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Letters to the Editor - Megachurches
Hopeful Megachurch Growth Continues
(posted 7-5-05)
Three cheers for the megachurch. I’m thankful to know hundreds, thousands, are coming to Christ here in North America and around the world. Didn’t Jesus tell us to go and make disciples—and isn’t it also true if we do that, and God bless, they will “add up after a while”?
Who are we to judge other servants of the Lord? We each will stand and give account to our Master! I must be faithful with my one or two talents and cheer on these five-talent folks. Just because I can’t dunk a basketball doesn’t mean I have to put down those who can—man, I love to watch those guys fly! Most cities or regions in that list could have 10 times the number of megachurches in that same area and there would still be lost people who need to be sought and found.
I attended a “growing” church in Virginia Beach in the early 1970s that was noted for reaching nearly 300 in weekend attendance; the Virginia church was featured in the Standard back in the day with another growing church—Southland Christian in Lexington, Kentucky. I am thrilled to see the way God has used Southland to reach thousands and impact even more around the world. Having been privileged to be in Lexington at one point in my life, I am grateful for God’s blessing to them as well as these other churches. My home church has struggled for the past 30 years and is only a shell of that once great potential.
Don’t fret publishing that list. Personally, I hope it eventually takes up a whole issue!
I was also glad to see Reggie Epps and Johnson County on that list—Reggie led Mount Pleasant in Indiana to great heights and now is doing more of the same in his old hometown. Awesome! Look, one plants, another waters, and God gives the increase. God has arranged the parts of the body as He sees fit. Who are we to get caught up in anything other than pleasing him with our lives?
Finally, I always thought my college classmate, Eddie Lowen, looked more like Jude Law; to me, Bob Russell is more of a Robert Redford.
—Doug Carter
Peoria, Arizona
Via e-mail
Where Is the Problem?
(Posted 6-13-05)
I really don’t know a whole lot about the pros or cons of church size. I’m not even sure it’s worth creating controversy over. I have been a member of a megachurch, and I have been a member of a community church. My evaluation is this: if God is glorified, if Christ is exalted, if people are being led to salvation, where is the issue?
I’ve learned that people find what they need where they find it. If a person finds Christ in a megachurch, who are we to say that there is a problem? If a person finds salvation in a community church, where is the problem? I thought we were a brotherhood!
Can anyone say that my salvation is less if I am led to it through one or the other? Are the 3,000 more than those who met beneath a tree to worship the Lord and one was led to Christ? Is Christ’s church measured by the number of one congregation compared to another? Try telling Paul that his conversion on a dirt road wasn’t legitimate because he didn’t find it in this building or that building with “x” number of people or a lack of “x” number of people.
It amazes me how we humans spend so much time measuring success based on numbers. Wouldn’t Jesus have given his life if but for one. Isn’t the shepherd excited when he finds the one lost having left the 99 to find it. Get real, Christians. Let’s focus on taking the gospel to a lost and dying world and let the Lord decide if this church or that church was more or less important.
—Ray Wilson
Louisville, Kentucky
Via e-mail
Room for Large, Small Churches
Both Brian Jones and Alan Ahlgrim’s thoughts on the megachurch issue (March 20) were well stated and instructive. I confess that the concerns Jones raised express some of my own misgivings (and Ahlgrim’s essay even echoed some of the same concerns), but Ahlgrim’s positive feelings about his ministry are worth consideration also.
The truth is, there is room for both smaller and larger churches.
As I once heard Bob Russell explain, small churches can do some things better than large churches, and large churches can accomplish some things that are impossible at small churches.
—Lowell Burkum
Council Bluffs, Iowa
Please Address the Questions
The contrast in the articles by Brian Jones and Alan Ahlgrim is quite distinct and poignant.
Jones brought up questions that Ahlgrim merely glossed over and did not answer. Jones had insightful critiques into the "megachurch" (I use that phrase hesitantly) phenomenon. Ahlgrim, however, offered up sentences like, "To keep the people of the congregation reasonably pleased and the ministry on track with nonstop spiritual and numeric growth is a daunting task" (which is just the type of thing Jones was questioning). Are these authentic goals or not?
It would be invaluable for these sorts of questions to be addressed by CHRISTIAN STANDARD instead of simply assuming the superiority of a congregation because of its size and congratulating such churches because of statistical stardom.
How many of these "megachurches" are in the inner-city? It’s one thing to "grow" churches in growing areas. It’s another to give hope to a decaying community.
—Cody Moore
Denver, Colorado
Exactly What I Signed Up For!
For years I have felt discouraged and somewhat depressed because, except for a few years as an associate minister, I have served smaller congregations during all my years in ministry. I was always taught and believed that the size of your church was an indicator of your effectiveness in ministry. The articles in the March 20 issue of Christian Standard regarding megachurches changed my mind.
I am not a workaholic or a Type A personality, and it has always appeared that those are the personality types who preach at the larger churches. For that reason, I have often wondered if I was in the right line of work. But when Brian Jones (in his article, “Is This What God Wants?”) expressed frustration with the expectations of a megachurch and asked, “Is this what I signed up for?” it occurred to me that I am doing exactly what I signed up for. I have flexibility in my schedule that would be impossible if the church averaged 1,000. When I preach, I talk to people I know and not a mass of nameless faces. And even though I work hard at preparing quality programs, the most important part of my work is building loving relationships—the very reason I entered the ministry in the first place!
It was also interesting to be reminded of the latest trends (Mark Taylor’s editorial, “Will Megachurches Go Away?”) that suggest people are looking for smaller, more intimate settings in which to worship. That means that I’ve worked with cutting-edge churches all my life and did not realize it!
Maybe I have been blessed by God all along and the “bigger is better” mentality has blinded me to this blessing.
—John McArthur
Charleston, Illinois
Megachurch Articles Connected
I just read the March 20 issue of Christian Standard from cover to cover and I really enjoyed and benefitted from every page—except that my church was not listed on the megachurch page. No, you didn’t make a mistake. We have a ways to go first. Frankly, when I saw the cover, “Looking Again at Megachurches,” it did not particularly catch my interest, but I thought I would at least browse through the issue. But every article really connected with me and ministered to me in some way.
I know that you have a very wide audience and it is hard to touch them all. Thanks for the blessing.
—Dave Hubert
Via e-mail
Megachurch Akin to Wal-Mart
Christian Standard’s annual megachurch list (March 20) reaffirms America’s definition of success in the Wal-Mart era, provides a convenient list of the 107 potential speakers for next year’s North American Christian Convention, and gives the rest of us a glimpse of life in the majors.
In spite of Mark Taylor’s pat on the head ("Will Megachurches Go Away?") to the 5,000 congregations under 1,000 (and under the radar), the list is the real message here, and this list is powerfully motivating. What gets measured gets rewarded, and the easiest thing in the world to measure is size. You can’t quantify small-market excellence or exceptional creativity in reaching this culture or prophetic faithfulness in the midst of success-worship, but you can count the people in the stackable chairs.
Intentionally or not, your annual list has become the standard of success in the brotherhood, akin to People magazine’s "50 Most Beautiful People" list, with Bob Russell as Jude Law.
Fair enough, but how about giving us something for the Paul Giamattis among us to shoot for? Eddie Lowen’s excellent article in the same issue ("Why Your Minister Moved") could have included this reason: "He moved because your church doesn’t have enough potential to be on the list."
—Dennis Mullen
Kingston, Tennessee
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