Size of Organizations and Member Participation in Church Congregations

The relationship between organizational size and member participation in seven different church activities was analyzed in 157 Lutheran congregations in South Dakota to see if the negative relationship found in studies of other organizations applied as well to these normative organizations. In addition the relative importance of organizational size was compared with six other organizational variables. Although congregational size was negatively related to six of the seven types of participation, it was not as strongly related as was the age composition of the membership for most types of participation, suggesting that organizations can overcome some of the negative consequences of increased size.