Right-Sizing the Church (Mike Glenn)

By Mike Glenn

Several years ago, American military philosophy changed from large land armies such as we used in World War II and emphasized smaller, specialized units to accomplish battlefield objectives.  Units were blended to include mechanized, air and infantry units. With the right support, a few hundred soldiers can accomplish what used to be done by battalions.

During that same time, corporations were flattening their management organizational charts where layers of supervisors were removed in order to give more authority to those workers who were closest to the work being done. People working from home has shrunk headquarter buildings even further. Every major city is dealing with empty office buildings  in the urban core.

Everything is getting smaller. Restaurants are smaller -- fewer tables with more intimate seating. Fast food places are doing away with seating all together. Drive up windows or walk up counters are the only options customers have.  Movie theaters are smaller as well. Go to the movies today and you'll find eight theaters were only one used to be.

Guess what? Churches are getting smaller too. Several years ago, when our church started adding campuses, I told our leadership team we won't build anything larger than 500 seats. The teams was frustrated by my "limited" vision. Many of our church plants had the opportunity to go over 500 in attendance. In fact, they have.

That's not the point I said. I pray every one of our campuses is packed to the seams every time they're open. They's no law that says you have to have a worship service at 11 o'clock on Sunday morning. You can have four or five services on Sunday and add one on every night of the week. Build the facility the right way and it can support multiple services and events during the week.

So, what was my point? First, the writing was already on the wall. Mega churches across the country were already beginning to drape off their balconies to hide their declining attendance.  Second, building costs were going through the roof. They still are. Churches simply can't afford to build any facility that only works for one hour a week. Every building has to be able to support the ministry of the church in multiple ways or the construction can't be justified.

Third, millennials won't support large building programs. We're often told millennials don't give. That's not true. Millennials do give and they can be very generous.  They will gladly give to dig wells for villages in the desert but they won't give the same way to church building projects.

Then came COVID. Covid wrecked everything -- jobs, schools, shopping malls and concert halls-- and we're still tying to recover. Two things happened with COVID. First,  remember those people who are now working from home? They're going to church from  home now. They became comfortable to watching worship services online during the pandemic and liked it...Now, they aren't going back to church. They aren't mad. They're just more comfortable at home.  You may want to disagree with them, but they don't care.  They like it this way.

Second, people missed community.  Of everything we dealt with during the pandemic, the loss of community was the most hurtful.  We're still dealing with the damage the isolation did to our families -- children and adults.  For this reason, future churches are going to be focused on neighborhoods and local communities. People want to go to church with the same people they see in the local stores, their schools and neighborhoods. They want someone to miss them if they aren't there. They want to know people's names and they want to be known. They want make the world a little better and they know they can't end world hunger, but they can set up a community food pantry. They can't do much about the mental health crisis, but they can volunteer to mentor or tutor a struggling student, who if left unnoticed, would fall between the cracks of our world.

During COVID, we found out people needed three things from their churches. First, they needed worship. Yes, you can worship alone and I hope you do worship alone and often. Yet, we all know there is something spiritually rich and deep happening when people worship together.

Second, they need group discipleship. All of us need a band of brothers and sister with whom we do life. We need to do the "one anothers" Paul was always talking about. You remember, "encourage one another," "love one another," "bear one another's burdens." Life is too hard to live alone. We need each other.

And third, they need a place to engage the brokenness of the world. This can be anything from working at a local food back, to helping people fill our their taxes at the local library to working as a volunteer in the local hospital. These ministries will be as varied as the people called to do them.

That's it. We don't need gyms or coffee shops. Don't get me wrong. These are great things to have, but they are necessary for the kingdom work of a local church. We can do church fine without them. Millennials know that and with few exceptions, won't support these types of facilities with their giving. Every square inch of a new building program has to be justified by the impact it provides for the church's mission or it won't be supported in the future.

In the future, churches will be smaller, more locally focused and driven my lay involvement and passion. Churches are down-sizing in the 21st century.

And that's a good thing.