When the Homily is about Immunology

Mega Churches

I heard on NPR this morning about another dispute (this time in the greater Chicago area) between a neighborhood and a proposed MEGA Church. This time it is a Baptist Church that started with 200 some people in 1980something and now boasts over 17,000! They want to build a stadium, basically.

Now, I know, many of my house church friends find this sort of thing abhorrant, and to a certain extent I agree with them. However, I like big churches...I think Orthodox worship and ecclesiology lends itself to large gatherings - though of course not neccesarily so. I'm not talking about the flavor we often see in many evangelical Mega-Churches: huge auditoriums with posh theatre-style seating, an espresso cafe, fast food court, and athletic center. But, I digress, this is NOT the track I wanted to head down with this post...rather something that the NPR reporter said.

"MegaChurches have been around for about 30 years..."

Now maybe she was referring to the evangelical version I alluded to...but THIS is what first came to my mind when I heard her say it.