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Noah Horn

Dr. Sally Griffin

UWRT 1102

29 March 2017

Mega Church, Mega Business

If one were to drive down Browne Road, a suburban road in North Charlotte, on a

Saturday evening or Sunday morning, they would come across what might appear to some as a

concert or a large conference. There would be a police officer directing traffic in and out of a

parking lot and a team of over a dozen people in matching t-shirts directing traffic within a

parking lot. In the parking lot, at least 1000 people, mostly young professionals and families,

would be headed towards a large building with impressive modern architecture. This is not a

concert, or a conference, but a church service at Mecklenburg Community Church, more

commonly known as Meck, a megachurch founded in 1992 by James Emery White (Senior

Pastor"). This church is one of over 1000 mega churches in the United States and claims to have

11,000 people actively involved in the church (Senior Pastor).

Introduction: The corporate megachurch

A megachurch is considered a protestant church with a membership of greater than 2,000

(Sanders, 73). As of 2008, Meck was one of 1343 Megachurches in the United States (Maddox,

147). Fifty-five percent of these churches, including Meck, are pastor-centered/seeker oriented

church (Maddox, 147). Another title given to many of these kinds of churches is the title

corporate mega church. Corporate mega churches are churches with a heavy focus on growth and

a senior pastor that acts more like a business executive or a CEO. More specifically, Maddox

describes a corporate mega church as a church seized by the vision of growth, they share the
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entrepreneurial spirit, the hierarchical corporate structures and the marketing techniques of

entertainment, conversion, and branding (Maddox, 155)

This church model has seen massive success rates, in terms of monetary gains and

attendance all throughout the country for the last 2-3 decades. From Saddleback Church in

California, to Willow Creek in Chicago, to Lakewood Church in Houston mega churches have

grown from absolutely nothing into massive organizations numbering with over 10,000

members in a matter of 20 or 30 years; However, running a church as if it were a for-profit

corporation has most certainly had its downsides. There are many issues that arise within

corporate mega churches that are not clearly visible to an outsider. There is a lack of long-lasting

impact created by having a church body numbering in the thousands as well as discrimination,

corruption, and the intense focus on growth caused by the capitalistic model used by these

churches.

Corporate Mega-nonplace

The first description of the church after the ascension of the Christ is found the Biblical

book of Acts. In chapter 2, the church is described as a group of people who are devoted to one

another. A group of loving people who share life together and help each other when they are in

need (Acts, New International Version). This type of culture is not regularly found in

megachurches. One study showed that almost half of megachurch attendees do not volunteer

(Hartfield Institute). This is just one example. Along with this, a survey of members of twelve

American megachurches with charismatic pastors, another name for corporate mega churches,

found that over 66 percent of respondents reported that the influence of the senior pastor was a

lot of the reason that they remained at the church (Corcoran and Wellman, 319). Combining a

membership of over 2000 with a heavy focus on the pastor makes the corporate megachurch a
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nonplace.

According to sociologist Mark Auge, a place is defined as something Relational,

Historical and concerned with Identity. In contrast, he says a place lacking all of these

characteristics is a non-place. Other examples of non places include shopping malls, chain

restaurants, and car dealerships (Auge qtd. in Sanders, 76). Suburban areas are often surrounded

by non-places and the corporate megachurch,which tends to be most successful in a suburban

environment (Jethani), may be one of these places. People show up on a Sunday morning, walk

into the service, sit down for an hour and then leave. In many of his sermons and books, the

senior pastor of the corporate megachurch Willow Creek Community Church, Bill Hybels,

proclaims that the local church has breathtaking power and indescribable beauty;

unfortunately, in reality, the corporate megachurch may have about as much impact as a hotel or

resort.

The Right Look

Because of this lack of identity, megachurches cannot solely rely on personal connection

among members or a sense of kinship to keep attendance high . Megachurches, in order to

maintain high attendance, may do some morally questionable things in order to try and attract an

audience. Lookism, a word that came into existence in the 1970s, is defined as discrimination

against people considered unattractive according to widespread social and/or psychobiological

standards (Minerva, 31). While Lookism-based discrimination affects many industries

nationwide, the hospitality industry is one of the most influenced. Ninety-three percent of

employers in the hospitality industry rate an employee's physical appearance as critical to the

company's branding and success (Warhurst, 133). Corporate megachurches, as previously

mentioned, rely on the appeal of the church, their product is the experience and satisfaction
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gained from walking through the doors. In this way, corporate megachurches often resemble

organizations in the hospitality industry, including their issue with lookism.

