BIG AIN'T BETTA - A few Church Growth observations!

Many of us in the sheep business (ministry leadership) have noticed a trend that's similar to what killed off small dairies and farmers decades ago ... big-guy competition. The little-guys were iced by the big-guys because the little-guys lost their advantage in the marketplace. Aside from "a family feel," they had nothing to offer their clientele.

I look around the landscape and see our mega-churches and marvel at their success and ability to serve really large groups of people. I even have moments of degrading covetousness and depraved lust. Then I wondered if God isn't setting us up for a fall; everytime Israel got all puffed up and forgot who was really in charge, God brought a neighbor over and walked all over their ego.

I see three specific things wrong with the mega-church movement today ... siphoning, scanning, and sinning.

Siphoning - This is where the big-guy siphons off talent from the little-guy, leaving the latter depleted of servant sheep for the work of the ministry.

For the sake of discussion lets say there are over 250,000 churches in North America, less than 5% are considered mega-churches ... that's 237,500 little-guys versus 12,500 big-guys. Of the smaller churches less than 10% are considered medium sized, which leaves over 200,000 churches that are less than 100 in size. Of these close to two-thirds have fewer than 50 active members (or approx. 150,000).

Now, on any given Sunday, close to 90% of these churches will depend on fewer than four people to bring the meeting, the music, and the message ... morning and evening. And that will be the same four people week after week, year after year.

On the same Sunday, in the mega-churches, there will be multiple instrumentalists, multiple vocalists, and multiple gruntists sitting in the pews down front, completely uninvolved in bringing the meeting, the music, or the message ... every Sunday, all year, year after year.

Prior to our involvement in WWII we went to the aid of England with what was called a "lend-lease" program. The idea was to lease material and equipment to Brittania without requiring cash ... payment would be made later. In other words, the goods were leased and loaned; they were to pay later, if they survived the conflict.

Mega-churches could learn something from our decision to aid England and keep her from the jaws of defeat, the big-guys could lend-lease the little-guys their excess talent, payment to be made at an undetermined later date, if they survive. Keeping in mind, all family debts will be forgiven at the Great Jubilee .

Scanning - This involves the science of spiritual imaging. Here the image of an object is projected onto an artificial background, line by line ... the projected image is not the real thing, it's an apparition. I've this gut feeling that much of what passes as church today is nothing more than a spiritual image projected on an artificial background ... it has no physical reality.

If you look at the numbers you'll discover North American church growth in the past century has not kept pace with general population growth; yet the big-boys continue to grow. What's up? It seems that we've been moving sheep from one pasture to another (primarily from the little-guy's pasture to the big-guy's pasture), rather than increasing the absolute size of the Church.

In a recent interview with Agape Press, John MacArthur observed:

The church has been ... commandeered by entrepreneurs. The "successful" churches -- the big churches, the mega-churches, the churches that are in the public view -- ... are great illustrations of entrepreneurship at its best in a marketing scheme. So the success in the church today that's being hailed as success is an imported corporate model.

Sinning - Lexicographers tell us "sin" in the original biblical languages conveys the idea of "missing a mark," like an archer missing a bullseye. Jesus said, "to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me" [Matthew 25:45]. The mark is hit when it is done; the mark is missed when it is not done ... and this is sin.

Let me remind you that the "least" of these in the Old Testament were orphans, widows, and strangers; and let me also remind you that Jesus spent most of His time with the least of these.

Have you been to one of our mega-churches or seen one of the big-guys on TV? Do they convey a true image of the Lord's Church? Do the hundreds and thousands of those assembled there look like the "least" of these? Not to me; they look more like the "best" of these ... sort of a ghetto for fairly well-off Christians!

I don't know, maybe as a little-guy I'm just jealous!