Mega-Church Vs Small-Church

[TechWord]

It was Christ's Physical Death (The Cross of Christ). and literal resurrection that Created the opportunity for any Sinner to become " the temple of the Holy Spirit.", a CHRISTian.

Amen & Amen!

 

[DJT_47]

I belong to a mega-church, but I am always amazed by the number of people, including fellow Christians, who hold very strong negative opinions about every mega-church, without any knowledge of how any of those individual churches are run or operated.
No church is perfect and no church is good or bad , because of it’s size. Mega-churches, because of their large size tend to be well-known, therefore any misdeeds in them, real or imagined, spread far and wide, as opposed to a small-church, that is less known. The wrong things can happen in any size church, but the bigger you are , the more and bigger the publicity.

The number of those who ate was five thousand men, besides women and children - Matthew 14:21

The preceding scripture, only gives us the number of men, who were the heads of households, but if we add the men plus women and children, the number would be over ten thousand people. This was many centuries ago, when the world population was much smaller and yet Jesus preached to mega-crowds, which today would equal a mega-church.

Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children - Matthew 15:38

Here again, the number of men plus women and children, would be nearly or over ten thousand people. Jesus preached to mega-church size crowds, many centuries ago. So, if Jesus had mega-crowds, why would it be wrong to have mega-churches today, when the world population is much bigger?
Furthermore, we have mega this and mega that, in our time, like mega-stores or mega-farms, because small stores or small farms can no longer, meet the needs of a growing population. The same is true of churches, small churches, in some cases, can no longer meet the needs of a growing population, regardless of any shortcomings that they may have or not have.

Mega, small? Wrong question and concern. Truth and true church, or false and phony church should be the question and concern.

 

[TechWord]

Mega, small? Wrong question and concern. Truth and true church, or false and phony church should be the question and concern.

We can debate forever, as to which church is real and which is phony or which church preaches the truth and which doesn’t, but the purpose of this thread is to examine, whether churches can really remain the same size, while the world population explodes, and many things that used to be small are becoming bigger or super-size.

 

[Marilyn C]

I belong to a mega-church, but I am always amazed by the number of people, including fellow Christians, who hold very strong negative opinions about every mega-church, without any knowledge of how any of those individual churches are run or operated.
No church is perfect and no church is good or bad , because of it’s size. Mega-churches, because of their large size tend to be well-known, therefore any misdeeds in them, real or imagined, spread far and wide, as opposed to a small-church, that is less known. The wrong things can happen in any size church, but the bigger you are , the more and bigger the publicity.

The number of those who ate was five thousand men, besides women and children - Matthew 14:21

The preceding scripture, only gives us the number of men, who were the heads of households, but if we add the men plus women and children, the number would be over ten thousand people. This was many centuries ago, when the world population was much smaller and yet Jesus preached to mega-crowds, which today would equal a mega-church.

Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children - Matthew 15:38

Here again, the number of men plus women and children, would be nearly or over ten thousand people. Jesus preached to mega-church size crowds, many centuries ago. So, if Jesus had mega-crowds, why would it be wrong to have mega-churches today, when the world population is much bigger?
Furthermore, we have mega this and mega that, in our time, like mega-stores or mega-farms, because small stores or small farms can no longer, meet the needs of a growing population. The same is true of churches, small churches, in some cases, can no longer meet the needs of a growing population, regardless of any shortcomings that they may have or not have.

The church, the Body of Christ does not have to have man `s systems organizing them. Believers, as in the early days can quite well gather together with their disciples and other believers.

`You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.` (2 Tim. 2: 1 & 2)

Paul and his peers.
Timothy
faithful men
who teach other too.

The difficulty with man`s organizations is that is tends to take away the believer making disciples and meeting with them and helping them to make disciples as Paul encourage Timothy to do.

 

[DJT_47]

We can debate forever, as to which church is real and which is phony or which church preaches the truth and which doesn’t, but the purpose of this thread is to examine, whether churches can really remain the same size, while the world population explodes, and many things that used to be small are becoming bigger or super-size.

You can debate if you like, but the church pattern is right before our eyes in the NT scriptures. And for the most part, the real church has been shrinkong and will continue to, as is the evidence here in the states, with the mega-churches growing in size and popularity. Why? It should be obvious.

 

[Ronald Nolette]

I belong to a mega-church, but I am always amazed by the number of people, including fellow Christians, who hold very strong negative opinions about every mega-church, without any knowledge of how any of those individual churches are run or operated.
No church is perfect and no church is good or bad , because of it’s size. Mega-churches, because of their large size tend to be well-known, therefore any misdeeds in them, real or imagined, spread far and wide, as opposed to a small-church, that is less known. The wrong things can happen in any size church, but the bigger you are , the more and bigger the publicity.

