1. The phenomena of glass ceilings

Normally, healthy churches will be growing churches. But virtually every church will sooner or later encounter a strange phenomenon. The church may have been experiencing very encouraging growth over many years, but one year for no apparent reason the church will stop growing. I've called it a glass ceiling because no one can see any apparent reason why this is occurring. If the issue is not addressed in some way after a couple of year's frustrations can begin to emerge. People become nostalgic for the good old days when many people were coming to faith and the church was growing. The situation can often turn septic and people can become very judgmental in their attitudes and before long we have one more dysfunctional church. The scenario can be seen all over the country. Denomination makes no difference in this case.

What is happening is actually a very natural and very explicable thing. As a rule of thumb every time a church doubles in size it basically has to reinvent itself. But this is a very difficult thing to do and it is far easier to do things as they have been done in the past. The difficulty is that for every change that is made most people in the church will perceive it as loss. For example the thing that smaller churches highly prize is the intimate relationships possible in a small congregation, but as a church continues growing it is mission that replaces relationship as the supreme value. Relationships still occur but they will now be in more intentional small-group settings rather than the spontaneous occurrences of the smaller congregation. People will pine for the days when "we all knew each other" and that will normally be sufficient to inhibit the further growth of the church.

The most commonly encountered glass ceiling in this country is around 200 average weekly attenders. Ninety per cent of Presbyterian churches are beneath this ceiling and 70 per cent of Baptists. To grow beyond this size involves a lot of rethinking and reimagining. More pastoral staff will need to be employed, the church will need to recognise that pastoral care now occurs primarily through small groups, the quality of the preaching becomes far more important , a second service will need to be started and perhaps a new building will need to be erected. For many people it's simply not worth the effort and people either consciously or unconsciously decide it's nicer to grow old together so New Zealand is filled with congregations growing older and smaller.

It was my unusual privilege to serve one congregation for four decades during which time we had to pass through several reinventions. All of them are difficult, but in hindsight I can clearly see how worthwhile it was as the larger the church grows potentially the more resources it has to devote to kind of Kingdom focused ministries that this country desperately needs.

If you'd like to talk to Murray Robertson about working with your denomination or church on this topic, please email him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

1 Comments

1. john stringer makes this comment

   Thursday 15 April, 2010

   Hi Murray, this was excellent. Having worked in charismatic and mainstream denominations, the resistance to change is very strong in the latter, as older traditions and history are more entrenched. In the late 70s in Chch the Holy Spirit visited the young people of a mainstream church I attended in power and refreshment. Most of those young people are still going strong, many in leadership. The older members resisted change with hostility and hinderance. 35 years on, that church, dwindled to about 30 members had its building sold and its people dispersed. A more flexible people purchased the church and it is again full - after 40 years - with worship and all ages celebrating God and community. If only as people we can appreciate the glass ceilings, in our own lives as well as the church, and not resist God. The only constant is change, but in our sin and arrogance, we pitch our tents firmly in familiarity and draw our security from what we know rather than the Lord Himself.