Mike Metzger thinks perhaps so over on his blog. I would encourage reading the whole article. Below are some excerpts:
The lethal brew of bonds, balloons, boomers, and big boxes suggests the next round of closures might be mega-churches. “There is a growing sense that the mega-church ladder is leaning against the wrong wall,” warns Browning. He suggests smaller churches. As Christian Schwartz reports in his book Natural Church Development, the evangelistic effectiveness of smaller churches is statistically 1,600 percent greater than that of mega-churches. This is why Browning, Schwartz, and many others, including Malcolm Gladwell, say that the most effective church caps growth at around 150 congregants. “The Rule of 150 says that congregants of a rapidly expanding church…banking on the epidemic spread of shared ideals need to be particularly cognizant of the perils of bigness,” writes Gladwell in his book, The Tipping Point. “Crossing the 150 line is a small change that can make a big difference.”4
“Bigger is better,” Peter Drucker warns, “turned out to be another 20th century myth.” The church is called to make a big difference, so the next time you pass a shuttered car dealership, consider the legacy of baby boomers and ask yourself whether returning to smaller churches might be the better way to make a big difference.
