The Missional Megachurch
They have the buildings, attendees, budgets and staffs most pastors only dream of—but many megachurches are done playing the numbers “game.” A missiologist dials in to uncover the truth and ask, “Are today’s megachurches making the right moves to transform lives and communities?”
By Ed Stetzer
What do you think of when you hear the word “megachurch”? Maybe polished productions, big person-alities, an expansive building, stellar programs (lots and lots of programs) and crowded parking lots with orange-vested attendants come to mind. Maybe a great worship service that leaves you laughing, crying or both. Or perhaps a creative children’s ministry—kind of a Jesus-meets-Chuck E. Cheese type of place.
To most people, the word “mega” suggests bigness and power, not necessarily missional ministry and sacrifice. (It combines nicely with well-known words like megalomaniac, megaphone and mega-millions. Words like mega-service, mega-sacrifice and mega-witness, well ... not so much.) Although “mega” is not exactly a word we think of when subjects like Jesus, the Bible or the Early Church are discussed, it definitely grabs our attention.
But what’s next for megas besides the infamous big productions and headline-making numbers? People have been criticizing the practices and predicting the demise of megachurches for more than a decade now, and some of their criticisms are valid. Many megachurches don’t live with a Kingdom focus—unless that kingdom has the megachurch pastor as the sovereign. At times, megachurches have seemed shallow, ego-driven and less than engaged in their local and global community.
On the other hand, I’ve been doing quite a bit of research to uncover whether bigness always tramples the values of Christ. Are the thousands of megachurch attendees across the globe really that shallow and easily fooled by the music, lights and makeup? Are the hallmarks of the megachurch still consumerism, excess programs and marketing tactics?
Some may say yes, but lately I’ve noticed a progression in the way these churches are bringing the Gospel to the community and the world. Following their trajectory helps us identify five missional realms megachurches are stepping into—key realms that will likely define their future.
1. Community Transformation
While some megachurches are building their own bowling alleys so believers won’t be offended by the lifestyles of those abrasive lost bowlers, others are serving and impacting their communities in profound ways—engaging the poor, working for the welfare of their cities, meeting practical needs in the community, purposely joining “secular” sports leagues—and seeing lives transformed by the power of Jesus Christ.
For example, the 3,300 members of Calvary Church in Charlotte, N.C. (calvarychurch.com), engage in more than a dozen local outreach opportunities each week. Church volunteers operate the Homeless & Street Ministry where they cook and serve breakfast to hundreds of people on Saturdays at the Uptown Shelter and on downtown streets. And every Wednesday, the volunteer-run Clothes Closet provides quality, gently used clothing to those in need in the community. Church members also serve at the nearby Jackson Park Ministries, which helps inner-city families deal with extreme financial hardship and broken family relationships by providing housing and services to help them recover and stay together. The ministry also offers classes on money management, as well as marriage and parenting skills.
What’s happening at Calvary Church is a practical outworking of missional living. Calvary is focusing on something other than its members, its services and its programs, and by doing so, it’s joining God on His mission in the world. Like Calvary, other megachurches are also deciding that what they are receiving from God—an abundance of people, resources and callings—is going to be the determining factor that drives their ministry purpose, commitment and giving. They’re turning their focus from “every member a minister” to “every member on mission,” and effecting change in the lives of their members and communities.
Megas are also partnering with organizations and indi-viduals in their community to harness various talents and abilities for Kingdom work. For example, 10,000-member First A.M.E. Church of Los Angeles (famechurch.org) conducts a free legal clinic two Sundays a month to assist people who cannot afford an attorney with landlord/tenant disputes, credit issues, real estate and more. The church clinic networks with the UCLA School of Law and its students to provide totally free assistance with no income requirements.
While silencing megachurch critics may be next to impossible, it’s hard to argue with the demonstrated power of community transformation. The scope of these endeavors is proof of the existence—and the rise—of others-centered megachurches across the country. Who, after all, is better at pulling together diverse people, resources and organizations and getting the whole community to take advantage of beneficial opportunities? It seems the megachurch is a pretty good candidate.
2. Global Ministry
For too many churches, going missional amounts to little more than having a pastor with a goatee and playing indie rock during a service. But true missional engagement isn’t about being trendy; it involves joining God in His mission both locally and globally. Going forward, more and more megachurches are taking Jesus’ words from Acts 1:8 to heart—that we are to witness of His glory in both local (our Jerusalem) and global (uttermost parts of the earth) settings—and utilizing their strength and influence toward that end.
Take Rick Warren, for example. Being the pastor of a church that defined the boomer megachurch phenomenon (think Hawaiian shirts, shoes without socks and a baptism pool right off the glass sanctuary) was not enough. Warren knew he was called to a global mission, so building upon the success of his book Purpose Driven Life, Saddleback Church initiated his P.E.A.C.E. plan (thepeaceplan.com) in 2005.
Citing what he labeled as the five Global Goliaths—spiritual emptiness, egocentric leadership, extreme poverty, pandemic diseases, and illiteracy and lack of education—Warren singled out the worldwide network of Christian churches as the only organization with the resources to solve these problems. After spreading awareness, Saddleback began providing leadership and training opportunities for churches around the world that wanted to get involved in the P.E.A.C.E. plan, through seminar-type briefings and an extensive online system of tools and resources.
