The Negro's church,.

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The Negro's Church

ORGANIZATIONAI AND EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE LARGE
CHURCH
In essence, this decline in the percentage of regular contributors and average attendance beyond 2,000 members
means that the larger the church the more organizing genius
is required to make it function proportionately and effectively. Educationally, it signifies that the larger the church
the more impersonal the institution becomes, in that it is
increasingly more difficult for the pastor and his staff to
administer to the individual needs of all or most of the members. These findings may not be arguments against excessively large churches, but they certainly are arguments in
favor of better-organized churches; especially when the memberships are very large. If close personal relationship on the
part of the pastors and members is a desirable thing, then
from the point of view of educational procedure, the excessively large church may not be an asset.
THE MEMBERSHIP PROBABLY INCREASING
No adequate and reliable answer can be given to the question as to whether the membership of the 609 churches is
increasing. Most of them show increases. The number of
members taken in during the year is usually reported as being
in excess of the number lost. But the churches are more likely
to keep a better record of the number of people added to the
church than of the number of people lost to the church. The
former is easier. Furthermore, the authors were not able to
get enough uniform data on membership increases or decreases during the last decade to enable them to speak with
authority on this point.
It must suffice to rely upon a previous study, which in
regard to membership covers a wider scope than the present
one. In analyzing the Federal Census of Religious Bodies
for 1926, Dr. Fry states: