The Megachurch and Building Projects
I was just reading over a 2004 article from Outreach Magazine titled "The Exponential Church," which discussed the largest 100 churches in America. The article goes into the megachurch complex this country is in right now. This topic is near and dear to me because I was a member of a megachurch here in the San Diego area for quite a few years. I have immense concerns with the tendency for the megachurches to be about the show and presentation of the "good to you news" over and against doctrine and the forthright good news, the euangelion.
According to the article, we can define a megachurch as a local body of 2,000 attendees. As of 2004, there were over 830 such churches (over 30 with 10,000+ attendance). That gives us around 3 million churchgoers each weekend who call a megachurch their home in the US. The largest church in America, packing in over 25,000 each weekend is Lakewood Church in Houston, TX, pastored by Joel Osteen. The second largest, at just over 23,000, is lead by none other than Creflo Dollar. Then you have Rick Warren's Saddleback and (oh my!) T.D. Jakes's Potter's House. Over 18,000 each weekend go and listen to T.D. Jakes espouse his heresy, and then support him financially. But, that's not the reason for my writing this.
Lakewood Church now talks of over 30,000 people in attendance each weekend. They just completed a renovation and held a grand opening of their new facility in mid July; over 57,000 attended that. The cost was only around $95,000,000! Let me spell that one out: $95 M-i-l-l-i-o-n. Who paid for that? Well, when you have 30,000 people coming each week in a state that loves for things to be big, it is not hard to get the donations, pledges and offerings.
Sadly, such endeavors are all too common with growing churches. Some of the problems I see in all of this are a loss of focus on the gospel message, lack of growth and equipping of the local body members, and a failure to be good stewards of the offerings of the people. When you are trying to raise $95,000,000 to build a facility, you will have to spend a lot of time talking to the people about getting the money in. A lot of time! One of my previous churches was deep in a "building project" and they had to do everything they could to ask folks to make pledges, follow up on those pledges, get the tithes turned in, make special offerings, fund raisers, sales, and so on. That time horrendously takes away from the ministry of the Gospel. While you could be talking about grace, love, relationships, exhorting people to grow in their Bible study, how John vi.44 does not mean "wooing" and John iii.16 is not an Arminian proof text but a Reformed cornerstone, you are instead centering the focus on the physical church structure and infrastructure itself. Eyes and hearts are off of Christ and the people, and placed only on the cement and wood.
The people, young to old believers, are lost in the shuffle. Churches are trying to grow their numbers. Why does any one church need to have 30,000 attendees each week? Why are these people not being instructed on the ways of Christ and His mission, and sent out to do God's mighty work? In Mark's Gospel, Christ selected His twelve disciples whom He called apostles in iii.14, and by vi.30 they had already been sent out and returned to give a report. In Acts we see the continued germination of the apostolic activity, after Christ ascended and the Holy Spirit descended. Are the people of Lakewood Church waiting for Joel Osteen to die (or ascend)? Well, with the loan Lakewood will be paying off they will need as many "supporters" as possible.
As far as stewardship goes, this is a far cry from the parable of the talents. $95,000,000 on a building is properly using the money of the church? What about spending $26,000,000 to build a $6,000,000 structure? Taking the money the church body and using that to fight legal battles? That is money taken away from the international missionaries who are struggling and need major support. That is money taken away from educating members of the body who need to learn the doctrines of the Church. What about the needy in the body? Or the widows? How can you say, "Now, we only have $10,000 this year for miscellaneous needs (you know, we had to increase our pastor's salary to $200,000 this year), so speak up quickly," yet turn around and have millions set aside so each staff member can have an office space?
The megachurch phenomenon going on in Protestantism right now is dangerous. Now, do I fear a downfall for Christianity? Of course not. I do believe that many people will feel burned and hurt by what can happen in a megachurch. Sadly, so many can be truly deceived by the message of some of these churches. Getting wrapped up in the hype can cause you to lose sight of the truth. We need to keep our eyes and ears open to what is being taught in our churches, regardless of the size. But for those who are in a megachurch, be sure you are grounded in the faith and Scripture, and not just going with the flow.
