Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Mega Church, Mega Business
Mega Church, Mega Business
Noah Horn
UWRT 1102
29 March 2017
If one were to drive down Browne Road, a suburban road in North Charlotte, on a
Saturday evening or Sunday morning, they would come across what might appear to some as a
concert or a large conference. There would be a police officer directing traffic in and out of a
parking lot and a team of over a dozen people in matching t-shirts directing traffic within a
parking lot. If one were to enter the parking lot, they would witness at least 1000 people, mostly
young professionals and families, headed towards a large building with impressive modern
Community Church (also known as Meck), a megachurch founded in 1992 by James Emery
White (White, Our History"). This church is one of over 1000 mega churches in the United
States and claims to have 11,000 people actively involved in the church (White, About Us).
(qtd. in Sanders 73,). As of 2008, Meck was one of 1343 Megachurches in the United States
(Maddox, 147). Fifty-five percent of these churches (including Meck) are pastor-centered/seeker
oriented church. Another title given to many of these kinds of churches is the title corporate
mega church. Corporate mega churches are churches with a heavy focus on growth and a senior
pastor that acts more like a business executive or a CEO. More specifically, Maddox describes a
corporate mega church as a church seized by the vision of growth, they share the
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entrepreneurial spirit, the hierarchical corporate structures and the marketing techniques of
While this style of church has arguably the most successful (in terms of growth) over the
last two to three decades, running a church as if it were a for-profit corporation has most
certainly had its downsides. This paper will explore some the issues that arise within corporate
mega churches. I will discuss the lack of long-lasting impact created by having a church body
numbering in the thousands. Along with this, this inquiry will look into discrimination,
corruption, and the intense focus on growth caused by the capitalistic model used by these
churches.
Corporate Mega-nonplace
Megachurches, while large in attendance and membership, attempt to make the church
smaller by promoting small groups or community groups. However, neither are a requirement
for membership and the main reason that many people stay at a megachurch due to the pastor
and not the community itself. The biblical concept of the church is found In the book of Acts, In
chapter 2, the church is described as a group of people who are devoted to one another. A group
of loving people who share life together and help each other when they are in need. Despite this,
almost half of megachurch attendees to not volunteer (Hartfield Institute). Along with this, a
survey of members of twelve American megachurches with charismatic pastors, another name
for corporate mega churches, found that over 66 percent of respondents reported that the
influence of the senior pastor was a lot of the reason that they remained at the church
(Corcoran and Wellman, 319). Combining a membership of over 2000 with a heavy focus on the
Historical and concerned with Identity. In contrast, he says a place lacking all of these
characteristics is a non-place. Other examples of non places include shopping malls, chain
restaurants, and car dealerships (qtd. in Sanders, 76) Suburban areas are often surrounded by
non-places and the corporate megachurch (which tends to be most successful in a suburban
environment (Jethani) may be one of these places. People show up on a Sunday morning, walk
into the service, sit down for an hour and then leave. According to the senior pastor of the
corporate megachurch Willow Creek Community Church, Bill Hybels describes the local church
has breathtaking power and indescribable beauty (Source); unfortunately, in reality, the
Because of this lack of identity, megachurches cannot solely rely on personal connection
maintain high attendance, may do some morally questionable things in order to try and attract an
audience. Lookism, a word that started appearing in around the 1970s describes lookism as
psychobiological standards (Minerva, 31). While this affects many industries nationwide, the
hospitality industry is one of the most influenced. Ninety-three percent of employers in the
hospitality industry rate an employee's physical appearance as critical to the company's branding
and success (Warhurst, 133). Corporate megachurches, as previously mentioned, rely on the
appeal of the church, their product is the experience and satisfaction gained from walking
through the doors. In this way, corporate megachurches often resemble organizations in the
If one were to attend a regular service at Mecklenburg Community Church. The door
greeters would always be at least somewhat attractive (especially at the most popular entrances),
The worship team would be filled with physically attractive, fashionable young people (35 at the
oldest) and all visible staff members (other than the pastor and a couple of Childrens ministry
staff members) would fit this exact same build. These attractive people make the church more
appealing to people of all ages and appearances. Unfortunately, this is not a coincidence. After
speaking with many people from the church, It is clear that they are being discriminated for
based on their experience. In a personal conversation, A heavyset woman explained that she had
been a door greeter at Meck for over 10 years was asked to step down because of her weight. The
former director of Guest services at the Church told her that her appearance did not provide the
welcoming atmosphere they were attempting to create. The head worship pastor of the church for
over 5 years recently left the church to, according to the church, pursue other opportunities.
