Transforming Church

Myth of the 200 Barrier: how to lead through transitional growth

Martin, Kevin E. Myth of the 200 Barrier: how to lead through transitional growth. Abingdon Press, 2005. 135p ISBN = 0687343240 pbk $15 (amazon.com =$11).

Review by Pastor Ted Coleman

Pr. Kevin Martin is a priest in the Episcopal Church, an expert in congregational development, and the executive director of Vital Church Ministries, whose mission is to encourage and equip church leaders to fulfill the Great Commission. In his introduction, Martin refers to Lyle Schaller as his mentor and teacher over the years. And Lyle Schaller’s blurb about this book is high praise indeed. “This is the best book I have ever read on congregational development! I wish I had written it (Lyle Schaller).” Schaller has read more than a few books on congregational development. And, of course, Lyle Schaller has written more books on congregational development than any other American expert on church growth and congregational systems (49 with his newest one just published in June, 2006). As a congregational pastor, I wholeheartedly agree with Schaller’s assessment of Martin’s book.

Why is it so hard to grow a small congregation into a large congregation? This is the question that drives Martin’s analysis of congregational life and systems (“the way we do church around here”). Average Sunday attendance in worship (ASA) is the main indicator as to whether a congregational system behaves like a small church culture (ASA below 141) or like a large church culture (ASA above 225). According to Martin, in between the small church culture and the large church culture is the highly stressed and unstable zone of the “transitional church” culture. This type of church system (ASA between 140 and 225) is beyond the pastoral size church culture and not yet big enough to be a genuine program size church culture. Hence, his analysis of the 200 barrier in which a pastoral size church attempts, but usually fails, to “transform” itself into a program size congregation (225 to 400 ASA). This is so because the program size system dynamics work in opposite ways which are also counterintuitive to the small church tribal size of 150 ASA or below.

Without a transformational pastoral leader most transitional size congregations cannot make an adequate systems overhaul and move from shepherding to ranching. Why is this so? Because small church culture congregations at best are only interested in incremental change, not transformational or category change. Martin does an excellent job of defining a transformational leader within the context of small and large church systems. His biographical profiles of Pastor John, Pastor Ted, and Pastor Sally ring very, very true to reality. His case studies of real congregational issues add further insight into the system realities he is trying to describe.

The contents of the book begin with an analysis of congregational cultures, small and large, mention the myth of the 200 ASA barrier, and describe the rule of 150 as a “tribal” size constraining force for organizational life. Then Martin moves to profile in more detail the systems of (1) the pastoral size congregation, (2) the program size congregation, and (3) the in-between congregations in transition from either one. Martin then moves to a discussion of the key element of pastoral leadership which is the leverage point in these respective systems. Profiling pastoral leaders and congregations, Martin gives a sympathetic portrait of three leader types who live with the realities, who live with the transition, who lead through the transition, and face resistance. Finally, Martin is realistic but hopeful in his final section, which defines “transformation,” as opposed to incremental or congruent change. He also describes why most transformational change efforts fail, what the large church knows, and the next step.

In his most constructive chapter, Martin relates seven essential skills that the large church knows: (1) a new style of organizing, (2) another system for pastoral care, (3) staff to meet the future, (4) excellence in all we do, (5) a new role for denominationally mandated groups, (6) a new role for the church board or council, and (7) sensitivity to the seeker in everything. This is an outstanding book! It is a helpful synthesis of research and contemporary insights in the areas of congregational systems, church leadership, strategic planning, church health, and church conflict resolution. The chapters are short. And, given some familiarity with the issues and topics, the book is easy to read. I highly recommend it as the place to begin the discussion with church councils and call committees.