It’s Not the Museum of Modern Art – It’s a Church May 28, 2010
Posted by Sharon Ely Pearson in Christianity, Faith & Culture, On the Road Again, The Church, Trends.Tags: Christian education, Christianity, Church, formation
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- The Midwest MOMA?
In many of my travels and conversations with Christian educators, the topic of the “big box church” competing for their children and youth’s attention usually comes up. How can the “average” church engage families when there is something more exciting in town? And they’re not talking about Sunday morning soccer or tee-ball. How can a congregation “compete” with a church that can pull out all the stops for the Gospel mixed with entertainment?
North Beach
Tour the campus. At North Beach, students cross over the bridge between 2 orange palm trees through the glass entry where they check in and hang out and visit while announcements are shared over huge flat-screen TVs overhead. Or they can gather in the Kowabunga Kafe for a snack, the Mezzanine that is lined with arcade games, pool tables and air hockey. The Hang Ten Room is another sitting area, or the Fire Pit and Pods are open for community building. These pre-staging areas all lead to the Main Area, where the Stage is located and the service takes place. (Northview Church)
About a month ago I was in the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis to lead some workshops for Christian educators. The participants didn’t bring up this subject – I did. And later that day, my host, Debra Kissinger drove me around the neighborhood of St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church (a brand-new complex of immense size itself) in Carmel, Indiana to see what was popping up in town. It wasn’t Home Depot, Walmart, or IKEA. It was the megachurch – and I’d never seen so many in such a short 3-mile radius. My jaw continually dropped as we rounded each corner. How does a community sustain this many huge churches?
Joel Osteen draws the largest weekly church crowd in America – 30,000, at three services. Rick Warren counsels pastors and political leaders in many countries (and has the bestselling nonfiction book in US history). Bill Hybels’s Willow Creek Association mentors more than 11,000 churches. These high-profile pastors are helping shape a religious phenomenon that is growing in a neighborhood near you – the megachurch. Defined as a non-Catholic congregation with at least 2,000 attendees, on a typical weekend, the largest megachurch hosts roughly 30,000 people, with a 300-member choir and a 10-piece band.
We're not at the Mall
As we drove from site to site (with the theme song of Mission Impossible thumping through my brain) we stealthily wove our way in and out of parking lots as members began the steady stream into the amphitheater-style buildings for Saturday evening worship at 5:00pm. Debra drove as I hopped out to take a quick snapshot. The parking lots were filling, just as they do in my hometown on a Saturday night at the megaplex. I was incredulous. What’s the big draw? Anonymity? Good coffee? A live band? A charismatic leader? Comfy seats? Easy answers? Gospel-Lite? The assurance of going to heaven?
Megachurch memberships generally explode within a two- to five-year period, becoming overnight successes. This can serve as a powerful attraction to one who is contemplating which local church to attend. As one member commented, “You hit a certain size and you can become self-generating. You attract people by your sheer size. People know that you are on TV and that this is that big place…There is a sense of something going on here…and size itself begats [sic] more growth” (Hartford Institute for Religion Research).
Door to Door Service
Upon entering this particular church, you would see why it is so attractive to the average person. In the foyer, you are immediately greeted by five 50-inch plasma-screen televisions, a bookstore and a café with a Starbucks trained staff. Those who enjoy Krispy Kreme doughnuts will be happy to know that these are served at every service. For the children, there are numerous Xboxes available to hold their attention (ten for fifth- and sixth-graders alone). And don’t want to walk across the football-size parking lot to the main entrance? No problem – there’s a little shuttle bus to bring you door-to-door.
The website is a portal into the pulse of the church. Podcasts of sermons. A special section for newcomers with service times, information, directions, FAQs and how to plan your visit. The latest message, “Healthy Family – Contemplative Family,” click here. VBS programs at Grace Kids Camp, click here. “Serving Central” offers a volunteer database to find a ministry to serve using your gifts and talents, click here. And it’s never too early to sign-up for our next baptism service, click here (Grace Community Church)
It's not IKEA
What do these churches have that many of our “traditional” churches lack? Besides all of the above for the most part, they cater to those who are seeking answers and are looking for community. And they make it easy. They ask for a commitment, including one’s stewardship of time, talent and treasure. And I believe they tap into the culture we live in today of wanting customized service, ease of access, the latest technology. Being a person who loves her liturgical tradition and the open-mindedness of not leaving one’s mind at the door, I wonder what us “mainliners” can learn from the Big Box Church.
Your thoughts?
Virtually all these megachurches have a conservative theology, even those within mainline denominations. A large number are nondenominational but the majority are affiliated with a denomination. The groups in the table below account for 80% of all megachurches:
A lush campus with fountains
Nondenominational 34%
Southern Baptist 16% Baptist, unspecified 10% Assemblies of God 6% United Methodist 5% Calvary Chapel 4.4% Christian 4.2% In terms of theology of the congregation, the label that 403 megachurches, surveyed in 2005, selected to best fit their membership’s orientation were as follows: Evangelical 56% Charismatic 8% Pentecostal 8% Moderate 7% Traditional 5% Seeker 7% Fundamentalist 2% Other 7%* Statistics are from The Hartford Institute for Religion Research, 2005. Hartford Seminary
Update: An article posted on USA Todays’ Faith & Reason blog page adds to the conversation. When it comes to worship, does size count?
The Earth’s Re-Creation April 27, 2010
Posted by Sharon Ely Pearson in Earth Day, Faith & Culture, Spirituality.1 comment so far
Pele
While the volcano in Iceland was creating havoc for travelers and the airlines in Europe and beyond, I gained a new understanding of how the earth is continually being renewed and ‘growing’ through this same type of chaos and destruction.
