This is part of a series of interviews with pastors of churches whose attendance has grown 20% or more in 5 years. We hope this series will be a resource of ideas to help increase worship attendance at your church.

Image Courtesy Macedonia UMC Facebook

Leading Through Change: from Small-Membership to Midsize Church

Growth and change are not necessarily words to be feared.  In my experience, as I’ve had the blessing of serving a transitioning congregation, growth and change have meant gospel-guided adventures. For many faithful generations, Macedonia was your typical United Methodist congregation, worshipping with 60 people weekly, with a strong Sunday School program, offering Christ to the community. Last Sunday worship included more than 300. What happened?

The small membership church is invariably pastor-centered. Ministry activities follow local traditions. There are rarely more than two or three ministries happening, and the pastor is expected to attend everything church-related. There is much to be celebrated in the small-membership church, but generally growth and change are minimal.

The Mid-size Church Lead Pastor Task Force determined that when a small-membership church reaches a participation threshold (around 150 average worship), the congregation needs to shift its self-understanding from a “single-cell” mentality to a “shared ministry” experience.

In leading a church through a size transition, one question made a big difference in my experience: “To whom does your church belong?” Macedonia’s growth experience was made possible by the long-time members who already knew that “their church” was not really their own, but that it belonged to God, and that God has a diverse family.

The people opened the doors of their hearts as well as the church, hosted a free welcome picnic for new neighbors and declared, “We’re going to love whoever walks through these doors.”  The pastor worried whether the influx of new worshippers would displace the long-time members, but during a hospital visit, those fears were calmed by a long-time member of mature faith who reasoned, “The more people, the more love we have in Christ’s church.”

For the family-focused, pastor-centered church to reach a new level of shared ministry, several things should happen. There must be a recognition of Jesus in the other person, the

Image courtesy of Macedonia UMC Facebook

Biblical way of welcoming the stranger. That kind of radical hospitality embodies the radical love of our Lord. When that love is present, little can hinder the growth, the change and shared ministry that follow.  Also, worship needs to be dynamic and diverse. Worship not only remains the church’s central act, but also may become the motivating and guiding influence for all other ministries. In short, God initiates; people participate.

While seminary taught me not to change anything in a parish, Macedonia invited change, asking the pastor to lead them where they had not gone before. New ideas were welcomed rather easily. New people “sitting in our pew” were welcomed and loved. Change and growth became part of our way of being.  Within a year, Macedonia took a leap of faith to become a station church for the first time and to immediately launch a second worship service.

Guided by a living faith during worship, ministries in our context became more of a “shared ministry” experience rather than pastor-initiated, or rather than, “one-group” or “one strong personality” running things. This team-approach enabled us to build a new facility.

To negotiate a size-transition (between 150-200 average worship attendance), people had to step up and lead.  Small-group leaders, as well as Administrative chairpersons, began to function in more cooperative ways, even with measured risk-taking (e.g., “We’re free to try something new even if it fails”).

Small membership congregations often revolve around a single leader or might cater to the whims of one group. Balance gets thrown off when the gravity of the group tilts toward one personality or family. Shared ministry congregations, which mid-size churches have the opportunity of becoming, seek a balance in cooperative, laity-led, multi-faceted ministry programs.

Another transition guide-post is mission-outreach. Rather than forming an evangelism committee, people began to build community connections by serving where people were hurting around us. People active in serving Christ attract others to a congregation.

One final transition is key: the role of the pastor. To lead the change needed in God’s transitioning church, I had to be the change. Embodying changes in pastoral style and  acquiring new leadership skills has been invaluable. If I didn’t change, the church would not change either. As pastor, I knew that I couldn’t make it all happen; I had to let it happen. An internal change empowered a change in the people. In claiming more ownership of the ministry in God’s church, people experienced joy.

Rev. Jason Duley – pastor@macedonia-umc.org

Macedonia UMC – http://macedonia-umc.org