Mollie at GetReligion has an excellent piece on finding different angles in the megachurch story.
I grew up in what was, for the time, a big church (about 2,000 members). While I liked the variety of activities, I found the spiritual content to be rather shallow, mainly because it was so difficult to really know many people in a congregation that was so large.
As an adult, I switched denominations and now go to a church that is considerably smaller (we have about 70 people on a good Sunday). There are lots of challenges associated with such a small congregation; there is much more demand on one's time and attention since there are so few people to get things done. And since my church has a rather sizable number of elderly and shut-ins, younger people feel even more pressure to dive in and help out than usual. But overall, I enjoy the interaction, the ministry, and the spiritual nourishment I feel I get from a small fellowship.
Contrast this with what happens in megachurches (just look at the picture with Mollie's story). Said Larry Magnuson, chief executive of SonScape Ministries, a retreat for pastors:
"We are not very good as a church with knowing how to do restoration,” Magnuson said. “We either want to sweep it under the rug and say it’s no big deal or we want to make it impossible.
"Evangelicals are great at doing. We are those who are working in the world. As evangelicals, we are not very good wrestling with the inner life, who we are and what’s going on in the inside."
I thought that church was supposed to be all about "what's going on in the inside." There's lots of self-help groups, books, and videos to deal with what's going on outside. I always thought that religion was where one went to make sense of the "inside" stuff. Maybe that's why the rather inpersonal nature of megachurches never appealed to me. I can find a bowling league anywhere, but I can't find people who will pray with you over loved ones in Iraq just anywhere.
What was most interesting about Magnuson's quote (as pointed out by Mollie) is what happens when you compare that with what congregants say:
Some ministers credit part of the success of such churches to sermons that carry a practical message.
Natalie Anderson of Georgetown, Ind., said she attends Northside in part because it provides "a real-life message that you can apply."
Maybe the popularity of these churches lies with the fact that they don't focus on the spiritual life but emphasize a "Helps from Heloise" style of ministry.
I'm not saying that ministering to others isn't an important part of a church. Helping the poor, broken in spirit, and desperate was certainly the most visible part of Jesus's ministry. It just seems a shame to me when churches become more like recreation centers than places for spiritual reflection.
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