However, due to his age (he was only in his late 30s), he had been assigned to lead at the
significantly smaller satellite campuses for the 18 months prior to his departure. James Emery
White even discusses this concept openly in his Church and culture blog. In his blog post titled
Three Ways Meck Could have been bigger than it is That I regret, he mentions regretting the
fact that he did not skew Meck younger sooner. He calls it directing energy and
intentionality towards young adults and believes that it is vital for maintaining a Vibrant and
youthful church culture (White. Three Ways Meck) . Not only do churches discriminate
based upon age and physical appearance, they also tend to attempt to create a false sense of
diversity.
Companies will highlight employers that do not fit racial or gender-based stereotypes (e.g. a
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female engineer, or a black scientist) in order to brand themselves as progressive and modern.
While corporate megachurches may be more diverse than smaller, traditional churches., many
corporate mega churches will feature as much diversity as possible in their social media and
promotional videos. While Mecklenburg Community church has zero African American
employees and a membership of almost exclusively white people , 3 of the 7 most recent photos
(As of 3/28/2017) featuring people posted on the churchs Instagram include people of color
(Instagram.com). While this is partially an attempt to make the church seem more relatable to
people of color and a harmless attempt to create more diversity. When closely analyzed, it feels
deceptive and tokenizes the people of color who do attend the church.
Soul-cial Capital
Since corporate megachurches have to put a lot of effort weekly effort into making sure
they are maintaining their attendance, they tend to have a strong desire and focus on growth. In
the same way that business desires to increase its profits, corporate megachurches desire to
increase is membership and converts. Many are not even subtle about it. Elevation Church, a
megachurch based in North Carolina states that they exist so that people far from god will
Raised to Life in Christ (Furtick); translation: Elevation exists to make as many converts as
possible. Because of this, critics of the corporate megachurch often say that they are completely
The biblical quote that many churches use as their explanation for the importance they
place on growth can be found in Matthew 28:19 and says Go and Make Disciples of All
nations (New International Version, Mat. 28:19). While megachurches use this as a mantra in
their attempts to bring as many people as possible through their doors, megachurch critics say
that this method does not create disciples at all. In Mecks mission statement, They claim that
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their goal is to help explorers become fully devoted followers (White, Beliefs). while
attempts are made to created devoted followers, they are often negated by the focus on growth.
Meck will speak about a lifelong devotion to Christ, and then, in order to obtain growth, push
older and more devoted leaders aside to be replaced by younger and more culturally relevant
leaders. The church staff also reflects this. There are three members of the church staff that are
responsible for spiritual development aspects of the church, one who teaches faith-based classes,
and two responsible for small groups/prayer requests. This is the exact same amount of staff
devoted to maintenance and upkeep, and this ministry (campus services) also employs at least
five part-time students. The salaries of these individuals are not public, but based upon
employment, it appears that meck places a higher value on making their campus visually
While issues of subtle discrimination and lack of identity are prevalent and legitimate
issues, the largest problem is the amount of power given to the senior pastor of the church. Since
the senior pastor often has little-to-no internal accountability, it is very easy for a person with this
Joel Osteen is one of the most successful mega pastors in America and he is one of the
most criticized men within the christian community. His church, Lakewood church in Houston
Texas, has an attendance of over 52,000 and is currently the largest church in the United States
(Zaimov). This is largely due to the message of prosperity that Osteen preaches. Osteen preaches
that if you believe in the Christian gospel, and follow Jesus' Commandments then God will
bless you with wealth, good health, and happiness (Hollifield). He is one of many mega
pastors that preach this message and it appalls the wider Christian community. Not only does it
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preach a message that is contrary to what the Bible says (Some of the most prominent characters
in the bible were deeply impoverished, including Jesus), but the preachers of the prosperity
gospel are deceptively leading hundreds of thousands of Christians away from the teachings of
Christ. Since many of these pastors using the prosperity gospel claim that God rewards them
with financial However, many of the same pastors also fall into monetary corruption.
