Randall Balmer, a professor of American religious history at Columbia University and Barnard College, says troubles at Crystal Cathedral point to the larger challenges megachurches, which soared in popularity from the 1970s to the 1990s, now face.
“On one hand, it’s a leadership issue. You can’t simply pass along charismatic authority from one generation to the next. It never works,” Balmer said. “And there’s a moving away from big megachurches, a moving away from the big Billy Graham stadium crusades of mass appeal to more targeted approaches. You have all this niche marketing within Christian evangelism. I mean, you have Christian evangelical tattoos.”
To be sure, there are still dozens of popular and growing megachurches in the U.S, such as Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, also in Southern California, and Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. Lakewood, with 40,000 members, is the biggest church in the country.
[blockquote] “To be sure, there are still dozens of popular and growing megachurches in the U.S, such as Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church, also in Southern California, and Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. Lakewood, with 40,000 members, is the biggest church in the country” [/blockquote]
There were big churches and small churches back when the Apostle John wrote the letters to the seven churches (Revelation 1-3]. There will always be big and small churches.
Churches dwindle and disappear for all sorts of reasons, some worthy, some not so much. But those churches that are faithful to their Lord’s teaching will create an imperishable legacy of souls in heaven, and that should be our chief aim. How we see a “successful” church and how the Lord sees it, frequently do not coincide!