Leadership Ministry Team Agenda

February 22, 2005

5:30pm GSLC Library

Characteristics of Large Congregations – Discussion

Review of:

• Large Congregational Learnings to be Tested: Ideas, Experiences, and Reflections about Large Congregations. Rendle G. The Alban Institute Center for Learning (year not available).
• Senior Pastor or CEO? The Challenges of Balance in Large Church Leadership. McCollum A. Congregations; Winter 2005., p. 27-31.
• Congregation Size: What the Research Tells Us: McCollum A. Congregations; Winter 2005., p.13-17
• The Stresses of Size. One Minister’s Journey to the Land of the Large Church and Back. Zurheide J. Congregations; Winter 2005., p.32-35.

Characteristics of a Large Church

• Average Worship Attendance: 350-1,999 people
• Senior Pastor Focus: visioning, preaching, staffing issues, development, working with the governing board. A more detailed list includes: leadership, visionary capacity, ability to inspire others, staff supervision and mentoring, enabling and empowering others, delegation, fiscal management, administration.
• Senior Pastor Gives Up: Must channel energies….delegate member care, close contact with committee’s, other things….. The senior pastor who takes on too much can be detrimental to all. “What will you say ‘no’ to?”

Challenges of a Large Church

• Financial: Must rely on variety of sources for funding, including endowments.
• Long-Term Planning: Must plan 3-4 years out
• Large Management Structure: the more programs a church offers, the larger the management structure must become.
• Management Function: the most challenging part of the transition from a small church to a large one.
• Accountability: Unless effective systems of accountability are in place for staff and leadership, chaos will result.

Questions

Refer to the article entitled “Congregation Size: What the Research Tells Us”: A Contrast of Characteristics, pg 16-17.

The Leadership Ministry Team needs to consider the following question:

• Is the large congregation structure the “best fit” for GSLC.

GSLC Congregation needs to consider:

• Does GSLC want to be a large church?