Which Harder: Pastoring/Shepherding Small Church vs. Large Church?

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thistle93

thistle93

Puritan Board Freshman
Hi! First of all I know this is a bit of a generalization which can never be exact and there are different dynamics to each church but just curious what people (primary looking for pastors) think is a more difficult task, pastoring/shepherding a small church or a large church and why you think so? Also any personal experiences would be welcome.

I know that natural inclination would be to automatically say a large church because more responsibility/people but I tend to think a small church may be harder.
Not that large churches don't have difficulties, just different ones.
Full disclose I am a pastor of a small rural church, so I may be somewhat bias.

Now here are a few reason I think being a small church pastor is harder. 1)Limited resources (both people and finances) 2) conflict (if a family gets angry and leaves much more a burden on church than large church) 3) change (seems that small churches are more hesitant to reform. If one family wants to block change much easier in small church) 4) often times discouraged pastors and congregation (given low amount of growth) 5) (People more likely to go to a church already well established then go to a small struggle church and seek to help build it up.)

Probably could list a few more but this should suffice. Again I know these are somewhat generalizations and do not mean to demean the struggles/hardships of those pastors in large churches. I also know there are many advantages to pastoring a small church.

Thoughts?


For His Glory-
Matthew
 
Smaller. There is a bigger burden placed on the Senior Pastor. Everybody wants his attention and access to him 24/7 and generally have no sense of proportion of what qualifies as pastoral needs until they grow in the faith. Larger Churches tend to force individuals to grow up and fend for themselves. It's like the difference between Mamals and reptiles, one encourages sticking together the other individual Independence. Both have their dynamics in Scripture and both can be taken to extremes.
 
Good question. I attend a small church and there is only one pastor so he has to deal with everything. Seems larger churches have 2-4 pastors and things can be delegated. Larger church has more people, which can create more difficulties. But again as mentioned above, while a small church has less people, difficulties be more 'difficult' as they can affect the entire congregation. (i.e. throw a few small rocks in a big pond and some may not be affected, but throw a large rock in a small pond and everyone is effected).
 
Not a pastor, but I go to a very large church.

I'd say a small church would be much more difficult, unless the pastor was unable to delegate, manage, and work with others. A small church pastor has to balance everything. A large church pastor can play to his strengths and let others labor in areas where they may be more gifted.
 
I pastor a mid sized church in New Jersey. The minister before me who pastored both a small and a large church, said hands down a small church is more difficult. This after 40 years in the ministry. He explained that while both have their problems, these problems are more magnified in a small congregation, whereas in larger churches, the "flow" of the congregation keeps problems abated due to the largeness of the body and a larger team of elders.
 
Ministry is difficult. Period. Whatever problems that may go away with a staff, larger problems are added.

Just to use an analogy, when I was a platoon commander at age 22, I had about 50 Marines under my charge. I had a couple of SNCO's I could delegate to. It was hard work. When I was a Company Commander ten years later I had 2 Captains, 5 Lts, and a dozen SNCO's helping me to manage the work of 300 Marines. More help but the work was *much* more complex. There were certain things that were harder being in charge of less but, at the same time, had I not been trained I would never have been equipped to deal with the complexity of the larger unit. In fact, there are some people that are only able to deal with the dynamics of smaller organizations and that's not just true of military units or businesses but Churches as well because you're dealing with complex problems that arise as groups get very large.

Now I'm not advocating for one size over another. I'm simply addressing the OP. There are small Church pastors that could potentially find a larger Church "easier" in some respects but not have the gift of leading a Church of that size and so, in that sense, it would be "harder" to the point of them being unable to manage its size.
 
I agree with Rich. Our congregation has gone from small to mid-size, and I could spend every waking moment in ministry.
 
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