tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118726.post2094460679587641745..comments2024-03-13T13:29:58.961-07:00Comments on holy heteroclite:: Can a MegaChurch Remain Relational/Real/ Organic/Missional?davehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07135992921485306480noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118726.post-91324272064721492172007-05-24T13:03:00.000-07:002007-05-24T13:03:00.000-07:00Sorry it took so long to post (hectic work month) ...Sorry it took so long to post (hectic work month) but the main thing I feel is this : conventional sunday / sunday-school church just isn't working anymore. I know this is due to the growing abstraction of human thought, the growing complexity of human problems (esp. youth) and the demands of the work-study-marriage-you-name-it world.<BR/>"Church" has to be re-done. I don't know how but from the few "Fringe" Christians I know (like me) I have heard that what they know till now (Typcial Christendom) is not enough. It doesn't cater to their needs and it does not allow them to minister to the body.<BR/><BR/>For so long I have felt that a change must be had. But who am I to do it or to take the first step? Suddenly I'm thinking that maybe this is in God's heart and maybe all us "Fringe" Christians should rise and make it "real". Have a vision of Church that touches the heart of the XXIst century.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, that's all from me... ;)Margo Romerohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07092688630821916143noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118726.post-58573571114765832442007-05-17T17:16:00.000-07:002007-05-17T17:16:00.000-07:00Fantastic comments, y'allMike et al: I intentional...Fantastic comments, y'all<BR/><BR/>Mike et al: I intentionally dialwed down the number far below the "traditional" starting size to classify a vchurch mega. I should ahv called more attention to that. It's just taht the average church in US is actually around 40...churches as big as most large once consider churches of 200 "small."<BR/><BR/>Nancy..great stuff. I am not convinde ther was a mage church in Jerusalem. Sure, wqe read of thousands getting saved, but the evidence is that the primary gathering time for Christians.."church" if you will, was small groups in homes<BR/><BR/>Beth: i love your bottom line question.davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07135992921485306480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118726.post-20823156495051731562007-05-16T07:28:00.000-07:002007-05-16T07:28:00.000-07:00I would call 150 a "pastoral-size" church; if the ...I would call 150 a "pastoral-size" church; if the theories are right, it's easiest to have dispersed authority in a church under about 75, or over about 350 or so.<BR/><BR/>Real answer, though: All the adjectives in the question are current buzzwords, and I'm guessing people would define each of them differently depending on which books they've read. For some, a "missional" attitude makes a church count as "missional" (Rob Bell's place) whereas others would say "there's no way a church that big can be missional period." Can you be real without being organic? Organic without being missional? Probably. But it's going to take so much time defining all that I think we may be able to come up with more, uh, missional things to do instead.<BR/><BR/>To me, the question I'm interested in is not so much "can X kind of church measure up to ideals A, B, or C," but "what is God calling us to do right now?" <BR/>BethAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118726.post-30665440424231771452007-05-15T21:15:00.000-07:002007-05-15T21:15:00.000-07:00I think that you and I must ask - can a "micro" ch...I think that you and I must ask - can a "micro" church (>150) remain RROM? Referring to scripture the church in Jerusalem grew by the thousands and yet it would seem that they were RROM - at least for a while. For a current day specimen, the church that the Arnott's pastor in Toronto certainly seems to have achieved mega RROM as well as mega attendance. I guess for us right now, we are focusing on being presence driven and spirit led. Pastoring a small church presents some unique opportunities but also some unique problems. The same relationality that comes from intimacy can also result in contagion. I mean - one or two divisive people can infect 50 easily but 500 not so much. I want to say that it's not the people in attendance so much as the spirit in attendance that result in the fruit of RROM. I have pastored a church of 120 that barely had a spark and a church of 60 that is open and loving and hungry for God. I don't think numbers are the inhibiting factor either way. Personally, I think it's easy to be critical of large churches because the potential of getting lost in the masses can and often does happen. However, mass does not necessarily correlate to mediocricy nor does lack of mass guarantee excellence. I really believe that there is a place for large and small corporate gatherings in the name of Jesus. We dare not reduce God's Kingdom to an easily definable goal of attendance or a pre-determined definition of intimacy. <BR/> <BR/>I doubt that this is what you were looking for cuz I never really get your "deep thoughts." I'm just a girl trying to live out the vision God has given me in obedience to the One I love.<BR/> <BR/>love you too.<BR/> <BR/>girpped, nancyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21118726.post-72158824837728066132007-05-15T16:00:00.000-07:002007-05-15T16:00:00.000-07:00I don't think 150 is the right number to qualify a...I don't think 150 is the right number to qualify as a mega-church. Personally I think it should be at least over 1,000 although I read somewhere that the "officially accepted" number is about 500. Either way, I am also in a mega-church, even though most people wouldn't consciously classify us that way. We're somewhere around 1,300 I think. That's not the total number of congregants, but the average attendance on a Sunday. <BR/><BR/>It's too big. I think church planting is the way to go. It provides more room for people to exercise their gifts, preach, lead, serve, etc. And I think there is more opportunity to have a broader appeal and reach more of the lost. (More smaller churches will have differing individual personalities.)That's my two-cents.<BR/><BR/>To be a little more fair, some people prefer a home church, some prefer a mega-church, and many are in the middle. There's a place for all of these things-- for the Jew and the Greek, so that the different parts withing the Body can collectively be all things to all people (in the way that Paul meant it; not my any means in a relative or non-biblical way).<BR/><BR/>But overgrown beuracracy can only go so far before it becomes a sin and disservice to a congreation.<BR/><BR/>--Mike RinaldiAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com