidance from this central figure.
A second feature of the Pastoral Church is its sense of itself as a
family where everyone knows everyone else. If you show up at church with
your daughter Julie by the hand, everyone will greet you and Julie, too.
When congregations begin to have 130 to 150 people coming every Sunday
morning they begin to get nervous. As Carl Dudley put it in "Unique
Dynamics of the Small Church", they begin to feel "stuffed." Members
wonder about the new faces that they don't know - people who don't know
them. Are they beginning to lose the intimate fellowship they prize so
highly?
Clergy also begin to feel stressed when they have more than 150 active
members whom they try to know in depth. In fact, this is one of the
reasons why clergy may keep the Pastoral Church from growing to the next
larger size congregation - the Program Church. If clergy have the idea
firmly fixed in their head that they are ineffective as a pastor unless
they can relate in a profound and personal way with every member of the
church, then 150 active members (plus perhaps an even larger number of
inactive members) is about all one person can manage.
There are some clergy who function at their highest level of
effectiveness in the Pastoral Church. Given the different clusters of
skills required for other sizes of congregations, some clergy should
consider spending their entire career in this size congregation. Since
the Pastoral Church can offer a pastor a decent salary, clergy do tend
to stick around longer. If clergy can regard themselves as successful
only when they become pastor of a large congregation, then 65% of
mainline Protestant clergy are going to end their career with feelings
of failure. Two thirds of mainline Protestant congregations are either
Family- or Pastoral-sized churches.
Clergy with strong interpersonal skills fare well in the Pastoral-sized
church. These clergy can feed continually on the richness of direct
involvement in the highs and lows of people's lives. Clergy who enjoy
being at the center of most activities also do well. There are lots of
opportunities to preach and lead in worship and to serve as primary
instructor in many class settings for both young and old. Outgoing,
expressive persons seem to be the best match for the style of ministry
in the Pastoral Church. An open, interactive leadership style also seems
to suit this size church best.
Growth in the Pastoral Church will depend mainly on the popularity and
effectiveness of the pastor. People join the church because they like
the interaction between pastor and people. When new people visit the
congregation for the first time, it is likely to be the pastor who will
make the follow-up house call.
When some congregations grow to the point where their pastor's time and
energy is drawn off into many other activities and the one-on-one
pastoral relationship begins to suffer, they may hire additional staff
to handle these new functions so their pastor can once again have plenty
of time for interpersonal caring. Unfortunately, this strategy will have
limited success. To begin with, when you hire additional staff you then
have a multiple staff, which requires staff meetings, supervision,
delegation, evaluation, and planning. These activities draw the pastor
deeper into administration. Then, too, additional staff members tend to
specialize in such things as Christian education, youth ministry,
evangelism, or stewardship, which tends to add to the administrative
role of the head of staff rather than freeing his/her time up for
pastoral care.
As we move to the next size congregation, notice the change in the
diagram of the church's structure. Clergy consider a congregation's
transition from Pastoral to Program size the most difficult. One can
expect enormous resistance on the part of a Pastoral Church as it flirts
with becoming a Program Church. Many churches make an unconscious choice
not to make the transition and keep hovering around the level of 150
active members. The two treasured features of a Pastoral Church that
will be lost if it becomes a Program Church are ready access to their
religious leader and the feeling of oneness as a church family, where
everyone knows everyone else and the church can function as a single
cell community.
Two things prevent a congregation from making that transition. The first
barrier is found in the clergy. When clergy hold onto a need to be
connected in depth to all the active members, then they become the
bottleneck to growth. The second barrier is found in the lay leaders who
are unwilling to have many of their spiritual needs met by anyone except
their ordained leader.
It is most helpful to put this theory up on newsprint before the chief
decision-making body of the church and ask them where they think they
are as a church. If they have been saying "yes, yes" to church growth
with their lips, but "no, no" with their behavior, this theory can bring
their resistance to the conscious level by pointing out the real costs
they will face in growing. Churches tend to grow when church leaders,
fully aware of the cost of growth, make a conscious decision to proceed.
Without the backing of key lay leaders, the cost of moving from a
Pastoral to a Program Church usually comes out of the pastor's hide. The
church may welcome the pastor's efforts in church program development
while still expecting all the church calling and one-on-one work to
continue at the same high level as before. Burnout and/or a forced
pastoral termination can often result.
THE PROGRAM CHURCH
From 150 to 350 active members
The Program Church grows out of the necessity for a high-quality
personal relationship with the pastor to be supplemented by other
avenues of spiritual feeding. Programs must now begin to fulfill that
role.
