a new day...
I realize that I have only read a small portion of what I will be studying, but I have to say that I'm more and more excited about this degree. Except for a very few classes in my undergraduate work (mostly the non-engineering ones), and a handful of assignments in high school, I have never wanted to read my assigned literature. This is definitely a first for me. Oh, and I haven't even gotten to my Hermeneutics class yet. The book just came today, but how can I not be excited to (1)learn to better interpret/understand the Bible - God's Word and (2) get credit for doing so.
Other than that I read an interesting little article by Gordon McDonald in the Leadership Journal. He had this to say:
It got me thinking about some things.
First, do you buy (pun intended) this conclusion that gas prices will hinder attendance at megachurches? Will gas prices change the way people travel to/from church meetings? Or do we, as Americans, really care?
Second, what are your thoughts on megachurches? The most common definition is a church with regular attendance over 2,000. I know this question begs for generalization, but that's what I'm looking for.
Other than that I read an interesting little article by Gordon McDonald in the Leadership Journal. He had this to say:
When gas regularly stays above $3.11 per gallon, people will most likely begin to change their transportation habits. And if heating costs triple, large buildings (at least in the north) are going to become a bit more of a burden. The megachurch depends heavily upon people who drive more than 15 miles to church. I would bet that a lot of people won't do that anymore, or as many times per week as they used to. Heating costs will skew budgets. The commitment level of the larger crowd will be tested. I suspect a shake-up is coming in the way we all do church. I'd have a task force working on this one if I was leading a big church. Everyone ready for a strategy of church life that depends more upon small groups and distributed ministries?
It got me thinking about some things.
First, do you buy (pun intended) this conclusion that gas prices will hinder attendance at megachurches? Will gas prices change the way people travel to/from church meetings? Or do we, as Americans, really care?
Second, what are your thoughts on megachurches? The most common definition is a church with regular attendance over 2,000. I know this question begs for generalization, but that's what I'm looking for.
3 Comments:
1) No, I don't think gas prices will hinder attendance at megachurches because we, as Americans, really don't care.
2) I'm not a great fan of megachurches - if there is not some sort of small group thing going on. I visited a big church back home two years ago, and I felt so lost in the shuffle. It felt so impersonal. I tried to get hooked up with the singles or even the college group, but no one ever got in touch with me. And I was TRYING to get connected. What happens with the casual seeker?
Yeah, I'm not sure that it will affect attendance, either. It is an interesting thought, though. It's just not at a price (it's dropping by the way) that will affect where people travel. There may be more affect on the large SUV/truck/etc market.
As for megachurches... I'm kind of back and forth. The church I went to in middle/high school was probably a megachurch, in the technical sense. We would have been right about the 2000, maybe 3000 on a really big weekend. You are right, though, that it depends on the "group" life.
On a side note, I went to a megachurch in another city - a church that I actually like - and had an interesting conversation with a guy. He just kept going on and on about what they offer and how their size created some sort of attraction. I got a little tired of it and said, "yeah, but you know being in a place so big, it's hard to keep people from hiding." he didn't like that too much, because he knew I was right.
For some reason, people really hate it when you point out things like that.
I tend to wonder if a church is really that great if its members have to work so hard at convincing you that it's great.
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