The number of those who ate was five thousand men, besides women and children - Matthew 14:21

The preceding scripture, only gives us the number of men, who were the heads of households, but if we add the men plus women and children, the number would be over ten thousand people. This was many centuries ago, when the world population was much smaller and yet Jesus preached to mega-crowds, which today would equal a mega-church.

Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children - Matthew 15:38

Here again, the number of men plus women and children, would be nearly or over ten thousand people. Jesus preached to mega-church size crowds, many centuries ago. So, if Jesus had mega-crowds, why would it be wrong to have mega-churches today, when the world population is much bigger?
Furthermore, we have mega this and mega that, in our time, like mega-stores or mega-farms, because small stores or small farms can no longer, meet the needs of a growing population. The same is true of churches, small churches, in some cases, can no longer meet the needs of a growing population, regardless of any shortcomings that they may have or not have.

The sad truth is that the most famous mega churches are also the most corrupt! Like Joel Osteen, John Hagee, Joyce Meyers et. al.

Also people bring prejudices ito this discussion and becaus of the negative press about the bad churches, they condemn them all.

But there are also corrupt small and medium and large size churches as well. Size does not equal quality.

 

[Big Boy Johnson]

every born again Christian is a small church

Good way to look at it as we are!

 

[DJT_47]

It's not the size that's the issue, but the type and nature of the "church". If its one of those famous ones like on TV where the preacher is a multimillionaire flying around on private jets, then there's something wrong.

 

[TechWord]

The sad truth is that the most famous mega churches are also the most corrupt! Like Joel Osteen, John Hagee, Joyce Meyers et. al.

Also people bring prejudices ito this discussion and becaus of the negative press about the bad churches, they condemn them all.

But there are also corrupt small and medium and large size churches as well. Size does not equal quality.

Well spoken!

 

[TechWord]

It's not the size that the issue, but the type and nature of the "church". If its obe of those famous ones like on TV where the preacher is a multimillionaire flying around on private jets, then there's something wrong.

…..they examined the scriptures every day, to see if what Paul said was true - Acts 17:11

The early Christians double-checked the scriptures for themselves, to make sure that what the preacher said was really what God said! And present-day Christians and those in the future need to follow that example.
The church world is ‘buyer beware’. We can blame preachers forever, but every Christian also has a personal responsibility to double-check the scriptures, for their own good.
As humans, we are very good at choosing the right products or services, in our daily lives. So, we must do the same, in choosing which church to be associated with, because in the end there is no one to protect us, but ourselves. And unfortunately, there is no agency or organization to police wrong doctrine.

 

[Berean]

I belong to a house church, small is better and intimate

 

[TechWord]

I belong to a house church, small is better and intimate

Lucky you! But most people do not have the good fortune of belonging to a small house church. And the number of people, who would be willing to offer their house, for use as a church, sad to say is small.

 

[Big Boy Johnson]

I belong to a house church, small is better and intimate

Most of those are a one man show with no deacons and aren't really a New Testament church so it would be more like a bible study than an actual church

With these one man shows, if you don't agree with everything they say they give people to BOOT

 

[bdavidc]

I belong to a mega-church, but I am always amazed by the number of people, including fellow Christians, who hold very strong negative opinions about every mega-church, without any knowledge of how any of those individual churches are run or operated.
No church is perfect and no church is good or bad , because of it’s size. Mega-churches, because of their large size tend to be well-known, therefore any misdeeds in them, real or imagined, spread far and wide, as opposed to a small-church, that is less known. The wrong things can happen in any size church, but the bigger you are , the more and bigger the publicity.

The number of those who ate was five thousand men, besides women and children - Matthew 14:21

The preceding scripture, only gives us the number of men, who were the heads of households, but if we add the men plus women and children, the number would be over ten thousand people. This was many centuries ago, when the world population was much smaller and yet Jesus preached to mega-crowds, which today would equal a mega-church.

Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children - Matthew 15:38

Here again, the number of men plus women and children, would be nearly or over ten thousand people. Jesus preached to mega-church size crowds, many centuries ago. So, if Jesus had mega-crowds, why would it be wrong to have mega-churches today, when the world population is much bigger?
Furthermore, we have mega this and mega that, in our time, like mega-stores or mega-farms, because small stores or small farms can no longer, meet the needs of a growing population. The same is true of churches, small churches, in some cases, can no longer meet the needs of a growing population, regardless of any shortcomings that they may have or not have.

