Curtis Carwile is the evangelist for the Northwest church of Christ in Evansville, IN. He and his wife, Rebecca, have been happily married since 2007. They have three wonderful children: Titus, Evelyn, and Ezra. Curtis worked with Kyle Pope in a preacher-training program with the Olsen Park church of Christ in Amarillo, Texas from 2008-2010. glass_rose@juno.com.

Is there a more American word than "mega"? That word perfectly describes what Americans love. We love to "Super-size" it. We love megaplexes. We love Texas. So, it shouldn't be any surprise that we love "mega-churches."

A mega-church is often defined as a religious group with certain identifying marks. For one, a mega-church will have, on average, over 2000 attendees per assembly. Also, a mega-church will have a charismatic and authoritative senior minister who runs their group like the CEO of a company (such as Joel Osteen and Rick Warren). And, they are always engaged in various social and aid-type "ministries."

In the United States today, there are over 16,000 mega-churches. And, that number is growing because people see the (numerical) success of these groups and they imitate them to various degrees.

Now, while there is nothing wrong with the numerical size of a group (e.g., the church in Jerusalem had over 5000 members, see Acts 4:4), the mentality of these mega-churches, those groups wanting to be mega-churches, and those wanting to be a part of a mega-church is unnerving and unbiblical.

Very simply put, the mega-church mentality is this: BIGGER is better. This mentality has two consequential sides to it: the producer side and the consumer side.

The PRODUCER side of this mentality is what makes church leaders "do whatever it takes to get BIGGER." Unfortunately, and despite what they claim (cf. Matt. 7:21-23; Luke 6:46), this mentality has nothing to do with the actual glorification of God (which is what a church is supposed to be all about, see 1 Cor. 10:31). Rather, this mentality promotes the worship of size and numbers. To be blunt, this mentality is idolatrous. BIGGER is their goal. Their bellies are their gods (Phil. 3:17-18). This is why mega-churches do what they do. They want to attract as many people TO THEM as possible and do whatever it takes to NOT run off anyone away FROM THEM (you see, it's all about THEM). This is why mega-churches soften their preaching to the level of pseudo-spiritual mush; they will never preach hard-to-hear truth (like Jesus did, see John 6:60ff) because they don't want to offend anyone (like Jesus did, see Luke 11:45) and "cause" them to leave. Also, this is why mega-churches make their "worship" assemblies "entertainment hours" with rocking bands, humorous skits and sketches, and dazzling multi-media presentations. By the way, isn't this the same type of thing Paul rebuked the Corinthians for doing in 1 Corinthians 14:26? And, this is why mega-churches build these huge, multi-campus facilities filled with goods instead of godliness (e.g., places with a bookstore and coffee shop in the lobby, a gym in the "fellowship hall," and a daycare school in their west wing), which is exactly the same type of thing Jesus railed against when He cleansed the Temple (see John 2:13-17). The producer side of this mentality is idolatry, plain and simple.

Likewise, the CONSUMER side of this mentality is also idolatrous. Because the member or attendee believes that "BIGGER is better," they look at the (mega)church as a (super)market, a place for their personal consumption. The main question of those with this mindset is "What can (or do) I get out of this?" You see, people flock to mega-churches to GET something out of it; it's all about THEM. And, while the attendee should receive the benefit of edification from a worship assembly and from being a part of a church (cf. Eph. 4:11-16), the mindset of "what can (or do) I GET out of this?" is wrong. It's self-centered instead of God-centered! It's sinful pride (see Rom. 1:30)! It goes against the humble, self-sacrificing mentality Christians are supposed to have (see Phil. 2:3-5). It goes against the God-glorifying and other-edifying mentality that the church is supposed to have (cf. 1 Cor. 10-14; Eph. 4:11-16). Again, it is nothing more than self-idolization at its core.

All in all, the mega-church mentality is wrong, sinful, and damnable. And, we, as individual Christians and churches, cannot have any fellowship with this mentality if we hope to have a fellowship with God here and in eternity (see 1 John 1:5-7).

Unfortunately, I'm afraid that this mentality (one side of it or the other) has sneaked into even faithful churches of Jesus Christ (cf. 2 Pet. 2:1-3), more so than I'm sure we are comfortable admitting. We see it among us, don't we? We see it when preachers WON'T preach on a particular Bible topic (like homosexuality, divorce, drinking, institutionalism, church discipline, and even salvation in Jesus) because they don't want to offend someone. We see it when someone DOES preach the truth in love (Eph, 4:15) and someone leaves because he got his feelings hurt. We see it when someone leaves a sound church for social reasons. We see it when someone stops assembling because he or she is "just not getting anything out of it." And, we see it in so many other examples. So, yes, the mega-church mentality is alive and well, even inside sound churches of Christ.

With all of that said, what are we going to do about it? As a people of God, we cannot allow wickedness to persist and spread in the world around us (see Psa. 101:8); we must resolve ourselves against it. We must humbly and biblically examine ourselves to see if our mindset has been tainted in any way with it (cf. 2 Cor. 13:5). And, if we find any of this mentality in ourselves, then we must expeditiously rid ourselves of it; if we don't, then how can we ever hope to help others rid their thinking of it (see Matt. 7:1-5)? We must truly abhor this evil while loving with true love (1 Cor. 13) the lost souls who have been infected with this aberrant mentality (Rom. 12:9). As a result, we are going to take the Great Commission (Mark 16:15-16; Matt. 28:19-20) and the Bible example of what it means to be a disciple (see Acts 8:4; 20:27) to heart more than we ever have before and be busy tearing down the strongholds of Satan with the Sword of the Spirit (cf. 2 Cor. 10:3-6; Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12), winning lost souls back to God. And, we are going to do our best to glorify God and to edify our brethren in the Lord, sacrificing even our own lives to that end (cf. Rom. 12:1-2)! If we are going to defeat this evil, then we are going to do these things (as well as many other godly things) to the glory of God.

The mega-church mentality is a destructive and damnable heresy. Let us do whatever it takes to glorify God and help others do the same. And, may the Lord grant us strength, wisdom, and courage in our efforts.