While I know that not everything done in every megachurch is helpful, Ed Stetzer has done us a great service in debunking many myths about megachurch. But I also know that too many seem to have a fundamental problem with large churches, as though God hated them all. It’s really odd, because what such people conveniently forget is that the first church was a mega church on its first day:
“So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.” (Acts 2:41)
A few verses later we see that the early church met together in the temple and in each others homes. Thus, if a church does grow the idea of a large gathering supported by smaller, more intimate meetings is nothing short of biblical!
Of course it is no more fair of us to assume every small church must be doing something amiss than it is to assume every mega church is defective.
Is it so wrong for us to long for the gospel to have similar success to that seen in Acts, presenting pastors with the problem of how to accommodate and care for the crowds?
May the following words be true of many churches today:
“None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem.
And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women…” (Acts 5:13)“But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.” (Acts 4:4)
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