Second, the different priorities lead to different role expectations for laypeople. Having limited resources, small churches rely heavily on lay volunteers. Not only does this help small churches meet their budgets, but it provides numerous opportunities for member involvement. Thus, Schaller argues that contrary to expectation, it is easier to find volunteers in small churches than in large churches. In small churches, members' necessarily high investments of time and money give them a strong sense of ownership and control.
Small churches tend to be lay-run organizations.
This is reinforced by the fact that many cannot afford a full-time minister. Those that can frequently experience high ministerial turnover due to the low prestige of small churches and the generally lower salaries. Members' heavy investments in their church make them reluctant to hand over too much authority to the minister, who they suspect is probably just passing through on the way to a bigger church. Small churches come closest to being a ministry of the laity. In contrast, large churches have difficulty finding volunteers.