I keep bumping into church leaders of different persuasions whose goal it is to see their church plants grow to 500+.
If you want a case study of how it’s done, try the Southern Baptists. I’ve just finished a 1994 article by Roger Finke that shows between 1920 and 1990 the average size of a Southern Baptist church soared from 115 to 396. Impressive.
The other trend he noticed was the dramatic increase in seminary trained professional clergy. Before 1950 the Southern Baptist seminaries produced 10,000 graduates. From 1950-90 the number grew to 60,000.
The Southern Baptists heritage was all about small churches and lay leadership. Today it’s professional staff and large churches.
Bigger churches. Trained clergy. Sounds like a recipe for success.
Maybe.
2 Comments
Steve,
1950 is the year we started our decline! Or should I say, we grew at a decreasing rate begining in 1950 which led to a reduction in membership this year. This is very interesting!
Steve,
Parse it all some more! I know you’ve got more to say on this one. This raises so many interesting issues.
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[...] could of days ago, my friend Steve Addison, an Australian, had a post entitled Southern Baptist success? Maybe. He states: I keep bumping into church leaders of different persuasions whose goal it is to see [...]
[...] Roger Finke raises three problems with the trend of Southern Baptist success measured by larger churches and professional clergy. Congregational size is inversely related to converting new members, activating the existing membership, and maintaining high membership standards. Small churches are more effective in generating commitment and conformity within a movement. Formal theological training is a secularizing force and feeds the trend towards religious bureaucracy and religious doubt. A fully paid professional clergy is a financial hinderance to the survival of small churches and new church starts.For all of the above reasons, it was the upstart Methodists and Baptists that captured the US frontier, not the resource rich and highly educated Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Congregationalists. [...]
[...] Roger Finke raises three problems with the trend of Southern Baptist success measured by larger churches and professional clergy. [...]
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