Supersized worship?

Supersized worship?

Megachurches rose in prominence in the late 1980s, borrowing models less from seminary manuals than from Disney (on crowd management) and big-box stores (with their greeters and acres of parking). Some predicted the trend would fade with the aging of the baby boomers who started it, but there's no sign of that yet. "Many of the fastest-growing, largest and newest megachurches are full of people under 35 years old," according to a report, "Megachurches Today 2005," by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research and the Dallas-based Leadership Network, a church consulting group. ... Supersized worship Megachurches hit growth spurt and spin off campuses across the region By Peter Smith psmith@courier-journal.com The Courier-Journal Megachurches haven't just come of age, they're having babies. Nearly 5,000 people pack Northside Christian Church in New Albany each weekend -- more than twice the number attending just five years ago. About 2,700 attend Valley View Church in southwestern Jefferson County, more than double from 2001. And Highview Baptist Church, which was drawing about 2,000 people to one campus six years ago, now has five locations across threelocal counties, drawing 3,500 people a week. Southeast Christian Church remains Kentuckiana's largest megachurch, with weekly attendance of 19,000. Eight other area churches have also crossed the attendance barrier of 2,000 a week that researchers use to define megachurches. Three of them have exceeded that level since 2000. Why such churches are growing is "always the question," acknowledged George Ross, pastor of Northside, which began in a house basement in 1969. Megachurches rose in prominence in the late 1980s, borrowing models less from seminary manuals than from Disney (on crowd management) and big-box stores (with their greeters and acres of parking). Some predicted the trend would fade with the aging of the baby boomers who started it, but there's no sign of that yet. "Many of the fastest-growing, largest and newest megachurches are full of people under 35 years old," according to a report, "Megachurches Today 2005," by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research and the Dallas-based Leadership Network, a church consulting group. Although their numbers vary, megachurches tend to be Protestant congregations with strong leaders, conservative theologies, sophisticated marketing and seven-day-a-week activities. Some ministers credit part of the success of such churches to sermons that carry a practical message. Natalie Anderson of Georgetown, Ind., said she attends Northside in part because it provides "a real-life message that you can apply." Nationwide growth The local trend mirrors what is happening nationally. A report by the Hartford institute identified 1,210 megachurches nationally in 2005, nearly twice what it counted five years earlier. Megachurches nationwide include such well-known congregations as Saddleback Church in California, led by Rick Warren, author of the best-selling "Purpose Driven" book series; T.D. Jakes' The Potter's House in Dallas; and Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church, meeting in a former Houston Rockets basketball arena. Megachurches are primarily a conservative evangelical phenomenon. Among other American religious groups, Catholics and, less frequently, Jews have congregations that draw more than 2,000 per week. But sociologists say that despite some similarities, these large congregations are a different phenomenon, resulting more from residential and ethnic patterns or -- in some Catholic cases -- a consolidation of parishes due to a shortage of priests. Researcher Scott Thumma of the Hartford institute said the growth in megachurches is occurring as many smaller congregations are dwindling. "The larger congregations are able to provide more ministry and service and do a quality job of worship, and that's going to attract at least a certain kind of people," he said. One local megachurch pastor, Kevin Cosby of St. Stephen Church, attributes the success of churches such as his to a blend of "conservative theology" and "radical methodology." For example, Cosby's half-serious marching orders to the organizers of a new hip-hop youth choir were that if the adults didn't hate the music, the leaders would be fired. The church starts "with people's felt needs, and having them become aware of needs they don't realize they have," said Cosby, whose Baptist church plans to build a 4,000-seat sanctuary in the California neighborhood. Across the river at Northside Christian, Ross said a willingness to throw out traditional trappings and services -- while holding fast to traditional theology -- has drawn "people who have either lost a connection to God or haven't had it for the first time." At many megachurches, Sunday go-to-meeting clothes are so out of date that the easiest way to spot a visitor is to look for a man in a necktie, one pastor quips. And the appearances of such churches are also different. Rather than pews and altars, Northside has stadium seating and video screens. Instead of a pipe organ, there is a band with electric instruments. The lobby more closely resembles a mall -- with a gourmet coffee shop and playground -- than a traditional vestibule. That's all part of the attraction for Jill Nash of Floyds Knobs. "The music is awesome, and it doesn't feel like a big church," she said. The church size doesn't bother Natalie Anderson either. "Heaven's going to be a big place, too," she said. Changing strategies Even as megachurches grow, their formula for success is evolving. Rather than building enormous sanctuaries, such as Southeast Christian's, the churches are moving toward multiple campuses. Highview Baptist, Evangel World Prayer Center and St. Stephen have more than one sanctuary. Even Southeast Christian, which can seat 9,000 people at its building on Blankenbaker Parkway, plans up to five satellite centers. "The megachurch as in large buildings may be a dinosaur 10 years from now," said Dave Stone, senior minister of Southeast. Thumma predicted megachurches will increasingly act like community colleges with multiple campuses "to meet the needs of a diverse population around the city." Pastor Kevin Ezell of Highview Baptist, which now has three campuses in Jefferson County and one each in Taylorsville, Ky., and Sellersburg, Ind., said this approach is better than the traditional Baptist strategy of planting churches and letting them become independent. "We're able to maintain a theological consistency and evangelistic passion this way," he said. "Typically, when (churches) go out on their own, they would drift theologically." Some concerns Not all evangelicals are enamored with megachurch growth. Ben Witherington, a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky., said many megachurch leaders have little accountability to a denomination or their own members. That, he said, sets up a "cult of personality" that can lead to scandal, as in the recent case of Ted Haggard, whose involvement with a gay escort led to his resignation as pastor of a Colorado megachurch and president of the National Association of Evangelicals. Witherington also sees megachurches as focused on entertaining "couch potatoes for Jesus." "People can go there and just hide out," said Witherington, a frequent commentator on popular culture. "They don't really have to respond to any rigorous call to discipleship." Megachurch pastors say that such anonymity is actually a benefit for people who were turned off by church in the past but want to give it another try -- without being smothered by the attention they would receive as the only newcomer in a small church. "People can be couch potatoes in any size church," said Cosby, pastor of St. Stephen. Once people do get involved, they are urged to join some of the scores of Bible studies, support groups and other activities that do encourage fellowship and discipline, he and other pastors said. Douglas Fowler, executive director of the Kentuckiana Interfaith Community, said he regrets that megachurches are not more involved in ecumenical activities and "want to go on their own and do it by themselves." Fowler -- whose organization is a coalition of Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim and Bahai congregations -- said he hopes churches large and small can cooperate in areas such as improving health care. "I wish there was more support for doing something around questions of social justice," he said. But while most megachurches are big enough to run their own community centers, some do cooperate with ecumenical food pantries and other social services. St. Stephen is also unusual in that it participates in the annual Festival of Faiths, with services and workshops involving various religions. "It's very important that we partner with other churches, and … people of different faiths, for the sake of the community, even if we do not agree theologically," Cosby said. Reporter Peter Smith can be reached at (502) 582-4469.