Curious about the growth of megachurches worldwide? Just visit…
http://leadnet.org/page/world?/world
About halfway down the page, click the link, ” Click to View the World Megachurches List,” and you’ll be taken to a list of the world’s largest attendance churches, according to Warren Bird, Ph.D. If you’d like to see megachurches in the USA, browse to…
http://hirr.hartsem.edu/megachurch/database.html
To see megachurches in Canada, visit…
http://hirr.hartsem.edu/megachurch/canadian-megachurches.html
OK — so now that you have the big picture (of big churches), here’s the question: How are all these megachurches going to affect missions? What impact will they have on reaching the globe? How will they change the way we “do missions,” send missionaries, and finish the task. It’s a question worth asking. To give your opinion, click “Comment” at the online version of this item. Check back to see what kind of responses we receive. And thanks, in advance, for any resources, summaries, and/or opinions that you’ll take time to share.
Megachurches have already dramatically affected missions, as I’m sure you know. Just try, as a missionary with a traditional agency, to get the attention of a megachurch or even a moderately large church. You’ll be told that they have their own missions program. Often, it’s a couple of teams that go a couple of times in the summer to visit a national with a ministry in Africa. Some megachurches have a more formal program. But, I fear that because they aren’t partnering with more experienced mission agencies, many of them are making the same mistakes that early missionaries made. And, many of them are determined to start churches in foreign countries identical to their own, regardless of the culture or context. These churches stand out like sore thumbs and cause real conflict in the body of Christ in those countries. I’m sure there are positive contributions of megachurches operating their own missions, but I’m afraid I haven’t seen many.