Big-box worship centers no longer appealing to younger generation

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20111120/NEWS06/111120006/Some-fear-megachurch-bubble-may-soon-burst?odyssey=mod|mostview

Some fear megachurch bubble may soon burst

Aging pastors, big overheads may threaten longevity

5:03 AM, Nov. 20, 2011

The finest church that Rolus Smith ever knew was the Lord’s Chapel.

For more than 15 years, Smith was an elder of the 2,500-member Nashville congregation. Crowds packed the church on Granny White Pike, drawn by its contemporary music and charismatic practices such as speaking in tongues. The Rev. Billy Roy Moore’s sermons made the Bible come alive.

Then it all fell apart.

Moore moved away after his son died in a car crash. People dropped out rather than shift to a new, 50,000-square-foot church seven miles away. When the Lord’s Chapel finally closed down in 2003, there were 40 people left.

[timtom]

1. Thank God!

Megachurches are an abomination.

[piratefish08]

2. .

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

[greymattermom]

3. huge church near me

20,000 members. I went to the Christmas show there last year, and the usher asked me if I wanted to sit in my usual seat. I've been in the building only once before. This church owns the adjacent shopping center.

[NNN0LHI]

6. I am atheist but I go to church

Raise Catholic in a huge congregation. Didn't know hardly anyone there. Go to a tiny Baptist church with about 50 members now. I know every one of them like my own family members. Wonderful people to be around.

Don

[gkhouston]

4. I've never understood the appeal of a "Six Flags Over Jesus" church. n/t

[SpiralHawk]

5. Halle lu jah !

[madrchsod]

7. i thought you were writing about walmart

[kentauros]

8. With the Sacred Super-Sale "Holy Friday" just a few days off,

too.

[madrchsod]

9. how about rickie rush`s church in texas...

that is one of if not the largest private aquariums in the usa.

[saras]

10. I always though "fishers of men" were like "weasels of men" - fishers are impressive predators.

[piratefish08]

11. give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. give a man religion and he'll starve to death

praying for a fish.

[saras]

17. Either that or become a predator on other people and eat THEIR food.

Teach a man to fish, though, and he'll sit in a boat all day and drink beer.

[MattBaggins]

18. I'll drink to that

[SoDesuKa]

12. Isn't Heaven a Big Box Kind of Place?

I suppose there are people who are expecting intimacy once they get past the Pearly Gates. Me, I'll be happy to meet old cronies and go for a drink. Not having to get up in the morning will be reward enough for the knocks you take in this life.

IHeaven will likely be open to those people who were Better Than You when they were alive. That's not what Christianity teaches, i.e., that the last shall be first, and the first, last. Then again, Jesus didn't say anything about meeting cronies in some heavenly saloon and not worrying about getting up in the a.m.



Wrap me up in me oilskins and jumper
No more on the docks I'll be seen.
Just tell me old shipmates I'm taking a trip mates
And I'll see you someday on Fiddler's Green

[Downtown Hound]

13. Maybe there is a God after all. n/t

[FarCenter]

14. They have huge investments in real estate which is very inefficiently used

It's an unsustainable model, and would be even more unsustainable if we did the right thing and taxed church property the same as all other property.

In my view, the tax break given to churches is an "establishment of religion".

[snooper2]

15. As the intelligence level of humans increases each century

This would be one of the obvious impacts

Hopefully by 2300, 2400, the religous 5-10% will be looked at as a hanger-on cult

[SoCalDem]

16. They have no money to give and no time to go for the social benefits

a sign of the times