Group size and Disciple Making – Does It Matter?
Faith Communities Today Research 2020
“Our best estimates are there are between 350,000 and 375,000 congregations of all faith traditions
within the nation. The trends around size will be addressed in a bit, but the vast majority of the country’s congregations are small. 70% of these faith communities have 100 or fewer weekly attendees. Only 10% of them have more than 250 in weekly services. However, far more people attend these larger congregations – roughly 70% of all attendees – than the many smaller ones. Those smallest communities of 100 or less are home to only 14% of all weekly attendees. “ (1)
Most churches have fewer than 100 people on Sunday mornings.
Most People go to a church of over 250 people on Sunday mornings.
“I’ve heard that churches with 30 percent of their adult worship attendance in small groups are in the top one half of one percent of all churches in the U.S.” –
Congregation – Large Group – whole church, 100 people {1500}
Sunday School – Mid-size Group – a subset of the church, 10-20 people {100}
Bible Study – Small Group – 8-12 people {20-30}
A Table – Micro Group – 3-5 people
One-to-one – 2 people
What is Important for Spiritual Growth and Maturity?
Personal invitations are important.
Prayer – with and for each other.
Commitment to each other – we miss you when you aren’t here.
Transparency – we all struggle.
Reading the Bible together. Not just a sermon, but reading passages together.
Bible Memorization – encouraged, supported and checked on.
Resources:
(1)https://faithcommunitiestoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Faith-Communities-Today-2020-Summary-Report.pdf