Whether a church is 10 people meeting in a home or 10,000+ meeting on a super-campus, the truth of Exodus 18 will always be a reality. No one man can possibly (actually!) shepherd more than several families at any given time. For that, it takes ministers, and the Bible spells out who they are in Acts 6. We call them "deacons." Ministry to the "flock" however large that group may be is the job of the pastor. Ministry to individuals is for others.
With the biblical model, every church, no matter how large, is small in fact and able to minister to all the people God sends.
In the church I serve we've grown from an initial launch 10 years ago with 60 (many of whom were visitors not members or potential members) to over 2400 meeting at three locations for Sunday worship gatherings held over 6 services (and soon to be four locations and 7 services). We are now defined as a mega-church by most definitions. Yet, our church is only "gathered" during worship times. During the week, every member is also part of a home group where trained pastoral shepherds watch, teach, love, admonish, and edify (in other words, all the biblical commands for care of the ekklessia) in groups no larger than 20 people. We speak the gospel into each other's lives, reflect on the pulpit ministry from the prior Sunday gathered, deal with personal issues, pray, and as need be council and discipline. All is under the watchcare of an Exodus 18 plan, leaders of many, some, and individuals. I would suggest, by the observed behavior of the people of this church (reflected from my prior involvement with small churches) that our level of intimacy and connection is greater than it is in churches with a total population of 30.
One thing that I see as self evident is that the ultimate size of any single congregation is not based on some biblical model that says "this size only is proper church," but rather the ultimate size of any given congregation is based on the amount of care that the leaders can provide, the evangelistic efforts of the entire church in the community, the level of "protectionism" and "isolation" (coming apart from the "world"), and the available population in the community. There is no biblical mandate to be "small church" but there is a mandate to care adequately for all the people. The NT churches we see in Acts in both Jerusalem and Antioch numbered in the tens of thousands! Perhaps we should sit up and take notice instead of wrapping ourselves emotionally around the superiority of small congregations that mostly serve to stroke the egos of the members who hold them that way.
