The Get Big Fast Phenomenon
Published on 4/12/2011
by Dave Travis
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For all the continued talk about the death of very large churches, the evidence is much to the contrary. We continue to see more young churches, started within the past 15 years, grow very large, very quickly.
When I first joined Leadership Network 16 years ago, the predominant pattern for a large church was to have relatively steady growth for 15 to 20 years before it crossed the level of having 2,000 or more attenders. Today that size level can be reached very quickly. Our latest release observes these changes in the role of large church senior pastors. It contains helpful data, some of my personal observations, and a few predictions. The report, titled “The Changing Role of Large Church Senior Pastors,” is available in three different formats: mini-paper, podcast, or video.
Here are a few of the themes we highlight:
- The average age of a large church pastor is staying constant over time. While some are retiring and being followed by a younger successor, young lead pastors are also planting new churches that quickly grow to a large size.
- It is now widely acknowledged that starting a church as a team of pastors and leading a large church in a team approach is helping younger churches grow faster. One can observe the changes in title from “senior pastor” to “lead pastor” being a part of this trend.
- Multisite is an enabling innovation. Younger leaders are thinking “multisite” from launch, less to build a mega-campus than to create a mega-reach. This approach enables faster attendance growth.
- With the rise in team ministry, the role of teaching pastors has become more prominent. It is now a widely accepted practice in larger churches to follow a teaching team approach. Doing so usually increases the quality of teaching/preaching and distributes more leadership across a broader team. This also means the spiritual gift of leadership is also highly esteemed, and with more leaders, the growth rate is higher.
Certainly, all churches have lifecycles of peak and decline. Some will have spectacular flameouts and crashes. But on the whole, the evidence points to more large churches in the future.
Dave Travis is the Managing Director of Leadership Network. In his current role he leads a large field team that works with innovative churches and ministries. Under Dave's leadership, the Leadership Network initiative has helped to nurture the megachurch and other movements in American Christianity.
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Comments
Read this brief article this morning and thot of our meeting today.
As I launch out into church planting, I have found articles like this both as affirmation and confirmation. Leading a campus and young adult ministry I have seen many teachers and preachers emerge out of our group, and one approach that we have practiced since the beginning is the Team Approach. A few things about the team approach that I appreciate:
1) The Help
2) The Humility
The Help- It helps the leader to not carry the burden of leading the ministry or church alone. It also pushes the lead pastor and/or ministry leader to continue to grow and conquer complacency.
The Humility- Knowing that God has equipped others to preach, teach, and reminds leaders that they are NOT indispensable, and that God equips and prepares a ministry and church with those whom He has called.
This article makes me wonder if those who populate these fast-growing churches are new conversions, or just a reshuffling of the deck. In other words, how missional (truly) are these mega-churches being? What kind of life-transformation can they point to? What kind of community transformation can they claim? Thoughts like that go through my mind…
I agree with RodRocs that we do need to look at who the faster growing churches are reaching. My hope is that it is new converts or those who have walked away from their faith who are flocking to them. My hope that it is not Christians who find the newest church more exciting than the last.
Our church is relatively small and we have a great desire to reach out to those who do not come to church. This article gives some great insight!
Always good to start a dialogue!
Rod, Kim,
Thanks for the comments. Go see our FREE Paper in our Resources site for “Not who You think they are: The Real Story of who attends America’s Megachurches”. You will enjoy reading it.
And remember a few things. Somewhere around 20% of the population is in transition in any given year. Moving from one place to another. A change of life stage (for better or worse). Dealing with a major loss. Etc. And they go seeking a place to help them either for the first time, or for the first time in a long time.
And they find that help and hope in a church of various expressions.
So, I don’t devalue those that come from other churches. Because -
a. many have not been a vital part of another church for some time.
b. that church was in another community and they now have moved into a new community.
c. they have married (or sadly lost a spouse for one reason or another) and now are seeking a ‘new start’ in Christ.
d. AND many find Jesus for the first time in a megachurch.
But at Leadership Network we don’t care if it is a megachurch or a microchurch, an organic church or an “oh my goodness” kind of place. We celebrate when people find new life in the resurrected Jesus.
I am a staff worship pastor at one of the churches described in this article. We are now approaching 12 years and have a weekend attendance of 4,500 in a city of just over 100k. We find a very diverse crowd makes up the folks that come here, most do not have a history of church being a regular part of their lives. A good number are coming from different traditions and gathering in a place where truth is proclaimed. We are transitioning into a team teaching environment as we look down the road and want to create a platform and culture of leadership that will last long after these first leaders are gone. After serving in small and large churches over the years, i see a higher quality of spiritual leadership and shepherding happening in the large church environment because of a depth of leaders and resources that allow for greater impact in our community.