Roy Oswald, Alban Institute consultant, provides an overview of congregational size, then applies this to the role of the professional Leader and the Society's expectations of the Leader at the different sizes. The second part of the article focuses on professional Leadership role changes when a congregation's membership is declining and its size profile changing.
Excerpt: "The theory of congregational size that I find most workable is Arlin Rothauge's, described in his booklet Sizing Up a Congregation For New Member Ministry.1 It was originally written to help congregations recognize the different ways different-sized churches assimilate new members. When a theory is on target, however, it so accurately reflects reality that it can be applied to other dimensions of a church's life and work. Rothauge's theory elicits consistent "ache's" from clergy who are reflecting on their transition from one size parish to another. Whether churches are growing or downsizing, congregations hold on to deeply engrained assumptions about what constitutes a dynamic church and what effective clergy do. The inflexibility of these expectations is an important cause of clergy malfunctioning.
"Rothauge sets forth four basic congregational sizes. Each size requires a specific cluster of behaviors from its clergy. The average number of people attending weekly worship and the amount of money being contributed regularly provide the most accurate gauge of church size. Since membership rolls fluctuate wildly depending upon how frequently they are evaluated, they cannot provide an accurate measurement of congregational size. Rothauge also holds that a church's size category is a matter of attitude as much as numbers."
How to Minister Effectively inPosted on April 2, 2002 07:57 PM
Family, Pastoral, Program, and Corporate Sized Churches
How to Minister Effectively
Roy M. Oswald, Senior Consultant, The Alban Institute