Megachurch

A megachurch is a church with an unusually large membership, who also offer a variety of educational and social activities, usually Protestant or Evangelical.[1] The Hartford Institute for Religion Research defines a megachurch as any Protestant Christian church having 2,000 or more people in average weekend attendance.[2][3][4][5]

The concept originated in the mid 19th century, continued onward into the mid 20th century and expanded rapidly through the 1980s and 1990s; in present days it is widely seen across America in the early 21st century.

History
Baptist Metropolitan Tabernacle, in London

The origins of the megachurch movement, with many local congregants who return on a weekly basis, can be traced to the 1800s.[6][7] There were large churches earlier, but they were considerably rarer. The first evangelical megachurch, the Metropolitan Tabernacle with a 6000-seat auditorium, was inaugurated in 1861 in London by Charles Spurgeon.[8] In the United States, in 1923, the Angelus Temple was inaugurated in 1923 with a 5,300-seat auditorium in Los Angeles by Aimee Semple McPherson.[9]

Current conditions and statistics
Worship service at Faith Tabernacle, with seating for 50,400, affiliated to the Living Faith Church Worldwide, in 2005, in Lagos, Nigeria
Glory Dome, affiliated with Dunamis International Gospel Center, with 100,000 seats, in Abuja, Nigeria

In 2010, the Hartford Institute's database listed more than 1,300 such Protestant churches in the United States; according to that data, approximately 50 churches on the list had average attendance exceeding 10,000, with the highest recorded at 47,000 in average attendance.[10] On one weekend in November 2015, around one in ten Protestant churchgoers in the US, or about 5 million people, attended service in a megachurch.[11] 3,000 individual Catholic parishes have 2,000 or more attendants for an average Sunday Mass, but they are not called megachurches as that is a specifically Protestant term.[5]

Globally, these large congregations are a significant development in Protestant Christianity.[12] In the United States, the phenomenon has more than quadrupled in the past two decades.[13] It has since spread worldwide. In 2007, five of the ten largest Protestant churches were in South Korea.[14] The largest megachurch in the world by attendance is South Korea's Yoido Full Gospel Church, an Assemblies of God church, with more than 830,000 members as of 2007.[14][15] The largest church auditoriums, Glory Dome, was inaugurated in 2018 with 100,000 seats, in Abuja, Nigeria.[16]

Criticism

In 2005, Baptist Pastor Al Sharpton criticized megachurches for focusing on "bedroom morals", statements against same-sex marriage and abortion, by ignoring issues of social justice, such as the immorality of war and the erosion of affirmative action.[17]

In 2018, American professor Scot McKnight of Northern Baptist Theological Seminary criticized nondenominational megachurches for the weak external accountability relationship of their leaders, by not being members of a Christian denomination, further exposing them to abuse of power.[18]

See also

References
  1. "megachurch". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  2. "Church Sizes". www.USAChurches.org. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
  3. Biard, Julia (February 23, 2006). "The good and bad of religion-lite". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved November 5, 2006.
  4. Bryan S. Turner, The New Blackwell Companion to the Sociology of Religion, John Wiley & Sons, USA, 2010, p. 251
  5. "Megachurch Definition". Hartford Institute for Religion Research. Archived from the original on 2016-05-14. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
  6. Anne C. Loveland, Otis B. Wheeler, From Meetinghouse to Megachurch: A Material and Cultural History, University of Missouri Press, USA, 2003, p. 35
  7. "Exploring the Megachurch Phenomena: Their characteristics and cultural context". Hirr.HartSem.edu. Archived from the original on 2015-11-01. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
  8. Stephen J. Hunt, Handbook of Megachurches, Brill, Netherlands, 2019, p. 50
  9. George Thomas Kurian, Mark A. Lamport, Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States, Volume 5, Rowman & Littlefield, USA, 2016, p. 1471
  10. "Hartford Institute for Religion Research, database of Megachurches". Hirr.HartSem.edu. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
  11. "The megachurch boom rolls on, but big concerns are rising too". Religion News Service. December 2, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
  12. Anne C. Loveland, Otis B. Wheeler, From Meetinghouse to Megachurch: A Material and Cultural History, University of Missouri Press, USA, 2003, p. 3
  13. "Redirect". www.SecularHumanism.org. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
  14. "O come all ye faithful". Special Report on Religion and Public Life. The Economist. November 3, 2007. p. 6. Retrieved November 5, 2007.
  15. "In Pictures: America's 10 Biggest Megachurches". Forbes. June 26, 2009.
  16. Taylor Berglund, World's Largest Church Auditorium Dedicated in Nigeria, charismanews.com, December 7, 2018
  17. Associated Press, Megachurches have wrong focus, black leaders say, chron.com, USA, 2 juillet 2006
  18. James Wellman Jr., Katie Corcoran, Kate Stockly, Éloi Ficquet, High on God: How Megachurches Won the Heart of America, Oxford University Press, UK, 2020, p. 212
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