On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I went to hear Soon-Chan Rah speak about ‘The Next Evangelicalism & the Changing Face of American Christians’ as a part of the January series. Soon-Chan Rah is an Asian-American Pastor who served as the founding senior pastor of the Cambridge Community Fellowship Church in Massachusetts-an urban, multi-ethnic and post-modern generation church.
One point he made, that I found very interesting, was about the structure of churches. He divided church structures into two basic categories: marginalized and mainstream. He described marginalized churches as being a typical Midwestern church with slanted/arched ceilings, similar to that of the bottom of a boat (but upside down). He then talked about how that was related to Noah’s Ark, but how maybe that wasn’t a positive thing. It gives off the message that yes, the world is condemned and destroyed, but here in the ark/church, we’re safe from all of that evil. We can create ‘Christian’ music, art, and shirts that are just rip offs of secular things because we don’t care about the world. And we don’t care about the world because we are safe in the ark. That was a crazy thought for me, because my home church is an ‘ark’ structure and I really liked it growing up, and going to churches that weren’t like that made me very uncomfortable, but maybe that’s why. He then described the mainstream churches as ‘movie theatre churches’ because of how their sanctuaries are set up like a movie theatre. He talked about how mega-churches are beginning to look more like malls than churches (similar to the conversation in class we had yesterday) with all of their bookstores, food, coffee shops, and play areas. He believes that these churches are being mainstreamed into the world. There’s a lot of thinking that Christians today need to be doing about what the church should look like. And as we think, we should keep in mind all of the people who meet in store front churches because that’s all they have.
Of course, he covered many other points about the church as well, such as multi-ethnicity in the churches and such, but in light of our class discussion yesterday, I thought this would be an interesting part of his lecture to talk about, besides the fact that I’m already way over my word limit, oops...
Questions:
Following up on yesterday’s conversation, what are some other thoughts people have in light of ‘mega-churches’ and whether they’re good or not? Does it matter if they have stadium seating or not?
And also, what do people who, like myself, went to small, ark-shaped churches think about them? Are we behind the times? Or does the structure of the church even really matter?
This lecture sounds like it would have been a very good one to attend, especially since it fits into our class discussion perfectly. I think it is intriging the two different ways that Soon-Chan Rah divides the church and the pros and cons of each set-up. I also have attended a very traditional church for my whole life and have loved the shape and architecture of it. This past spring, I was required to attend a church that was very different from my home church. I visited a mega-church called Willow Creek in the suburbs of Chicago. The church was huge and I felt like I was attending a concert and not a church service. The seating was stadium seating with multiple levels. People brought in coffee and the band was rocking. Personally, I did not get much out of the service or message because I was so overwhelmed. I think churches like this have gone too far overboard with the entertainment portion of the church. They need to return to a simpler way of viewing church, maybe not to the degree of my home church, but more so that people are reminded of the real reason that they came to church, it wasn't so they could applaud a band after every song, but rather to worship and honor God.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments, Katie and Olivia. I'm glad the speaker may have helped you realize that we're not just crazy people. :)
ReplyDeleteFor anyone interested, you can listen to the lecture here: http://www.calvin.edu/january/2010/rah.htm.
I’ve participated in a few discussions about church size and I’ve found that most people I’ve talked with have viewed them in a negative context. I remember Shane Claiborne writing in his book, The Irresistible Revolution, about how he was very turned off by mega-churches and in particular about his disbelief at Willow Creek having a food court. While I myself grew up going to a small, rather traditional church, I think God can still be at work in these mega-churches and that they aren’t necessarily “worse” than a smaller, more traditional church. First of all, worship can be a very diverse act. There are many ways and styles of worshiping and while some of us may prefer traditional worship, others may prefer an overwhelming, concert, modern worship. Secondly, mega-churches can function very well if members purposefully seek out newcomers and make them feel welcome. This may sound like a challenge but I’ve found that some mega-churches are very good at it. Also, mega-churches can thrive if they are able to break up members into smaller groups that can really get to know each other and participate in small groups and Bible studies. (Think of a mega-church as a collective of smaller churches that worship together and pool their resources.) Going along with this, mega-churches have the recourses to participate in some really neat ministries. For instance, a mega-church can host special days (for its members or for the community) when single mothers can come and get their cars checked up and have their oil changed by volunteering church members who are mechanics. A smaller church simply wouldn’t have enough mechanics to be able to do this. There are countless other ministry opportunities that only mega-churches can have. Suffice to say, mega-churches may seem off-putting and can have their fair share of problems, they are still churches that can function and serve a purpose in the Kingdom.
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