Mega Churches - Opinions?

[JohnDB]

Both hills have cemetery on them in order to preserve the Jews right to the land and every corner of it.

The Moslems have put a graveyard just underneath the East Gate that overlooks a deep valley (used to be the trash ditch) and it is supposed to be the one God uses as it faces sunrise...but the Moslems want whatever messiah that comes through that gate defiled by the graves and dead bodies. (It's not going to work out for them... Jesus raises the dead to life)

 

[Jesus_Leads]

Yes and no...
It's a church surrounded by olive trees. But there's two hills there with a deep valley between the temple mount and the hill.
View attachment 234824

Thanx for the info man.

 

[shittim]

Thank you for sharing

 

[Lanolin]

I prefer lots of tiny churches to one big mega church
But I wonder maybe you can have both?

Jesus says where two or three gather in my name...

not two thousand and three!

The problem probably started back when Jacob had 2 wives, 2 concubines and 13 kids.
Getting that family together would have been difficult.

 

[shittim]

You would have to have strong small groups where Holy Spirit would be invited and be present to minister.
best wishes

 

[presidente]

I've been seeing more and more of these mega-churches pop up that have become super-capitalized with stores and restaurants inside them. The pastors are multi-millionaires and often live lives of extreme luxury. What do you all think about this? I have mixed feelings. Didn't Jesus go into the Temple and throw over the tables of all the merchants and people who were selling things inside the Temple? And what about "it is easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven"?

On the other hand, if these churches are bringing more people to Christ, maybe its a good thing. What do you think?

Being a megachurch pastor and living a life of luxury are not the same thing. There are churches that have unseemly ideas about wealth. I would not put all megachurch pastors in that category. There was a large church back in the early 1990's that a friend of mine went to. They had a large pastoral staff. They decided they would go with 'with food and clothing let us be content' as a mindset, and they added in 'transportation' since that was a modern need and set all their salaries at $20,000 a year. That's probably about $40K now.

Some megachurch pastors really skimped and had to trust God for the rent for years.

There are probably plenty of them that live extravagantly. I had a preacher friend from Singapore who came to Jakarta. He said he had a message that he was supposed to share with the churches there. Part of it was about pastors of large churches that opened branches, that paid a pittance to the pastors at the branches, sent the money to the mother church and lived extravagantly. He heard one of the pastors in a store in Singapore asking about shirts, "Do you have anything more expenses?" He said they saved the money for themselves and their children while there were other churches around struggling to do things like fix a leaky roof. Of course not all pastors did that. He preached this at places and did not get invited back, but he gave an example of a congregation member shaking his hand afterward and saying 'thank you.'

 

[shittim]

We each will give an account of every thought, word and deed.
We went astray creating a building and/or organization and calling it a "church", the Ecclesia, or "church" is the body of believers.

 

[Lanolin]

isnt a megachurch just another name for a cathedral or am I missing something here.

 

[shittim]

Cathedrals were huge ornate structures, mega churches are more auditorium style gathering places for a church with cameras, and such.

 

[Lanolin]

cathedrals dont have to be ornate and they can also have cameras installed...its the size I was referring to, many cathedrals being designed back in the day to be huge auditoriums as well. Before the advent of amplified sound they had to do with architectral acoustics.

Apparently cathedrals were the seats of bishops, which is pretty much the same as megachurches with their 'head pastor' or CEO self-appointed bishops and various branches like mini parishes. Just seems like its the same thing.

 

[shittim]

Catholicism taught in order to get to heaven you had to go through them, not so today, we teach the Biblical truth of personal relationship with the person of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

[Lanolin]

with the 'tiny home' craze I wonder if we'll see the advent of the 'tiny church'

A lot of 'mega' places like old big box stores are being converted to things like libraries and community centres. Building a bigger barn isnt going to impress God.

Some old church buildings and cathedrals have been deconverted and turned into...restaurants, nightclubs, and tourist attractions. Come and see the stained glass windows.
I know of one church congrgation that just moved into an old cinema and shows everything on a big screen. They call it church at the movies. You sit in the dark on tiered seating and instead of sharing popcorn you have communion.

 

[shittim]

None of which are scriptural, they are an indication of how far we are from the Creators intention.

 

[Lanolin]

well believers do need to worship somewhere together rather sitting in the cold and rain. Not everyone can just meet in their houses unless they are rich and have the space.

 

[shittim]

Reread the book of Acts, believers sold they're excess property and met together in each others homes to worship.
Home churches, where Holy Spirit was invited, came and ministered.

 

[Nehemiah6]

isnt a megachurch just another name for a cathedral or am I missing something here.

No. There is a big difference. Mega churches are geared to bringing in huge numbers of people into each meeting. They also try to modify or water down the Gospel so that no one is offended with Bible truth. But cathedrals were erected to be beautiful buildings, and would not necessarily have huge numbers. The idea was derived from Solomon's temple, which was indeed a beautiful building. Had the cathedrals also presented the true Gospel, that might have been of some benefit.

Home churches are perfectly fine, but if there is a gathering of more than say 20 people, a building would be necessary. The evil is not in the building but in the focus of the church.

 

[Lanolin]

EXCESS property sure!
but not many people actually own excess property these days. Well no young people do.

Have you seen house sales? And who is selling them? its mostly property developers buying them and bulldozing them to put up a block of 60 flats. The sellers are empty nesters downsizing and moving to retirment villages, but not all the people that move there will be christians.

Although there is one village I know that is practically made up of everyone in one church that the church should just sell up their church building and move everyone who is member there to worship.

 

[Lanolin]

I recall one christian who made a lot of money before he converted in property/real estate like it was in new homes, when he sold it all (the business) he had so much funds he could afford to minister for free i.e not charge anyone and not take up offerings.

Even so he had such a huge property himself that people met there for fellowship and healing ministry. But that was only one guy. He didnt need to build a mega church. He just went round ministering in churches that were ALREADY built.

 

[shittim]

All actions from a genuine Christian are by guidance of Holy Spirit, the person who was blessed with this abundance and had a healing ministry did so with the unction of the Lord, not a work of his own hands and/0r leaning on his own understanding.
No person ever healed anyone, God works through His own to will and do His good pleasure.
best wishes

 

[Combanitorics]

I don't know. Megachurch? And people measure that in terms of number of attendees in conjunction with how much money they pull in?