Comments on: Can’t Do Megachurch Anymore

By: Adam

Adam — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 16:58:41 +0000

In 1996 I actually slept at the Garnett church building during the workshop. Interesting experience. The guy I brought with me snored all night and no one got much rest.

By: Steve Jr.

Steve Jr. — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 13:54:59 +0000

It’s certainly nice to see one mega-church beginning to transform, and I know it’s genuine because members are leaving. This kind of “switch” (for many churches it’s a reformatting of its very DNA…) does not happen overnight and drives many consumer Christians away. While we need prophets and apostles working within attractional churches to make these changes, we need many more “revolutionaries” working on the front lines of our post-Christian culture among those who do not know Jesus.

We’ve been talking to ourselves for far too long.

Peace.

By: ZZPuck

ZZPuck — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 13:24:23 +0000

Bummer. We will miss having you in Florida.

Peace.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 06:45:55 +0000

It was great to have you here, Mike. Take care of that leg!

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 03:30:42 +0000

I was struck by the honesty of the article, and by the recognition that primary attention must be given to searching through the meaning of the gospel.

ZZ - No, it’s an actual Zoe Conference. Unfortunately, I can’t be there because I’ll be coaching baseball.

By: ZZPuck

ZZPuck — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 03:02:40 +0000

Oh, is the Zoe conference a by satellite deal or are you all actually coming to Metro in Orlando?

Peace.

By: ZZPuck

ZZPuck — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 02:52:56 +0000

I didn’t realize you all were coming to Orlando. Where will it be held? I only 60 miles east of Orlando in Melbourne.

I read the article in Leadership and also made a comment on Wade’s blog wondering if this is a trend within Churches of Christ of all sizes–decline, I mean.

Our own church in Melbourne has become such a beautiful microcosm of God’s people. We are from a variety of denominations, ethnic groups, and socieo-economic strata who have come together to be like Jesus.

Peace.

By: Mike (the one w/o a blog)

Mike (the one w/o a blog) — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 01:47:45 +0000

Are there only five comments on this b/c everyone spent the day at potlucks, or is the article just too long?

I enjoyed it, and appreciate the transformation that is taking place. At the same time, I don’t know if most mega-churches would, could, or should undergo such a revitalization. I tend to see more harm having come from the paradigm of mega-churches than good.

Wade comments that church planting felt to him as though it were giving up on the existing church - which there may be some truth to, and it may in fact be justified at times - but, he his is right. Ministry at such a church is first and foremost an effort to minister to the existing body, much more so than it is to foster any outreach effort. The transformation into a missional body is a necessary facet, and a central tenet of Christianity that mega-churches long forgot. The outward movement of mega-churches is in fact, hopefully, saving the inward spiritual life of them.

It’s great to hear of mega-churches that are able to forge their members spiritually. But, I find great hope in the emergence of house churches and community churches. The mega-church model is simply flawed… making it function as a missional community is great, but I’d rather see churches that are inherently communal.

By: Tina

Tina — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 22:56:37 +0000

We had a similar situation at a church I attended in Florida. I’m sorry to say that the congregation collapsed and is no longer meeting.

By: annie

annie — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 22:10:14 +0000

Wow! I wish Garnett Road the best too. Oh that all of our congregations would turn “topsy-turvy” for Jesus. It’s the way HE operates, isn’t it?!

By: Steve Sr.

Steve Sr. — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 21:01:03 +0000

“The Spirit, I believe, is teaching us that it’s not about people populating programs but about God inhabiting every moment of our lives, most of which happens outside the walls of the church.”

I love it! I wish the folks at Garnett church the best. Oh, that every church would have such a heart.

By: David U

David U — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 20:22:27 +0000

We are looking forward to you and Zoe being with us at Downtown in Searcy the early part of 2008!

I hope to see Greg in Tulsa this week.

By: Trey

Trey — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 13:10:30 +0000

I read this story with great interest, having known this congregation through years of attending the Tulsa Workshop. It was our regular place of worship on Sunday morning following the workshop. I appreciated the article and the humility in which it was written. I look forward to hearing about the great things happening at Garnett. I have no doubt Garnett’s future is bright.