I go to a 150-year-old Catholic parish in the inner city. We get all kinds: families with lots of kids, street people, poor, rich, black, white, lawyers, doctors, unemployed people. Our two regular priests are from poor countries; both speak with an accent. The church building itself, while traditional and beautiful in kind of a kitchy way, has been ... well-loved. Some of the pews are broken. Some of the kneelers are, too. Sometimes the HVAC system doesn't work; sometimes it's the sound system that's broken. The restrooms are in an even more decrepit building next door (which used to be the parish school; now it's sort of a parish hall); stepping into one is sort of like going back to the 1940's.
By contrast, the SBC church ... we met in an auditorium, not the main sanctuary. The auditorium had a state-of-the-art sound system and giant tv screens on the walls advertising various church programs about almost every topic imaginable. When the speaker wasn't speaking, the sound system played soft Christian contemporary music. The stage also had a drum set, keyboard, etc. In the corridor outside, the church had its own restaurant (!!!), and a manned information desk by the front door (a concierge??). The restrooms were like something you'd experience in a 4-star hotel, complete with (faux?) marble walls.
I'm not making any moral judgement. The contrast was just very striking to me.
I visited a church in Phoenix (maybe Mesa) like that. OTOH, the SBC church I was a member of until last week is still meeting in an office building 14 years after it started. The church I’m likely to join (still praying about it) meets in a school cafeteria.
But the wealthy churches are too comfortable. You don’t know if the chill running down your spine is the Holy Spirit, or the Air Conditioning!
“I’m not making any moral judgement. The contrast was just very striking to me.”
I felt the same way back in 1976 when I visited the (then) new Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City. There were peasants in rags walking on their knees to pray at the shrine.
I understand the basilica now also has a Domino’s Pizza franchise.