It’s hours before the first matinee, but the lobby of Crossroads Cinema is bustling.
Bridge of Hope’s service Dec. 20 is scheduled to begin in 15 minutes, and several attendees are serving double duty ”” playing the role of both congregant and church leader.
A bass player wearing a Christmas hat with antlers rushes in and out of theater No. 12, corralling musicians. A man disappears behind the snack counter to brew coffee. And a retiree with thick, pearl-colored locks wraps her arms around newcomers as they shake snow from their boots.
About 50 people attending exude a sense of calm. The opportunity to take a more active role in their worship life is one of the reasons many members joined the small church, a trend in the Cedar Valley and across the nation.
I want to serve in a microchurch but need more volume, alas.
Is the microchurch a reaction against the megachurch from the last few years? And by of beingh thought-provoking, how many Episcopal parishes by numbers could be characterized as a microchurch?
billqs: I would think we would need to make a distinction between churches that simply not many people want to go to (and hence remain small) and churches that as a guiding principle remain small, and when they do grow, plant other small churches to keep their small size. I’ve not met anyone or any church with this specific strategy (aside from house churches), but it seems like an intriguing strategy to me.