The Mega Church Movement:  A Work of the Spirit or a sign of the times?

“It may be a coincidence that at the very moment when shopping malls have become the nerve centers of our domestic commerce, mega-churches have emerged to become the most visible symbols of innovation among evangelical churches…….for both malls and megachurches are perfectly in tune with modernity. Malls are monuments to consumption – but so are megachurches. Both places celebrate the coupling of the appetites of consumption and religion……..But in neither place are the tendrils of human connectedness very substantial.”  (David Wells, page 61 of God in the Wasteland)

“Allowing the consumer to be sovereign in this way in fact sanctions a bad habit. It encourages us to indulge in constant internal inventory in the church no less than in the marketplace, to ask ourselves perpetually whether the “products” we are being offered meet our present “felt needs”…….Should the church grant “need”, which is often culturally created and driven, such sovereignty? Should the church be so accommodating if it means that the other aspects of its ministry are going to be obscured in the process?  (David Wells again, page 75)

Within the discussion of the Post Modern influence upon the church one must address the question of the Mega-church movement. It goes without saying that God can use the mega-church to reveal Himself and transform lives. The God who can speak through a donkey, use the prophet Jonah, topple walls with a trumpet, and use the likes of me, can most certainly speak through the Pastors and members of mega churches. The witness of the Holy Spirit is not withheld and restrained until we get proper theology and biblical guidelines all worked out. Lives are changed in mega churches. People hear and embrace the gospel. Baptisms are celebrated and marriages are saved. Children are introduced to Jesus and poor people are loved. During the most spirtually impoverished times, in the history of Israel and the Church, God is not left without a voice and a witness through the lives of the remnant. The question I am entertaining is this – “at what price does the mega church movement bring “success” to the Church in America”? Is it possible that we are mortgaging our future for visible success today? Will the recent trends in church growth and development enhance the vibrancy of the gospel and the Christ life in future generations, or deter it? Have we given ourselves over to cultural expressions to such a degree that the Truth will no longer be visible, inside or outside the church, in generations to come?

Upon reading the New Testament and the book of Acts in particular, a striking phenomenon is very noticeable. The early church is a movement of God’s Spirit within the context of two primary arenas – the preaching of the gospel and genuine personal relationships. The gospel is proclaimed simply and concretely in such a way that the Spirit moves powerfully in the lives of those who hear. Untrained preachers, young pastors, simple and uneducated disciples, all are used of God to open the floodgates of heaven as hundreds and thousands of people come to embrace Jesus as Lord. Where the gospel is clearly presented, whether synagogue or river side prayer meeting, people repent and believe. Signs follow almost immediately, as people are immediately baptized, money is shared and properties are sold, living room churches are opened, and social barriers are shattered. Transformation of mind and lifestyle surround every community in which the gospel is embraced, and the primary evidence of transformation is measured in the day to day lives of people rather than the rise of buildings, the formal organization of church programs, or the entertainment value of multi-media expressions of the Christian life. People seem very indifferent toward activity and entertainment: but rather, extremely concerned about caring for the poor, the teaching of sound theology, and clear communication of the teachings of Jesus and his apostles. The mega church movement would most certainly have been thoroughly rejected in this day, due largely to the tremendous compromise that would have been demanded from various cultural expressions of the Christian life. The early church did not migrate toward the Roman Coliseum so much as the early church transformed Roman Culture.

So, here we are, floating aimlessly on an ocean of popularity trying desperately to win the world to Jesus by using the best marketing techniques the world has to offer. We do this while hardly pausing to consider if all the while we might be sacrificing the essence of who we are and what our mission is about – Transformation of lives and culture. A huge sign of this trend is evident when considering that in many cases church membership, mega or otherwise, is determined by where the action is, over and above sound Biblical doctrine or teaching. Just the other day I read some dialogue on face book, as a couple were searching for a church to attend having just moved into a new community. (Even this language is revealing, as we have moved from “uniting ourselves to local body” to the non committal language of “seeking a church to attend”.) At least three people wrote something like: “Come to our church. It’s where the action is! All the cool people are joining us.” The striking thing to me is that this church taught that a person must be baptized to be saved, a doctrine that was considered heresy in the early days of the reformation, but is now hardly part of the discussion when people are choosing a church. For a majority of people today, church choice is not about Truth, commitment to community, sound theology, or worship which honors and focuses on Christ as Lord.  We choose churches with the same priorities with which we choose restaurants, peeking inside the menu in an effort to decide what will taste best when I lift my religious fork toward my mouth. And if, on one or more occasions, the meal does not meet my fancy, I’ll simply choose a different church/restaurant and tip a different preacher/waiter who offers a meal more to my liking. More often than not people want to know things like – What is the praise band like, is there lots of activities for my kids, can I dress casual, what kind of social groups can I be a part of, and do I get to drink coffee while I worship? The questions that people ask when choosing a church in our post modern world have more to do with comfort level, ease of effort, having our needs met, and fun or entertainment options; which all stand over and above questions of doctrine, love for the least and the lost, and a uncompromising search for Biblical Truth. The question I ask is simple: “Where has this compromise of theology and Truth left us as a Church?”