MEGA-CHURCHES A FORM OF BIG BUSINESS

Mega-churches a form of big business

By Jai Ghorpade

Saturday, March 5, 2011 at midnight

Although large churches have been around for some time, the concept of the mega-church didn’t emerge until the 1940s. A mega-church is a Protestant church whose weekly attendance exceeds 2,000. While most are nondenominational or have only loose affiliations with a particular denomination, attendees are predominantly evangelical Christians.

The 1,200-plus mega-churches currently operating in the United States share a number of distinctive qualities. They attain mega status under the leadership of pastors who tend to be charismatic, authoritative and entrepreneurial. These leaders have embraced the corporate model of management. Megas promote their own interpretations of traditional scriptures and are committed to continuous growth in members, revenue, property. The underlying premise is that such growth enables the congregation to bring the message to larger and larger audiences.

The megas have turned out be serious buyers of high communication technology – electric guitars, drums and other percussion instruments. Services are linked to visual projection equipment, to TV shows, social media and streaming content. These mega-churches seek to attract the unchurched or those who have no ties with any particular church.

Recently, mega-churches have provoked much discussion, even consternation, among traditional churches. Some reasons:

• The preacher’s dilemma. In the market-driven environment of the megas, instead of asking, “What would be the best selection to preach on this Sunday?” the pastor may be asking himself/herself: “To whom will I be preaching, and what would they like to hear, and at what level?” Some critics view this as pandering.

• Change in mission. The mega-churches have become heavily involved in providing financial counseling, singles dating services, weight-loss programs and various other nonreligious services. Megas also profit from selling religious products such as videos and books. Critics view this with alarm, considering it a shift in the mission of the Christian church.

• “Gospel of prosperity.” Traditional evangelical preachers spent lots of time on scary doctrines of original sin, hellfire and damnation, and the inherent evil of humans in general. Most megas steer clear of this direction, as it does not leave members with a feel-good message about how special they are in the eyes of God. Instead, they may preach the Prosperity Gospel, the idea that “God wants you to prosper.”

Taking into account the record developed thus far by the mega-churches, they may be best understood not through a spiritual lens but from a business management perspective. From this perspective, they are nothing short of an American success story:

• Growth and financial success. Mega-churches have turned out to be highly profitable enterprises, with more than 5 million annual attendees and an average annual income of $6.5 million. In comparison, the budget of the average church is about $100,000.

• “Customer” satisfaction. In contrast to the traditional Protestant church, which expected the faithful to seek it out, the megas have made it a central part of their business strategy to attract, satisfy and retain more and more “customers.” Servicing these customers, however, is enacted from a distance. Mega-church pastors perform from the stage; they do not perform pastoral counseling, weddings of funerals or pay hospital visits. Still, several credible studies indicate that megas are indeed delivering on what they promise to their members.

In one study, the vast majority of attendees (84 percent to 96 percent) described their worship experiences as joyful, thought-provoking and filled with a sense of God’s presence. Mega-church attendees also gave high marks (86 percent or higher) to their congregation on its values and beliefs, its vitality, clarity of its mission and purpose, and its willingness to innovate and change. To top it off, 42 percent of mega-church attendees reported that they had experienced much spiritual growth during the past year.

The effect of the megas on smaller churches has been uneven. Research shows that the mainline Protestant, Catholic and Fundamentalist congregations, who serve particular niches, were able to withstand the mega challenge and even grow. However, the smaller evangelical congregations within mega-church neighborhoods saw a decline in membership. The megas and the evangelicals offered the same “religious goods,” but the megas delivered them more efficiently.

The business management take-away lesson in all of this? If they want to be successful in today’s spiritual marketplace, then churches – all churches – should look to how they “sell” their product (i.e., small is beautiful) to their particular segment of the population, their demographic. The corporatization of church management may be the real legacy of the megas.

Ghorpade is emeritus professor of management for the College of Business Administration at San Diego State University.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/05/mega-churches-a-form-of-big-business/