Steven Furtick, pastor of Elevation Church, the largest megachurch in North Carolina,
Lives in a House that cost 1.7 million dollars. While he claims that all of the money used to build
this house came from his books sales, which we he also claims he uses to generously give back
to the church (WCNC Newsroom). Furtick, however, refuses to disclose his salary, the amount of
tax-free housing allowance he received from his church, the amount of money his church spends
promoting his books, or the amount he gives back to the church from his book sales. He also fails
to mention that his salary is not decided by members of the church, but is instead determined by
(WCNC Newsroom). Furtick is simply one example as Pastors such as Joel Osteen, Ed young,
Jesse Duplantis and many more have similar secrecy when it comes to their personal finance.
These pastors are not embezzling church money, but it appears they are certainly using the
success of the church to benefit themselves and the reason they are able to do this is because of
the power that they hold. Furtick, decided who decides his salary, but many pastors have done
much worse. One recent example is a multi-million dollar embezzlement of church money used
by Pastors of a corporate megachurch in South Korea. The fraud was so profound that many of
Conclusion
It must be noted that not all megachurches and not all corporate megachurches can be
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quite different from each other. Just because someone has over 2,000 members does not mean
that they immediately become invalid, deeply corrupt or discriminatory. This inquiry is simply a
deep look into the complications that styling a church like a business can bring. Members and
leaders of corporate megachurches are often using questionable methods and unreliable power
structures in order to produce the most growth without realizing their consequences. While a
senior pastor with a gift for inspiring and teaching can lead to growth for the church, it can also
place a single man or woman in charge of millions of dollars and thousands of people with nearly
unlimited power. Attempts to be relevant and relatable to people of a certain age, race, or life
scenario are understandable and even welcome; however, these attempts far too often lead to
discrimination and deception. Finally, attempts to bring in new members are very much in line
with the evangelical christian doctrine, but a church can very easily become overly-focused on
getting as many people through the door and in doing so, forget about people who have been
References
Corcoran, Katie E., and James K. Wellman. "People Forget Hes Human: Charismatic
Web.
Furtick, Steven. "Our Code." Elevation Church. Elevation Church, 2016. Web. 05 Apr.
2017.
Hollifield, Gregory K. "Does God Want You to Be Rich? A Practical Theologian's Response to
the Gospel of Prosperity." Journal of Ministry & Theology, vol. 15, no. 2, Fall 2011,
Jethani, Skye. "Megachurches: When Will The Bubble Burst?" The Huffington Post.
Maddox, M. "'In the Goofy Parking Lot': Growth Churches as a Novel Religious Form for
Mega Church Money. Prod. WCNC Newsroom. N.p., 2014. Web. 5 Apr. 2017.
Minerva, Francesca. How Should We Tackle Financial and Prosocial Biases against
doi:10.1017/S0140525X16000571.
Bill Hybels
Warhurst, C., D. Van Den Broek, R. Hall, and D. Nickson. "Lookism: The New Frontier
Web.
White, James Emery. "Three Ways Meck Could Have Been Much Bigger Than It Is... That I
Regret." Church and Culture. Serious Times, 10 Oct. 2016. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.
Megachurch With 52,000 Weekly Attendance." The Christian Post. The Christian Post, 8