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Mega-city Churches 9: How to meet

July 1, 2007

Developing strategies for meeting as God’s people is important if the church is to grow in the big city.  But strategies for meeting also imply strategies for multiplying meetings – after all where will the new disciples go when they change their mind and start following Jesus?

So far I have referred to meetings rather than church services. Church services ought to be a form of meeting. In the Anglican tradition they are meant to serve the goals of building up God’s people by the regular hearing of the Word of God, by the confession of sin, by the prayers and by bringing our praise and thanksgiving together.

These traditional Sunday meetings of the church serve valuable purposes because they bring many together to hear the scriptures and to praise and pray together.  But they do not need to be restricted to Sundays. And they do not need to be especially large (although they could be). One of the difficulties with church size (as I said earlier) is that congregations are self-limiting because of the fellowship relationships in the church.

One of the ways to allow more disciples to join in is to multiply the number of church meetings of this size. This also fits the reality of  the mega-city because it allows the large meetings to be spread around in different localities. Mega-city churches do not have to be mega-churches.

In any case a Sunday type church of more than 12 people is already too big to do some of the things that are crucial for the life of the church. The mutual ministry of the word of God, the praying for each other, the bearing of each other’s burdens happen better in small gatherings.

The church in the days of the apostles met in homes (their was usually no other place). Later when Christians were allowed to build or to use large buildings, the nature of their meeting changed – but not necessarily for the better.  The gain also reflected a loss.

One of the ways that the church can grow in the mega-city is by multiplying small meetings of the church. And not only in homes, in work places, in public places anywhere that a dozen people can meet in peace.

But the problem that faces the larger meeting also faces the small meeting. Fellowship relations in the group tend to close the group to new people. And in fact although new people can be drawn in, there is a numerical limit. More than about 12 people in a small group means that some will become non-participants, and will gradually drop out.  So what is the answer?

Dale

Comments

I guess whether it's a mega-church or a small group, somehow God uses them all
Yes, small group is certainly the model for discipleship, but there are times when large group is helpful for people who wants to know about Christianity in a 'safe' way (without being scared with over-zealot welcome team :P)
I guess we only can be humbled on how God uses His Church in so many ways (that we don't even understand)?

Posted by Rusdy on Friday, July 6, 2007 at 03:29:14

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