The Anti-Stereotypical Megachurch
Posted by Todd Rhoades in Leadership on Feb 10th, 2011 | 10 commentsHere are three quotes taken from an article at Chron.com that feature three very prominent megachurch pastors. See if this kind of flies in the face of what many people think about megachurches: low involvement, low accountability…
Here are the quotes… what do you think?
Craig Groeschel on “Christian Atheists”:
I believe in God but I want to do whatever the heck I want to do. I want enough of God to keep me out of hell and enough of God to get me into heaven but I don’t want so much of God that it makes me change my lifestyle because at its root I believe in God but I do not fear Him.
Rick Warren on Saddleback’s future:
If you passively just want to sit around in the next 10 years and just waste your life on things that won’t last, you probably want to find another church because you’re not going to really feel comfortable here. Because if you’re in this church, I’m coming after you to be mobilized.
Bill Hybels on Willow’s discipleship mistake:
We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.
Any thoughts?
Todd
10 Responses to “ “The Anti-Stereotypical Megachurch”
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I don’t see evidence that pushes against the mold if we base it on what pastors say. I think what is stereotypical is not what pastors say, but what their congregants do. And as near as I can tell from the studies, the members of megachurches are proportionally not as involved. Are there more people involved? Certainly due to scale. And they have effective ministries. But as a proportion of their flock, it is still waaay low.
I’m not sure how we can compare based simply on percentage of involvement by volunteers. I currently utilize 2 volunteer audio techs a week. If our church doubled, I might need 3. If our chuch quadrupled, I’d hire a staff. I guess I’d end up using fewer volunteers as their time commitment and level of complexity increased. Which I guess opens another can of worms….
Too often, what Groeschel says is true of me.
Warren’s quote is fantastic, but Hybels is, although good, very much out of context. People have been taking that quote as a proof that Hybels thinks their model of doing church has been flawed and wrong all along. That is NOT the case.
Jason, good thought, you nailed it. And there are other dynamics as you grow that get in the way, too…
quotes from mega-church pastors are not necessarily indicative of their actual ministries.
Love what they say…so glad that they are still leading the way with humility and courage.
LARGE=EASY TO TAKE SHOTS AT THEM.
SMALL=NOT HEARD OR KNOWN
Let’s pray for both! No one is righteous, not even one!
I think Hybels hits on an area that the American church seems uncomfortable owning. Discipleship is all but absent in the church today. I spent many years as the spouse of staff member at one of these ministries. I asked at least 6 people in leadership positions to disciple me, yet not one ever agreed to do so.
I know I have heard at least two of these leaders talk about the importance of mentors and even talk about the ones in there lives. Yet it is not part of the culture of the organizations they lead.
If someone like me, on the inside so to speak, can’t establish a mentor relationship, the average attender has no chance. I know the staff can’t mentor everyone, but they can mentor a few and create a culture of discipleship.
Quotes reality. True for every church, not just big ones.
Church discipleship. True for many churches, more so in smaller ones, otherwise they’d be growing.
potshots = easy. True.
What is clear is these men are leading their mega churches toward fulfilling the great commission and the great commandment. That is worth cheering, always.
editor took out my symbols above..should read
quotes do not equal reality….
Church does not equal discipleship…
It was more clever with the symbols.
Why are some so obssed w/”Mega-Church,” when there R Christians in the 3rd worlds who R sufreing persecution, not unlike the early
New Testament Church. We in the West are so fixated w/numbers: Quantity does not spell Quality.
Cf. Gideon’s Army. What happened w/ the idea of “remnants?” Vere magnum habere fragilitatem hominis, securitaem Dei.
Thanks for spending time on the cmuopter (writing) so others don’t have to.