“Do you want to go large?” asked the clerk. I was at a drive-through window. This time I turned her down, but more often than not our culture has adopted a super-size-me approach when it comes to fast food—and church ministry. We seem to glorify today’s megachurches, with their impressive facilities, attendance records, growing budgets and programming abilities. Even many youth ministry workers tend to be attracted to the trappings of what large churches have to offer.

Yet most of us youth workers serve in small churches. According to a 2003 report from The Barna Group, fewer than 2 percent of churches in the United States have 1,000 or more adult attendees. In fact, the typical Protestant church has fewer than 90 adults in attendance on an average weekend, according to Barna, a prominent  research organization.

Statistics from my fellowship of churches, the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, substantiate Barna’s numbers. A few years ago our denominational publishing office commissioned a survey of its customer base, which included more than 10,000 churches from several different denominations. Among the results was this note: the average church size was around 80 people, with approximately 4 teenagers.

Sure, the big churches get all the attention and may be able to attract more students through their programs and facilities. It’s understandable for adult youth workers in smaller churches to feel frustrated at times about the lack of money, facilities, volunteers, and even the overall lack of kids. But, the truth is, the vast majority of churches do not have impressive buildings, budget, or numbers to garner a interest from anyone other than the regular members or attendees.

Yet, a friend of mine has observed, “Every large church is doing its best to get smaller and every small church is trying to get larger.”

Maybe he’s on to something there. The current trend toward small groups in student ministry is certainly reflective of youth workers’ observations that there are incredible strengths in small groups. Large church youth workers understand the value of dividing the larger group into smaller units to facilitate relationship-building, adult-to-student mentoring, and the development of more effective lines of communication.

Perhaps it’s time to rehearse the positive characteristics of what student ministry in smaller churches has to offer.

Make Much of People, not Programs

Perhaps the biggest advantage of serving in a small church is that we can get to know the students better.

We should remember it doesn’t take an organized structure to do real ministry. Effective ministry can happen in our kitchens around a cup of coffee, or in our living rooms with our feet propped up on the coffee table. I’m becoming increasingly convinced today’s students are more impressed by adults who genuinely care about them than they are with overly organized and structured programs. Don’t get me wrong; I see great value in organization and structure.