Every local congregation has value in the economy of God’s Kingdom. Larger churches often feel the sting of comments about being too big to be personal. Smaller churches often think more in terms of what they can’t do because they lack warm bodies or cold cash or both.
We’re here to provide strategic resources and encouragement to remind churches of all sizes what they can do.
Larger churches often have visible community impact. They can offer resources for growth and safety-net situations with aplomb.
Yet smaller churches are a big deal, too. There are roughly 350,000 Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox churches in the United States. There are 175,000 congregations (more or less) with 75 or less people attending on a weekly basis. And get this: churches of less than 500 make up 94% of local churches in the United States. That’s about 329,000 of the 350,000 churches in the U.S. About 34 million of the 56 million people who attend Christian worship services in a given week in the United States attend those smaller churches.
Each of us at resilientchurch.org agrees that churches of any size constitute a treasure worthy of our best stewardship. We are dedicated to their health, growth and stability. Some of us attend large congregations these days. Still, many of us are presently involved, or grew up, in smaller churches. We hope our resources are helpful to churches and Jesus followers of all shapes and sizes.
WHAT TO EXPECT
At resilient church.org you can expect resources – which soon will range from Bible studies to vacation Bible school curriculum to bulletin covers to scripts for sermon-enhancing and standalone church dramas – offered for a modest price, and sometimes at no charge. You’ll put ideas and resources available as digital downloads in your hands without breaking your budget, often in highly-focused collections (for example, a smaller drama collection of Advent-related scripts versus a huge collection of random content).
You’ll find encouragement in our blog and related links, where you’ll encounter a wide variety of blog contributors reflecting on issues from church history to worship music to the politics of potlucks, all with an eye toward smaller churches. Their common thread is to encourage you while they help you think.
A variety of challenges have brought many local churches (and even more people) to a point of crisis. Some have recovered, and need input to encourage greater recovery. Others clearly need a bounceback – a shot of resilience – that only God can provide.
Our role, then, is to encourage that journey to resilience.