200 Barrier

When 200 Seems Huge: Five Reasons Churches of 200 Are Considered Small

If you pastor a church of fewer than 50 people, the fact that I refer to a church of 200 as small may surprise you. 200 in your situation may seem huge. In fact, 200 may be bigger than the biggest church in your town or county.

But I still consider 200 to be a small church. No matter how many people live in the community. Here are five reasons why:

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#BestOf2014: Why Some Great Churches Grow Big, But Most Don’t

Too many good pastors of good churches have been living in guilt, frustration and self-condemnation because their church isn’t getting bigger. After all, they’ve been told that a healthy church will always grow and inevitably become a big church.

That’s just not true. There’s an entirely separate list of skills, assets and exterior circumstances needed for the kind of consistent church growth that leads to bigness. And, while it’s great when the list of elements needed for a healthy church combines with the list needed for a big church, they rarely do.

So, if you’re pastoring or attending a healthy church, possibly even a great church, but it’s not becoming the big church you were told was virtually inevitable, that’s OK. You’re not failing. You’re normal.

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The World’s Best Small Churches

No one will ever make a list of the greatest Small Churches in the world. And they shouldn’t. After all, a great urban Small Church looks very different from a great rural one. Same with a great Baptist and Methodist church. Or a great Small Church in Japan or Costa Rica, etc. Even if there

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We Followed the Steps – Where’s the Church Growth?

There are many churches who are following all the principles, but never break through the growth barriers.

There are no guaranteed steps to church growth or health. Because the church is people. And people never come with guarantees.

So, what’s a pastor to do? Here’s the only advice I know.

Stay faithful, no matter the results. Faithfulness doesn’t help us reach our goals. Faithfulness is the goal.

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Forget the 200 Barrier – Small Churches Need to Break Through the Grasshopper Barrier

We need to retire the 200 Barrier from our church leadership lexicon. It makes some dangerous assumptions, starting with the assumption that over 200 is better than under 200. But the Grasshopper Barrier is a toxic mindset that keeps churches and pastors from recognizing The Grasshopper Myth for the lie that it is. That’s the barrier we need to break.

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“So, Will This Session Help My Church Break Through the 200 Barrier? No? Uh… OK…”

Helping Small Churches become healthy before they get bigger is a revolutionary idea. It shouldn’t be, but it is. And it probably will be for a while. But dents are being made. Let me tell you about some that were made this week. On Wednesday I was honored to represent Small Church pastors by being

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