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Mega-churches remind me of this warning from Jesus: "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and man

by xamuel 8y ago

Mega-churches remind me of this warning from Jesus: "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it."

bartread 8y ago
Be careful with that: it occurs at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. That sermon isn't so much a statement of how people in general should behave as a statement of how believers are to behave as compared to those who consider themselves religious. I don't get the impression Jesus was picking on one or other religious party in particular. Morever, in the UK at least, depending on where you look, around 5-10% of the population attend church[1][2] - that's about 3.3-6.02 million people. Of these, one third attend churches with a congregation of at least 350 people[3]. There are churches with thousands, which would traditionally be referred to as megachurches, but these are a small proportion of the whole. Anyway, that's somewhere between 1 and 2 million people attending larger churches (including megachurches), which puts them solidly in the minority - definitely not "the many". I don't have accurate figures for churches >1000 people primarily because the third source doesn't include figures for the Catholic church. Still, the 23 protestant churches listed account for <100k people, so not even "the many" as compared to the number of people attending larger churches. The perspective that might support what you're suggesting here is that Jesus often seems to be comparing with those who are conspicuously religious, who one would suppose are often figures of authority (although there's plenty of content on how we're to deal with those much closer to us as well). Seen in that context the leaders of megachurches are certainly conspicuously religious, but they are far from the majority of church leaders, and the third source suggests that the vast majority of leaders in the ~37,500 churches in the UK labour substantially in obscurity regardless of their character. [1] https://faithsurvey.co.uk/uk-christianity.html https://faithsurvey.co.uk/uk-christianity.html [2] https://www.compassionuk.org/02-million-people-attending-church-regularly/ https://www.compassionuk.org/02-million-people-attending-chu... [3] http://www.lausanneworldpulse.com/perspectives-php/1109/03-2009 http://www.lausanneworldpulse.com/perspectives-php/1109/03-2...
DannyB2 8y ago
I am more skeptical about mega churches. But big or small, the thing I look for is the message. Is it a feel good, everybody is okay type of message? Or do they actually talk about sin, repentance and salvation? Jesus said that believers would be hated by everyone for spreading his message. So I have a more skeptical eye towards mega churches. But you can find the gospel in some large churches, and the feel good pop psychology messages in some smaller churches. So size is not an absolute inverse index.

by xamuel 8y ago

bartread 8y ago

Be careful with that: it occurs at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. That sermon isn't so much a statement of how people in general should behave as a statement of how believers are to behave as compared to those who consider themselves religious. I don't get the impression Jesus was picking on one or other religious party in particular. Morever, in the UK at least, depending on where you look, around 5-10% of the population attend church[1][2] - that's about 3.3-6.02 million people. Of these, one third attend churches with a congregation of at least 350 people[3]. There are churches with thousands, which would traditionally be referred to as megachurches, but these are a small proportion of the whole. Anyway, that's somewhere between 1 and 2 million people attending larger churches (including megachurches), which puts them solidly in the minority - definitely not "the many". I don't have accurate figures for churches >1000 people primarily because the third source doesn't include figures for the Catholic church. Still, the 23 protestant churches listed account for <100k people, so not even "the many" as compared to the number of people attending larger churches. The perspective that might support what you're suggesting here is that Jesus often seems to be comparing with those who are conspicuously religious, who one would suppose are often figures of authority (although there's plenty of content on how we're to deal with those much closer to us as well). Seen in that context the leaders of megachurches are certainly conspicuously religious, but they are far from the majority of church leaders, and the third source suggests that the vast majority of leaders in the ~37,500 churches in the UK labour substantially in obscurity regardless of their character. [1] https://faithsurvey.co.uk/uk-christianity.html https://faithsurvey.co.uk/uk-christianity.html [2] https://www.compassionuk.org/02-million-people-attending-church-regularly/ https://www.compassionuk.org/02-million-people-attending-chu... [3] http://www.lausanneworldpulse.com/perspectives-php/1109/03-2009 http://www.lausanneworldpulse.com/perspectives-php/1109/03-2...

DannyB2 8y ago

I am more skeptical about mega churches. But big or small, the thing I look for is the message. Is it a feel good, everybody is okay type of message? Or do they actually talk about sin, repentance and salvation? Jesus said that believers would be hated by everyone for spreading his message. So I have a more skeptical eye towards mega churches. But you can find the gospel in some large churches, and the feel good pop psychology messages in some smaller churches. So size is not an absolute inverse index.