megachurches: set to thrive
December 28th, 2007
My generation grew up with the provision shop- that disorganized and overpacked grocery that sells the common things a family needed but with less choices. Service was personalized and there’s even first name familiarity. You can even get credit and items purchased delivered to your home. But there are limitations: it does not sell everything a family member may need. You can’t get a haircut, or buy fresh food, or a pair of shoes or clothing. They don’t do banking and you can’t get a meal or be entertained with a movie. Sometimes what you want is there but you can’t find it in the mess. However, this is what we grew up with and are comfortable with, even tolerant of.
There is however another generation, now in their twenties and below, who have grown up in a different world. It is the world of the shopping mall. And in this world, in this one place they can obtain nearly everything they needed. The mall is
stocked with all kinds of products from all over the world, whether fresh or packaged. It offers services of all kinds for all the needs and desires of all age groups. Air-conditioned and alluring, it is the consumer’s paradise. It offers choices. It offers lifestyle. It even confers identity. If I regularly go to a particular shopping mall, I am 
young and trendy; if another, I am an aunty; if still another, I am a sophisticate’ or yuppie or sporty person or bargain-hunter. This particular generation is comfortable in a shopping mall; but it feels disoriented, disjointed, and lost in the good old small provision shop and find it a hassle, so what if the manager calls them by name and knows their parents!
That’s why I believe the megachurch is here to stay and is likely to grow stronger. It’s more than just a spiritual thing; it is also sociological and psychological. The younger generation has been culturally conditioned to feel welcome and comfortable in a megachurch structure because it is so much like the shopping mall they have pleasant experiences of. There they get all their needs met under one roof. More resources means more choices, “products”, even branded ones from USA or Australia; and it means varied and better servicing of the attendees’ needs.
The small church: well, to be candid, young people are there not always by deliberate choice but because their parents are there; or close friends are there, or they find meaning and purpose in some role or responsibility. But they do feel the pull when their friends talk excitedly about their “shopping mall experiences”. Anyway when was the last time you stepped into a small provision shop? Is this a death knell for small churches of under a hundred? No not really. Haven’t you heard of 7 Eleven? But that is another story: the story of the small church.
Does size matter in the light of this? Can a megachurch more effectively reach unchurched people who are more used to and comfortable with the shopping mall than with the HDB mom’s and pop’s store? Probably so.
Megachurches do have their weaknesses too. Consumerism, the cultural trait of generation next is one of several things that the megachurch appeals to, and this is the very Achillees’ heel that gives rise to megachurch weaknesses. More on that another time, God willing.
Entry Filed under: Church, Megachurches
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Thrive? Maybe a couple for each city for the the consumers just like hypermalls and hypermarkets. The attraction is the size and not much else. When the excitement of size fades, they will move on to another for a different excitement and may eventually drop out. To a certain extent cell/home fellowship caters to personal and community but I am not sure many will be committed to small groups for long. Perhaps for many the attraction of megachurches is the anonymity for members. When forced to attend small groups they might disappear. This in my opinion defeats the purpose of discipleship making where it is only possible in small groups and personal level.
If followers do not become disciples, churches become weak. This is precisely what the Lord warn against in Revelations.
Very insightful! Your comment has exposed the Achilles heel as well as shed some light on what smaller churches can do. You have probably saved me from writing one post on the Achilles heel of megachurches, a theme that has run its course like a sermon series. Lately I have been thinking more about the small church story, an interesting one. We shall see.
Ha..ha..can’t help but feel that you are using the same topic round and round to increase the hit rate…
Blogpastor has visitor and hit rates that are not worth trumpeting about at all. It is just an ikan kuning swimming near the shore, compared to the tunas and whales of the deep sea.
If you are interested about how Blogpastor blogs and what motivates him please read http://www.blogpastor.net/blogpastor/bolivian-beat-interviews-blogpastor/
An interesting and fitting analogy…
I suspect that the next evolution of the “megamall” structure would be “online shopping” - where your needs can be met beyond the physical confines of space and time, at your absolute convenience. Here’s an example: http://www.lgfinternetchurch.org/?gclid=CPaakNGgzJACFRglewod4QG8OQ
A potential blog topic to consider?; p
Thanks for the interesting link. I am still pondering how a Web2.0 internet church can look like. Bookmarked it for further exploration.
Blogpastor, what you wanna write is your pasal lah, you don’t owe any readers any apologia for writing what you want to write on YOUR blog…and in fact, I believe your writings reflected your love and concern towards god and his church. So keep it up man!
Jack
Yes! Advice accepted. Will ignore such in future.
Everybody has a right to an opinion no matter how disagreeable - God tolerates us despite our prodigal ways.
Please do not ignore but engage and persuade with Light and Truth……….it does miraculous things for the other soul when it is engaged and conected.
You have the “right” but do you want use it or be meek, like your Boss?
Where is our Walk or is it just Talk?
Your response was GREAT, keep this up and alot more people will come to Christ through this ministry!
God bless..
I read about a study done at Willow Creek (of Bill Hybels) about the level of discipleship at that leading mega-church. (I have not personally read the study so the report I read could be biased or otherwise inaccurate.) Supposedly the study showed a dismal result, that Willow Creek was good at attracting crowds but not at making disciples. Hybels was supposed to have been shocked by it.
