St Mike and Megachurches of 120

I once commented about "megachurches" of 120 or more people.

Someone naturally assumed it was a typo.

It was not.

Because I was trained in the System, I need wake-up/shake-up calls like Mike's...and the woman in the 22nd pew....to unplug.

Now I may need to officially downsize my megachurch starting point.

If you are still flinching over that, I recommend a prayerful/careful read of Mike Croghan's

What I Really Think: #7 - Church Community Size.
See my comment to him over there where I thank him for confirming everything I've felt and therefore messing up my life for good.

A preview, to be sure you click to his blog to read the whole thing,
and put an offering in his basket:

I am willing to allow that there are probably good reasons for certain church communities to grow to more than, say, 75-100 active members (including children).

However, I must admit that I have trouble thinking of any.

'Cause this is the rub: I can't think of anything that a single church community can do which a network of communities working together can't do (though admittedly, such networks would probably move more slowly in many cases). On the other hand, I can think of a bunch of thorny issues that begin to arise when communities get so big that anonymity is possible - which probably happens when they approach 50 or 70 adults; fewer if the leadership responsibility is concentrated in one or two individuals. Once anonymity is possible, the church ceases to be a community of followers of Jesus.

Let me unpack that statement, because it is, admittedly, a bit extreme...
link

I have archived Mike's other posts in this important series here.

Mike, if you continue the series, I may have to spontaneously combust.
Or at least finally get started in my ministry.
Which may be the same thing.

PS For some reason I connect this to the hilarious and tragic "Sex and Drugs in Church: Eugene Peterson on Why the System Can't Care"