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An avid movie collector reviews movies, games, and TV shows for the common man, among other things. Spoiler Free

Monday, April 12, 2004



This segment is a Christian debate that might make less sense to those of you who don’t care to read my Christian thoughts. It’s a debate that exists within Christianity and since a large portion of my readers are Christians I write these on a semi-regular basis, however most of them are me smashing a Conservative Christian viewpoint that just embarrasses the rest of the Christian populace. This one is more internal and therefore probably not as interesting to those of my readers who are not Christian. You can feel free to read on to gain perspective, and I can be reached with any questions you have if you do, but I wouldn’t at all be offended if you didn’t want to read this at all. But all of you Christians better read this…because I said so.

Easter Sunday at the Mega-Church



I try to keep to media related issues on this blog, but I felt since this was Easter Weekend, and this is somewhat entertainment related I could indulge with this Church related issue. Whether you know it or not there is a large debate within Christianity concerning Mega-Churches, which are churches that exceed 1000 people and tend to be a bit more modern than many churches feel is appropriate. I have attended a Mega-Church twice now, and I feel that I can dismiss some of the debated issues based on these two attendances (and I am well read in the subject matter).
The First criticism that Conservative Christians have of Mega-Churches are that they are too superficial in their messages because they have to appeal to both New, Old, and Non-Christians. These churches grow so large and fast because the services are built to attract people to the Christian faith and break a lot of the stereotypes that alienate most people from Christians. This criticism is true, however it is qualified and necessary. The messages are shallower for the reasons stated above, but these messages are not supposed to be the only Christian education that is experienced during the week. The church offers over 100 midweek classes and fellowship groups to delve deeper into the Bible and Christian Doctrine and life. So, to criticize the Mega-Churches for shallow sermons would only be a relevant point if they did not stress midweek study groups or if you are too lazy to attend more than one church function in a week.
The Second Criticism is that they are too focused on entertainment, and that is the real reason people attend and stay at the churches. This criticism seems to indicate that Church is supposed to be boring and uncomfortable, but they insist that it is more complicated than that. Anyway, I will discuss the entertainment elements of the church that I attended.



1. Multi-Media

The church has an elaborate set-up as far as media. The church has two large screens on either side of the stage, the stage has infinite color and lighting options, and the service is live broadcast unto the screens from 3 cameras at three different angles to the stage. So during a song, the video feed is constantly cutting between the cameras much like a live concert DVD of one of your favorite bands. The songs are performed by a full band who are quite talented complete with guitar solos and the like. And the speaker system is top-notch, and during the sermon the lights are dropped like a theatre to draw you eyes up front.

2. Comfortable Seating

The stadium seating is likened more to a movie theatre than a pew, the seats are very comfortable.

3. Drama

They have a short drama segment to illustrate the message and to drive home the point. They are clearly practiced and taken seriously.

These are the main entertainment elements under scrutiny. I first want to say that none of these things are sinful or wrong in essence so the purpose and execution of these things would decide whether or not they are harmful in a church setting.

The Multi-Media is probably the most criticized entertainment feature, because the service “Isn’t supposed to be a Rock Concert!” The use of overhead projectors is largely used in churched to make it easier for reading the lyrics of the songs, so digitizing this shouldn’t be a stretch. The Camera work is very nice, because in a larger venue it becomes difficult to see many things with clarity, so when the Pastor makes a hand-gesture it can be seen easily on the screen. Seeing things more clearly is obviously an improvement so that’s settled. As for the band, what harm is there in a quality band performing the songs? I don’t enjoy hymns, so how could my worship from them be of a higher quality than me singing along to a song with the band? I know I am partial to songs that don’t come in hymn form, because hymns make me feel like I am reading out loud and not internalizing anything that I sing, but if I find that I can worship with more modern music and not with hymns does that mean I am a lesser Christian? If you said yes, we need to have words. As for the lights, I pay much better attention when I am not looking at the funny people around me, plus the lighting really works to draw your eyes up to the stage and screens. As for the lights down being a sedative, I was definitely tired during the two services but I was never tempted to sleep as I often am because the service is much more engaging than a traditional service.