Addendum: here's a good article on T.D. Jakes's Potter's House.
According to the article, we can define a megachurch as a local body of 2,000 attendees. As of 2004, there were over 830 such churches (over 30 with 10,000+ attendance). That gives us around 3 million churchgoers each weekend who call a megachurch their home in the US. The largest church in America, packing in over 25,000 each weekend is Lakewood Church in Houston, TX, pastored by Joel Osteen. The second largest, at just over 23,000, is lead by none other than Creflo Dollar. Then you have Rick Warren's Saddleback and (oh my!) T.D. Jakes's Potter's House. Over 18,000 each weekend go and listen to T.D. Jakes espouse his heresy, and then support him financially. But, that's not the reason for my writing this.
Lakewood Church now talks of over 30,000 people in attendance each weekend. They just completed a renovation and held a grand opening of their new facility in mid July; over 57,000 attended that. The cost was only around $95,000,000! Let me spell that one out: $95 M-i-l-l-i-o-n. Who paid for that? Well, when you have 30,000 people coming each week in a state that loves for things to be big, it is not hard to get the donations, pledges and offerings.Sadly, such endeavors are all too common with growing churches. Some of the problems I see in all of this are a loss of focus on the gospel message, lack of growth and equipping of the local body members, and a failure to be good stewards of the offerings of the people. When you are trying to raise $95,000,000 to build a facility, you will have to spend a lot of time talking to the people about getting the money in. A lot of time! One of my previous churches was deep in a "building project" and they had to do everything they could to ask folks to make pledges, follow up on those pledges, get the tithes turned in, make special offerings, fund raisers, sales, and so on. That time horrendously takes away from the ministry of the Gospel. While you could be talking about grace, love, relationships, exhorting people to grow in their Bible study, how John vi.44 does not mean "wooing" and John iii.16 is not an Arminian proof text but a Reformed cornerstone, you are instead centering the focus on the physical church structure and infrastructure itself. Eyes and hearts are off of Christ and the people, and placed only on the cement and wood.
The people, young to old believers, are lost in the shuffle. Churches are trying to grow their numbers. Why does any one church need to have 30,000 attendees each week? Why are these people not being instructed on the ways of Christ and His mission, and sent out to do God's mighty work? In Mark's Gospel, Christ selected His twelve disciples whom He called apostles in iii.14, and by vi.30 they had already been sent out and returned to give a report. In Acts we see the continued germination of the apostolic activity, after Christ ascended and the Holy Spirit descended. Are the people of Lakewood Church waiting for Joel Osteen to die (or ascend)? Well, with the loan Lakewood will be paying off they will need as many "supporters" as possible.
As far as stewardship goes, this is a far cry from the parable of the talents. $95,000,000 on a building is properly using the money of the church? What about spending $26,000,000 to build a $6,000,000 structure? Taking the money the church body and using that to fight legal battles? That is money taken away from the international missionaries who are struggling and need major support. That is money taken away from educating members of the body who need to learn the doctrines of the Church. What about the needy in the body? Or the widows? How can you say, "Now, we only have $10,000 this year for miscellaneous needs (you know, we had to increase our pastor's salary to $200,000 this year), so speak up quickly," yet turn around and have millions set aside so each staff member can have an office space?The megachurch phenomenon going on in Protestantism right now is dangerous. Now, do I fear a downfall for Christianity? Of course not. I do believe that many people will feel burned and hurt by what can happen in a megachurch. Sadly, so many can be truly deceived by the message of some of these churches. Getting wrapped up in the hype can cause you to lose sight of the truth. We need to keep our eyes and ears open to what is being taught in our churches, regardless of the size. But for those who are in a megachurch, be sure you are grounded in the faith and Scripture, and not just going with the flow.
Addendum: here's a good article on T.D. Jakes's Potter's House.
posted by Eddie at
8:05 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home