Church Size and Member Satisfaction — Is Bigger Better?

Executive summary

Research on optimal church size reveals consistent trade-offs rather than a single ideal: small churches (under 100 attendees) score highest on spiritual growth, belonging, and meaningful worship but struggle with resources, programme breadth, and numerical growth. Large churches (250+) offer broader programmes, report more "changed lives," and excel at evangelism but show lower participation ratios, weaker follow-up on lapsed members (only 37% definitively contact those who stop attending), and...