Thanks to Keane Akao, our host for Disciples’ Journey 2010 in the Diocese of Hawai’i, I joined several Christian formation colleagues in observing a native practitioner offer prayers and gifts to Pele at the edge of the Kilauea crater on O’ahu. We stood in silence as he draped himself with a red cloth and white cloth and began to chant. His movements and expressions sang to Pele, giving thanks and asking for discernment for those of us gathered. Kneeling, standing and reaching out to her, his hands and arms as well as voice told a story, even though the dialect was foreign to us. After tossing offerings, including poi in ti-leaves, he began to drum and chant. Softly and to a crescendo, many of us observed a bird flying in the crater. Others noticed the color of the volcano’s plume grow grayer and dark while expanding. Lastly, he crept, kneeling to the edge of the crater, leaning over the precipice to offer one last prayer. He slowly backed up on his knees, to join us as we walked away, having given our prayers to the goddess.
We had a chance to ask questions and learn more after we had a time for reflection. It was a sacred moment and one of those ‘thin places’ that one often describes when the holy is near. Some might say we participated in a pagan ceremony as observers. But it was one of majesty, understanding that there is something beyond us that is continually part of creation – not man made. We concluded by singing the doxology – 5 of us in English, and Keane and our guide in Hawaiian.
Later that day, we journeyed to the ocean, to see where the anger of Pele flows into the sea. Although it was
Kilauea Crater
daytime and we couldn’t see the fire and flows, the black lava flows were warm to the touch and the crevasses were glowing orange. It was desolate and beautiful at the same time. Little wisps of fern were poking through the hard rock. The island is growing each day. With each lava flow and eruption, more land is made. The earth is being re-created continually.
Whatever culture we call our own, we are small in comparison to the forces of nature, the beauty of the earth, and the Spirit that broods over the waters and land of this island Earth, that we call home.
New Life
Lava Flow frozen in time
Paying “Caesar” aka Tax Time April 13, 2010
Posted by Sharon Ely Pearson in Books Worth Reading, Faith & Culture, Prose & Poetry.Tags: Jesus, taxes
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April 15th at my house is a bit deal. Having been married to a CPA for almost 33 years, there is always a sigh of relief when this day is over. With computers and e-mail, the phone doesn’t ring as constant as it used to in the days leading up to the deadline and John doesn’t make those 11:00pm trips to the Post Office to drop off the returns of those wait-until-the-last-minute clients.
During Lent I read Marcus Borg’s The Last Week (HarperOne, 2006), in which he (and John Dominic Crossan) walk us through Holy Week according to Mark’s gospel. On Tuesday we hear the Pharisees and Herodians try to entrap Jesus with questions about paying taxes to Caesar. They give an interesting exegesis of this passage in addition to the usual: Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s. Give to God the things that are God’s. They question to ponder then is, “What belongs to Caesar, and what belongs to God?” For Jesus and many of his Jewish contemporaries, everything belongs to God. Leviticus 25:23 says that the land belongs to God and all are the tenant farmers or resident aliens on land that belongs to God. To use Tuesday of Holy Week’s language, the vineyard belongs to God, not to the local collaborators, not to Rome. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” (Psalm 24:1)
Jesus is again posed a tricky question. He gives us the two-fold great commandment – to love God and to love our neighbors. How are the two connected – and what does this have to do with April 15, 2010? We are to give to God what belongs to God: our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength. To love one another means to refuse to accept the divisions rendered by the status quo around us, whether it is Caesar or the US government. We are to bridge divisions between rich and poor, respected and marginalized, righteous and sinners, friends and enemies. Hopefully paying our taxes today help provide services to those who need them.
Simplistic, yes. But I think Walter Brueggemann states it much better in his prayer from Prayers for a Privileged People (Abingdon, 2008):
Income Tax Day
On this day of internal revenue some of us are paid up, some of us owe, some of us await a refund, some of us have no income to tax. But all of us are taxed, by war, by violence, by anxiety, by deathliness. And Caesar never gives any deep tax relief. We render to Caesar . . . to some it feels like a grab, to some it is clearly a war tax, to some – some few – it is a way to contribute to the common good. In any case we are haunted by what we render to Caesar, by what we might render to you, by the way we invest our wealth and our lives, when what you ask is an “easy yoke”: to do justice to love mercy to walk humbly with you. Give us courage for your easy burden, so to live untaxed lives.
Would Jesus be on Facebook? March 31, 2010
Posted by Sharon Ely Pearson in Faith & Culture, Jesus.Tags: Facebook, Jesus, social media
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Being connected through various forms of social media is becoming an important networking tool for the 21st century. Whether you Twitter, are LinkedIN or on Facebook (plus the myriad of others social networking sites that I’m continually discovering) have you ever thought of how Jesus would communicate in today’s world?
A friend posted this link on her Facebook status and it intrigued me enough to take a look. And at first I thought it was pretty lame. But upon further reading to the end of the page, I realized this was a pretty cool way to share the Good News and follow how Jesus and his “Facebook friends” might have stayed connected through Holy Week and after the Resurrection.
How many “friends” would he have? 777,777,777,777?
Would you accept an invitation to a Pentecost Party? What would you bring? Who else would you invite to join you?
The High Priests gave Judas a gift of 30 pieces of silver? Would you want to give a gift to any of the disciples?
Give it a look. Even though it may be tongue-in-cheek, this site might make an interesting ‘culture source’ for theological reflection or group study. What question might you post to Jesus on his page if he were to be YOUR friend on Facebook?
Sharon Ely Pearson
