Are You a Mega Church Drop Out?

With mega-churches basking in the spotlight of mainstream media, several studies have been done about the mega-church movement that might just surprise you.  A study just released a few days ago, indicates that the largest churches in the United States are “Christian, contemporary, and evangelical.”  Mega-churches are growing, so the short term studies cite.  The largest churches in the United States have reach amazing numbers:

1. Lakewood Church – Houston, TX 43,500 weekly
2. LifeChurch.tv – Edmond, OK 26,776 weekly
3. Willow Creek Community Church – South Barrington, IL 23,400 weekly
4. North Point Community Church – Alpharetta, GA 23,377 weekly
5. Second Baptist Church – Houston, TX 22,723 weekly

However, more long term studies show that churches and communities of faith are losing ground.   The 18 year American Religious Identification Survey show that the percentage of “other Christians” (evangelical, protestant, and non-denominational churches)  has dropped.  Even in the Bible belt!  In Texas, 20% of “other Christians” (basically, non-Catholics) have changed their faith affiliation to something other than Christian.   You can check out the interactive graphic here.

The American Religious Identification Survey said “the challenge to Christianity … does not come from other religions but from a rejection of all forms of organized religion.”  With so many mega-churches growing, there must be a “drop out” rate that is not being reported because “the percentage of those who choose a generic label, calling themselves simply Christian, Protestant, non-denominational, evangelical or “born again,” was 14.2%, about the same as in 1990.”

Even more surprising are what these surveys and studies have found:

• The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that based on 35,000 interviews, mapping Americans’ beliefs state by state. It found that 41% of people had switched their religion at some point in life.Baptists, 15.8% of those surveyed, are down from 19.3% in 1990. Mainline Protestant denominations, once socially dominant, have seen sharp declines: The percentage of Methodists, for example, dropped from 8% to 5%.
• So many Americans claim no religion at all (15%, up from 8% in 1990), that this category now outranks every other major U.S. religious group except Catholics and Baptists.
• Jewish numbers showed a steady decline, from 1.8% in 1990 to 1.2% today. The percentage of Muslims, while still slim, has doubled, from 0.3% to 0.6%. Analysts within both groups suggest those numbers understate the groups’ populations.

Reporting on religion for USA Today, Cathy Lynn Grossman asks: “How many came in the front door, and a few years later, perhaps because the kids have gone off to college or they don’t like the new pastor or the latest music, washed out the back?”

That my friends, is the million dollar question.  A lot of studies that are done indicate short term growth in mega-churches, but how many study the drop out rate?  How many people grow old of the “large event” type worship at mega-churches? Willow Creek Community Church (one the largest churches in the country) completed  a study a few years ago that shocked the “experts”:

The study’s findings are in a new book entitled, Reveal: Where Are You?, co-authored by Cally Parkinson and Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, Pastor Bill Hybels, himself called the findings “earth shaking,” “ground breaking” and “mind blowing”:

The report reveals that most of what they have been doing for these many years and what they have taught millions of others to do is not producing solid disciples of Jesus Christ. Numbers yes, but not disciples. It gets worse. Hybels laments: Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.

If you simply want a crowd, the “seeker sensitive” model produces results. If you want solid, sincere, mature followers of Christ, it’s a bust. In a shocking confession, Hybels states:

We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.

It seems that there are large numbers of mega church “drop outs”. When the Christian rock band stopped, the celebrity preacher preached finished his/her sermon, and when the Starbucks coffee ran dry it seems that they “lost people”.  Either numerically or spiritually.  Why else would a mega-church like Willow Creek go to great lengths to tell their story?

I truly believe we are going to see a resurgence in “smaller churches” (under 250 in worship), which are churches that are known for being Christ centered, committed to the Gospel, and committed to smaller communities.

Are you a mega-church drop out?  If so, I want to hear your story.  What has led you to greener pastures?