Hypermarket or Boutique

Richard Hardy thinks small.

When we think of successful church we tend to think big. We imagine a place the size of a hypermarket, where every need is catered for.

If this is the image you have, and you’re in a small church, it’s little wonder the future can seem bleak. (Though I’m aware that not every small church feels like this, and not every church member wants to be part of a large church!)

The problem with large churches is that it’s easy to get lost in the crowd. They can sometimes feel too large and impersonal. For this reason, larger churches have to work hard to be small.

The leader of a reasonably large church said to me that Celebrations (the large meetings) are great for worship, but impersonal for fellowship. The Cell (the micro meeting) is great for fellowship, but can feel too intimate and intimidating. So where does engagement fit?

His conclusion was what he called Community. It’s a group of about 30 people with something in common – they lived in the same area, had the same interest or the same profession - who could together connect with people like them in the community.

I found this fascinating - because the vast majority of churches in this country are fewer than 50 members. Exactly the size he was talking about forming!

That set me thinking. Recently, I spent an afternoon in the centre of Bath which, like other large cities, has all the major chain stores. They are the same UK-wide. But it’s not those hypermarkets that give a place like Bath (or Oxford, or York, or Edinburgh) their charm. It’s the small, intimate, one-off, unique shops. They are the ones I’m drawn to; they are the ones that fascinate me.

They are shops that compete by doing one or two things well, and they accomplish what the large retail chains can’t.

Maybe this is how we ought to regard ourselves as smaller churches - not as aspiring hypermarkets but as small boutiques. Offering a unique, tailor-made service.

I mean no offence to the large churches. I simply want to say to the smaller churches - why hanker after what you may never become, when you have something special? You have something that makes you fit for purpose in your locality, and makes you able to engage with your community in ways of which the larger churches could only dream.

Last Updated 09 February 2009