A Fellowship of Smaller Congregations

The ALEX database of congregational statistics allows us to explore congregational data with a depth and breadth that was not possible with the printed Yearbook and Directory. Rather than consider a single congregation or a small set of congregations, using ALEX we can examine the congregations that submitted an annual ALEX Yearbook report as a whole.

Looking at a larger population of congregations enables us to discern what might be typical for Disciples congregations. For example, we can delve into the size of congregations. Looking across the church in the U.S. and Canada, what’s the typical size for a Disciples congregation?

Reported average worship attendance and reported participants can furnish measures of congregation size, and we can use the median statistic to describe the characteristic. The median is the midpoint, the value at which half the reported values are less, and half are more. 

From the 1,650 congregations that reported for 2023, the median number of reported participants was 66. Half the congregations reported having 66 or fewer regular participants, and half reported more.

Similarly, from the reporting congregations, the median reported worship attendance was 40. Half the congregations reported average attendance of 40 or fewer, and half reported more. If your congregation welcomes 40 or fewer people in worship weekly, your congregation is like half of the Disciples congregations in the U.S. and Canada.

Median values by themselves, though, do not tell the whole story. We can get more insight by creating size categories and examining how many congregations fall into each category. For instance, if we break congregations into categories by worship attendance of 1-50, 51-150, 151-350, and 351+, what does that tell us about the population of congregations that reported for 2023?

Putting that information into a chart presents a clearer picture. Based on 2023 reporting, nearly two-thirds of Disciples congregations (64%) report average worship attendance of 50 or less. Congregations that welcome more than 150 people into worship weekly make up just 5% of all Disciples congregations.

Data, in and of itself, is neither good nor bad. Data is a tool for learning and understanding. Data answers questions, and its best use raises new questions. Looking at this data, we begin to understand that the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is primarily a fellowship of smaller congregations.

What does that mean for our ministry? As smaller congregations, how might we best structure ourselves for effective ministry? How might regional and general ministries adapt to support, encourage, and build up ministry with smaller congregations?

In future articles, we will continue to explore statistics that help us understand what is typical for Disciples congregations.