With out say exactly who, (small town, one room baptist churches) have often told me they are upset with these mega churches because they, the mega churches are stealing all their members. Most of these small town churches are lucky to seat 50 people (mostly family or somehow related) on a good night, maybe 200 during a week long revival. I am not sure of the reason/s as to why the mega churches are attracting these people but to be honest I believe they just want a change from the small town inbreed incestuous church they left.
My experience has been this: a new church forms and the new pastor is young and the music is the entertainment and live band praise chorus style that the small town churches have yet to adopt. At first, a few young families leave to join the new church, then the trickle becomes a flood as the young people all follow their friends to the new church. The older church is left with the aging faithful, struggling to afford a full time pastor.
The new churches offer a gym and basketball and all sorts of programs for the kids because they have the numbers.
Wow, small Christian churches are places of incest and inbreeding?
and that doesn't sound stereotyped at all, lol
For some, I think they want to be lost in a crowd and not have to bugged or asked to serve.
We have a lot of small churches like that, we call them Hayes churches. They had 22 children and they started a church and then some disagreed and started their own church and it still goes on and on. There are probably 15 or 16 churches and most of them have about 15 members and most of them are related.
Or maybe they are just unregenerate self-absorbed worldly people who prefer an entertaining social club over worshiping the Lord.
I am not sure of the reason/s as to why the mega churches are attracting these people....
Many newer churches, many larger congregations offer gyms, child care/nurseries, live music, basketball sessions, meeting/dining/banquet halls, seminars, national speakers, foreign missions activities, modular rooms conducting programs such as 'Promise Keepers', "Divorce Care", "Women in Faith", "Purpose Driven Church", numerous youth activities (dances, vast charity work, father/son, Mother/daughter dinners, formal retreats), numerous music ministries, group counseling, more associate pastors/ministers to attend to more of the 'flock' (home visits), just more amenities of all sorts (something for everyone.
I belong to a smaller church. When my dad died suddenly, the only thing I could think of to tell my mom was to call our pastor. Even though it was early on a Saturday morning, he and his wife dropped everything and rushed over.
I’m not sure how we would have handled the day if they hadn’t done what they did. She made coffee and comforted my mom, while he worked with the funeral home to get my father’s body out of the house.
I’m not sure how our local megachurch would deal with the situation, since you have to make an appointment on their website to get a chance to meet with an associate minister if you have any issues. ...but they do have an espresso bar.