The churches who are most hurt by megachurches are all those little churches in the area.
You’ve seen them.
These little churches have a few hundred or so members who attend faithfully and support the church with their time, talents, and finances.
They usually are able to afford a decent salary for a pastor, sometimes even an associate pastor, a secretary/receptionist, and a maintenance person.
The are wonderful little multigenerational communities, where everyone knows and loves each other. Although there is nothing particularly professional in the music, it is often sweet and enthusiastic, as are all the programs in the church. The people are friendly and grow very close outside of the church, too. (Sometimes this kind of thing can turn into a cult, but that’s pretty unusual.) Lots of good for the community, as these little churches do quiet good works that benefit everyone.
But since they are so small in numbers, and usually remain stable in their numbers (don’t grow much), they can’t afford to lose too many families. If you have 200 people in the parish, losing even 20 people (four or five families) is ten percent.
Think how it would affect you to lose 10 % of your family’s income. It’s not easy, is it?
So when more than 10% depart to attend the megachurch (often because of the great music and the children’s and teen ministries), the little church starts struggling a little . The pastor, associate, secretary, and maintenance person will often take a cut in salary, and some of the programs are budgeted for less (e.g., Sunday school, or VBS).
But then because of the cuts, even more people decide to leave the little church and attend the megachurch.
So now things are more critical. The associate pastor has to either resign, or take on a secular job to support his family.
And since the associate pastor is gone, the pastor has to do more, and the programs are cut back even more, and more people leave the church, and so the secretary is forced to cut hours so much that he/she can’t afford to work at the church anymore and he/she resigns.
And so the pastor and the maintenance person struggle on…
Can you see what’s happening here? As more and more cuts in staff and programs are made out of necessity, more and more members depart for the megachurch, necessitating even more cuts, which means even more members leave, and eventually one lone pastor is doing it all-his pastoral work (preaching, visitation, evangelism, etc.), all the secretarial and receptionist work (including taking calls, paying the bills, etc.), and eventually even the maintenance work, including the repairs to the aging church building, which gradually falls more and more into disrepair due to lack of finances.
Obviously this is a hard life for this pastor, his family (especially his wife), and of course, the die-hard members who remain. Often members will volunteer to help out with secretarial and maintenance work, and sometimes a few families will give money sacrificially to keep the church going.
But it’s really hard, and all too often, the eventual result is that the little church closes.
Keep this in mind.
A few years back, I attended the funeral of my great-uncle at one of these little churches. Afterward at the luncheon, I sat with the pastor and had a very serious chat about megachurches. Yes, families in his little church have departed and now attend our city’s megachurch (which attracts more than 10,000 people every Sunday–almost 10% of our city’s population).
This dear pastor, a middle-aged man, told me that people attend megachurches to heal.
They have been hurt by their churches. Sometimes the hurts are serious (e.g., sexual abuse at the hands of a priest or pastor). But often the hurts are not so obviously serious, but they are painful for the one(s) who have experienced them. E.g., a gossip in the church destroys someone’s reputation. Or perhaps an elderly person was ignored and no one visited them for months (visitation of the elderly is a big thing in many Protestant churches). Or a young mom was told that her child was disturbing everyone and she shouldn’t bring him/her to church anymore. Or a parent was told that their teenager must be left at home because their goth apparel was inapropriate for church.
Or often, a person’s ministry is denigrated. E.g., a Sunday school teacher is told that his lessons are too “Catholic.” Or a music leader is told that her conducting is “sensual and suggestive.” Or a teenager is told that his special solos are too “rocky” or too “classical.”
It could be any number of hurtful situations. People can usually handle a few hurtful incidents–after all, that’s life. But when the hurtful situation goes on for weeks or months, many people can’t take it anymore, and they become discouraged and angry and depart.
These people often are not mad at God–they are just hurt over the actions of their fellow Christians, who are supposed to be charitable.
So these hurt souls go to a megachurch where they can hide for a while and nurse their hurts and get healed.
After a few years, they are ready to try a regular church again.
That’s what this pastor told me. And he said that he is always on the lookout for those who are trying to come back to the regular church after a sojourn in the megachurch.
He treats them gently, and gives them much love and nurturing so that they will be able to fit in with his church, make friends, and be restored to the joy of the Lord.
What a great pastor!
I believe that this scenario occurs often in the Catholic parishes, and that the Catholic priests and community need to be watchful for those who feel that they have healed enough to try to come back home again. We need to treat them with care.
Ha!