"Mega Church"

[ezduzit]

Mention was made of a "mega church" in another strip, my questions are ...

What is right about a mega church?

What is wrong with a mega church ?

Do you attend a mega church ?

So we are on the same page we`ll use this definition ?

A megachurch is a church having 2,000 or more in average weekend attendance.



source >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megachurch

[Petros]

For me and Herself:

A dozen is a crowd. Style and emphasis are important, but at that sizeit becomers impossible for us to BE there.

If one is the right person that could be the right church. No problem in theory - impossible in practice.

[bn2bnude]

I'm puzzled why this topic but I'll play along.

First let me explain the puzzlement.

To me this is the spiritual equivalent of "What's right with Mexican Food?" or "What's wrong about Microsoft?".

In the church sense, it comes down to where God wants you and where you say yes.

Given the definition of "Mega-Church" here is my answers...

• What's right about a mega-church? Nothing
• What's wrong about a mega-church? Nothing
• Do I attend a mega-church? Not any more
• So, are we on the same page? I don't think so (Oh, that wasn't one of the questions).

I no longer attend a church. I do attend a small group Bible Study that is my church, I am involved with a larger group of dear brothers and sisters which get together a few times a year for a few days.


So, why both answers of "Nothing"? Because whether a church is following God or not has NOTHING to do with the number of people in attendance. The church I attended happened to be in "the right place at the right time". It happened to drop into an area because of a building program that was between several small cities. People liked it because there was a Saturday and two Sunday services.

The church (evangelical) was said to be the second largest Catholic church in the area. Not because they taught Catholic doctrine but because they offered communion on a weekly basis and that made Catholics that hadn't attended Catholic mass for some time very comfortable. They had a modern sounding worship band. They had a children's ministry and youth ministry (even their own Sunday service) so parents could sit in church without having to deal with children.

The challenges they faced were growing too quickly for the space, forcing new ministry people and the need for space. The other challenge that any church over 100 or so faces is the relationship issues. They fought the latter by heavily promoting small groups during the week. At one point I heard that something like 70% of the attendees were participating in small groups.

I know people who have attended the large churches to hide out for a while while they recovered from abuse of one sort or another or while they recovered from burnout. Typically, within a year, they would be involved again.

So, why did I leave church? Because I was asked to and I said OK. No, not the church -- it was God who asked. Why? So I could get to know him more, not the church, not the church doctrine, not the music... Know HIM! I have a feeling some day, he will say... "Now is the time to go back." I'm listening.

I grew up in a small church. It had way more problems and honestly, their doctrine wasn't that much different.

[Petros]

Well, slightly different paths, but we are on the same page. Every church we have been in [and at present we are unchurched, no signals having been received since the last one dropped dead under us] we got into because we were clearly called there, and left when the cloud raised up off the tabernacle.

I would rasther God did nit call us into a Big Tent - but that is up to him.

[MoNatureMan]

I also don't know where this post is suppose to go, but will throw something out.

I have been to a church that the 'shaking revival' got into before multiple splits.I fought it as long as I could before leaving.

I have seen the 'laughing revival'. It was a bad joke and not of God.

I heard of a 'revival' at a local mega-church when the people would bark like dogs and oink like pigs. Name 2 animals in the Old Testament that were unclean. Once again not of God.

I have seen the antics of Benny Hinn and people like him. Benny's actions clearly say that his revivals and/or ministry are not of God. If they were of God at one time, they have severely drifted off.

There is your starting list.
Ron

[ezduzit]

Questions posed for my own research into the subject.............
Bottom line is BIGGER better?
Ez


PS thanks for the responses / feed back

[bn2bnude]

Questions posed for my own research into the subject.............
Bottom line is BIGGER better?
Ez


PS thanks for the responses / feed back

My personal opinion on the "is bigger better?". 3 of the 5 smaller churches I've set my feet in regularly in my lifetime, I wouldn't want to go back to because of problems that the people themselves generated. Manipulation of the leadership by certain sectors of the people, manipulation of the people by the pastor, etc.

One of the others is only visited when visiting family. The last is was left on good terms during a move but they seem to have changed a lot.

The mega-church I attended, however, I have a lot of appreciation for, in spite of what i didn't like. Maybe bigger insulates the normal people from the problems better than the smaller ones do.

[Bare_Truth]

What is wrong with a mega church, is something that I would have to answer on a personal basis.

