It seems to me that God is more concerned with the depth of a church than its size. Some churches, following some formula that a "church consultant" came up with, no longer talk about "the blood of Christ" because it *offends* some people. IMHO, some churches need to be "preached-down" to the core through the teaching of solid truth.
The "mega church" I attend is sound on doctrine but also enjoys a strong time of worship with a good preacher to boot! I have loved my church for over 20 years and find it to be wonderful for me and my teens too. There is so much more they can do with a larger budget to keep families together Sunday morning and the rest of the week.
I think that is one advantage. I do understand the concern for the "seeker friendly" churches--these tend to be large because they do not preach a true gospel message.
We go to a Mega-church. Very sound on doctrine, but it wasn't always a "mega-church." When we started 18 years ago there were only a handful of people. It just grew, and even though sister churches have split off, it still continues to grow.
I think according to the definition of "mega church," the early church, on the day of Pentecost, could be classified as a "mega church" since according to Acts 2:41, 3000 were added to the church on that single day.
I agree that there is not much of a foundation in many non-denominational churches, especially those who won't tell you who they are in their church name. They are extremely good at caring for people and getting great results. There is much to learn from them on this. So is the Salvation Army and the Mormons. But in the end, doctrine get short shrift and this is never good. Btw, infant Baptism and the bodily presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper is denied in most non-denominational churches.
Sound expository Bible teaching and real heart-felt worship have now been replaced with a marketed product--a consumer oriented Gospel.
I especially loved the way many were closed on Christmas, very telling of where their hearts are.
Only nine replies on a "Mega-church-bashing thread"?
ping
As I was just telling my husband... My beeber is stuned.
The church I grew up in had 4 pastors: 2 for the youth, one for music and a senior pastor. I visited the site online the other day just out of curiosity and found that they now support 11 pastors. One of the pastors is the discipleship minister (my old youth leader). He directs their 28 discipleship groups. They moved the church in 2002 (?) to the new location which supports a congregation of 7,000 members.
read the down-grade documents by charles spurgeon and ashamed of the gospel by john macarthur.