Those who have been in church leadership at A2U2 during the past seven years have been talking about the differences that exist in churches based on the size of the church. According to experts, there are four basic church sizes—family size (less than 50 adults and children in attendance on a Sunday), pastoral size (51 to 150 at church on Sunday), program size (151 to 400 at church on Sunday), and large size (over 400 at church on Sunday). (One might also add the mega-church as an even larger fifth size.)
These sizes were identified by church consultants as they observed that church growth doesn't happen easily across those “borders” from one size church to another. The essential character of a congregation changes, based on the numbers of people involved. So when you go from 150 in attendance to 200 in attendance, you begin to have very different needs in order to build a thriving community.
Allen Avenue is a program size church, (also called “mid-size”) and has been working on the shift from pastoral to program size structures over the last several years. This transition can be a cause of stress in our volunteers and staff, and unfortunately can also result in some important needs occasionally falling through the cracks. If this has happened to you, I am really sorry. Our intention is to make sure that everyone is noticed and cared for in their times of distress or concern. But we are still learning how to make that happen.
For example, according to Alice Mann, in a pastoral-size church every member can know everyone else, and the primary work of the minister is to build one-to-one pastoral relationships. In a program size church, however, there are too many people for everyone to know everyone else, and new systems are needed to create connection and intimacy. The minister's primary work shifts to creating high-quality Sunday worship, and building lay leadership—especially strong lay teams for pastoral care and new-member ministry.
We have been working on building up our lay ministry program for the last five years. This past month, our Pastoral Care Team has been officially commissioned, and as each season comes around we are developing better ways for the team to learn about pastoral needs and respond to them. Our Caring Connection has also changed and developed, from an informal network to help out members who needed food or rides or other emergency help, to a more structured network using a database that can be activated through email. On the one hand, the structures may seem a little less immediate and personal—but the goal is the same—to match people with a need to people who can listen or offer some help. It is about manifesting the love that is the heart of our community.
Right now, one way the Pastoral Care Team or Caring Connection find out about a need is through our Joys and Concerns bulletin board or candles in church. But not everyone wants to speak in church or put their concern on a bulletin board. We are thinking about how to add other ways to pass on information and requests—perhaps with a designated email address, or a private box for joys and concerns along with our public board. If you have ideas, let me know. And stay tuned for further news in the next months.
Much love, Rev. Myke
