Greg Horton Does the MegaChurch Math for you so you don't hurt yourself
Informative, though brief, post from the Parish. Of course, this is a subject that he has discussed frequently on his blog, the MegaChurch. He links to an interesting Business Week article on the MegaChurches, and he points out:
The article also mentions some interesting dollar amounts. Willow Creek's new facility: 72 million. Prestonwood's 140-acre campus: 100 million. Revenue from Willow Creek Association: 17 million (that's money paid by small churches to learn to be a big church). Now, if we throw in Osteen's 96 million and exclude WCA, we have 268 million on three churches. A quarter of a billion dollars. On. Three. Facilities. They service about 76,000 people on a weekly basis. That's 3526 dollars per person, or 14,104 dollars for a family of four. Lovely.
Anyway, read the article. I'm depressed now. I've said it before: sin is just a word these days.
Ain't that the truth. I also found it interesting that the faiths (and folks) that are moving toward the MegaChurch are the same that were rooted in theology that decried the financial excesses of the clerical and episcopacy of the Roman Church several hundred years ago. I know people that were Catholic, voiced in my presence their own discomfort with money spent on the bigger suburban parishes, and now are lulled into some sort of trance-like state of worship by churches that are modeling themselves after the MegaChurches. These same people are impressed with the lights and multi-media shows at their new churches, the cavernous auditoriums that fill with worshippers, the gloss and the glam of the preaching (and preacher).
If you read Greg's post, you'll read about how Church attendance in this country has not increased with the MegaChurch. They are just canibalizing from the ranks the already-churched.
The article also mentions some interesting dollar amounts. Willow Creek's new facility: 72 million. Prestonwood's 140-acre campus: 100 million. Revenue from Willow Creek Association: 17 million (that's money paid by small churches to learn to be a big church). Now, if we throw in Osteen's 96 million and exclude WCA, we have 268 million on three churches. A quarter of a billion dollars. On. Three. Facilities. They service about 76,000 people on a weekly basis. That's 3526 dollars per person, or 14,104 dollars for a family of four. Lovely.
Anyway, read the article. I'm depressed now. I've said it before: sin is just a word these days.
Ain't that the truth. I also found it interesting that the faiths (and folks) that are moving toward the MegaChurch are the same that were rooted in theology that decried the financial excesses of the clerical and episcopacy of the Roman Church several hundred years ago. I know people that were Catholic, voiced in my presence their own discomfort with money spent on the bigger suburban parishes, and now are lulled into some sort of trance-like state of worship by churches that are modeling themselves after the MegaChurches. These same people are impressed with the lights and multi-media shows at their new churches, the cavernous auditoriums that fill with worshippers, the gloss and the glam of the preaching (and preacher).
If you read Greg's post, you'll read about how Church attendance in this country has not increased with the MegaChurch. They are just canibalizing from the ranks the already-churched.
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