Over the last 57 years of CBC’s existence the Church has steadily grown from a small group that met outside in its first summer of existence to the 200 plus people who call CBC their home today. Over the last two years in particular, our numbers have increased for several  reasons: people have moved to the area, others have returned to Church after long periods of time away, people have come to faith, and college student involvement has increased. The Church has grown for those exciting reasons and also for sad ones too, such as when Terra Nova Church in North Adams closed. 

 

At this very moment, we find ourselves at right around 200 people. 

 

200 people is the Church size that has confounded Church experts.

 

Is a 200 person Church a big Church or a small Church? The answer to that question probably depends on where you grew up! A 200 person Church in the Berkshires tends to feel large, while the same Church in Florida would seem tiny. 200 person Churches often have a hard time knowing if they are “big,” “small,” or somewhere in between! In a 200 person Church the paid staff is generally small, folks who have been around a long time know most people, but every week there seem to be new faces we don’t recognize, whether in the pews next to us or even up on the worship team! 

 

The late Tim Keller coined the phrase “The 200 Barrier” because he noticed that the shift from being a Church of 150 to a Church of 250 was one of the biggest and most challenging changes for a Church. The shift is so difficult because the relational dynamics of the Church change, paid staff has to grow and adapt, communication becomes more of a challenge, and even aspects of the Church’s building have to change! 

​

For many years CBC has been that small, family style Church where everybody knew just about everybody! You knew everyone on the worship team and you knew each kid by name. The Church felt like a family because the Church was a family! It feels good to be a member of a small, family style Church because you feel known. 

 

And yet, as God has given us this growth we now have to steward as a Church the people who God has brought to us. 

 

Tim Keller commented that, “Most people probably have a size-culture they prefer. However, many people moralize their favorite size-culture and treat other size categories as spiritually or morally inferior. They may insist that the only biblical way to do church is to practice a different size-culture, despite the fact that the church itself is much bigger or smaller than they desire it to be.”

 

Some of us might long to return to the smaller CBC of the 90’s, while others of us might long to grow more so that our outreach can grow and our ministries can improve. It’s worth reflecting on what size Church you prefer so that you can be aware of when your preferences might prevent you from seeing all that God is doing at CBC and in our community. 

 

Keller summed things up well when he wrote, “Each size presents great difficulties and also many opportunities for ministry that churches of other sizes cannot realize (or, at least, not as well). If you truly think there is an ideal size, it is most likely because you tend to emotionally value some biblical aspects of the church more than others or because you are unbalanced in your own concept of what Christ desires from the church. Only together can churches of all sizes be all Christ wants the church to be.”

 

The apostle Paul tells us that we are “God’s fellow workers” and are “God’s field.” God is at work! God has drawn each of us together into this local body right now to be a part of what he has next for CBC and for the Northeast as a whole. 

 

It will take wisdom in the coming months and years to partner with the Holy Spirit and be faithful to the gospel in every single thing we do. I’m thankful that we get to do it together. The “200 Barrier” may present us with unique challenges, but we have a God who can do “immeasurably more than we ask or imagine.” It’s in moments like these that I’m thankful for how our name grounds us. We are “Community Bible Church,” so we’ll keep doing community and preaching and teaching the Bible until kingdom come!