When is a church to big?

Personally, I feel that if you don't know all of the other members, or at least the Pastor doesn't, then the church is too big. Luckily for me, Primitive Baptist churches never have this problem.

 

If the Pastor is not able to remember the first names of all the congregation members, then it is time to plant out again!

 

When you need to build on to the church....maybe??

 

The church in the city can never be too big (overpopulation issues aside.)

The individual meeting which corresponds with the gatherings in homes in scripture may be too big. Some say it is too big when the meeting cannot fit in a members home. Others would say the meeting is too big when it is no longer possible for every believer to use his gifts in a church meeting as per I Corinthians 14:26.

Btw, if a church follows the Biblical patterns of plural leadership and mutual edification (rather than the one-man sermon) dividing into two churches peacefully is a lot more realistic possilibity.

 

When God says it is time to stop growing ... in other words ... a church cannot get too big. As a matter of fact, often times the more churches a church plants, the larger the mother church grows. Some of the largest churches in America are also some of the churches that help plant the most churches.

 

I don't think churches can get too big, but maybe they can grow too fast. If you are not prepared to begin discipleing new conveerts and members, and there are more baby christians than mature ones to help in their maturing process, maybe you need to slow down or reorganize. Simple is better in some things.

 

slow down on spreading the gospel??? I guess that doesn't make sense to me!!!

 

I think most of us think that a church is too big when it's bigger than the church we attend.

 

When is a church too big?

When do we stop evangelizing?

When do we stop bringing people to church?

When do we stop caring about the community?

When do we want to turn our church into one with limited membership?

When do we want to quit reaching others?

 

The church is too large when the same dozen people still do all the work. Somewhere along the line, someone took a wrong turn.

I have seen large effective churches that had a glorious ministry, and I have seen large churches which are very prestigious in their size. In the latter case, please give me the bakers dozen, who love the Lord.

I don't think there is one answer to this question.

Cheers,

Jim

 

If the same doezen people are still doing the work, someone isn't discipling or turning things loose to new workers.

 

No such thing as too big unless;
too big=no growth for newbies.

IMO if a church is offering abundant ministry opportunities for believers who desire them, then there can be no such thing as too big.
Our church is pushing 1500, and my pastor knows most by first name. (Amazing memory, that man has)
Also, we have so many chances for our members to work in different out reaches that we can't fill them all. The sad fact is, that in "many" churches there will be many who do not get involved. But that should not mean that there should be less oportunities. It only means that that is the way some folks are. They just will not be anything more than a spectator.

My philosophy; when it comes to getting the gospel out, the more workers in the harvest, the better. Come one, come all.

In His service;
Jim