Leading off, a story from “the old man,” my mentor Lyle Schaller: “What you see in a larger church is an underlying structure of different sized groups held together in tension. When gathered for worship, it seems LARGE. But the interlocking relationships of the people that are tied to one or two groups within the church is the key.” (editor: For Lyle a large church was anything over 400)
Now – moving to our Stats issue this week, based on the excellent recently released report Megachurch 2020: The Changing Reality of America’s Largest Churches by my friends Dr. Warren Bird and Dr. Scott Thumma. See links below to get your FREE copy.
This is a 20-year cooperative project that looks at churches that report attendance of 2000 or more on a weekly basis in the United States. I got to participate in prior years and even got credit for a paper back in 2005 based on the study. But this year’s version is revealing as it has some comparisons over 20 years of data gathering and analysis.
Warren and I worked together at Leadership Network; Scott and I wrote a landmark book on Megachurches which you can find on Amazon for a quarter now, used an probably unread. Order one for Christmas.
Recently, Warren and Scott shared some of the nuggets with our weekly Pastor Happy Hour call. See below if you want to apply to an invitation to that regular forum experience.
Let me share the real nuggets I saw and some of the implications for your own church’s approaches.
1. Over the 20-year period – 2000 to 2020 – those churches that say “Small Groups are a Central Strategy of our Church” has grown from 50% of the churches in 2000 to 90% in 2020.
For the purposes of the survey, the definition of small groups was broad. It includes home based, facility based, missional teams, community groups, Sunday School classes, discipleship groups and more. The common theme is a smaller grouping to grow, serve and participate through a faith centered group tied to the congregation.
2. The more adults in engaged in small groups, the stronger the growth of the congregation. As an example. The more members in small groups, the greater the church’s growth. For example: Seventy nine percent (79%) of those churches with more than 60% of people engaged in small groups reported growth. In contrast, only 41% of those with 20% or less reported similar growth.
3. Over the last FIVE years megachurches the median participation in small groups was 45%. [Median is the exact middle point of all the churches] In 2015, the median was 40%. But the next few statistics lay out the real meat that points to the huge difference small groups make.
4. The study compared those churches that had 40% or less of adults engaged in small groups to those that had 41% or more engaged in these groups.
I selected the most important 6 for you in this table:
Note: Taken from Figure 9 in the report
This is not to suggest that getting to over 40% in small groups is a magic fix but it shows how strategizing, encouraging and growing your small group efforts impact significantly some other positive areas for your church’s vitality.
5. Finally – let’s talk about money. The study looks at per-capita giving. That means total income divided by stated attendance. Before I share the impact of small groups, let me note the following:
a. Per capita is a very crude measure. Almost always there are some strong, faithful, generous givers that are many times higher in their annual giving that make the church’s finances solid.
b. Per capita averages include a swath of people (often 20-40% of attenders) that either give $0 in a year, dramatically lowering the per capita average.
c. At Generis, we encourage looking a various “bands” of giving ranges to really explore what is going on in your congregation’s giving. (if you want to explore that with one of my colleagues let me know. We have a great giving analysis tool you can use.)
d. And since per capita means each individual, you have to double the numbers for married persons to get a household figure.
But for those with have a high emphasis on small groups, the giving per capita is $1874 per year vs $1727. A difference of $147 per year per person.
That doesn’t sound like much. But with an average attendance of 4092 people in the churches in the study, simple math says the difference for those with a high emphasis on small groups is up to $600,000 per year in more money to fund the mission if everyone was engaged in a small group vs. not engaged in a group.
Even if the average church grew from 20% to 40% in small group engagement we are talking $120,000 more dollars a year.
In similar studies by the way, we have tracked that those in a small group tend to give around 30% more money than those who are not in a small group.
Implications after the ad:
“Our Biggest Challenge is that we have too many leaders.”
Said no pastor anywhere at any time.
Every church needs more and better leaders. We need them at all levels of our ministries, from top level staff to key servants and volunteers.
My colleague at Generis, Greg Ligon has been working with me on a Leader Advance Framework and process to help your church evaluate your processes and build towards strength.
A great program helps you:
· Equip higher capacity leaders for your church’s future.
· Develop well rounded leaders beyond Biblical Training.
· Create an abundance of leaders to share beyond your own church so that the whole kingdom benefits.
We are not ready to “go public” yet with all our tools, but we do have a FREE Road Map session we are piloting with pilot clients.
To inquire hit me up with an email: dave.travis@generis.com
Story continues here—-
Implications:
1. How strong is your group strategy and process? I know Covid has blown a hole in those with mostly on-site groups like Sunday School. It may have wrecked some of those groups organized around on-site service teams. But generally, home based groups AND externally focused serving groups carrying on well despite the challenges. Some are using technology and others for bubbles and pods to meet face-to-face.
2. Moving up the percentages engaged in small groups always pays big dividends. This is clear. But you knew that.
How can you encourage short term trials, onboarding processes and connection points to engage those not engaged?
How are you turning short term commitments towards longer term commitments to a group.
3. Beyond the scope of this newsletter, some have heard my magic numbers talk (also given to me by Lyle Schaller) that speaks of how every church needs two magic numbers for the small group systems they employ. One of these days I will share that in this space, but it is too long for now. We have covered that in Happy Hour call.
4. In recent days I have been consulting with congregations with much higher percentages engaged in adult small groups that are seeing clear benefits to having these robust systems throughout this challenge season. In some, the groups and communities have grown stronger and in number throughout the past year.
That doesn’t happen without intentionality, encouragement and tools. How are you providing those in this season?
5. Finally – the multiplication at all levels begins at the base level of multiplying the leadership capacities from the top down. How are you executing on that?
For more information about our Leader Advance Framework see the ad above.
The Happy Hour Call is open for senior/lead pastors of larger churches. To apply for an invitation, send an email to Linda.Stanley@generis.com
Great Things God Has Done Podcast – this week with Dr. Bruce Miller of Christ Fellowship McKinney. An interview about life and leadership.
Check out all the great interviews there. And check out Stacy Spencer’s stylin’ glasses and John Braland’s motorcycle photo.
How to get your copy of the Megachurch report (FREE) – Go to either:
https://www.ecfa.org/Surveys.aspx to download it from our friends at ECFA or http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ to get it from The Hartford Institute.
Warren and Scott do fantastic work and if you ever get a survey request from them, please take the time to complete it. It helps all of us better understand how large churches are different and serve God’s kingdom purposes in unique ways.