The Bible doesn’t give us a blueprint for how big or small a church should be, but it does tell us what a church is supposed to be. In Scripture, the church is described as a body of believers who gather for teaching, prayer, fellowship, worship, and accountability (Acts 2:42, Hebrews 10:24–25). The focus is always on spiritual growth and truth, not size or style. That’s where many mega-churches run into danger. When the goal becomes drawing large crowds, it’s easy to start softening the message to keep people comfortable. But 2 Timothy 4:3 warns that people will turn away from sound doctrine and look for teachers who say what they want to hear. That’s a serious problem. God cares more about faithfulness to His Word than the number of seats filled. Also, real shepherding is hard to do when thousands of people are just spectators in a big room. The Bible calls for elders to care for the flock (1 Peter 5:2), not just one celebrity pastor doing all the speaking. Small churches aren’t automatically better, but they often make it easier to stay close, stay accountable, and keep the focus where it belongs, on Jesus and the truth of His Word. So whatever the size, the real question is this: is the church built on Scripture, or is it built on what people want to hear? That’s the difference that matters.

 

[TechWord]

The Bible doesn’t give us a blueprint for how big or small a church should be, but it does tell us what a church is supposed to be. In Scripture, the church is described as a body of believers who gather for teaching, prayer, fellowship, worship, and accountability (Acts 2:42, Hebrews 10:24–25). The focus is always on spiritual growth and truth, not size or style. That’s where many mega-churches run into danger. When the goal becomes drawing large crowds, it’s easy to start softening the message to keep people comfortable. But 2 Timothy 4:3 warns that people will turn away from sound doctrine and look for teachers who say what they want to hear. That’s a serious problem. God cares more about faithfulness to His Word than the number of seats filled. Also, real shepherding is hard to do when thousands of people are just spectators in a big room. The Bible calls for elders to care for the flock (1 Peter 5:2), not just one celebrity pastor doing all the speaking. Small churches aren’t automatically better, but they often make it easier to stay close, stay accountable, and keep the focus where it belongs, on Jesus and the truth of His Word. So whatever the size, the real question is this: is the church built on Scripture, or is it built on what people want to hear? That’s the difference that matters.

We are in agreement, on the points you have raised, but in any church, outsiders can make speeches, from a distance, but they cannot bring about the much needed changes. Only those within can transform the institution.
The hope must be, that sooner or later someone within, will see the need to change.

 

[Berean]

Most of those are a one man show with no deacons and aren't really a New Testament church so it would be more like a bible study than an actual church

With these one man shows, if you don't agree with everything they say they give people to BOOT

Not necessarily, We have two elders and three deacons. We have a secretary and a treasurer. We're also international

 

[TechWord]

The Bible doesn’t give us a blueprint for how big or small a church should be, but it does tell us what a church is supposed to be. In Scripture, the church is described as a body of believers who gather for teaching, prayer, fellowship, worship, and accountability (Acts 2:42, Hebrews 10:24–25). The focus is always on spiritual growth and truth, not size or style. That’s where many mega-churches run into danger. When the goal becomes drawing large crowds, it’s easy to start softening the message to keep people comfortable. But 2 Timothy 4:3 warns that people will turn away from sound doctrine and look for teachers who say what they want to hear. That’s a serious problem. God cares more about faithfulness to His Word than the number of seats filled. Also, real shepherding is hard to do when thousands of people are just spectators in a big room. The Bible calls for elders to care for the flock (1 Peter 5:2), not just one celebrity pastor doing all the speaking. Small churches aren’t automatically better, but they often make it easier to stay close, stay accountable, and keep the focus where it belongs, on Jesus and the truth of His Word. So whatever the size, the real question is this: is the church built on Scripture, or is it built on what people want to hear? That’s the difference that matters.

There have been many interesting comments and opinions, some backed by scripture on this thread, but I believe it is important to remind one another, what Jesus said, the mission of the Church aught to be.

And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature - Mark 16:15

Just before Jesus ascended to heaven, He commanded His disciples or followers, past, present and future, to go to all nations and preach the gospel to all humans.
There is nothing wrong in establishing a church small or large, as your base or headquarters, but beyond that according to Jesus, the church must reach out, to as many people as possible, internationally and locally. Every church may not go to foreign lands, but how about going into all your country, state, city, town or village?
While there may be more spiritual growth and community, in some small churches, it’s resources for reaching out are limited. On the other hand, in some mega-churches, there might not be much spiritual growth and community, because their Main focus, is to introduce Jesus to non-Christians, but they have far more resources to reach out, both locally and abroad.
There is no doubt, that whoever is on tv and radio, in multiple countries, and has the ability to rent and fill, huge arenas is reaching far more people with the gospel of salvation (Romans 10:9-10), than a missionary from a small church, in small places, with small crowds and no publicity.
It would be nice and wonderful, if everyone everywhere was fortunate, to belong to a local church, after receiving salvation, so they can grow spiritually, but such an environment or setting is not available to everyone.
However, though many born again Christians, may not know anything else beyond salvation, it is great news, that they will spend eternity with Jesus.
It is far better to have a billion or billions of people, who have acknowledged and accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, with limited spiritual knowledge, than to have only a million born again Christian, who have more spiritual knowledge.
We live in an age of mass production, because of the huge and ever growing global population and with mass production, quality may suffer, but it is the Only way to meet the needs of large numbers.
Similarly, while mass evangelism gets the most people to receive salvation, more in-depth teaching may be sacrificed.
Sometimes we can’t have everything, as long as more people will spend eternity with Jesus, that should be good enough for everyone.

