Contents
Disruption is not a term from church history. Yet hardly any case shows the pattern of Disruption as clearly as the rise of the Methodists in the young United States. The established churches had educated ministers, settled congregations and prestige. The Methodists had horses, lay preachers and a simple message. They won anyway, and they won where the established churches never went.
The incumbents: educated and settled
Situation
In 1776, the Congregationalists are the largest denomination in America. Their ministers have mostly studied at Harvard or Yale. They often stay with one congregation for their entire lives: of 550 Yale graduates who became ministers between 1702 and 1794, 71% served a single church for life. Around 1800, a Congregationalist minister earns an average of $400 a year.
Link to the principle
This is a high-quality offering with high costs. It fits the settled towns of the East Coast. It does not fit a country whose population is growing rapidly westward. In the territories of what later became the states of Georgia, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee alone, the number of settlers rises from about 40,000 to more than a million between 1770 and 1810.
The simpler offering
Situation
Almost all the Methodist itinerant preachers have only a common school education. They come from the trades; they were carpenters, shoemakers or millers. Until 1800, a circuit rider receives only $64 a year, and after that $80 if he is unmarried. Their leading figure, Francis Asbury, had worked in a trade before his ministry, remained unmarried and covered more than a quarter of a million miles on horseback in 45 years.
Link to the principle
By the standards of the established churches, this is a worse offering: less education, less theology, less dignity. But for the people on the frontier, it is the better one. The preachers speak their language, share their background and cost little.
A system that grows with the country
Situation
The Methodists organize themselves into districts called circuits. A circuit measures 200 to 500 miles around and is usually ridden in four weeks. The preachers preach almost every day, often early in the morning. In 1799, Billy Hibbard serves a 500-mile circuit with up to 63 preaching appointments. In 1785, the Methodists have only 60 chapels but more than 800 recognized preaching places. Between 1770 and 1820, membership grows from under 1,000 to more than 250,000.
Link to the principle
Disruption needs a business model that the incumbent cannot easily replicate. The Congregationalists could not simply have put their ministers on horseback. Their whole system of study, salary, parsonage and settled congregation would have had to change. The Methodists, by contrast, grew exactly as fast as the country.
The figures at the end
Situation
The sociologists of religion Roger Finke and Rodney Stark calculated the shares of the denominations among all church members. In 1776, the Congregationalists account for about 20%, the Methodists 2.5%. By 1850, the Congregationalists are down to 4%, while the Methodists are at 34%. The historian John H. Wigger sums it up: by the middle of the century, the Methodists are almost 10 times the size of the Congregationalists.
Link to the principle
This is the typical end of a disruption. The incumbents do not disappear, but they become one group among many. By their own standards, they did nothing wrong. Their ministers were educated, their congregations orderly. They simply did not serve the new market.
What happened next
Situation
Over the course of the 19th century, the Methodists found colleges and seminaries of their own. Their preachers become more settled and better educated. According to Roger Finke and Rodney Stark, their growth then slows considerably. They see this as a consequence of that development.
Link to the principle
The disruptor, too, becomes an incumbent. When it gives up the features that made it strong, room opens up for the next one to come from below.
Key takeaways
Key lessons
- Ask yourself where the people live whom your good offering never reaches.
- “Less trained” can mean “closer to the people.”
- A model that grows with lay people beats one that waits for expensive professionals.
- Check whether your church model works only where it has always worked.
- Make sure your success does not turn you into what you once overtook.
Summary
The Congregationalists relied on college-educated, settled ministers. The Methodists sent simple, cheap itinerant preachers out on circuits hundreds of miles long. By the old standards, this was a weaker offering, but it reached the people on the growing frontier. From 1776 to 1850, their share rose from 2.5% to 34%. When they themselves became established, their growth slowed.
Sources
- Roger Finke, Rodney Stark: The Churching of America, 1776–1990. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press 1992.
- Nathan O. Hatch: The Democratization of American Christianity. New Haven: Yale University Press 1989.
