With a post title like Are Megachurches Wrong? Analysis of David Wells’ Critique, I’m pretty much bound to link to this….
Are Megachurches Wrong?
by Brother Maynard | Aug 31, 2006 | Church, Ecclesiology | 5 comments
5 Comments
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- Emerging Church Blogs - With a post title like Are Megachurches Wrong? Analysis of David Wells’ Critique, I’m pretty much bound to…
I’m not so sure. Bell’s Mars Hill could be considered one, yet we emergents all love it. And I’m not one to jump all over and rip on Saddleback or Lakewood or whatever, Bob Hyatt (bob.Blog) made a good point the other day that these places should really plant churches.
Matt,
I told somebody once that I tended to see it as an oxymoron, but if it was even possible to have an emerging megachurch, the Americans (of all countries) would figure out how, and Rob Bell’s would be the prime candidate. I still think that. I have this deep skepticism about church size (see my “church size” post in the sidebar — never mind, it’s this one for some further disussion on my perspective. I don’t want to say it’s an entirely invalid model, but I really do wish they’d split themselves up into smaller units (by planting or whatever) when I wonder if the wouldn’t be more missionally effective. Still, I’m hard-pressed to deny that there’s a part of our culture that likes this expression and they seem to be effective within it. But not for me…
I believe South Korea may have had the first true mega church, actually.
I think the title of the post is a bit provocative and unanswerable. Really, it’s sort of like asking are big cities wrong. The answer depends on your data points or your criteria. Mega churches hold no appeal for me whatsoever. But I have very dear friends for whom small churches are frightening and they do well in the large to mega church milieu. Their faith walk is solid and I can’t judge them. I’d love to see the stats to support the myth-busters he reported … or maybe that’s in the book.
Thanks, Bob. That’s helpful … and quite thorough.