Next is the Comfortable seating, I see no reason to be uncomfortable on Sunday morning. Unless you believe in Ascetic worship like the archaic monks who used to beat themselves as an act of worship, being uncomfortable is not in anyway more Godly. Comfort is not sin, now valuing comfort over something else more important could be bad, but if you are shopping for Chairs and you can afford the comfortable chairs why cheap out and make everyone suffer. I can pay a lot better attention when I am not busy trying to keep my butt from falling asleep on the flat pew at church. I never thought about my discomfort during either service and I would count that as a credit to the church.

Lastly we have Drama; some churches have begun to turn on this issue because the power of it is undeniable. I can tell you exactly what each of these services were about because I remember the Drama, and one of these services was several months ago. I can’t tell you specifics about a single other service I have ever attended, I probably learned something but nothing about the service was memorable. I can’t find a single thing wrong with having a meaningful drama portion to demonstrate the point of the message especially when it goes so far to keep the truth in the memory of the viewer.

These issues aren’t tied to the Entertainment issue, and are more central to the debate.

1. A large congregation means no Close Relationships

This is the worst argument against Mega-Churched because the whole structure of the church is to get people with others like them and try to build friendships. I wasn’t kidding when I said that they had over 100 midweek meetings and classes. You could say, “I’m a 23 year old single mother with brown hair” and in a church that size you could be one of 12 people with those criteria. In smaller churches you have to be less specific when creating fellowship groups because a congregation of 50 can only split up so much. In a church of 1000 you can truly be among your peers, and delve into those things that interest and suit you. Actually this was the most appealing thing about a Mega-Church because as a Teacher I could teach on obscure and detailed issues of the Christian life that would probably only attract like 5 percent of a given church, so in a smaller church I would have a class of 5, while here I would have a class of 50. I have been in smaller churches my whole life, and I know that thousands of ideas are dismissed because it has to be popular enough to attract the majority of the church body because the church can only do a few events a year, but in a Mega-Church you could create almost any event and have enough people interested to get it off the ground. I find this as the greatest strength of a Mega-Church.

2. The Doctrine of the Church has to be more open, so as to not cause division.

This is the only criticism that carries any weight. Larger churches do tend to carve out less Dogma so they won’t turn people off before they enter the church. So while the basic tenets of Christianity are there, the lesser doctrines like the ones that separate Baptist, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches are not carved in stone. This doesn’t bother me so much, because we shouldn’t be killing each other and dying for these Dogmas. The things made clear in the Bible are kept and the theories that we build off of the Bible is left more up to the individual. I know this the foundation for the argument against Mega-Churches, because each denomination can’t imagine seeing their quirks as anything other than the Perfect plan of God. But if God cared that much for Infant Baptism and the other beliefs He would have put them in the Bible. Dropping the significance of that stuff would be beneficial anyway; I put that stuff one step above Saint Worship. And you know nothing is worse than the Catholic Church. (Way to end with a gross generalization Dean)

Ultimately, the reason I think this church is a success is because every Sunday is a deeply thought out and orchestrated presentation. Everything and I mean everything contributes to the message and what the Preacher wants you to go home with. The whole hour is carefully directed and I know that a lot more work went into making these sermons come together than any other Church service I have attended. I am going to allow for the fact that this is not how it is going to be all over, many Mega-Churches probably do suck, and are exactly the opposite of what I detailed above, but I think I have disarmed the ability to discredit the thought of a Mega-Church in principle, because in Theory a Mega-Church is superior in almost every way to a smaller church. The only strengths of a Smaller Church in Theory are preferential and aesthetic, like “I like smaller buildings”, or “I like the ability to know everybody’s name”. Plus, I bet gossip would be harder in a Large Church, I can’t say with certainty, but I know small churches do nothing better than Gossip.

I would love e-mails if you disagree, or even if you agree. But don’t tell me about Mega-Churches that were lousy. I know they exist so don’t wait your time with it. And don’t tell me about your perfect small church because I know they exist too, I don’t hate small churches and will probably attend them for the majority of my life. I am just defending Mega-Churches because they can be a great thing.
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