Creativity

Small is out, majority is in

I just read that small churches make up 90%  of the churches in America, and most of those have 75-100 in attendance.  Of course, I already knew that, but it helps to read it somewhere besides my own blog.  Which brings me to a perennial topic — looking for another way to describe small churches other than as small.  

After all, small is only one measure.  Small usually refers to attendance, not buildings.  If we were talking about buildings some small churches wouldn’t be small at all.  But, that’s kind of silly.  “Oh, we go to a big building church.  So sorry you’re attending one of those tiny building churches.”  See what I mean — silly.  

So, I’m reading some guy’s comment on some other guy’s blog last week, and the commentor says something about being from the “majority world.”  Here I’m still calling it the “third world,” which is kind of demeaning and not very PC of me.  For awhile the new jargon was “two-thirds” world, meaning developing countries.  But, this guy calls it the “majority world.”  Meaning: there’s more of us than you.  Which brings me to small churches, again.

We (small churches) are the majority.  Why not call our churches “majority churches?”  

Hi, my name is Chuck and I pastor a majority church.

Sounds great, doesn’t it?  All of a sudden we’re not ecclesiastical outcasts anymore.  No more ducking at the pastors’ conference when you see Reverend I. M. Abigdeal coming.  Nope, you hold your head up, stick  out your hand, and say, “Rev, sorry you megachurch guys are in the minority.  What’s the matter, why aren’t you serving a majority church, like I am?”  

So, from now on this is “Confessions of A Majority Church Pastor.”  Now if I can just get the art department to change my blog header…

5 thoughts on “Small is out, majority is in”

  1. All those big tall spires, huge congregations, video projection systems, lasers?

    [whispers] “Over-compensating. You know…for the size of their penance.”

    Ha! Couldn’t resist. Sorry! :o)

  2. At 46 I’m just now getting over the insecurity that creeps in (sometimes floods in) when I attend conferences or pastor gatherings. It’s sad that we put so much weight on the “externals” instead of the “eternals.” I like what one pastor said about ministry success, “Success in ministry is long obedience in one direction.”

  3. Pingback: Majority Church « mikescape

  4. Since some research shows that we “majority” churches are better at some “efficiency determinants,” maybe we could occasionally throw in a “superior,” just to add variety.

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