I suffer from prosopagnosia
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prosopagnosia?s=t

prosopagnosia pros·o·pag·no·sia
n.
An inability or difficulty in recognizing familiar faces;
it may be congenital or result from injury or disease of the brain.

This can be, and for me has been, horribly socially embarrassing It can get one a great deal of strange looks and can deeply offend those who are on the receiving end of this quirk . People I have worked with for weeks, when I meet them in a socially different setting may be completely unknown to me . Sometimes I get lucky and suddenly realize who they are when I hear their voice .

Socially it is hard to work around, so it helps to warn people in advance, and some cannot conceive of this, or how extensive and persisteant it can be until they see it in action.

So of course I am ill at ease in mega groups of any sort.

While teaching classes at the university and starting off with a class of students that were new to me, I would warn them of this problem. And then point out that students that were outstanding were the ones I would learn to recognize first but not to get a big head about that because outstanding bad worked just as well as outstanding good . After a good laugh, they cut me some slack. Of course it does not hurt that the concept of an eccentric or absent-minded professor is a common one.

Oh, and by the way, in my case it is hereditary, and congenital ...... I am not brain injured or sick in the head!

[Petros]

I am not as far as you - just as my Daltonism is nothing compared to my uncle's. But I know it. I once got halfway through a conversation with a classmate before I connected that he was not the OTHER classmate.

I generally recoghnize people by their conversation and affect, and might not pick them, out in a photo.

[MoNatureMan]

Mega-Church.
I have seen them rise and fall and others rise to take there place.

Good thing about Mega-Church (sometimes) is a good corporate worship.
Mega Churches have great resources for the members and the community.

Bad things are; It is harder to get to know others because you may not find them ever again in the crowd.
Mega Churches have a tendency to get into the shepherding movement. For those not farmiliar with the shepherding movement let me explain. An elder is assigned to each member. In many cases the member becomes a puppet to the elder and church. I know of cases where the elder was involved in all the financial transactions of members. Should they buy a new car or put more into the offering? I could give more detail.
It is harder to get personal ministry.

I am sure there are others.
In Him
Ron

[bn2bnude]

Bad things are; It is harder to get to know others because you may not find them ever again in the crowd.
Mega Churches have a tendency to get into the shepherding movement. For those not farmiliar with the shepherding movement let me explain. An elder is assigned to each member. In many cases the member becomes a puppet to the elder and church. I know of cases where the elder was involved in all the financial transactions of members. Should they buy a new car or put more into the offering? I could give more detail.
It is harder to get personal ministry.

Again, it depends on the church. Some traditions are certainly more likely to go that way. Others not as likely.

[jochanaan]

I like the occasional visit to a big church or a big worship service. When I was active in my old denomination, the Seventh Day Baptists, I would go to their yearly Conferences; that filled my wishes for "big" worship services since we would meet for worship every meeting with the largest gathering on Sabbath morning. The Spirit was definitely there.

But these were special occasions. I've been to other large churches where the services were too "scripted" or cold to satisfy my deeper desire for a Spirit-filled encounter. My sense is that it's way too easy for a weekly mega-service to degenerate into routine.

Also, I have talked to Catholics for whom it doesn't matter where they go to church, as long as they receive the Sacraments. They see the church less as a family and more as how God has chosen to administer His grace on earth. As a Protestant, this attitude is foreign to me--far too close to "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof". (II Timothy 3:5)

In my experiences, small churches (especially home churches, study groups etc.) tend to be like families; big churches tend to be like corporations--and sometimes like cults.

[Petros]

And occasionally one finds a small church that yearns to follow the mega path and does [pitiful] scripted worship with a score or so worshippers...

We actually have Seventh Day Baptists as the only church in out unincorporated town.

[Jon-Marc]

I visited only one mega church and felt lost (not spiritually) there. It was HUGE, and the average number of people there on a Sunday was around 5,000. I never went back; I don't like churches of more than 150 people, but I don't like them TOO small either--under 50.

[prairieboy]

Mention was made of a "mega church" in another strip, my questions are ...

What is right about a mega church?

Obviously something is, they aren't paying the people to go there. If I need to leave the church where I am, about 250 people, I will definitely look into a mega-church here in town, they have great teaching.

What is wrong with a mega church ?

That would have to be determined on a church by church basis. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with being a mega-church. I personally am not comfortable in crowds, but so much of my attitudes have changed that I would be willing to give it a try.

Do you attend a mega church ?

No