MEDIUM-SIZED CHURCHES: Measuring Growth at Medium-sized Churches

Kent E. Fillinger

Some readers may wonder why there is an entire issue devoted to medium-sized churches with an average worship attendance of 250-499. This special issue featuring medium-sized churches reports on far fewer congregations than we had anticipated. There are obviously more than 32 Christian churches/churches of Christ that fit into the medium-sized church category. We hope to include many more of them in next year”s report!

Despite its small sample size, this report still provides a one-of-a-kind, detailed snapshot of medium-sized churches that will serve as a sound starting point to develop in the future. If you are involved in a medium-sized church, I hope you will volunteer to participate in our survey next year, so that relevant trends can continue to be explored.

What can we learn from these medium-sized churches?

Growth and Attendance

The average worship attendance of the 32 participating medium-sized churches last year was 361. Most church reports focus on megachurches and rave about their amazing growth, but these medium-sized churches grew by 6.7 percent in 2009, making them the fastest-growing category of churches in 2009 when compared with Christian church/church of Christ megachurches, emerging megachurches, and large-sized churches. These 32 medium-sized churches had a total attendance of 11,539 last year, while three of the Christian church/church of Christ megachurches each had more in average worship attendance than these churches combined.

The fastest-growing church in the group was Oak Park Christian Church, Grover Beach, California, with a growth rate of 42 percent last year. Journey Christian, Greeley, Colorado, was the second-fastest-growing church in 2009 with a growth rate of almost 32 percent. Overall, 72 percent of the medium-sized churches grew last year, a greater percentage than the other size categories studied.

Baptisms

The number and percentage of baptisms among the various church sizes increased last year, but again the medium-sized churches led the way with a 32 percent increase in the number of baptisms, rising from 555 to 733. The medium-sized churches had the second best baptism ratio (the number of baptisms per 100 people in attendance) with a ratio of 6.9 in 2009. Antioch Christian in Canton, Georgia, had the best two-year average baptism ratio with 12.2.

The “Baptism per Buck Award” for 2009 went to Stroh Church of Christ, Hudson, Indiana, for spending only $7,343 per baptism based on general fund giving only. Comparatively, the church with the highest baptism per buck spent $71,000 per baptism last year. The average cost per baptism for these medium-sized churches was $25,166. Fifth Avenue Christian in Havre, Montana, baptized 63 people last year, the greatest number of any medium-sized church.

A trend among megachurches and emerging megachurches in 2009 has been to conduct a special baptism service in the midst of weekend worship services (see “Mega See, Mega Do” in the April 11/18, 2010, Christian Standard). While 44 percent of the megachurches and emerging megachurches conducted a special baptism service, only 9 percent of the medium-sized churches incorporated such a baptism service into regular worship in 2009. In all churches””medium, large, and mega””the results consistently show the baptism ratio improves for churches conducting a special baptism service in the worship service. For example, the baptism ratio for the three medium-sized churches that held a special baptism service was 8.9 compared to only 6.6 for the 9 churches that did not.

Senior Ministers

The average age of the medium-sized churches” senior ministers, 48.7 years old, was slightly younger than their counterparts in the megachurches and emerging megachurches, but slightly older than those leading the large-sized churches. The research demonstrating the correlation between the senior ministers” age and the growth rate of the church remained relatively consistent, with the 40- to 44-year-old category leading the way with a 22 percent average growth rate. By comparison, the medium-sized churches with senior ministers who are 50 to 54 had an average growth rate of only 2 percent last year.

The average start date for these senior ministers was 1999. The connection between tenure and church growth demonstrated that senior ministers in the medium-sized churches were able to see growth occur sooner when compared to senior ministers in the other size categories. For example, among the medium-sized churches, the ones led by a senior minister with two to four years of tenure had the best growth rate at 17 percent last year, followed by those with five to seven years of tenure.

Worship Venues

Medium-sized churches were most likely to offer worship services in only one room or building (87 percent). Five of the medium-sized churches offered only one worship service per week, while Journey Christian, Greeley, Colorado, had the most worship services with four. More of the medium-sized churches offered only one style of worship (59 percent), and similar to the other church categories, this single focus resulted in a higher growth rate when compared to the churches that offered two styles of worship. Interestingly, none of the medium-sized churches uses a multisite model and only one of the churches expressed plans to launch multisite this year.

Finances

The best givers were in the medium-sized churches in 2009, with the average person giving $26.87 weekly. The second best givers attend megachurches ($26.14 weekly per person). The average medium-sized church received $504,767 in general fund giving last year. The average per person weekly giving for building funds or capital campaigns was $3.78 person. By comparison, the large-sized churches led the way in this area of giving with a weekly average of $4.50 per person.

The average indebtedness for these medium-sized churches was almost $1 million, or an average of $2,587 of debt per person in average attendance. By comparison, emerging megachurches had the highest per person debt load with $3,357, and megachurches had the least amount of debt per person in attendance at $2,248.

Half of these medium-sized churches increased their ministry spending in 2009 while 23 percent added full-time staff.

The large-sized churches gave the greatest percentage of their budget to outreach ministries beyond the walls of their church in 2009 with an average of 15.4 percent. The medium-sized churches were next with an average of 14 percent of the annual budget dedicated to outreach efforts. Eighty-six percent of the medium-sized churches gave 10 percent or more to outreach last year.

Hope and Encouragement

I hope you are encouraged by this small list of significant findings from these medium-sized churches and that you will find hope from the special profiles of the three medium-sized churches included on the next few pages.

Kent E. Fillinger is president of 3:STRANDS Consulting (3strandsconsulting.com) and associate director of projects and partnerships with CMF International (Indianapolis, Indiana).