The following is what one would find at a regular service at Mecklenburg Community

Church. The door greeters would always be at least somewhat attractive (especially at the most

popular entrances), The worship team would be filled with physically attractive, fashionable

young people (35 at the oldest) and all visible staff members (other than the pastor and a couple

of Childrens ministry staff members) would fit this exact same build. These attractive people

make the church more appealing to people of all ages and appearances. Unfortunately, this is not

a coincidence. After speaking with many people from the church, It is clear that they are being

discriminated for based on their experience. In a personal conversatio, A heavyset woman

explained that she had been a door greeter at Meck for over 10 years was asked to step down

because of her weight. The former director of Guest services at the Church told her that her

appearance did not provide the welcoming atmosphere they were attempting to create. The

head worship pastor of the church for over 5 years recently left, according to the church, to

pursue other opportunities. However, due to his age (he was only in his mid 30s), he had been

assigned to lead at the significantly smaller satellite campuses for the 18 months prior to his

departure and the his lead worship pastor position had been effectively Handed to the Senior

Pastors 22 year old son. James Emery White even discusses this concept openly in his Church

and culture blog. In his blog post titled Three Ways Meck Could have been bigger than it is

That I regret, he mentions regretting the fact that he did not skew Meck younger sooner. He

calls it directing energy and intentionality towards young adults and believes that it is vital for

maintaining a Vibrant and youthful church culture (Three Ways Meck) . Not only do

churches discriminate based upon age and physical appearance, they also tend to attempt to
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create a false sense of diversity.

A recent trend in advertising is to attempt to brand oneself as diverse and accepting.

Companies will highlight employers that do not fit racial or gender-based stereotypes (e.g. a

female engineer, or a black scientist) in order to brand themselves as progressive and modern.

While corporate megachurches may be more diverse than smaller, traditional churches., many

corporate mega churches will feature as much diversity as possible in their social media and

promotional videos. While Mecklenburg Community church has zero African American

employees and a membership of almost exclusively white people , As of March 28th, 2017 three

of the seven most recent photos featuring people posted on the churchs Instagram include people

of color (Instagram.com). This is simply one example. Many of the promotional videos for the

church falsely represent the amount of diversity in the church.While this is partially an attempt to

make the church seem more relatable to people of color and a harmless attempt to create more

diversity,when closely analyzed, this over-representation feels deceptive and tokenizes the

people of color who do attend the church.

Soul-cial Capital

Since corporate megachurches have to put a considerable amount of effort into making

sure they are maintaining their weekly attendance, they tend to have a strong desire and focus on

growth. In the same way that business desires to increase its profits, corporate megachurches

desire to increase is membership and converts. Many are not even subtle about it. Elevation

Church, a megachurch based in North Carolina states that they exist so that people far from god

will Raised to Life in Christ (Furtick). This is Christian jargon for the idea that Elevation exists

to make as many converts as possible. Because of this, critics of the corporate megachurch often

say that they are completely missing the point and the purpose of the church.
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The biblical quote that many churches use as their explanation for the importance they

place on growth can be found in Matthew 28:19 and says Go and Make Disciples of All

nations (New International Version, Mat. 28:19). While megachurches use this as a mantra in

their attempts to bring as many people as possible through their doors, megachurch critics say

that this method does not create disciples at all. In Mecks mission statement, They claim that

their goal is to help explorers become fully devoted followers (White, Beliefs). While

attempts are made to create devoted followers, they are often negated by the focus on growth.

Meck will speak about a lifelong devotion to Christ, and then, in order to obtain growth, push

older and more devoted leaders aside to be replaced by younger and more culturally relevant

leaders. The church staff also reflects this. There are three members of the church staff that are

responsible for spiritual development aspects of the church, one who teaches faith-based classes,

and two responsible for small groups/prayer requests. This is the exact same amount of staff

devoted to maintenance and upkeep, and this ministry (campus services) also employs at least

five part-time students. The salaries of these individuals are not public, but based upon

employment, it appears that meck places a higher value on making their campus visually

appealing than on making sure their members are growing spiritually

Total control, Total Corruption

While issues of subtle discrimination and lack of identity are prevalent and legitimate

issues, the largest problem is the amount of power given to the senior pastor of the church. Since

the senior pastor often has little-to-no internal accountability, it is very easy for a person with this

amount of power to become corrupted.

Joel Osteen is one of the most successful mega pastors in America and he is one of the

most criticized men within the christian community. His church, Lakewood church in Houston
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Texas, has an attendance of over 52,000 and is currently the largest church in the United States

(Zaimov). This is largely due to the message of prosperity that Osteen preaches. Osteen preaches

that if a person believes in the Christian gospel, and follow Jesus' Commandments then God

will bless them with wealth, good health, and happiness (Hollifield). He is one of many mega

pastors that preach this message and it appalls the wider Christian community. Not only does it

preach a message that is contrary to what the Bible says (Some of the most prominent characters

in the bible were deeply impoverished, including Jesus), but the preachers of the prosperity

gospel are deceptively leading hundreds of thousands of Christians away from the teachings of

Christ. Since many of these pastors using the prosperity gospel claim that God rewards them

with financial prosperity; However, many of the same pastors also fall into monetary corruption.

