Posted on 10/11/2009 10:19:06 AM PDT by Steelfish
California Christians Worship In A Big Way
The state has more megachurches than anywhere else in the country, with the majority in the suburbs between Los Angeles and San Diego. Their upbeat approach is luring thousands each weekend.
A worshiper gets caught up in the music at Shepherd of the Hills in Porter Ranch, which attracts 8,000 people to its six weekend services. California has 193 megachurches, defined as those with at least 2,000 congregants.
By Duke Helfand October 11, 2009
Once again, the Sunday faithful have packed the cavernous sanctuary at Shepherd of the Hills Church in the San Fernando Valley, clapping and swaying for Jesus as a band rocks the hall.
"Come bless the Lord," the worshipers sing. "Praise his name to the ends of the Earth."
Most churches would be thrilled to fill their sanctuaries any day of the year.
Shepherd of the Hills, a nondenominational church in Porter Ranch, does it six times a weekend, attracting 8,000 people to its energetic services and offering a lesson about the growth of evangelical Christianity in California.
Thanks to good weather, sprawling suburbs and a number of charismatic pastors, the Golden State has more of these megachurches -- defined as those with at least 2,000 congregants -- than any other state.
California is home to 193, slightly more than Texas with 191, according to the most recent survey by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, one of the nation's leading authorities on megachurches.
The majority of these congregations are in the suburbs between Los Angeles and San Diego, an area that some who study the phenomenon call the Southern California Bible Belt.
A handful have risen to national prominence -- notably Saddleback Church in Lake Forest and its celebrity pastor, the Rev. Rick Warren.
But dozens of other large,...
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I was born in Upstate NY. Most people don’t even know there is a state above NYC LOL.
The big problem with states like NY, IL, CA, and WA is that the urban areas are so lopsided Democrat that they pretty much cancel out the rest of the states.
I don’t know if it’s constitutional, but I would like to see Governors in these states require that in order for anyone to win all of their electoral votes they must win a majority of their counties as well.
We’re in So Cal. There are some pretty great megachurches around here and in San Diego too. Good theology, great workshops on marriage and family, raising kids, living a Christian life. Good/ excellent rock worship, IF you like that sort of thing.
We were Evangelical Protestants for 20 years before becoming Catholics, and we found strong believers, Spirit-filled worship, good preaching in these churches. There are plenty of small groups within them to get to know a sub-group of people very well. Great Bible teaching.
What I began to yearn for, tho, was the Eucharist at the center of things, and the Creed (vs a Mission Statement) and other ancient foundational beliefs. As a musician myself, I rarely appreciated the rock worship and always yearned for the Great Hymns, but that is secondary. The megachurches are a great place to gather in new believers and teach them the faith, and can do this with great worship and teaching how to live the Christian life — I do not find this in the Catholic church.
For me, tho, becoming Catholic has been a Journey Home, and I would not go back.
ping
The small groups were difficult to fit into. I remember going onto the churches website to get into them only to find out that many of them didn’t exist anymore. It’s just a who do you know world (even in the church).
I don’t think the negative comments here are warrented. I have attended Saddleback and everything I’ve heard indicates a strong opposition to abortion, euthanasia and other concerns of ‘conservative’ Christians.
50% of the members are former Catholics. Just because we have chosen to worship in a manner that doesn’t appeal to you, doesn’t mean that you are ‘correct’ or that we are ‘correct’.
Would you rather that the thousands of folks who find a connection to God in a megachurch just stay home and read the funny papers on Sunday?
As to the disdain for ‘mega’ churches; have you ever visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue in NYC? Especially on Sunday?
“I suspect many of them are ex-Catholics who don’t and cannot relate to the serious liturgy and instruction of the Catholic Church. Clapping, dancing, swaying, rumba are all part of the Rick Warren theology.”
Neither one (”liturgy” or swaying) is going to get them anywhere with God.
