Ninety percent of churches have fewer than 200 people. Eighty percent have under 100.
Small churches are not in the minority. We are the overwhelmingly dominant way people have always chosen to worship Jesus.
Yet, despite this, there are many misunderstandings about the purpose, the nature, the needs, the blessings and the realities of small churches, based on our assumptions, rather than reality.
Author
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Karl produces resources for Helping Small Churches Thrive at KarlVaters.com.
He's the author of four books on church leadership. His fifth book, De-Sizing the Church: How Church Growth Became a Science, Then an Obsession, and What's Next, releases on April 2, 2024.
He also hosts a bi-weekly podcast,The Church Lobby: Conversations on Faith & Ministry. Episodes feature in-depth interviews about the topics that concern pastors, especially those who minister in a small church context.
Karl has served in small-church ministry for over 40 years, so he speaks and writes from decades of hands-on pastoral experience. He and his wife, Shelley have three children and two grandkids.