A megachurch is defined as a church with 2000+ people in attendance. Apparently it is the latest buzz going around, especially with megachurch preacher Joel Osteen. Apparently he preaches to an average of 42,000 people at the Lakewood Church in Houston. There was a "60 Minutes" story on him and his ministry on Sunday night. Then, on Tuesday morning the "ABC Morning Show" did a segment with his wife. Then this morning the "ABC Morning Show" did a segment about Joel Osteen.
Now, I've seen him on TV for the last few years preaching in that stadium in Texas on ABC Family channel or something like that. I've noticed his best-selling books on the book shelves. But, I have to be honest, I'm getting a little weary of this guy. Again, I don't know him at all and I've never watched one of his sermons for more than 15 minutes. But, guys like Rick Warren and anyone else leading a megachurch make me nervous. Especially when they have books they are promoting that seem more like self-help Dr. Phil books. I'm I alone on this issue? I don't want to look too much into the Sunday night CBS/60 Minutes interview, but they didn't paint a great picture of the guy's preaching style.
Thoughts?
2 comments:
I was going to watch that interview but forgot to flip back. What I gather is that he's basically a self-help guru parading as a preacher. "Become a Better You"? That doesn't strike me as likely to be a very spiritual book.
I've been in a small megachurch and have to say it has a lot of advantages, but I think they have a tendency to lean towards watering down real content to appeal to more people. That gets people in the door, but real growth? I doubt it.
I wish I could put a number on how many people usually came to the services I went to at Knox Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor. I went there for about 2 years while in college. Most of the time they had two morning services and occasionally just one combined service. Either way, there was a ton of people. I'd have to call it a small megachurch as well. What I liked is how incredibly smart the teaching was. Your everyday 40-hour per week person wasn't teaching Sunday school. One class I went to the teacher was a Doctor at U of M. There wasn't just one Sunday school class either. Every semester it was a tough choice to pick which class you wanted to get into.
One thing that stood out to me is you'd never shake the same persons hand twice during the 2 minute "stand up and shake someone's hand next to you" from week to week. There was just too many people. It was too overwhelming to think you'd actually get to know someone.
But I liked the advantages and small group opportunities and glad I attended.
Post a Comment