Being a traditionalist who prefers churches small enough to know at least the majority if not every single member of the body I truly struggle to understand or affirm the megachurch phenomena. Both Hitler and Obama drew crowds. Numbers do not impress me. However, I do wonder if the attendees are developing a growing faith that they will hand down from generation to generation or are they in a here for the moment mode. I wonder if the music will withstand the test of time that the classic hymns have. I wonder if the participants are caring for one another or if they will simply move from building to building where the stage is brighter and the music grander. The only question that matters is ...is God pleased? Is he the one being worshipped or is it the stage presenters? One observation that cannot be ignored is if these “churches” are thriving in California then Hollywood, government programs and the glitz and glam of the secular world is not filling the void in the way that only the indwelling spirit of God can do.
“I don’t think the negative comments here are warrented. I have attended Saddleback and everything I’ve heard indicates a strong opposition to abortion, euthanasia and other concerns of ‘conservative’ Christians.”
Yes, you’re right. Post #4 couldn’t be farther off the mark if it were on Alpha Centauri.
Liturgy is the “Word of God” sanctified.
I attend a “mega-church”, although not in California. Any church can be dead or church-lite, no matter what the size.
You can tell a tree by its fruit.
I grew up in Texas, but I now live in California.
I am actually very impressed with many Christians in California.
Most Christians out here face persecution daily. It is not a welcoming environment for Christians, but we are still here.
I don’t go to a mega-church. Mine is small and meets in a school. It is contemporary. I grew up in the Methodist church, and when I moved to California I felt like the Methodist churces were dead spiritually. They had their traditional services, but didn’t seem alive spiritually. I switched to a church that felt alive spiritually. The members are actively reading the Bible and they take care of each other. We pray a lot, and we reach out to our community. We also send out quite a few missionaries to Morrocco and China.
When you have folks like RW singing the praises of Barack Hussein Obama, then you ought to be very careful about listening to their theology.
RW has done the church a service in emphasizing the need for Christians to open up and help their neighbors--the service of Christ. I fear, though, his embrace leads to an unthinking open-mindedness that results in a "all things are acceptable" attitude.
RW praised the government of Syria, IIRC. And he doesn't seem too concerned about his friend Hussein's attitude about abortion. He also apparently backed off his opposition of the gay marriage ban in California. That is bad news.
Good works are fine--and Rick's church does perform them. I think the cost is on the teaching side.
I also, by the way, am critical of churches that rail and scream against abortion and gays...but do NOTHING to show the unwed mothers or people struggling with their sexuality the love of Christ.
We have to be strong on BOTH sides--embrace and defend the truth, but in love. IOW, be like Jesus. :)
churchianity not christianity?
Wow!
That's huge and probably erroneous broad brush.
Most are probably from mainline, liberal infested churches.
Some of the mega churches do a very good job. They are not for me; as community with other believers would seem to be impossible in these churches.
Most megachurches are extremely conservative and many of those who join them do so after finding mainstream churches too liberal. I joined one after being raised Episcopalian. I found the teaching absolutely Biblical.
You have to understand that they don’t start out being megachurches. Ours started as half a dozen people in the pastor’s living room twenty years ago and it grew at a log rate because people are so hungry for such teaching. The pastors’ sermons are essentially lessons on How To Get Closer to Jesus. People start taking notes, frantic to remember each golden word, so the pastors help them out by putting it on slides. One thing leads to another, more people come, the facilities expand to accommodate them all, parishioners tell their friends, parishioners start agitating to have a church school where their kids can be properly instructed in the Word, and pretty soon you have a megachurch with a 50-acre campus, a fleet of buses to bring in the poor who don’t have cars, and off-duty cops paid double time to manage the traffic jams every weekend.
This is not a bad thing. These folks may not worship as you do, but there’s no reason to suppose their faith is in any way deficient or is less appreciated by the Lord than yours.
“the “Word of God” sanctified.”
- - - talk about carrying coals to Newcastle!
The Word Of God sanctifies - it doesn’t need sanctifying. Liturgies are traditions of men.
I belong to a mega church. There are small groups inside the church to join. It thrills my heart to gather with a huge crowd of Christians and sing praise and worship on Sunday Morning. I have been to churches all over the country. In the Northeast, many of the churches are small and dying. I have attended some and the music is nothing to write home about. Some people get all bent out of shape if you dare to play anything but an organ or piano or if you sing something wrote in the last 50 years. I say lets sing a new song unto the Lord.
“The Word Of God sanctifies”
Of course but only when read, correctly understood, and proclaimed.
Do you have a citation for that claim?
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