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The optimal size of a religious congregation: an economic theory of clubs analysis
American Journal of Economics and Sociology, The, Oct, 1995 by Peter Zaleski, Charles Zech
These results suggest that church leaders should pay attention to congregation size. Like other organizations, churches have scarce resources. It is imperative that they employ these resources as effectively as possible. This extends to ensuring that their congregations are of the appropriate size. Of course, this is not new to them. As described in the introduction, Protestant churches throughout this century have been concerned about the optimal size of their congregations. They have frequently made the mistake, however, of considering cost reduction as their only criterion in determining the optimum size. This approach was resisted by church members. The results of this study suggest that church leaders should employ a market test to determine the optimal size of congregations by ascertaining the membership that elicits the greatest contributions. People's willingness to pay (assuming the free rider problem can be mitigated) is one of the most reliable tests of satisfaction. The optimal size calculations shown in Table 2 provide useful information to church leaders looking to streamline their congregations without alienating their membership. The methodology and results of this study can be easily applied to virtually any denomination, not just the four considered here.
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