Intimacy in a Large Church
Tuesday, April 1st, 2008For the next several posts, I thought I’d focus on some thoughts on my experiences pastoring a large church. Maybe I’ll do this all month…who knows? I’ll still podcast on whatever you want (see the poll on the right), but my text posts are going to be large church related.
Today, I was standing in the middle of the construction debris on the stage in our new auditorium, talking with a couple from our church.
They (like me) grew up in a small church.
They (like me) have spent most of their adult life in a small church.
And (like me) they are now plugged in and excited about what God is doing at Riverview, which is no longer a small church.
I was explaining to them the various things we have done architecturally to create a space that can house 1200 or so people, but still feel as intimate as possible. I was lamenting over the fact that we may have to do some video of the person teaching on a few screens so people can see better. I felt that seemed less intimate. They disagreed and felt it would add to the intimacy because you could see the teacher’s facial expressions better that way.
After our meeting, I got thinking, “why is it important to me that the service feel intimate?”
The answer I had for myself was “people want an intimate service.”
Hmmm…I wonder where I got that idea? I wracked my brain. Where did I get it into my head that “smaller is better” or “intimate is better?” And the bigger question that loomed in my head is “when did ‘what people want’ become my definition of ‘better?’”
Large churches are often criticized for being consumer-driven. Having talked with lots of large church pastors, I don’t think that is a true characterization. Most never set out to have a large church. They just did things that either attracted the unchurched (ideally) or church shoppers (less ideally). They just became a large church as a result.
I find it ironic that in trying to maintain a small church feel in a large church, I was inadvertently becoming consumeristic. Maybe accepting and being excited about being a large church (even if that means projection of the teachers on a screen) would be a less consumeristic attitude.