The dangers of Mega-Churches

[Toyin Falola]

Mega Churches Don’t Work. Says former megachurch pastor | by Dan Foster | Backyard Church | Apr, 2022 | Medium


https://medium.com/backyard-theology/mega-churches-dont-work-a28df6bf95e0

 

[Emmanuel Udogu]

Interesting! Indeed, in Africa, Professor PLO Lumumba suggests that such churches have become what he called “JESUS CHRIST INDUSTRIES.”

Ike Udogu

On Sat, Apr 16, 2022 at 11:31 AM Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

Mega Churches Don’t Work. Says former megachurch pastor | by Dan Foster | Backyard Church | Apr, 2022 | Medium


https://medium.com/backyard-theology/mega-churches-dont-work-a28df6bf95e0

 

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

                   

The article is more about the sociology of Christianity in its various regional, and cultural settings, but less about Christianity and politics or Christianity and economics. i.e., Mega-churches and profit…

Would the same apply to “ mega-mosques” and “mega-synagogues” and “mega-Hindu temples”, I wonder...

For those of us who do not have the time or are lacking in sufficient inclination, A History of Christianity ( video documentary) by Diarmaid MacCulloch gives the necessary background and for a boarder picture, as applies to e.g. Nigeria where there are some real mega-churches – with real megachurch pastors such as I have seen on TV, services conducted by Bishop David Oyedepo and Pastor Kumuyi and of course, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, with mammoth congregations of circa 30,000 plus on the ground and goodness knows how many more watching and participating in or on the air via TV, there’s an essay that appears in The Palgrave Handbook of Africa and the Changing Global Order, namely Rotimi Williams Omotoye’s “Pentecostalism and the African Diaspora: A cases study of the Redeemed Church of God ( RCCG) in North America” 

I’d just like to observe that with Jesus Christ as the good shepherd, the church as a spiritual psychotherapist or the church playing that role, that’s a very alarmist description of any alleged danger to what in totality is ”The body of Christ” – namely, the Church, the universal church, the sum total of believers, the communion of saints, past, present and for all eternity, the followers of Jesus currently estimated at 2 billion souls, on this planet, ideally, all united in Christ Jesus. It’s a global classroom of united we stand or separated and divided we fall and fight as is happening now in the Russia - Ukraine conflict in the worldly political domain, all within the Eastern Orthodox Church family, a vital part of the spiritual body of Christ at loggerheads with the other part led by one Zelensky who is praying for “victory”, the old testament type of victory usually but not always granted by Yahweh the wrathful God, wrathful and therefore maybe not the Father of Putin’s Lord and saviour Jesus Christ because what we know for sure about the Loving Father of Jesus is that “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” ( BTW, Zelensky is directed to seek peace and to pursue it, and in my humble understanding, hitting Russia’s flagship Moskva in the Black Sea , with a couple of cruise missiles and sinking it is not a way of seeking or pursuing peace...)

But back to that article that I’m responding to, that the individual believer not getting enough attention from the local shepherd could feel lost in a sea of anonymity wherever there is a mega-gathering of believers is one of the personal stories told here - and of course, we understand that it takes more than three to make a crowd and that the Divine injunction is that “ For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”, and that would imply, the more the merrier, especially given the nature of our African societies/ communities in which we love to do things together, in that renowned communal spirit, and from that point of view it’s not surprising that Kperogi should misunderstand the spirit that moves vice president Yemi Osinbajo who he accuses of favouritiisng Christians…

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

                   

“The preacher has to anticipate questions and objections to the evangelical message that would be raised by Jewish persons, socialists, Wall Street brokers, aspiring actors, gay rights activists, politically correct graduate students, and young second-generation Asian-American professionals”

Hmm. Quite a handful of sceptics. Those who want to found mega-churches and those who are already in the business could profit from the 8 points taken up by John Keller. What is to be understood is that Jesus Christ is the head of the Church - the global, super-mega church and not some other local founder. 

In the age of televangelism, this cannot be overemphasised.

In sum total, this is where we are right now or could be, at our various levels.

After this short take on ignorance by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj ( a Jnani), Cornelius Ignoramus understands all the more that on The Day of Judgment ( if indeed there’s going to be any such day) he will not be required to answer questions about other people’s crimes or omissions, such as Hitler (who by the way was a Roman Catholic) or Joe Biden, and so he returns to second thoughts on what was said previously about

“ the other party led by one Zelensky who is praying for “victory”, the old testament type of victory usually but not always granted by Yahweh the wrathful God, wrathful and therefore maybe not the Father of Putin’s Lord and saviour Jesus Christ because what we know for sure about the Loving Father of Jesus is that “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” ( BTW, Zelensky is directed to seek peace and to pursue it, and in my humble understanding, hitting Russia’s flagship Moskva in the Black Sea, with a couple of cruise missiles and sinking it is not a way of seeking or pursuing peace...)

We have to be careful about speaking falsely or asserting what we do not know/ cannot know or be sure of, for in doing so we could grieve the Holy Spirit, and that is something we must avoid doing, at all costs…

What we know for sure is that (1) according to the Gospel reports, Jesus was angry on a number of occasions and ( 2) according to the last book of the so-called New Testament there’s going to be a The Battle of Armageddon, the final showdown which will make all previous battles look like a picnic.

This too could be true: “...for though sin alienates us from God, Christ died for our sins in order to reconcile us to God (1 Peter 3: 18). And, once reconciled to God through Christ, everything changes. We walk each day with God. We live in His presence. It becomes natural to listen to His voice as he speaks to us through the Bible, and it becomes equally natural to speak to Him in prayer. For basic to our Christian discipleship is the cultivation of a personal relationship with God. God becomes the great reality of our lives” ( P.107 of Why I am a Christian by John Stott

David Pawson is also inspiratory. Very