Steven Furtick, pastor of Elevation Church, the largest megachurch in North Carolina,

lives in a house that cost 1.7 million dollars. Furtick does not follow the Prosperity gospel and

claims that all of the money used to build this house came from his books sales, which we he

also claims he uses to generously give back to the church (WCNC Newsroom). Furtick, however,

refuses to disclose his salary, the amount of tax-free housing allowance he received from his

church, the amount of money his church spends promoting his books, or the amount he gives

back to the church from his book sales. He also fails to mention that his salary is not decided by

members of the church, but is instead determined by a board of overseers, which is made up of

exclusively of other megachurch senior Pastors (WCNC Newsroom). Furtick is simply one

example as Pastors such as Joel Osteen, Ed young, Jesse Duplantis and many more have similar

secrecy when it comes to their personal finance. These pastors are not embezzling church money,

but it appears they are certainly using the success of the church to benefit themselves and the

reason they are able to do this is because of the power that they hold. Furtick, decided who
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decides his salary, but many pastors have done much worse. One recent example is a multi-

million dollar embezzlement of church money used by Pastors of a corporate megachurch in

South Korea. The fraud was so profound that many of the pastors are now facing potential

lifelong prison sentences.

Conclusion

It must be noted that not all megachurches and not all corporate megachurches can be

quite different from each other. Just because a church has over 2,000 members does not mean

that they immediately become invalid, deeply corrupt or discriminatory. This inquiry is simply a

deep look into the complications that styling a church like a business can bring. Members and

leaders of corporate megachurches are often using questionable methods and unreliable power

structures in order to produce the most growth without realizing their consequences. While a

senior pastor with a gift for inspiring and teaching can lead to growth for the church, it can also

place a single man or woman in charge of millions of dollars and thousands of people with nearly

unlimited power. Attempts to be relevant and relatable to people of a certain age, race, or life

scenario are understandable and even welcome; however, these attempts far too often lead to

discrimination and deception. Finally, attempts to bring in new members are very much in line

with the evangelical christian doctrine, but a church can very easily become overly-focused on

getting as many people through the door and in doing so, forget about people who have been

there for years.

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References

Acts. New International Version. Biblica, 2011. Web. 5 Apr. 2017.

Corcoran, Katie E., and James K. Wellman. "People Forget Hes Human: Charismatic

Leadership in Institutionalized Religion." Sociology of Religion 77.4 (2016): 309-33.

Web.

Furtick, Steven. "Our Code." Elevation Church. Elevation Church, 2016. Web. 05 Apr.

2017.

Hartford Institute. "45% of Megachurch Attenders Never Volunteer at the Church."

Catalystleader.com. Hartford Institute, 11 June 2009. Web. 05 Apr. 2017.

Hollifield, Gregory K. "Does God Want You to Be Rich? A Practical Theologian's Response to

the Gospel of Prosperity." Journal of Ministry & Theology, vol. 15, no. 2, Fall 2011,

pp. 25-53. EBSCOhost,

Jethani, Skye. "Megachurches: When Will The Bubble Burst?" The Huffington Post.

TheHuffingtonPost.com, 08 Nov. 2011. Web. 05 Apr. 2017.

Matthew. New International Version. Biblica, 2011. Web. 5 Apr. 2017.

Maddox, M. "'In the Goofy Parking Lot': Growth Churches as a Novel Religious Form for

Late Capitalism." Social Compass 59.2 (2012): 146-58. Web.

Mega Church Money. Prod. WCNC Newsroom. N.p., 2014. Web. 5 Apr. 2017.

Minerva, Francesca. How Should We Tackle Financial and Prosocial Biases against

Unattractive People? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, vol. 40, 2017,

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doi:10.1017/S0140525X16000571.

Sanders, George. "Religious Non-Places: Corporate Megachurches and Their Contributions to

Consumer Capitalism." Critical Sociology 42.1 (2016): 71-86. Web.

Warhurst, C., D. Van Den Broek, R. Hall, and D. Nickson. "Lookism: The New Frontier

of Employment Discrimination?" Journal of Industrial Relations 51.1 (2009): 131-36.

Web.

White, James Emery. "Three Ways Meck Could Have Been Much Bigger Than It Is... That I

Regret." Church and Culture. Serious Times, 10 Oct. 2016. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.

other source for lookism definition

White, James Emery. "Beliefs." Beliefs | Mecklenburg Community Church. Mecklenburg

Community Church, 2016. Web. 05 Apr. 2017

White, James Emery. Senior Pastor. Senior Pastor | Mecklenburg Community Church,

2016, mecklenburg.org/senior-pastor/. Accessed 19 Apr. 2017.

Zaimov, Stoyan. "Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church Ranked America's Largest Megachurch

With 52,000 Weekly Attendance." The Christian Post. The Christian Post, 8 Sept.

2016. Web. 05 Apr. 2017.

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