'Building a congregation of 20,000 will kill you' – Duncan-Williams tells young pastor

The General Overseer of Action Chapel International, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams has warned a young pastor against rushing to build a church for 20,000 worshippers, telling him to start smaller and grow his congregation gradually.

Duncan-Williams said the pastor had approached him with plans for a massive church building because he had the financial resources to undertake the project.

But the archbishop questioned the reason behind the ambitious plan and asked the young preacher what he hoped to achieve by having a congregation of 20,000.

“I said, ‘Why do you want to build a congregation of 20,000?’ He didn’t know why. He just had the money,” Duncan-Williams recounted during a church service.

He said he challenged the pastor’s thinking and told him that having the resources to undertake a huge project was not enough reason to do so.

“Your motive is wrong,” he told the young preacher.

Duncan-Williams said the pastor needed to understand the demands that come with leading a very large congregation before attempting to build one.

“20,000 congregation. Do you know what it means? It will kill you,” he recalled telling him.

He also warned the young pastor about the pressure associated with operating a mega church, urging him not to assume that the visible size of an established ministry tells the full story.

“Do you know the stress and the pressure?” he asked.

Duncan-Williams subsequently advised the preacher to set a more realistic target based on the size of his existing congregation.

He said the pastor’s congregation was about 1,000 people and advised him to build a church for 2,000 worshippers instead.

“Build a church of 2,000. And take your time,” he said in a video captured a recent sermon.

The archbishop also cautioned the young pastor against trying to replicate his own ministry without understanding the demands that came with it.

“You want to be like me. Can you drink the cup I drink?” he asked.

Duncan-Williams said his advice was intended to help younger pastors avoid difficulties he had experienced in his own journey.

“Somebody has to tell you young pastor some of these things because you see, I don’t want you to go through what I went through. I want you to avoid it,” he said.

He added that younger pastors did not need to repeat his experiences and should instead learn from the lessons he had gathered over the years.

“I want you to be better than me,” Duncan-Williams said.