Church Size

[TriptychR]

Where two or more are gathered, the Lord is there, but I've never seen a two-seated church.

I've read mentioning's of how large or small one's church is in other threads and it's finally made me curious as to just how big the average church congregation is.

So do you go to a megachurch or a tiny country gathering?

 

[Spicy McHaggis]

I think we're just under a grand right now.

 

[TriptychR]

I think we're just under a grand right now.

Wow. We might just break 50 in a few months if our trend continues.

 

[lilray]

over 6k and growing fast!!!

 

[Spicy McHaggis]

Wow. We might just break 50 in a few months if our trend continues.

Best services I've been to are in the teeny tiny churches of 2nd/3rd world countries where the building is over capacity at 50 people.

Because you know they're there because there's nowhere else in the world they want to be at that moment.

The big churches I've been to I've seen so many people that seem to be there because they're "supposed to".

1,000 is too big for me. I'd like to go smaller, but so far the only smaller church I want to go to houses ExGF and the snake that tried to break us up, so I found it to be fairly distracting for me when I was there.

So I just run their paintball outings and work with the youth group occasionally.

 

[lilray]

i've been to smaller churches and i gotta say - i love my church. there's so many ministries to get involved in. there are always classes and fellowship events to go to. always new people to meet yet we still have the closeness of a smaller church in our small bible study groups plus you get all the extras of having so many resources. i love going to a big church. i've grown way more as a christian. wouldn't trade it for anything. whatever works for you ya know?

 

[wildthing]

3500-4500. A little on the large side I think. We might have about 900 attend each service and we have 4 services.

It's very true what is said about 3rd world churches.

 

[fluffy_rainbow]

The church I attend has only been open since October, so we're still very small in numbers (appx. 15-20 adults, 10 youth, and 3 children on Sunday mornings) but we're growing and the Holy Spirit is always in our midst when we gather.

 

[plum]

The church I attend right now is the largest church in Michigan, a true megachurch that doesn't even want to be one *laugh*.
(btw, a "megachurch" is defined as a church with a weekly attendance of an average of 5000 or above)
Mars Hill Bible Church of Michigan (known affectionately as Mars Hill) has a weekly average attendance (all services included) of about 10,000. HUGE. MAMMOTH. But what are they preaching? The Word. Christ. And guess what: small intimate community. why is it that the church where small, intimate early-church community is preached and valued so highly is the place where thousands flock?
Dunno.
I may go there. I may be changing my ways a bit and leaving someday... but I do love it. and SNAP the teachings are unbelievable.

 

[Lia]

My church is about 2000+ members and we only have 1 service on Sunday.

I can enjoy both big and small church.

With small church, you are able to know everyone in there so it's really nice and intimate.

With big church, you can always meet new people and of course different areas of ministries. There is always something going on at my church, so it's really cool. But I understand some people are not used to the big church. I personally the big church a lot. But, I love my church mainly because of the amazing community of believers though and I have been growing/learning a lot ever since I started attending it 1.5 years ago.

 

[TriptychR]

I'm beginning to see that I shouldn't have stopped at 1,000.

 

[TriptychR]

i've been to smaller churches and i gotta say - i love my church. there's so many ministries to get involved in. there are always classes and fellowship events to go to. always new people to meet yet we still have the closeness of a smaller church in our small bible study groups plus you get all the extras of having so many resources. i love going to a big church. i've grown way more as a christian. wouldn't trade it for anything. whatever works for you ya know?

Well, that's one of the things I regret about being part of a small church. There aren't any separate ministries (my cousin and I comprise the entire Young Adult/Singles group of the church) or many resources. But on the bright side, everyone knows everyone in our church. If someone's going through a hard time, you can guarantee that just about everyone in the church will be praying or caring for you.

 

[Grunt]

Membership or attendance?

Our membership is probably 4-500, but regular attendance is 250-300.

I couldn't stand going to a "mega-church" where you don't really have a chance to do things like actually knowing your pastor 1-on-1, or where you don't know 95% of the people there, and you're just another face in the crowd. It seems to me too much like turning God into a business.

 

[JPPT1974]

800-1,000

 

[renaistre]

Membership or attendance?

Our membership is probably 4-500, but regular attendance is 250-300.

Same here, except that we might have 50 or so more. I like that size, or maybe a little smaller.

 

[MrDude]

I go to First Baptist in downtown Dallas, it's ridiculously big. I pretty sure it's over 20 thousand people, it might be close to 30 thousand but I'm not positive.

 

[Sketcher]

We were over 2500 a couple of years ago, and we've been growing since. We have three services, and surprisingly, there is enough room to park - for now. The youth group is really swelling.

 

[Cherub8]

101-300

 

[kelco]

41 is our average Sunday attendence.

 

[Eagle_Wings]

Well, when everyone shows up...15. Yet, we average about 10 on a Sunday morning. That includes 2 teens (a brother and sister) and 3 sisters from 3-10yrs. I am the young adult there. We've had Sunday mornings where there were just the 3 of us...my parents and myself. God has shown us that the church will be 250 and when it grows beyond that then we break off and start a plant on the south side of town and just keep doing that. But, for whatever reason in the 6 yrs we've been here we haven't got past 15. We are doing everything God tells us to do & we've tried everything....but we have seen tremendous spiritual growth in those that are here now. Personally, I would like to be around 150, I like the small churches because it's more personal that way.