In Defense of the Megachurch
posted by Christine Hurt
I’ve noticed lately that there are some who use “megachurch” as a derogatory term. I noticed this when I blogged that Ken Lay will be calling as character witnesses two pastors of Houston megachurches. I also noticed that Bernard-Henri Levy, who fancies himself the next Tocqueville, used the term quite condescendingly when talking about how he researched his book on American culture. Coretta Scott King’s memorial service was held at a megachurch in suburban Atlanta, much to the annoyance of some onlookers. Why do some people distrust megachurches? I don’t. I believe that megachurches serve a very important purpose in modern life, and what follows is a defense of the trend from someone quite outside mainstream Protestantism.
I grew up in the RLDS church (now Community of Christ), which meant that I went to church and grew up with about 50 other people. I knew who my people were. I went to camp with them, played Pictionary with them, and I went to college with them. We could spot each other in any town, anywhere. (I believe this phenomenon is much more widespread with members of the LDS church, but existed also within the RLDS church.) Then, I married a Protestant and we started our 10-year tour of non-RLDS churches. Away from family and church tribe in a big city, I sort of felt untethered. I had no people. Then we started attending one of the smaller megachurches in Houston, and I realized that there was a way to recreate your village, your tribe, in a megachurch.
In a megachurch, you don’t just go to services and then go home. But, everyone has a very busy life and schedule, so the urge to commute in and out is practical. But what if your busy life took place at the church campus? Maybe your kids go to school there (some churches have preschools through high school). So, you drop off your kids and you’re at the church. Maybe your church has a great work-out facility. And a basketball league. And a book group, coffee shop, prayer group, Bible study, 12-step program, yoga class, etc. If you didn’t have a job, you could stay all day. You can do double duty: drop kids off at swimming lessons and go to book group. If you are a stay-at-home mom, you may find that you’d like a part-time job at the preschool, parenting center, health club, or bookstore. Pretty soon, you have created a village within your 4-million resident city.
We had just started to get involved in our church in Houston when we moved to Milwaukee. Milwaukee is a little light on the megachurch trend, being heavily Catholic and Lutheran. However, we have recreated this village in an unlikely place (for us), but in a place intended for that purpose: Jewish Community Centers. JCCs around the country have been doing the same things as megachurches for a really long time. Here, under one roof, let’s put all the activities of life so that people can come and stay and be with their village. Our youngest goes to preschool at the JCC, I work out there, the kids swim there and take art classes, I go to Mom’s Night Out, and the list is endless. After some remodeling is done, there will be a Starbuck’s and a manicurist. If we weren’t moving, I might quit my job and just hang out at the JCC all day. That’s the point.
Colleges have been trying to create a “home away from home” since their creation. In today’s mobile society, adults and their families are in the same position as college freshmen. They want to find a place to hang out and be with people who accept them for who they are and who understand them. Medium-sized, stand-alone churches are constantly striving to “create community” in a world where everyone is busy and disconnected from others in the pew. I think the megachurches (and JCCs before them) are on to something.
February 7, 2006 at 7:20 pm
Posted in: Religion
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Responses (5)
Dan - February 7, 2006 at 2:03 pm
Christine, it’s funny, b/c as I was reading your post, and before you got to the point about the JCC’s, I was thinking, hey, this is just like a JCC. FWIW, some gyms are trying to be similar: my old gym in DC (the sportsclub LA) had a cafe/bar with great food/drinks, a dry cleaner, a spa, hair salon, and clothing store. You could literally enjoy all Sunday there without being encouraged to pray… I wonder too if JCC’s flourished in part b/c Jews weren’t initially allowed into country clubs or YMCA’s–or now, megachurches. It would be sad if the attempt to recreate “Village” life in a big city were contingent upon identity affiliations. But maybe that’s what provides the traction for these villages to evolve.
David Schraub - February 8, 2006 at 1:02 pm
Well, trackback is failing me, so…
Megasynagogues and Megachurches, trackbacked from The Debate Link.
Antiquated Tory - February 9, 2006 at 5:28 pm
I think the image problem is that they’re perceived by other communities as ‘scary Christianity lite.’ I can see their social value that you describe, and your post has opened my mind on the subject. On the other hand, I would still be worried that my kids at the preschool would be taught about ‘eeevilution’ and ‘the evils of secular humanism.’ Maybe the UUs should start one of these. (Well, I’d end up at a JCC anyway, over in the book club/coffee shop with the rest of the apostates.)
UU - February 10, 2006 at 1:55 pm
Antiquated -
The UUs are doing just that.
Menachem Mendel - February 12, 2006 at 6:05 pm
I have always been very interested in mega-churches. I have on file somewhere a very interesting article about them from The Atlantic Monthly which was published about 10 years ago. While the synagogue which we are active in is not too large, 450 families, and we enjoy the rather small number of members, I understand why some people like the variety of services that a larger house of worship offers (such as the gym at another local synagogue which my kids use on occasion). I would add that JCC’s come in all shapes and sizes. Two interesting things of note are a very successful urban JCC such as the JCC on the Upper West Side of NYC which is an incredible institution, and also the new initiative called “Synaplex” which has a number of pilot-programs in numerous synagogues which are attempting to offer as many varieties of Jewish experience as possible. The big question is where should people get these varied Jewish experiences: the synagogue, JCC, the local Barnes and Noble, Starbucks, etc.
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