Posted May 30, 2008 to GDN Headlines | Section Home | Print

Megachurch Vs. Commercial Church

The rapidly emerging, exceptionally well-financed, and theologically questionable megachurches in our country have been debated and examined recently by journalists, lawmakers and theologians alike.

Newsweek Magazine and numerous scholarly journals have taken a closer look and addressed questions that have surrounded these religious institutions. Megachurches are aptly named for their size because they feature more than 2,000 parishioners in weekly attendance. While congregations proudly point to these large numbers as evidence of success and theological fidelity, others have challenged their theology by questioning their wealth and opulent spending.

Regardless of the perspective, megachurches have become highly contested religious institutions.

The critique of megachurches is important as they are widely accessible on television, the Internet and increasingly at multiple physical locations. Mega churches are rarely limited to their church facility. Oftentimes, they include a television or radio network, publishing house and massive corporate structure. As megachurches emerged and established themselves, we began to discuss them almost exclusively in reference to their size. Their critics assumed that these newfound places of worship had to have questionable practices to attract throngs of worshippers

We cannot objectively examine emerging religious bodies if we limit our dissection and discussion of them to how many parishioners they have on a weekly basis. Size is a factor, but it is not necessarily the defining one. Furthermore, we also cannot assume that large religious bodies are automatically faulty and smaller religious institutions are not prey to the same challenges. A smaller church does not necessarily mean it functions more appropriately.

Caution is warranted, though, because there are numerous well-functioning large churches. For example, Catholic churches are excluded from being defined as a mega church even though Catholic parishes often have more than 3,000 members. If size alone was the problem, then the issues that plaque megachurches would also be prevalent in Catholic churches. Yet the particular challenges of megachurches are not seen in similarly sized Catholic churches.

There are also several large Protestant churches that continue to engage in rich, wise religious praxis. Abyssinia Baptist Church, the quintessential black church in Harlem, N.Y., boasts significant membership and has been, and remains an instrument of peace and justice in the community. Several other large religious bodies exist that are not guilty of questionable theology as well.

These successful denominations suggest that size alone is not sufficient to decry a particular religious institution.

Doubters need to dig deeper and seek a better understanding of the church before being skeptical about its mission or religious congregation. People can find out how the church defines itself or how it is organized to function by examining its ecclesiology. To assess ecclesiology, we want to understand the mission and activities of the church as well as the way the church interacts with the world around it.

A legitimate Christian institution will reflect a purpose, mission, activities and relationship that engage and illuminate the mission and ministry of Christ. When a church does not serve to illuminate and systematically and unanimously moves away from the divine, then a new religious body is at hand. For example, if the nature and purpose of the church is to support its own growth as opposed to carrying on the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ there is clear movement away from the divine. When the activities of the church are for the aggrandizement of the church -- such as aggressive self-marketing and vanity publishing and sales -- as opposed to engaging in service, there is a shift from focusing on the betterment of the world.

The work of the divine has been abandoned for loyalty to the church when the relationship between the church and the world is mediated by the church as opposed to preparing members to be transformative within the world. When religious bodies find themselves participating in this manner then the church is actually operating under a different set of assumptions than that of an authentic religion or religious body.

The task now is to name what it is when a church meets these deleterious criteria and its primary goal is its own success. The name that is most fitting for these religious institutions is commercial church because their primary -- if not exclusive -- focus is to insure its own success and profit.

The name commercial church captures the essence of what these new religious institutions are about. It names an institution and its goals based on its practices and ecclesiology, as opposed to its size. The terminology removes the assumption that size alone is a determining factor in a church's ecclesiology. While megachurches may often meet the criteria of being commercial churches, the new designation does not limit the critique to their size. It opens other religious institutions to inspection and recognizes that some large institutions are worthy religious outlets.

Mary Hinton, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of religious studies at Misericordia University. Dr. Hinton received her doctorate degree from Fordham University after completing her dissertation on mega churches in America. She is currently preparing a manuscript titled, "The Commercial Church: The New Face of Religion in America."