I first arrived in Singapore in 1990, fresh out of seminary. A recently published book in Singapore at that time was “Growing Churches Singapore Style”, holding up the churches of Singapore as examples of church growth after a couple of decades of rapid growth. But the census of 2000 showed that the growth of the church in Singapore was flat in the 1990s. (I’m the only person I know of to have written an appraisal of that.) Megachurches have grown in Singapore but has The Church? If the census of 2010 shows flat growth (or even, God forbid, decline), will there be a re-appraisal of the megachurch model?
As for the solution being small groups. Many megachurches implore their members to join cell groups, including Hybels’ Willow Creeks and Singapore’s own FCBC. The truth is that it is the Word of God that grows the church — and the lack of emphasis on the value of preaching is what is troubling the church in Singapore.
I wrote a post on the report on Willow Creek and it has links to the sources if you are interested. Go to: http://www.blogpastor.net/index.php?s=Bill+Hybels
You are spot on about the 2000 census. If I remember correctly the growth was far less than expected. It was so disproportionate to the exciting growth in the megachurches we witnessed in that decade that I wondered if the government massaged the figures. So what happened? My surmise is that Christians were playing musical chairs moving from church to church; and there may be a fallout rate that points to spurious conversions.
Preaching the Word is certainly a pillar of equipping and building strong churches together with other important factors too. Most pastors in Singapore give considerable attention to preaching, so you need to qualify the kind of preaching that builds churches up.
The emphasis on the preaching of the Word while good is not the answer too. A fed mind might lead to a fat soul if the Word is not exercised. Our mind might be tickled but our spirit is weak when we do not know how to obey.
What is the answer? I am pondering this and I have no answer.
Unless the Lord build His Church, all we do will flounder. Explosive growth in Acts was the work of the Holy Spirit with people. As far as I can see small groups/churches is better suited for discipleship making. I think it is good to come together to celebrate in a big way once in a while, just like the festivals in the temple.
Walk or Talk?
The latter is eazy - the former is alot tougher.
Christains have not grown numerically or qualitatively.
Believe it is about 10% in Singapore by numbers and there is no statistically differnce between Christians and society at large around any of the social well being indicies (divorce, gambling, debts etc…).
Musical chairs or shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic?
The current practice is out of date and often irrelevant to comtemproary society - we need a new type of Church - personalized but global.
do u guys think megachurches have sound doctrines at all? They are mostly non-denominational, always interested in increasing population size, emphasizes so much on marketing and consumerism.
I fear that megachurches are preaching the false ‘gospel of prosperity’ that will only bring down christianity today.
All man made doctrines are flawed!
The great commission is to spread the good news not make good business whilst putting a spin on the good news.
If we do too good a job in spreading the good news, this will only lead to a growing church. And a growing church will one day become a mega church.
Perhaps we should put a limit on church size. Maybe 150-200 per church should be the maximum. The danger of growing beyond will lead to the negative “mega-church syndrome”. Once the church reaches 200, all evangelistic meetings should be stopped, and the church should not spread the good news anymore. The church can just focus on the building quality of the 200 members.
Sounds very Methodist
Sure sounds like Peter asking the Lord whether should he be building three tents for them..one for Moses, one for Elija and one for the Lord.
Why do we need to help God manage the growth of the church?
Hows this for extravagance - city harvest in Jurong.
Largest “Transfer Beam” in the World
6 floors of the building are resting on the “ceiling” of the column-free auditorium. The ceiling, technically known as a “transfer beam,” is the largest ceiling structure in the world with an area of 3,500 square metres and a depth of 3 metres. Sato Kogyo and Bachy Soletanche jointly built it.
First Titanium-Clad Building in Asia
The front facade of the building is clad with the same titanium that wraps the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. The renowned museum is reputed to be the most beautiful contemporary architecture in the world today. According to the Swiss museum specialists, this building in Singapore is the first architecture with such titanium cladding in Asia.
Largest Church Building
From the lowest basement to the top of the steeple cross, the building is 54 metres in height, or equivalent to 18-20 floors of a HDB flat. This is the biggest church structure in the Southeast Asian Peninsula.
First Broquard Fountain in Southeast Asia
Mr. Jerome Broquard from Los Angeles, USA, is widely recognised as the number one fountain maker in the world. Mr. Broquard is the designer of the fountain wall at the front of the building and this assignment is his first fountain project in Southeast Asia. (Japan has the only other Broquard fountain in Asia.)
Largest Stainless Steel Church Cross in the World
At 12 metres high and 800 kg in weight, the stainless steel cross is the largest in the world.
Largest Sound Console in the World
Mr. Steven Le Roux, the sound and lighting consultant of the Sydney Opera House, provided consultancy services to City Harvest Church with relation to acoustics of the main sanctuary. The auditorium is fitted with a 60-channel sound console, which is the largest and only one of its size in the world.
Most Advanced Fire Evacuation System in the World
The fire evacuation public announcement system, designed by Klotz Digital, is widely touted to be the most advanced and efficient in the market today. They designed this specially for the new Munich Airport which is due to be opened in 2003. The church was approached by Klotz Digital to be the first architecture in the world to be fitted with such a system.
Largest Church Donation Campaign in Southeast Asia
The land purchase and building construction costs a total of $47.6 million. This amount is raised locally and entirely from City Harvest Church’s own congregation in Singapore over a period of 7 years. Only 45% of the congregation are working adults, the rest are mainly schooling youths, housewives and retirees.
Mr.Unbelievable,
You have a choice lah…you can don’t go.
Do you know Heaven is paved with Gold? May be we should tell God not to be extravagance too…ha..ha..