The Explosive Growth of U.S. Megachurches
The graphic might show a slowdown of the explosive growth (from explosive to electric?) over the last two years, but Warren and I don’t think so (yet). Two years does not make a trend and the trend is quite remarkable when it comes of the number of megachurches.
For example:
- The number of megachurches in America has nearly doubled during every decade over the last half century.
- In 1960, there was 1 megachurch for every 7.5 million Americans. In 2010, there was one for every 200,000 Americans.
- There are as many megachurches today in the greater Nashville area as there were in the entire country in 1960.
How You Can Impact an Overchurched Culture—Pt. 2
Now, let me emphasize, we need to watch out for the temptation of downplaying opportunities to share our faith. The world is full of organizations that began as beacons of light seeking to serve people and call them to Jesus… only to devolve into do-gooder organizations indistinguishable from secular charities.
The world is filled with materially affluent people who are spiritually impoverished. We should never be satisfied simply because we helped a person climb out of physical poverty and ascend a materialistic ladder. Rather, our prayer should be that all of these cups of cold water open the doors to many human hearts, so that these might receive the ultimate supplier of human needs: Jesus.
Uncoolness, Tolerance, and Christ’s Bride, the Church
I find that the most severe critics of the church are those who grew up in it. Many of them have now left the church, and some seem proud to have done so. They like distancing themselves from “all those judgmental hypocrites,” and celebrate how amazingly tolerant they and their friends are. (They are not very tolerant of Bible-believing churches, of course, but that’s different.) If there is one thing they’re certain of, it’s that churches are uncool. And nobody wants to be uncool.
Meanwhile, people like Steve and me who grew up outside of churches, in families without Christ, are not so quick to throw out the baby of Christ’s bride with the bathwater of uncoolness.
Handing Off Ministry to Others…Valuing Development Over Dependence
One of my goals in ministry is to develop people well enough that if I got hit by a truck tomorrow that things could continue on without me. Ministries that fully depend on my presence will never grow bigger than my own skill set and availability. Empowering and equipping others to take on pieces of ministry and sending them to go and do it is essential to effective ministry. It is not expedient on the front end but it is necessary for ministry to be done by community and not done in isolation. That means ministry shifts from being done to people to being done with people and by people. Maybe the next stage of your ministry is development rather than dependence.
I have many close friends who are excellent doctors, but they’ve had to work for years as waiters in restaurants or as attendants in gas stations or cleaning seafood or scrubbing floors. Nevertheless, their wages are higher than these would be as doctors in their home countries.
An old and good friend recently told me that it’s very difficult to choose between saving lives as a medical doctor in Cuba and riding on a public bus, eating and dressing poorly and knowing that with your savings (which never amount to anything) will never allow you to afford a plane ticket to travel anywhere in the world.
She contrasts this to being a simple worker who (e)migrates to a country where they can own a car, dress and eat decently, and pay for a vacation in other places.
Sniper Posts Pic of Child in Crosshairs
“There are no other images to suggest that the photographer actually fired at the person in the image in this case,” wrote Palestinian activist Ali Abuminah who runs the site Electronic Intifada and drew much of the attention to the photo. “The image is simply tasteless and dehumanizing. It embodies the idea that Palestinian children are targets.”