Why the healthy post-pandemic church will be a church of congregations

Bob Whitesel March 8, 2021

my saved content

VIEW AS
A PDF

iStock

While talking to a client, he noted that during this pandemic he learned an important truth: "a church is comprised of many smaller congregations, each with their own expectations, their own wants and their own likes." He was right, and understanding the different sub-congregations in your church is the starting place to make you a better leader.

First, let's define a sub-congregation, since most leaders may not have heard of the term. A sub-congregation is a group within the church that functions, in Asbury Professor George Hunter's words, as "a congregation within a larger congregation."

The most notable difference between a congregation and a sub-congregation is that a congregation is often identified by a "public name," e.g. First Church, Community Church, New Hope Church, etc. But a sub-congregation is a group of 30-150 people within the larger congregation that has an "in-house name" largely known to only the congregation.

Sub-congregations have many of the following characteristics …

• They are generally 30-150 people within a larger congregation.
• They meet semi-regularly for service, fellowship or learning.
• Usually they have a name by which they are known within the larger congregation.
• Sub-congregation examples may include:
  • Age groups
    • Youth groups
    • College groups
    • Single ministries
    • Senior adults
  • Large Sunday school classes or Bible studies (ABF, etc.)
  • Music departments and/or choirs
  • Worship style groups
    • Traditional/classic worship
    • Contemporary worship
    • Gospel worship
    • Hip-hop/rap worship
    • Ancient/future worship (combing liturgy with modern music)
  • Ethnic groups that worship in indigenous languages

Leaders maybe unaware of sub-congregations because they are students of leadership, not necessarily of organizational behavior. But scholars believe you must first understand an organization's "behavior" before you try to manage it. A mentor, Dr. Kent Miller of Michigan State University, stressed to me that church leaders often fail at leadership because they don't first analyze the organizational behavior they are trying to manage.

And, these sub-congregations are often centered around a culture (see the sub-congregations examples above). So, if you don't recognize the different cultures of these various sub-congregations, the leader will inadvertently offend some cultures and lose their support.

Therefore, to improve your understanding of a church's organizational behaviors, undertake six steps.

1. Identify the sub-congregational cultures in your church. Look for similar behaviors, ideas, expectations and vocabulary in groups of 30-150 that meet regularly.
2. Learn about their culture.This may include taking their leaders out for coffee, attending their meetings and sharing with them your observations so they can correct you.
3. Empower and mentor indigenous leaders from the culture you identified in Step 1.These should be people who have the potential to lead a church sub-congregation.
4. Help all leaders see that there are other sub-congregations in the church, that they are all equal in God's sight and that they must not be divided. Think of Paul's writing to the severely divided and patriarchal young church at Galatia that "In Christ's family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ" (Gal. 3:28, MSG.)
5. Create a unifying committee or board, made up of representatives of various sub-congregations, to work out different cultural expectations and disagreements. This is how the early church leaders felt with the tension between the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers (Acts 15).
6. Be careful not to play favorites.Most church leaders will be connected with one cultural sub-congregation or another. But, if you are giving oversight to the entire local church, you must stay connected with all parts of that body (1 Cor. 12:12-27). Recall how Peter described a vision God sent him about this.

"Peter fairly exploded with his good news: "It's God's own truth, nothing could be plainer: God plays no favorites! It makes no difference who you are or where you're from—if you want God and are ready to do as he says, the door is open. The Message he sent to the children of Israel—that through Jesus Christ everything is being put together again—well, he's doing it everywhere, among everyone. (Acts 10:34-36, MSG.)

Leading a church can be challenging … and rewarding. But you must begin by recognizing that healthy congregations are not one church, but a church of congregations. And within each sub-congregation you will find devoted, godly people who have congealed into smaller groups within a larger church congregation. Your duty, as a shepherd to the entire church, is to ascertain the different cultures God has put together in the church and to lead them all.

For more study on sub-congregations, see:

• Eddie Gibbs—I Believe in Church Growth, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1981: 276-280
• Pete Wagner—Your Church Can Grow, Oregon, Resource Pub., 2001:101-102
• Larry Richards—A New Face for the Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan 1970: 34-35
• George G. Hunter—The Contagious Congregation, Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1979:63; in which Hunter said every congregation is a really "a congregation of congregations" (p. 63).

my saved content

VIEW AS
A PDF

Bob Whitesel (D.Min., Ph.D.) is a foresight coach, professor, and award-winning author of 14 books. For over 30 years, he has guided leaders and churches to pivot and engage what’s next. He holds two earned doctorates from Fuller Theological Seminary and teaches on leadership foresight, church health, and organizational change. His website is www.ChurchForesight.com. Learn More »

• When preaching solutions, do these two things first (by Mark MacDonald)
• How smartphones have been used toward a torrent of cyberbullying (by Thom Rainer)
• How to bless before you blame in a conflict at work (by Jordan Raynor)
• How to combine passion and discipline for leadership impact (by Scott Cochrane)

Free eBook

Steps to Launching Your Personal Workplace Ministry

Have you ever felt the pull to full-time ministry work as a missionary or pastor? If not, you can still make a Kingdom impact without quitting your current job. In this eBook, you will learn the four essentials that can change your perspective of work, your workplace, and most importantly, your heart.

Download Now