Smaller churches are poised to make a comeback.
I’m serious. I see too many signs and indicators to believe otherwise.
For certain, I know the bad news. The median size of a church has declined from around 100 to 70 in worship attendance in a decade. That means one-half of all American congregations have fewer than 70 in worship attendance.
And I am aware that more people are attending larger churches today than they were 20, 15, 10, and 5 years ago. To be clear, I am aware that around 8,000 churches close every year.
Yes, I know those facts. But I feel the winds of change. Before we look at those change factors, let’s look at the size of churches in America. I cannot be absolutely certain about these numbers, but there are a lot of good bodies of research by some good organizations (National Congregations Study, Faith Communities Today 2015, 2014 Religious Landscape Study 2014 by Pew Research, and others).
| Smaller Standard | 0 to 49 worship attendance | 40% of churches in America |
| Larger Standard | 50 to 124 worship attendance | 27% of churches in America |
| Mid | 125 to 249 worship attendance | 18% of churches in America |
| Large | 250 to 499 worship attendance | 8% of churches in America |
| Very Large | 500 to 999 worship attendance | 4% of churches in America |
| Mid Mega | 1,000 to 1,999 in worship attendance | 2% of churches in America |
| Mega | 2,000+ in worship attendance | Less than ½ of 1% |
Two-thirds of churches have an attendance under 125. The smaller church is the norm, not the exception. And though the news has not…
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