Posted on 02/21/2006 2:17:28 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
THE head of the World Council of Churches has expressed concern about the spread of megachurches around the world, such as Hillsong in Sydney, saying they could lead to a Christianity that is "two miles long and one inch deep".
The WCC General Secretary Samuel Kobia said megachurches - huge Protestant churches with charismatic pastors, lively music and other services - mostly ran on a business model to make worshippers feel good and were shallow in their theology.
Megachurches, which pack in thousands for rousing Sunday worship services, are popular in suburbs in the United States. Most are evangelical or Pentecostal, with few or no ties to mainline churches such as the Lutherans or Episcopalians.
Mr Kobia said the megachurch movement, which is not represented in the mostly mainline Protestant or Orthodox World Council of Churches, broke down borders among denominations with a populist message.
"It has no depth, in most cases, theologically speaking, and has no appeal for any commitment," the Kenyan Methodist said at the WCC world assembly in this Brazilian city.
The megachurches simply wanted individuals to feel good about themselves, he said.
"It's a church being organised on corporate logic. That can be quite dangerous if we are not very careful, because this may become a Christianity which I describe as 'two miles long and one inch deep'."
Reverend Geoff Tunnicliffe, international director of the 400 million member World Evangelical Alliance, said at the assembly that "historical and deeply-felt issues" separated them from other branches of Christianity.
The largest US megachurches attract some 20,000 worshippers every Sunday. Abroad, megachurches have also sprouted up in Australia, South Korea, Britain, Canada, and other countries.
According to a report by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, there were 1210 US churches drawing more than 2000 worshipers, the official minimum for a megachurch. That was double the number in 2000.
The WCC groups nearly 350 Protestant and Orthodox churches that mostly broke away from the Roman Catholic Church in the Great Schism of 1054 or in the 16th century Reformation.
Michigan needs good men and women in office.....wish him well .
Good for you.......I USED to attend a mega in the Dallas area but I got so sick of his "series of messsages" that never seemed to have much substance that I asked him one day why he doesn't come down harder on homosexuality, earth worship & relativism in the schools, the NWO, cultural communism/PC creeping into every aspect of our lives.......his only response was " we don't want to offend anyone.....we want to keep bringing people to Jesus".
My only thought when he said that was he talking about Jesus or Je$u$?......never went back after that discussion.
"There is likewise no true love that will completely ignore sin. That's a human deception because we don't like to be told we are wrong about anything, so we hang the truth speaker with guilt and shame instead of having to face the reality of our own guilt and shame."
"What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!" Romans 6:15
"And we urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all men." 1 Thessaloniams 5:14
"... but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all [aspects] into Him, who is the head, [even] Christ," Ephesians 4:15
Thanks, jan. I like your posts too. Great verses.
I've been to Westminster Cathedral and absolutely loved it. Sunday Vespers was one of the best parts of that trip.
Or the victim of their own long finger nails.
I can be proud, arrogant, covetous, & lustful. There are times that I pretend I've actually slain the beast of self that snarls from inside my chest.
If you'd like a specific catalog of my sins let me know....
"The call is to surrender all. That is faith's evidence."
____________________________________________
F = Forsaking
A = All
I = I
T = Trust
H = Him
If you have faith you receive:
G = GOD'S
R = Riches
A = At
C = CHRIST'S
E = Expense
Steal it...I did!
That's funny. I think your right.
I love that. Thanks!
You said: If you'd like a specific catalog of my sins let me know....
Go ahead and be sarcastic. It helps to do that when you want to ignore a person's main point.
In Democratic counties they call them Voters. ;)
And I thought we were discussing whether church pastors should admonish their flocks that they need to try to live holy lives, and what that means and how to accomplish it, and how there is a perception that some churches (especially the really large ones) don't do this - and sometimes that perception filters down into the flock (at least on the fringes).
Telling someone how to live a life of holiness isn't pointing a finger at them and telling them they are evil, btw...it's instructing them that look, these are pitfalls. If you want to grow in Christ, work to avoid them.
Thanks, maybe I will when I get tired of the one I use now.
And just what theology does WCC follow?
good post -- something for ALL of us to think about...
"In Democratic counties they call them Voters. ;)"
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I'm laughing so hard I can't think of anything to say.
I'd like to know where y'all get your "information". Did you actually step foot inside one to find out? Do your pass on rumors that you hear others say? I'm just curious, because from what several here on this board who attend mega-churches say, y'all (and the WCC) are wrong.
Not that there aren't mega-churches that fit that bill, but they are probably not any more likely, statistically, than any other denomination is likely to do.
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