For me the thought of a bunch of people sitting passively in comfortable seats listening to their all-mighty god (the senior pastor) up on stage, getting their spiritual fill so they can feel good for the next week gives me the shakes. I used to live that life, and after many years of trying to grow in Christ with others as the Church… no spiritual fruit was found anywhere. I have moved on and changed so much it is hard for me to relate to that system anymore. I want to relate to the people, it is the system I cannot stand.
But then I read another blog entry this morning at “The Voice of One Crying Out in Suburbia” about multi-site churches, and then my allergies really kick in. Nothing against his post, I like it (and a blog many should read). It is just my own allergies kicking in about multiple church buildings…. ahh choo!
Now I see multi-site churches branching out from the main headquarters that show a live video of the same pastor’s message. So in my eyes there are more people sitting passively hearing the same message, spawning more indoctrination of only one person’s message (because they ran out of seats at the main campus). I see more people that barely talk to each other (because afterwards they either need to rush out to beat the traffic, or get the seat at the restaurant, or to get home and watch the game or take a nap). At least that was my experience for 10 years at a mega-church here where I live (which by the way has 2 satellite campuses so far).
So, where is all of this multi-church BS headed. Are we going to get to the point where a family wakes up on Sunday morning and turns the internet on and we just sit and watch a video of this week’s sermon from their pastor that preaches from some big castle down the street, in another state, or in another country. So, who is going to be the head of the all encompassing mega-church.. Driscoll, Piper, Mohler, Bell, ect..
I know who should be the head…. hmmmm.. how about Christ?
So, why branch out to multiple sites? Why add more cost to an already costly system.
What is the difference if a person and his family just flips on the internet and pulls up a sermon from the church they attend to hear the message and then go on with their day. If they would just go the internet route, maybe we could get rid of all the multi-million dollar church buildings and satellite campuses, the $50,000 a month electric bills (yes that is what the main campus I used to attend roughly pays), millions in salaries for one local main campus, landscaping costs for more flowerbeds than I can count, and thousands of dollars paid in interest on the mega-mortgages to the all-powerful banking system.
Then once they have all left the buildings, maybe those same buildings could be used as healing centers for people in need.
Anyone else have the same allergies?
Can anyone help me with my symptoms so I can see better through my watery eyes?