by sue h

Created on: February 17, 2008

There are hundreds of thousands of churches in this country. Some preach the Gospel, some don't.What is interesting is that among the Gospel preaching churches, there seems to be a kind of territorial attitude. The pastor of one church says to the pastor of another church "I hear your church is not doing so well attendance-wise. I don't understand, we had to go to two services just to accommodate the crowd."

Where are the people coming from? Why are there several churches in one area? There are three basic reasons. 1) the desire for more territory, 2) the different forms of worship, 3) doctrinal differences.
One can understand that doctrinal differences can cause people to attend separate churches, as one needs to belong where the beliefs closely line up with his own.

Different forms of worship is a big problem these days, as praise and worship type of music has entered many churches with guitars, amplifiers, drums and microphones. Many people prefer traditional hymns with an organ and/or piano. Some churches provide both.

But territory seems to be the biggest problem in the church today as we see the development of the "Mega Church". It is not uncommon in populated areas to see churches with 6 or 7,000 members. They have to hold three services, have huge buildings and budgets , and a staff of pastors.There is a full orchestra and a choir of 200.What is wrong with this picture?

Across the city, there is a small church with one pastor, teaching and preaching the same messages to a congregation of 75 people. Their building is small, as is their budget. They have one piano player and one service. What is the difference?

The pastor of the smaller church is working with the people of his neighborhood.The pastors of the Mega church are trying to draw from neighborhoods all across the city. They want a larger territory. It's not like the pastor of the smaller church is keeping his people away from the Mega church, it's just that the people are thriving more in the smaller and quainter environment.

In many of the Mega churches, there are shepherding groups, which mimic smaller churches, to meet the needs of the people. It is impossible for 5 or 6 pastors to minister to the needs of 7,000 people. So they divide the people into smaller groups and have laymen help shepherd the flock. It seems as though it is just a Mega church on Sunday morning, and with a great deal of entertainment as well as worshiping going on. People can come and go in a Mega church and no one would miss them. At the smaller church each person's absence is noticed right away.

In a small town, there may be the need for only one Gospel preaching church, if worship style and doctrinal issues are not a problem. In larger towns, neighborhood churches make sense. One pastor can only adequately minister to just so many people. If the church grows, it may be time to start a plant in another neighborhood. There is no reason to compete for members. The body of Christ is one, and the needs of the people are to be put ahead of numbers. Big isn't always better.

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