Just a question - I'm thinking out loud here. What went wrong with the megachurch?
Disclaimer: in fairness, I do want to say, as my husband put it this evening, that the megachurch works extremely well for certain types of people. What I want to address is why it does not work for so many of us.
According to George Barna's book Revolution, the last 30 years or so have been the era of the megachurch, and at present we are moving out of that era. People who flocked to the megachurches in droves even a decade ago are now abandoning the modern church model at a record pace. Megachurches are shrinking. All other models of church are growing, be it house church, simple church, neighborhood or community church, pub church ... or whatever. Why? I don't mean the nitty gritty of "why" - we bloggers have hashed and rehashed the realities and the practicalities and systems that no longer work for us until we are weary of the discussion.
What I want to know is WHAT CHANGED? Us or the model? Why are we running away from that model now, when we couldn't get enough of it 10-15-or-20 years ago? How could something that was so right then now be so wrong for millions of people - the revolutionaries, the exiles, the (cough) emergers?
Because I remember that 30 years ago the modern megachurch model was novel and new and fresh and exciting. We sang CHORUSES - no more repetitive hymns. We had classes and ministries far beyond the typical bible study. We sacrificed ritual for relativity, so that newcomers would feel comfortable. We even (gasp!) began to have Pastors who used secular films or music as examples to make a biblical point.
One thing I have noticed is the tendency for megachurces to sometimes become self-serving, self-perpetuating and self-interested. As time goes by, the members have this endless cycle of ministering to each other. They are turned inward toward the church, not outward toward the world that needs them. As a self-contained and autonomous organization, there is a finite amount of available spiritual fuel. I believe we are fed by the service of others outside the church, and while I don't wish to minimize the calling of those who are truly meant to primarily serve the flock, I think the rest of us are missing out on something.
Likewise I believe the hierarchal method of leadership has the same problem - a shortage of fuel. The same people are expected to serve in the same positions for long periods of time. This not only leads to burn-out, but to a drought of creativity and insight. This also contributes to always doing the same things the same way for years, decades and even generations.
The last church I set foot in, almost 18 months ago, was a megachurch. We were there 5 years, fully intending to stay there for a long time. But in 5 years, I felt like I ran the entire gamut of everything there was to offer and everything I had to give and then I was done. I just wasn't being fueled (spiritually) at the same pace I was burning my spirituality. Like some charismatics say, we are clay pots and we leak. We must constantly be refilled. To be honest there just weren't enough people in the body who needed me to serve them. So I found myself serving the same people over and over, the same people who others had served, the same people who had served me. I wasn't being taught or led to look outward for fuel. In the act of serving and giving to those outside the church we are filled and fueled. When we run out of new opportunities within the church to serve and minister and give of ourselves, I think we can dry up spiritually.
So what is happening? Is this just another alteration of the church, like so many that have come before? Is this something we will tire of in 15 years?
You know, scientists say that when a star begins to die it becomes larger. This is called a red giant.
From Wikipedia:
Maybe that's not an entirely accurate analogy, as this scenario ends with the death of the star, which is not the end result I would like to see of the current modern form of church.
But there is some similarity there, is there not?
Disclaimer: in fairness, I do want to say, as my husband put it this evening, that the megachurch works extremely well for certain types of people. What I want to address is why it does not work for so many of us.
According to George Barna's book Revolution, the last 30 years or so have been the era of the megachurch, and at present we are moving out of that era. People who flocked to the megachurches in droves even a decade ago are now abandoning the modern church model at a record pace. Megachurches are shrinking. All other models of church are growing, be it house church, simple church, neighborhood or community church, pub church ... or whatever. Why? I don't mean the nitty gritty of "why" - we bloggers have hashed and rehashed the realities and the practicalities and systems that no longer work for us until we are weary of the discussion.
What I want to know is WHAT CHANGED? Us or the model? Why are we running away from that model now, when we couldn't get enough of it 10-15-or-20 years ago? How could something that was so right then now be so wrong for millions of people - the revolutionaries, the exiles, the (cough) emergers?
- Is it a cultural shift? Just as the culture at large is evolving out of modernism and conservativism and consumerism, are we christians just naturally following suit, driven helplessly along by the power of changing ideals in the world? Are we so influenced by secular postmodernism that we can't help but move along that route spiritually?
- Did we just grow weary of it, like a child on Christmas morning who is bored of a new toy after 15 minutes?
- Are we having, as George Barna puts it, a great "re-awakening"? Are our spiritual senses heightened in comparison with 25 years ago?
Because I remember that 30 years ago the modern megachurch model was novel and new and fresh and exciting. We sang CHORUSES - no more repetitive hymns. We had classes and ministries far beyond the typical bible study. We sacrificed ritual for relativity, so that newcomers would feel comfortable. We even (gasp!) began to have Pastors who used secular films or music as examples to make a biblical point.
One thing I have noticed is the tendency for megachurces to sometimes become self-serving, self-perpetuating and self-interested. As time goes by, the members have this endless cycle of ministering to each other. They are turned inward toward the church, not outward toward the world that needs them. As a self-contained and autonomous organization, there is a finite amount of available spiritual fuel. I believe we are fed by the service of others outside the church, and while I don't wish to minimize the calling of those who are truly meant to primarily serve the flock, I think the rest of us are missing out on something.
Likewise I believe the hierarchal method of leadership has the same problem - a shortage of fuel. The same people are expected to serve in the same positions for long periods of time. This not only leads to burn-out, but to a drought of creativity and insight. This also contributes to always doing the same things the same way for years, decades and even generations.
The last church I set foot in, almost 18 months ago, was a megachurch. We were there 5 years, fully intending to stay there for a long time. But in 5 years, I felt like I ran the entire gamut of everything there was to offer and everything I had to give and then I was done. I just wasn't being fueled (spiritually) at the same pace I was burning my spirituality. Like some charismatics say, we are clay pots and we leak. We must constantly be refilled. To be honest there just weren't enough people in the body who needed me to serve them. So I found myself serving the same people over and over, the same people who others had served, the same people who had served me. I wasn't being taught or led to look outward for fuel. In the act of serving and giving to those outside the church we are filled and fueled. When we run out of new opportunities within the church to serve and minister and give of ourselves, I think we can dry up spiritually.
So what is happening? Is this just another alteration of the church, like so many that have come before? Is this something we will tire of in 15 years?
You know, scientists say that when a star begins to die it becomes larger. This is called a red giant.
From Wikipedia:
Red giants are stars "of 0.4 - 10 times the mass of the Sun which have exhausted their supply of hydrogen in their cores and switched to fusing hydrogen in a shell outside the core. Since the inert helium core has no source of energy of its own, it contracts and heats up, and its gravity compresses the hydrogen in the layer immediately above it, thus causing it to fuse faster. This in turn causes the star to become more luminous (from 1,000 – 10,000 times brighter) and expand; the degree of expansion outstrips the increase in luminosity, thus causing the effective temperature to decrease. "Has the core of the church become so emtpy of fuel that it is beginning to collapse? In this process, are we being force to look outward for a source of fuel?
Maybe that's not an entirely accurate analogy, as this scenario ends with the death of the star, which is not the end result I would like to see of the current modern form of church.
But there is some similarity there, is there not?
Maybe megachurches are running out of "spiritual fuel" because their primary focus is not God, teaching God's Word, or building up the body of believers. Instead the focus is being relevant to the unbeliever and the unchurched. Maybe in turning the focus from God to the unbeliever ... the megachurch loses God's blessing.
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