Effective at any size!

December 11, 2025

By Rev. Rick King

A lot of ink (literal and virtual) has been spilled over the years on the small-church/large-church debate. Some say the age of the megachurch is past, others contend that large churches will be the only survivors when this reformation-revolution is complete.

What do YOU think? Some believe megachurches are inherently awful, just because they’re big, but much of this is opinion, not always borne out by the facts.

Yet there are pitfalls to the larger church. Retired United Methodist pastor Michael Slaughter, who in 1979 transformed a healthy, small, rural UMC located on the outskirts of Dayton, OH, into an effective megachurch, said the challenge with large churches is that they tend to produce Christians who are more like the surrounding culture: drawn by prestige, size, power and influence.

In other words, exactly the opposite of Jesus’ values. Slaughter said they had to work continually to overcome this tendency, and they did it by a huge emphasis on service and social outreach. In fact, they made serving in these ministries, along with service in community organizations, a requirement for membership there.

Carey Nieuwhof says we will likely continue to see large churches get larger, and multisite churches such as Eagle Brook will continue to experience explosive growth, as churches that are effective expand their mission through stronger churches merging with struggling ones.

One demographic trend we see is that millennials and others seek tighter connections in church communities—and that holds regardless of whether a millennial is part of a very large or a very small local church. Nieuwhof predicts that future large churches will probably become large by means of organizing thousands of attendees into much smaller gatherings, with decentralized, shared leadership.

Yes, the gathered church will continue to experience metamorphosis in response to cultural changes. But what makes a church of whatever size effective to a large extent transcends size.

The one difference? Resources. Often, small churches are challenged in this area, while large churches are often well-resourced.

Our merged church is starting out with an abundance of resources from combining those of two churches. What will we do with that abundance?

What do YOU envision we could be and do in our wider community?