Size Sizes CHURCH churches THOUGHTS

QUERY:

Are Megachurches unscriptural?

It would seem to me that these mega churches, with their multi-million dollar campus-like grounds and all the enormous expenses that go along with the operation of these facilities, are diametrically opposed to how the early church used to meet in small groups in the homes of believers. 

Jesus was a simple carpenter and I believe He would be appalled at all of these lavish sanctuaries with all their unscriptural ministries like praise and worship rock bands, etc ....

ANSWERS

It's not the size, 

it's what you do with it.

ANSWERS

But for real though, it's not that it is a MEGA Church, it's what often characterizes these Megachurches. 

The Hagia Sophia was a Mega-Church. The existential ground-covering of Pentecost was a Mega-Church.

ANSWERS

There is no instruction in scripture concerning the size of a church, but I would definitely be skeptical that the members of a church that size could fulfill all the commands given for how members of a church should interact.

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MORE THOUGHTS 

BORROWED

In Acts 2:46, Jerusalem’s Jesus movement, by this point numbering in the thousands (2:41), met together. 

Here the apostles could pass on their teaching to large numbers of people at once (2:42). 

This arrangement was not possible for churches in other Mediterranean cities in which churches were later planted.

Temple grounds were public spaces that could accommodate crowds listening to sages, but the other temple grounds in the Roman empire were for pagan deities. Only Jerusalem’s temple was a suitable mass-meeting place for Christians. 

The next largest locations would often be villas, but these were often quite a long walk from where many other Christians lived.

Megachurch, however, is not the normal state of the church through history. One might compare dog breeding. Breeding has produced many kinds of dogs. If those dogs were on their own in the wild, however, their cross-breeding could eventually produce more generic dogs, much like their pre-bred forebears (albeit perhaps with some improvements from the stronger and more survivable varieties). When persecution comes, homes (or even caves or forests) become more natural and often safer meeting places. When transportation becomes difficult (as in the case of fuel shortages), neighborhood churches become much more serviceable.

That we see something of both models in Acts suggests that what matters is not a prefabricated format but what works for the kingdom. Still, Acts itself shows us that even in Jerusalem, where the church could meet in the public temple, the church also met in homes (Acts 2:46). They broke bread together (2:42), something more suitable in a household setting; probably the twelve apostles also made rounds in many of these homes.

That all the churches in the New Testament ultimately met in homes, wherever else they may have gathered when that was also possible, is important because it reminds us about the church’s DNA. 

We are family, and therefore a family setting is helpful. Still more important, we are one body with interdependent gifts (Rom 12:4-8; 1 Cor 12:4-26), and we need a setting sufficiently intimate for us to contribute our gifts to one another. By itself, watching a sermon or even a worship team is not church (even though we do need people to preach and lead worship). We function as church when we are in relationship with one another. If we designed our architecture to that end, we would be facing one another rather than facing a stage.

Greek text speaks of tens of thousands). But God knew the future. Jerusalem would soon lay in shambles, and the future lay more with the dispersed churches positioned to reach their localities around the empire.

If many have the current blessing of large churches today, we need to think wisely in terms of the long-range future. What matters most in the long run is not the number of people who attend, but how many people we genuinely reach for Christ, and how deeply we present them mature in Christ (Col 1:28). What matters is not how much seed is sown, but where that seed will flourish and in turn produce more seed (Mark 4:15-20). It is not even how many people pray an initial prayer acknowledging Christ; only those who persevere will be the laborers’ reward (cf. 1 Cor 3:14-15; 2 John 8).

Whatever the ministries God has assigned us, let us responsibly care for the sheep, and equip God’s people to minister to one another (Eph 4:11-13).