The well functioning Program Church has many cells of activity, which
are headed up by lay leaders. These lay leaders, in addition to
providing structure and guidance for these cells, also take on some
pastoral functions. The Stewardship Committee gathers for its monthly
meeting and the committee chair asks about a missing member. Upon being
told that Mary Steward's daughter had to be taken to the hospital for an
emergency operation, the chair will allow time for expressions of
concern for Mary and her daughter. The chair may include both of them in
an opening prayer. If the teacher of an adult class notices that someone
in the class is feeling depressed, the teacher will often take the class
member aside and inquire about his well-being. Even if the teacher
eventually asks the pastor to intervene, the pastor has already gotten a
lot of assistance from this lay leader.
Clergy are still at the center of the Program Church, but their role has
shifted dramatically. Much of their time and attention must be spent in
planning with other lay leaders to ensure the highest quality programs.
The pastor must spend a lot of time recruiting people to head up these
smaller ministries, training, supervising, and evaluating them and
seeing to it that their morale remains high. In essence the pastor must
often step back from direct ministry with people to coordinate and
support volunteers who offer this ministry. Unless the pastor gives high
priority to their spiritual and pastoral needs, those programs will
suffer.
To be sure, a member can expect a hospital or home call from the pastor
when personal crisis or illness strikes. But members had better not
expect this pastor to have a lot of time to drink coffee in people's
kitchens. To see the pastor about a church matter, they will probably
have to make an appointment at the church office several weeks in
advance.
Key skills for effective ministry in a Program Church begin with the
ability to pull together the diverse elements of the church into a
mission statement. Helping the church arrive at a consensus about its
direction is essential. Next the pastor must be able to lead the church
toward attaining the goals that arise out of that consensus. In the
Program Church, clergy need to be able to stand firmly at the center of
that consensus. To wilt in the face of opposition to this consensus will
be seen as a lack of leadership ability. The Program Church pastor will
also need to be able to motivate the most capable lay persons in the
church to take on key components of the church vision and help make it
become a reality. Developing the trust and loyalty of these church
leaders and ensuring their continued spiritual growth and development is
another key part of the cluster of skills needed in the Program-sized
Church.
For clergy who get their primary kicks out of direct pastoral care work,
ministry in a Program Church may leave them with a chronic feeling of
flatness and lack of fulfillment. Unless these clergy can learn to
derive satisfaction from the work of pastoral administration they should
think twice about accepting a call to this size church.
THE CORPORATE CHURCH
From 350 or more active members
The quality of Sunday morning worship is the first thing you usually
notice in a Corporate Church. Because these churches usually have
abundant resources, they will usually have the finest music in town. A
lot of work goes into making Sunday worship a rich experience. The head
of staff usually spends more time than other clergy preparing for
preaching and worship leadership.
In very large Corporate Churches, the head of staff may not even
remember the names of many parishioners. When members are in the
hospital, it is almost taken for granted that they will be visited by an
associate or assistant pastor, rather than the senior pastor. Those who
value highly the Corporate Church experience are willing to sacrifice a
personal connection with the senior pastor in favor of the Corporate
Church's variety and quality of program offerings.
Key to the success of the Corporate Church is the multiple staff and its
ability to manage the diversity of its ministries in a collegial manner.
Maintaining energy and momentum in a Corporate Church is very difficult
when there is division within the church staff. Any inability to work
together harmoniously will manifest themselves in subtle ways. The head
of staff of a Corporate Church learns to manage a multiple staff by
trial and error.
The clergy who are called as head of staff in a Corporate Church are
usually multi-skilled persons who have proven their skill in a great
variety of pastoral situations. Now, however, in a multiple staff, the
senior minister will need to delegate some of those pastoral tasks to
other full-time staff members, who will inevitably want to do them
differently. Learning to allow these people to do things their own way
is in itself a major new demand.
Our research with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator indicates that
congregations are best served when the multiple staff includes different
types. The more diverse the staff, the greater its ability to minister
to a diverse congregation. But this requirement for diversity makes
multiple staff functioning more complicated: the more diverse the staff,
the harder it is to understand and support one another's ministries.
When the multiple staff is having fun working well together, this
graceful colleagueship becomes contagious throughout the Corporate
Church. Lay people want to get on board and enjoy the camaraderie. The
church has little difficulty filling the many volunteer jobs needed to
run a Corporate Church.
In addition to learning to manage a multiple staff, clergy making the
transition to head of staff need to hone their administrative skills.
These clergy are becoming chief executive officers of substantive
operations. Yet I would emphasize leadership skills over management
skills. While managers can manage the energy of a church, leaders can
generate energy. The Corporate Church needs leaders who know how to
build momentum. Otherwise, even when managed well, these large churches
run out of gas and begin to decline.
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