WHY DON'T ADVENTISTS GROW MEGACHURCHES? By Ed Christian
Members
of the Lakewood Church —
all 16,000 of them — worship
on Saturday at the grand opening
of their new building in a Houston
arena that was formerly home
of the city’s NBA team.
Photo courtesy Jessica Kourkounis
/ AP
Megachurches have thousands of members and many
worship services. Some famous examples are Bill
Hybel's Willow Creek and Rick Warren's Saddleback.
These churches started with a core group of
faithful friends, a lot of prayer, and great
marketing plans. They reached out to the "unchurched,"
who belonged to no church or denomination. The
unchurched came for the entertainment, perhaps,
but many became active disciples of Christ.
Doesn't that sound wonderful? With our message,
wouldn't you think we could draw thousands of
unchurched people to "seeker services"?
It hasn't worked that way.
True, there are Adventist megachurches in places
with large concentrations of Adventists, such
as near Adventist colleges or hospitals. They
don't attract many unchurched people, though.
Planting new churches is an exciting and demanding
task, and our denomination is putting a lot
of effort into teaching people how to do it.
Some of these "church plants" thrive,
and some die, but they aren't growing into megachurches.
Conferences have made several expensive attempts
to grow megachurches that will attract the unchurched,
but most of these have failed. Several have
withdrawn from the Adventist denomination. This
has usually led to a split within the congregation.
If the newly independent congregation survives
at all, it is usually severely weakened.
Why haven't Adventists been able to grow megachurches
by attracting the unchurched? There are several
reasons.
The primary stumbling block, I think, is the
Sabbath. The Sabbath is a wonderful gift, the
center of our denominational identity. We can
be Adventists without the Sabbath, but we cannot
be Seventh-day Adventists.
The unchurched, though, are often nervous about
anything that seems unorthodox or cultlike.
Going to church on Sabbath can seem too weird.
(This is why the Sabbath is not presented on
the first night of evangelistic meetings or
in Bible studies.)
Should we give up the Sabbath so that we can
reach the unchurched? Of course not! This may
be one reason we aren't growing mega-churches,
but worldwide a million people a year accept
the Sabbath.
The second stumbling block is that many founding
members of potential Adventist megachurches
are lifestyle liberals with no passion for souls.
Small "church plants" usually have
a core of deeply committed believers who work
to make disciples. By contrast, budding Adventist
megachurches formed by splitting existing congregations
often draw those who are Adventists more in
historical affiliation than in lifestyle. These
members often woo back ex-Adventists by teaching
that Adventist lifestyle issues no longer matter.
I have lots of non-Adventist students who love
loud music, wear lots of jewelry and tattoos,
sometimes even drink and smoke, yet are on fire
for God. I don't worry if they are liberal in
lifestyle or theology so long as they are devoted
to walking with God. Then He can lead them to
where He wants them.
The problem with Adventist lifestyle liberals
is not their taste in music, or even their theology,
in many cases. The problem is their lack of
passion for walking with God and bringing seekers
to Christ.
Churches grow into effective megachurches only
when seekers become disciples. These seekers
need to be mentored by Spirit-filled members
who are themselves spiritually disciplined and
so are qualified to make disciples. If a large
percentage of church members are not disciple-makers,
a mega-church will eventually fail or will merely
entertain.
If the initial excitement dies because members
aren't training new believers, it's sometimes
tempting to manufacture excitement. A few Adventist
attempts at growing mega-churches have adopted
such questionable charismatic practices as speaking
in tongues and being "slain" in the
Spirit. This has always had a disastrous effect
on growth in Adventist contexts.
I expect there will be hundreds of successful
church plants in the next decade, but I don't
expect to see any new Adventist megachurches.
However, friend, don't take this as permission
to gloat. Are you really a disciple? Are you
training disciples? How many unchurched "seekers"
joined your church last year? Whether you are
conservative or liberal, chances are the answer
is none. Welcome to Laodicea.
Ed Christian teaches English and biblical
literature at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.
His latest book, Joyful Noise: A Sensible Look
at Christian Music, is available from the Review
and Herald Publishing Association. Christian's
e-mail address is: christia@kutztown.edu
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