Comments on: Local? http://blog.pauljames.me/2008/07/15/local/ In Case You Were Wondering... Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:10:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Tim http://blog.pauljames.me/2008/07/15/local/#comment-552 Tim Sat, 19 Jul 2008 02:31:07 +0000 http://blog.essahfae.com/?p=334#comment-552 yeah i don't know why the village doesn't start planting churches. i know they want to and are researching the idea so we'll see what happens. we love the village, but it is hard to be on mission through community with such a huge number of people. we are close w/our small group and another group close to us, but outside of that it can be tough and frustrating some times. michael and i are planting a church in austin w/hill country next summer. jaya and i will be moving there after i graduate dts in may. we are in the planning stages right now... you should check it out and see what you think... www.gogetscatter.com yeah i don’t know why the village doesn’t start planting churches. i know they want to and are researching the idea so we’ll see what happens. we love the village, but it is hard to be on mission through community with such a huge number of people. we are close w/our small group and another group close to us, but outside of that it can be tough and frustrating some times.

michael and i are planting a church in austin w/hill country next summer. jaya and i will be moving there after i graduate dts in may. we are in the planning stages right now… you should check it out and see what you think… http://www.gogetscatter.com

]]> By: Paul http://blog.pauljames.me/2008/07/15/local/#comment-551 Paul Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:31:33 +0000 http://blog.essahfae.com/?p=334#comment-551 Really my reasoning for emphasizing church size is that, while I too don't believe there is a "right" size congregation, I do believe that it is a factor that is neglected in church planning. It seems that more and more churches are focused (actively or passively) on growing their congregations without any regard to what an appropriate size for them should be. The sky is the limit; we wouldn't want to limit the Holy Spirit. The problem with that is, group size can drastically affect the communication of any group's dynamics, especially when you consider the infrequency of the average church attenders contact with the congregation (which is greatly affected by attenders not being a part of the local community to begin with). Great input everyone -- I'm already working on my follow-up post. Really my reasoning for emphasizing church size is that, while I too don’t believe there is a “right” size congregation, I do believe that it is a factor that is neglected in church planning.

It seems that more and more churches are focused (actively or passively) on growing their congregations without any regard to what an appropriate size for them should be. The sky is the limit; we wouldn’t want to limit the Holy Spirit. The problem with that is, group size can drastically affect the communication of any group’s dynamics, especially when you consider the infrequency of the average church attenders contact with the congregation (which is greatly affected by attenders not being a part of the local community to begin with).

Great input everyone — I’m already working on my follow-up post.

]]> By: Adam http://blog.pauljames.me/2008/07/15/local/#comment-550 Adam Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:26:21 +0000 http://blog.essahfae.com/?p=334#comment-550 For me geography plays a little bigger role than size, although I wouldn't mind seeing more church plants and smaller churches. I'd agree that there are no apparent spiritual advantages of a large church over a smaller church, but at the same time I see no ideal church size mentioned in scripture, and there certainly can be disadvantages to being a small church. I'm with you on the small groups. I'm still not sure what's supposed to happen with the groups at The Village… I'm a little more interested in the idea of being local though, not just regarding church, but how we live out our entire lives. Living, working and serving as a member of a church all in the same 5-10 mile radius. Investing ourselves in our immediate context. It's already easy enough to separate our "church life" from the rest of our "everyday life", driving somewhere else to worship doesn't help that sense of separation any. It's making less and less sense to drive past multiple churches to get to church in a community where I have nothing invested. For me geography plays a little bigger role than size, although I wouldn’t mind seeing more church plants and smaller churches. I’d agree that there are no apparent spiritual advantages of a large church over a smaller church, but at the same time I see no ideal church size mentioned in scripture, and there certainly can be disadvantages to being a small church. I’m with you on the small groups. I’m still not sure what’s supposed to happen with the groups at The Village…

I’m a little more interested in the idea of being local though, not just regarding church, but how we live out our entire lives. Living, working and serving as a member of a church all in the same 5-10 mile radius. Investing ourselves in our immediate context. It’s already easy enough to separate our “church life” from the rest of our “everyday life”, driving somewhere else to worship doesn’t help that sense of separation any. It’s making less and less sense to drive past multiple churches to get to church in a community where I have nothing invested.

]]> By: Sarah http://blog.pauljames.me/2008/07/15/local/#comment-548 Sarah Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:57:40 +0000 http://blog.essahfae.com/?p=334#comment-548 Well, we go to FUMC Plano, which is a large church in the next suburb over. We attended FUMC Wylie, which is literally down the street, but after three months of attending, people were still greeting us like it was our first time. On the second visit to FUMC Plano, the pastor greeted us by name. Although he now admits it was probably a fluke, that got us hooked. We also have a bunch of small groups, mainly just Sunday School classes, but in no way is it required. In fact, we don't have the space for everyone who comes to worship to attend Sunday School. Just my 2 cents. Well, we go to FUMC Plano, which is a large church in the next suburb over. We attended FUMC Wylie, which is literally down the street, but after three months of attending, people were still greeting us like it was our first time. On the second visit to FUMC Plano, the pastor greeted us by name. Although he now admits it was probably a fluke, that got us hooked. We also have a bunch of small groups, mainly just Sunday School classes, but in no way is it required. In fact, we don’t have the space for everyone who comes to worship to attend Sunday School. Just my 2 cents.

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