Thesis 14- We must stop building megachurches, and start worshipping with our neighbors.
There is a revealing paradox about large crowds. The bigger the crowd we find ourselves in, the more anonymous we become. The man who lives in a high rise apartment building in a metropolis is more invisible than a rural farmer living on a hundred acre farm. Which is one reason that mega-churches are so popular in our day. They provide an opportunity for the believer to come and consume his Christian faith in relative anonymity. If he misses a Sunday or ten, no one will ever notice. The consumer in this context can take in the finest music, vibrant preaching, and a plethora of programs. What tends to be lacking is what is most needful- connectedness and accountability.
There are any number of advantages that come with large churches. Such institutions tend to be in a strong financial position. A large church can send out missionaries without in turn requiring the missionaries to visit dozens of churches to raise their support. Large churches can build glorious buildings that remind worshippers of the glory of God, and remind those outside of the presence of the church. For all these advantages, however, they too often fail to create disciples.
First, large churches tend to embrace a market perspective. They not only adopt a business mindset, but cater to the consumer mentality of the layman. Programs become benefits the church offers. Locations are chosen for convenience. What is lost is the opportunity to worship with our neighbors. With what used to be known as the “parish system” Christians met at the church close to home. Before the advent of the automobile and the interstate system, we worshipped near where we lived, which meant in turn that we worshipped with our neighbors.
Second, large churches tend to separate our “Sunday” lives from the rest of our lives. We have one group of friends that we see during the workweek, and a different group that we mingle with on the Lord’s Day. With a parish system we worship with the people we see during the rest of the week. When there is but one circle of friends, it is all that more difficult to separate our faith from our lives.
Third, large churches tend to institutionalize ministry. This is the result both of the desire to create programs that will draw more people in, and the efficiency needed in such large groups. When a family is in need, committee chairs must be notified to get the machinery running. With a parish system, however, neighbors are in a position to help one another. We do not sit down beside a stranger on Sunday morning, and pray for people in the abstract. Instead we sit beside the mom whose husband has been unfaithful, whose children play with our own children. We know about her need for firewood because we actually visit her house from time to time.
Megachurches are built on anonymity. Parish churches are built on community. The former encourages us to take, the latter to give. Megachurches tend to promote celebrity pastors. Parish churches tend to promote mutual service. With parish churches we can actually “one another” with our neighbors. And our neighbors can “one another” with us.
Israel spent more time in exile than living in the tight worship system. The orthodox worship according to law, covenants , curses, decrees, promises, and statutes had to ripple through all the occupations of society. Because the worse violence is predominately religious in partially applying the axioms. God protected the saints by exiling them to lesser abuses practiced by the nation’s.
While I appreciate much of what you said, I think this is a gross generalization that is not contextually true. Perhaps you could have stated that these are concerning issues that churches face and they may be more difficult to deal with in some large church settings.
Mark,
Thanks for the comment.Thank you also for the grace shown in it. I went back to look at the piece and what I saw was a list of both positive and negative things that “tend” to come with large churches. I sought to present them as concerning issues that churches face that are more difficult in some large church settings. In short, I agree with you, except for the part where you sayI wrote a gross generalization. I think I wrote with the care that you rightly called me to.