That’s what can happen when a mega-church focuses on not only increasing its own size and numbers, but on investing its God-given resources for the purpose of extending His Kingdom around the world. I believe this kind of global leadership initiative will largely characterize the megachurch of the future.
But significant global awareness and influence is also happening at the local level. As the U.S. population becomes increasingly diversified, I see many megachurches claiming their role as Gospel ambassadors and cultural anthropologists.
In Pensacola, Fla., the 10,000-member Olive Baptist Church (olivebaptist.org) is focused on reaching diverse ethnicities within its community. As Pastor Ted Traylor encourages the church to be missional, he models that concept with a multicultural staff of Hispanic, Russian and Chinese pastors. The church identified key people groups to intentionally reach; then they hired staff who spoke each language and understood each culture to show the church’s commitment to taking the Gospel to all ethnicities. Whether through beginning a global initiative or diversifying ethnic presence within the congregation, megachurches are on the forefront of pushing churches to heed Christ’s call to go therefore into the world and make disciples of all nations.
3. Apostolic Networking
More and more megachurches understand that they are not called to be kings of the mountain. Rather, the Lord has blessed them so that they can bless their communities and incrementally reproduce their talents through other churches. Many megas are doing this by networking outside their church—a methodology called “apostolic networking”—or acting as a key leader of a network that partners in new missional endeavors.
This kind of megachurch collaboration is an increasingly prevalent theme that will carry into the future. Convening best practices and a wealth of diverse experience around a common table produces rich and strategic alignments, in turn providing new leadership and new means of collaboration.
As I’ve studied this changing paradigm, I’ve noticed many megachurches partnering with other smaller churches by freely sharing their vast supply of resources and experience—developing training venues, church-planting networks, outwardly focused seminars and conferences, and online training for other churches. They’re making their staffs and resources available to other leaders and churches all over the world. I predict these strategic partnerships will only increase, replacing the competitive mindsets of the past.
Community Christian Church (communitychristian.org) in Naperville, Ill., is a prime example of leveraging influence not for its own means or renown, but to extend the Kingdom of God. As an outflow of the 5,000-member church’s exponential growth and the increasing number of pastors nationwide who wanted to learn from its success, the Naperville-based NewThing network (newthing.org) emerged to coach other pastors in church planting and multi-site strategies. Founding pastors Dave and Jon Ferguson lead their venture with this mission: “To be a catalyst for a movement of reproducing churches relentlessly dedicated to helping people find their way back to God.”
Still other megachurches like Kensington Community Church in Troy, Mich. (kensingtonchurch.org), are aligning with organizations like Vision360 (vision360.org), a multi-denominational ministry that functions like a network of apostolic networks committed to reproducing churches. Led by former church planter Steve Johnson and Al Weiss, president of worldwide operations for Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, Vision360 aims to impact at least 50 cities throughout the United States, resulting in 1,000 new churches. Its international goal is to start as many as 500 churches in the largest cities across the globe.
That’s a lot of cities and a lot of people, but another growing megachurch trend has the capability to impact millions of people: virtual social networking. Multi-site LifeChurch.tv in Edmond, Okla. (lifechurch.tv), may be paving the way—it is intentionally engaging people in church through its Internet campus, which can either mean people watching the sermons online or experiencing the full virtual effect in the 3D digital world SecondLife (secondlife.com). On the weekend of Aug. 13, 2007, LifeChurch.tv’s Web site had more than 800 IPs (or Web site addresses) logged in for its online church service. In fact, one IP represented a group of 17 people in Germany who viewed the experience together and are living out the LifeChurch.tv community in another country. Skip ahead 10 years, and this kind of virtual worship won’t be unusual for the megachurch—it’ll be the norm.
4. Holistic Disciple-Making
Perhaps the greatest obstacle to mega-churches being missional is the ease with which individuals can simply blend into the large crowds, remaining faithful as attendees but disengaged from other members and uninvolved in service and outreach. However, many mega-churches are reversing this trend by reorienting their members to the centrality of Jesus’ message: discipling people toward living their lives in outward ways, like missionaries.
For megachurches, a praxis style of discipleship is catching on, whereby seasoned workers are taking others hand in hand to the real places of ministry, quite often beyond the church campus itself. At 4,300-member Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas (mdpc.org), this missional training starts at the beginning for newcomers. The New Members Class is a six-session process, spread out over six weeks, that deeply embeds a missional outreach experience in its participants, driving home the value of being an outward-focused church and building relationships with other members.
As Diann Turet, the New Members director, explains, “We try to get our new members to understand that these ministries happen because everyone is involved. We take a Saturday and spend five to six hours on a project. When they experience the joy of reaching out to the food pantries we serve, or the junior high school where we’ve done makeovers for the library, painted the teachers’ lounge and weeded the flowerbeds, they get it. It makes all the difference.”