 

[Big Boy Johnson]

Not necessarily, We have two elders and three deacons. We have a secretary and a treasurer. We're also international

I know of a guy in my area that teaches on youtube and he has a house church but he won't let just anybody come to hiis church because it's at his house and he's concerned about crazy people knowing where he lives which is understandable.

He said in one of his videos eventually he'll have deacons and meet at a public place somewhere other than his house.

So, I'll wait to attend then because right now he's just a one man show which is not really a church

And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature - Mark 16:15

Yes and when people get saved they need a fellowship to attend.

Some folks get saved and are left to fend for themselves

They are told "find a good bible based church to attend", yeah well good luck with that!

Most churches teach false doctrine and they will indoctrinate new converts into their cults

 

[bdavidc]

There have been many interesting comments and opinions, some backed by scripture on this thread, but I believe it is important to remind one another, what Jesus said, the mission of the Church aught to be.

And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature - Mark 16:15

Just before Jesus ascended to heaven, He commanded His disciples or followers, past, present and future, to go to all nations and preach the gospel to all humans.
There is nothing wrong in establishing a church small or large, as your base or headquarters, but beyond that according to Jesus, the church must reach out, to as many people as possible, internationally and locally. Every church may not go to foreign lands, but how about going into all your country, state, city, town or village?
While there may be more spiritual growth and community, in some small churches, it’s resources for reaching out are limited. On the other hand, in some mega-churches, there might not be much spiritual growth and community, because their Main focus, is to introduce Jesus to non-Christians, but they have far more resources to reach out, both locally and abroad.
There is no doubt, that whoever is on tv and radio, in multiple countries, and has the ability to rent and fill, huge arenas is reaching far more people with the gospel of salvation (Romans 10:9-10), than a missionary from a small church, in small places, with small crowds and no publicity.
It would be nice and wonderful, if everyone everywhere was fortunate, to belong to a local church, after receiving salvation, so they can grow spiritually, but such an environment or setting is not available to everyone.
However, though many born again Christians, may not know anything else beyond salvation, it is great news, that they will spend eternity with Jesus.
It is far better to have a billion or billions of people, who have acknowledged and accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, with limited spiritual knowledge, than to have only a million born again Christian, who have more spiritual knowledge.
We live in an age of mass production, because of the huge and ever growing global population and with mass production, quality may suffer, but it is the Only way to meet the needs of large numbers.
Similarly, while mass evangelism gets the most people to receive salvation, more in-depth teaching may be sacrificed.
Sometimes we can’t have everything, as long as more people will spend eternity with Jesus, that should be good enough for everyone.

I get the heart behind wanting to reach as many people as possible, and yes, Jesus did command us to go into all the world and preach the gospel (Mark 16:15). But He didn’t stop there, He told us to make disciples, teaching them to obey all that He commanded (Matthew 28:19–20). That means our goal isn’t just getting people to say they believe in Jesus, but helping them actually follow Him.

One of the biggest problems we’re seeing today is the creation of false converts. When the gospel gets watered down or reduced to just “say this prayer and you’re saved,” people may respond emotionally or out of pressure, but without repentance, there’s no real salvation. Jesus warned that many will say “Lord, Lord” and still be cast out because they never truly knew Him (Matthew 7:21–23). That should sober us. Getting large numbers means nothing if those people haven’t truly come to Christ.

Mass evangelism can be good when the message is faithful, but not when it sacrifices truth for the sake of numbers. Paul didn’t just count responses, he looked for lasting fruit (Colossians 1:10). The early church grew because they were rooted in solid teaching, not just emotional experiences (Acts 2:41–42).

So yes, let’s reach as many people as we can, but let’s do it the way Scripture says, by preaching the full gospel, calling for repentance, and making real disciples. That’s how lives are truly changed, and that’s what honors the Lord.

 

[Rockerduck]

Mega churches thrive on the personality of the Preacher. If the personality preacher leaves, the attendance leaves. The majority will follow that preach to another church. If there is a scandal, most leave. Small churches are community churches that worship together and just need a decent preacher.