“Megachurches Add Local Economy to Their Mission”
Read a Nov. 23, 2007, New York Times article about megachurches’ entrepreneurial activities and the perceived benefits and drawbacks for the wider community.
Read a Nov. 23, 2007, New York Times article about megachurches’ entrepreneurial activities and the perceived benefits and drawbacks for the wider community.
Read a May 15, 2008, Christianity Today article about a shift by one of the best-known megachurches, Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago, away from “seeker-centered” services in order to better meet the needs of more spiritually mature believers.
Read a March 10, 2009, blog post by Duke University professor Mark Chaves about how congregational size is changing America’s religious landscape.
Read a June 26, 2009, Forbes magazine article on megachurches. It includes descriptions and photos of the nation’s 10 biggest ones and a Q-and-A with Joel Osteen, pastor of Houston’s Lakewood Church.
Read an Aug. 6, 2009, Christianity Today editorial that asks whether megachurches — and smaller ones, too — ought to pay more attention to cultivating a “gospel culture” and less attention to cultivating growth.
A leading scholar on megachurches concurred with some of the findings of a 2009 Barna study on congregations and religious and political beliefs, but disagreed on others, according to this Aug. 12, 2009, Newsweek/Washington Post On Faith blog post.
The Barna Group, a Christian research company, released a report on August 10, 2009, that found links between congregational size and the members’ theological beliefs, religious behaviors and demographic characteristics, including political leanings. The report says, for example, that those who attend megachurches are more likely to be Republicans.
Read an Aug. 12, 2009, Christianity Today article about megachurches training future pastors themselves rather than drawing from established seminaries.
Read a Sept. 25, 2009, Crosswalk.com article about the trend toward multisite megachurches.