Also teaching church members to live their lives from a missionary stance is 16,000-member Phoenix First Assembly in Arizona (phoenixfirst.org), which sends enthusiastic, well-organized teams to conduct more than a dozen outreaches, transform neighborhoods and break the cycle of poverty and violence. Through one ministry called Sponsor-a-Bus, Phoenix First Assembly picks up people for church—and nine bus routes operate throughout the week to serve the disabled, elderly and nursing home residents often forgotten by society. Its independent fleet of 34 buses is recognized nationwide for serving the Phoenix metro area.
From my observations, megachurches training members to live with a 24/7 missional focus are coming out at the forefront of the holistic Gospel that Jesus taught. We’ll continue to see them excel in plugging their members into niches where they can develop lasting relationships and change the world.
5. Church Multiplication
The title “fastest-shrinking megachurch” may go to New Hope Christian Fellowship O’ahu in Honolulu, Hawaii (enewhope.org), led by Wayne Cordeiro. Attendance is dropping like a rock. But Cordeiro seems pretty happy about it. On the surface, going from 12,000 weekend attendees to 9,200 may seem like decline. But by planting 83 new churches, New Hope continues to reseed itself by multiplying churches rather than adding to its own numbers. Cordeiro plans to plant New Hope’s 100th church by 2010.
In recent years, church planting has gained tremendous traction. And many megachurches are now embracing a missional vision for church multiplication. Notice I did not say church planting—these churches are not interested in
simply planting one church at a time, but are leveraging their resources to multiply or plant several churches on an annual basis.
A prime example of a megachurch that engages in church multiplication is New York-based Redeemer Presbyterian (redeemer.com) led by Tim Keller. With an average weekly attendance of 4,800, it has participated in more than 100 church plants and sets aside $2 million annually for the Redeemer Church Planting Center. Redeemer is a model of local church leaders assuming significant responsibility for planting churches, not leaving the burden to their denominations.
By making church planting a priority, megachurches are discovering that growth is experienced on both sides—not only do daughter churches see new growth, but involved mother churches are also seeing their members strengthened to reach more unchurched members of their community.
A Bright Future
While this article doesn’t prove that all megachurches are on the right track, it certainly points out that not all of them are egomaniacs. Many are stepping into these five key missional realms and using their vast resources to touch lives in practical ways and share the Gospel.
Remember that smaller, niche churches don’t have a monopoly on missional. People are drawn by the authentic Gospel lived out through both large and small bodies. You don’t have to wear Birkenstocks to be about God’s mission—you can even do it from a very large church.
As we survey the future of mega-churches, we should have a sense of hope and excitement. The churches of tomorrow are truly making a difference in building God’s Kingdom and living as the body of Christ in their communities. And their communities, the body of Christ, the world and the Gospel, all are better off because of their efforts.
Ed Stetzer is director of LifeWay Research. Read and participate in discussions of this article and other megachurch issues at edstetzer.com.
Making Moves Toward Missional
Not a megachurch? You can still take your church into the five missional realms of the future.
Community Transformation
Take steps toward community transformation by assessing the needs of your city and matching them with special skills of your members. Do your people have expertise in social issues or do they care about the environment? Do they love investing in children’s lives or helping local law enforcement? Find and research civic organizations that serve in those areas. Contact them and get involved in what they’re doing, such as mentoring programs, family shelters and after-school tutoring. By creating lasting relationships, you can double your resources and reach.
Global Ministry
Partner with nongovernmental organizations that have pre-existing networks abroad, such as World Vision (worldvision.org), Compassion International (compassion.org), Samaritan’s Purse (samaritanspurse.org) or Blood Water Mission (bloodwatermission.com). Either conduct an event in your community such as a concert or a silent auction to raise money to send to your organization directly, or find a cause that resonates with your congregation, such as caring for AIDS orphans in Rwanda or the prevention of sex-trafficking in Thailand, and organize ongoing outreach initiatives.
Apostolic Networking
Find a purpose for neighboring churches to rally around, whether it be praying for your city, planting new churches or educating at-risk youth. Contact your denomination for a list of churches in your region. If you’re non-denominational, research church listings by city or state, and invite them via letter or e-mail to make a one-year commitment to join you in your efforts. Meet monthly to pray, strategize, share ideas and build relationships for church unity and community betterment.
Church Multiplication
Create a church multiplication strategy to promote Kingdom—not just your individual church’s—growth. Consider planting a daughter church in a nearby city with the support of your congregants. If church planting is not in your immediate future, support other churches’ efforts by encouraging members to attend other ministries’ activities. Avoid hoarding new members and encourage visitors to check out churches that best suit their personal needs and interests. By supporting and encouraging other churches’ growth, you are building the Kingdom.
Disciple-Making
Go to the next level with holistic disciple-making. Create apprenticeship groups that partner experienced church leaders with younger believers. Ensure that apprentices learn how church leaders do ministry by having them shadow the church leaders as they serve in their personal ministries in the community. With this kind of hands-on experience, younger believers can learn the importance of holistic Christian living that integrates service with faith.
-Excerpted from Outreach magazine, "Features," 2007 Outreach 100
©2007 Outreach Publishing. All rights Reserved. Usage and reprint permissions.
