Years ago, I remember being puzzled when someone called my church a "mega church." Don't people say that mega churches are impersonal and boring? My church was nothing like the stereotypical mega church that people like to criticize, and I began to investigate the mega church trend to see what it was really offering. These days I happily attend a small local church, but I am eager to defend the mega churches so I can show people what they have to offer.
Oh, the Places You'll Go - Do you travel for your business and find yourself on a plane every Sunday morning? Large churches have ministries that help traveling businessmen find fellowship. Want to ride motorcycles with other believers rather than your usual group of Bandido's? Motorcycle fellowships are all the rage!
I've seen it all. The person who wants to find a place to belong can do well by visiting a mega church and finding groups that are filled with their own demographic. I've even seen knitting groups for people who like to knit and want to do so in groups (it's long and lonely job, by one's self). The value of such a large group of people is that fellowship is actually easier to find when the church is well organized.
Did you know that Charles Spurgeon pastored the first mega church? The Metropolitcan Tabernacle is still holding services 150 years later.
Oh, the People You'll Meet - The most common complaint about mega churches is that they are so big that they are not able to provide an intimate setting, but this is not true. In fact, the intimacy of the many groups in mega churches always impresses me.
A church with 5,000 members will have small groups of 100s, which break into smaller groups of 10 or 20. When this model is done correctly, it's fairly easy to navigate these groups and find a place to belong. Intimacy and closeness is not missing in these churches, and I suspect that those who level such charges are simply attending the wrong mega churches (or, more likely, haven't been to one but want to criticize them, anyway).
But it's not just about fitting in and finding people you get along with which brings us to...
Oh, the Things You'll Do - Want to serve meals to sick children? Help build houses? Fix computers for people who can't afford the repair job? Or (here's something that mega church ministers really like to hear), do you have your own idea for a new ministry that you would like to start? Large churches often set up a myriad of ministries like this to help their communities. Soup kitchens and job boards are common, and I've been a part of neighborhood cleanup crews that spent all day turning one terrible looking street into a safer and cleaner place for the local residents.
When a person pokes fun at a mega church, I often want to ask them how much work they are doing for the community. It's hard to think of an organization that directs so much of its manpower and cash to helping the needy as the mega church does. By joining a mega church, you can be a part of helping your community - there's hardly a better way to get involved in local outreach. When people ask me why mega churches need to be so big, I start to describe all of the outreach done by these churches ("Well, there's a food pantry inside, and a clothing drive, a day care, job training for the unemployed...") and the size becomes understandable. When hurricane Katrina hit, my church was able to help people from Louisiana by feeding thousands of them and finding them clothes. That's important, and we should remember to thank these big churches for what they do instead of criticizing them.
So, ease up on the mega church, because those churches are doing a lot of good and intimacy and strong fellowship are easy to find within. Smaller churches are declining, so unless we find ways to revitalize the traditional church model, the mega church might be the church of your grandchildren (and that's OK).
10 comments:
Word. People also often hate on the mega churches of today, but give the mega churches of the past a pass. For example, almost no one today criticizes Charles Spurgeon's ministry, even though his regularly had thousands and thousands attending Sunday worship. After all, he's Charles Spurgeon, and he did it without a microphone, so he's cool.
And then there's Pentecost...3,000 converted in one day. That was one big worship service.
Good point, Brian.
I agree. Mega-churches are easy to take potshots at but they are beneficial. Great post
Adam, I appreciate your desire to bring some balance to the conversation about mega churches here.
The complaint about mega churches that I hear the most is that they are more likely to produce consumers than disciples; in other words, they tend to produce shallow and non-committed believers. I think we've all met quite a few "mega churchers" that fulfill this stereotype quite well. Hopefully we've all met some that don't, as well.
I think that some mega churches absolutely deserve this critique. Some get big because they don't challenge their congregation through their presentation of the gospel or their handling of the Word. They never confront their people with the need to grow. People will always flock to an environment like this. In fact, Bill Hybel, a patriarch of mega churching, confessed recently that his church had been doing just this, much to his surprise.
Sometimes, however, the accusation isn't fair. I think that mega churches will naturally attract Christians who don't want to grow or be challenged; after all, the bigger the church, the easier to stay anonymous and non-committal.
So as we "outsider" Christians look at mega churches I think we should absolutely hold them accountable to creating an environment in which people are challenged to grow and, quite frankly, uncomfortable if they're refusing to. We can expect them to be aware of the issues their size brings and find ways to insure that every member has a chance to exercise his/her gifting and actively engage in ministry. If this isn't happening, we can most definitely cry foul.
However, if a mega church is doing this faithfully, it's silly to hold them responsible for the occasional stereotypical "lazy" Christian that might sneak in their doors and stay awhile.
But all of those accusations can be leveled at various house churches, missionaries, and mid-size churches that do not do things correctly. Many ministries fall short in these ways, and I don't believe the mega-church is more responsible for this than any other trend (save for the seeker sensitive and emergent trends).
I prefer small churches, but it is easy to see that a mega-church would have much more in resources (not just money) to further the Kingdom. I think that the mega-church has to be vigilant against fulfilling the stereotype, but it is certainly possible.
Jason Peters
The Passage of 1 Corinthians 3:1-23 and 41-7 is addressing the issue of who follows who - individually speaking - and accuses such men as worldly men still only ready for milk (vs 3 & 4, i.e. "I follow Paul," and another "I follow Apollos.")
I think this can be applied to the Mega Church discussion as well...those who speak negatively and quarrel about "Well I attend a small church," and another, " Well my church is a Mega Church," etc...and the accusations made, against either.
My point here, is it comes down to some specific answers Paul gives in a few passages.
3:5> "What after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants."
- What is the small church? What is the Mega Church? Only servant buildings.
3:6> "I plant the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow."
- The small/Mega church plants & waters, but God makes it grow.
3:14> "If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss."
- If the small/Mega church built survives, it will receive it's reward. If burned up, it will suffer loss.
4:5> "Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God."
- So do not judge the small/Mega church, before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light the motives of each Church and expose the wrong if found.
That's some of my take on it.
Sorry, that was the wrong one. it was by the Baylor Survey, not Pew. Should of clicked the link before posting:
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Journal/editorial.aspx?id=315578
The only thing I'll "add" personally, is it's an issue of snobbery or reverse snobbery more than anything else.
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