Earlier this month, Brady Boyd made some predictions about the future of the local church. The first was that the places where we gather will become smaller. This is because “every social and cultural trend is leaning toward the smaller, more intimate gatherings and away from the stadium worship experience”, and “if we want to see significant growth among skeptics and seekers, we must create less threatening venues for them to explore the issues of faith”.
While I agree that smaller gatherings are more effective places for people to experience the type of community that the body of Christ offers, I am not sure that they are “less threatening venues”. The whole Willow Creek seeker concept was built around the idea that larger venues which allow the seeker to preserve anonymity are less threatening than smaller venues in which the seeker is forced to undergo a greater amount of interaction with others.
I think that some skeptics and seekers are going to be more comfortable with small group gatherings, while others are going to be more comfortable with larger gatherings; it simply depends on personality type, as it always has. To get the full experience of community, small groups are essential, and to get the full experience of the big-picture church, large gatherings are essential.