The Myth of the 200 Barrier: How to Lead Through Transitional Growth

By Kevin E. Martin and Canon Canon Canon Kevin E. Martin

Book Overview

"This is the best book I have ever read on congregational development! I wish I had written it." (Lyle E. Schaller, Parish Consultant) The common experience of large congregations getting larger and small congregations getting smaller has given rise to the belief that growing congregations tend to hit a barrier at the 150-200 attendance mark. The dividing line in American Church attendance is 150 people on an average Sunday. Churches below this seem to have a harder time growing. Above this, churches seem to have an easier time growing. Trying to grow a smaller church can feel like trying to break through what Martin calls the "200 barrier." Martin explains that there is no barrier; there are just two different ways of being a church--the "Pastoral Size" church and the "Program" church. The "Transitional Church" is really a hybrid of these two cultures, and this dual nature produces stress and tension where the idea of a 200 barrier often becomes a self-fulfilling expectation. How does the Pastor Size church culture really work? What are the key elements of the larger American Church? How does this create a large church culture that becomes self-supporting? Martin looks at these elements and shows how the Transitional Church can avoid mistakes in their effort to grow "beyond the barrier," and why transformation and change is so difficult. Drawing on sociological and anthropological studies about the significance of numbers in human organizations, Martin proposes practical steps that leaders of Transitional Churches will want to take.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0687343240
• ISBN13: 9780687343249
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: Abingdon Press
• Length: 135 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Church Health Breaks Barriers

Many resources on the 200 growth barrier in churches focus on the barrier. Sometimes, it makes the barrier seem so large that it is impossible to get through. Martin instead focuses on the underlying health of the church in transition and gives practical advice for increasing overall church health, structure, and thought processes. It also focuses on the stress of living in a transitional sized (140-225) church environment. Martin takes a real look at this dynamic without the pep talk mentality of many other resources.

How to Think Like a Leader

I would subtitle this book, "How to Think Like a Leader." Written in a very readable style, Kevin Martin invites the reader into the thought processes of a pastor leading a church in the 75-225 average Sunday attendance range. Acknowledging that one size does not fit all in terms of churches as well as leaders, this book shows that different pastoral leaders do, indeed, have different gifts, and that there is not one certain type of mold that pastors of growing and healthy churches (these terms are not necessarily synonymous)fit into. Particularly for the pastor who feels that he or she is "stuck," this book gives a variety of suggestions of getting "unstuck" without having to change everything wholesale.