February 15 , 2006 Featured Article
We're just a small church — we can't compete with megachurches! by Ken Johnson |
 |
 |
I just came across some interesting research about the U.S. Protestant Megachurch. This survey was done by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research (http//hirr.hartsem.edu) and Leadership Network (www.leadnet.org) and is contained in a report titled New Research Debunks 11 Myths About Megachurches (http://www.leadnet.org/about_OurNews.asp). This report shows that megachurches are among the nation’s fastest-growing faith groups, drawing younger people and families with contemporary programming and conservative values. According to Mega Churches 2005 a megachurch has a weekly attendance of at least 2,000 and there are 1,210 in the U.S. today. That is nearly double the number of megachurches that existed five years ago. They estimate their combined income at $7.2 billion and that they draw 4.4 million people to weekly services. This report is instructive for both the megachurch and the small church. Scott Thumma, Professor of Sociology of Religion at Hartford Seminary and primary architect of the survey, said, “I am absolutely convinced that megachurches have blossomed, at least in part, because they have responded creatively to the new needs and interests of people in a new cultural reality. There is much to learn from megachurches—and it isn’t all about being big.” Following are a few of the 11 Myth’s. You can find the remainder of them at the website. MYTH #4: Megachurches exist for spectator worship and are not serious about Christianity. MYTH #5: Megachurches are not deeply involved in social ministry. MYTH #7: All megachurches have huge sanctuaries and enormous campuses. MYTH #8: All megachurches are nondenominational. MYTH #10: Megachurches grow primarily because of great programming. MYTH #11: The megachurch phenomenon is on the decline. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s I had the distinct privilege of working in one of the early megachurches, Faith Presbyterian Church in Aurora, Colorado. At one point the church had a membership of over 4000 and average attendance of almost 3000. Because Faith functioned as a large permission giving church they accomplished amazing things. When you joined the church you were expected to become involved. You were expected to go to certain classes, find out what your gifts were, learn how to use those gifts and then begin to use them. They didn’t say: Come join this church and vegetate they said that if you joined you were expected to be involved. Most churches are afraid to require their new members to get involved because they don’t want to lose them. Regretfully those new members are down the street to another church in three to six months. New members want to get involved or they won’t join. Even the Lion’s Club expects new members to get involved—why not the church? What does your church expect? In the middle 1970’s Faith was a church of approximately 400 people that developed a large church mentality, hiring staff and building buildings to accommodate growth, and the Lord provided that growth. Faith’s growth came from its members. They were so excited about what was happening that they brought their non-churched friends by the hundreds and those friends came to the Lord and brought new people in the front door to repeat the process. Regretfully, since 1985 the church has been on a steady decline because the senior pastor succession process that was planned didn’t work out and the church had to find someone from the outside. Megachurches continue on the megachurch path when they are able to grow the Senior Pastor successor from within the ranks of the staff. Church planting is another way to become a mega church. Fortunately Faith had enough foresight to begin a number of other churches and all are currently doing well. These churches have also been planting other churches so the branching process continues today. What we can learn from this study is that any church can be vital and alive if they think like a mega church. You have to:
As you study this report you will see that any church large or small can become a church that is spreading the good news and growing, not plateauing or dying. What do you want to be? Is it time to spend a few hours on your knees asking the Lord what He has in store for you? We need to stop badmouthing the megachurches and get on with church. The most disappointing thing about Faith was that the people in the denomination called them “the circus church.” Instead they should have been looking at what Faith was doing right and what they could use to better themselves. The other churches in the denomination continued to die while Faith continued to grow. Get rid of the “poor me” attitude and do what it takes to grow your church. If you would like coaching help call me (Ken Johnson) at 303/478-8131 or send an email to ken@thekenjohnsongroup.com. Our web site is: www.thekenjohnsongroup.com. Downloadable copies of the complete Megachurches Today 2005 survey (in both HTML and PDF versions) are available on the two organizations’ Web sites:
A 15-minute Podcast discussion of key survey findings is also archived on the Leadership Network site at www.leadnet.org/links/podcast-MegachurchMyths.asp © 2006, Ken Johnson, President and CEO of The Ken Johnson Group, LLC. To contact Ken, or for permission to reprint this article, send an e-mail to: ken@thekenjohnsongroup.com |