Contemporary Challenges Facing North American Evangelical Churches: Differences Between Smaller and Larger Congregations

Abstract

Contemporary churches face a myriad of challenges that will impact their future. However, the challenges that individual churches face vary according to the church. One factor that might be associated with different challenges is church size. This study of 129 evangelical churches in North America seeks to understand better what these challenges are, which are the greatest, and how they relate to church size. Church leaders were asked to indicate how difficult each of the 50 challenges was for their church. A factor analysis extracted 13 families of challenges. The four factors representing the greatest challenges were Evangelism and Youth Ministry, Leadership Support and Development, Spiritual Development, and Lay Involvement. The factors that accounted for the most variation between the churches were Cultural Changes Threatening Stability and Poverty in the Local Community. Two families of challenges (High Quality Church Programs and External Threats) were related to church size; specifically, they were greater challenges for smaller churches than for larger churches. The challenges and their relationship to church size are analyzed from psychological, managerial, and economic perspectives to understand the phenomena better.

Keywords: quantitative study, church growth, pastoral leadership, challenges, evangelicalism