DISTURBING Things Are Happening in Megachurches...

What is everything about? Everything is about entertainment. Everything is about numbers.

What is the ministry? Well, this is about continuing this process of entertaining and attracting more and more people.

There are more megachurches today than ever before. Not all megachurches are bad, but it does seem like there are major problems with the vast majority of megachurches.

Because God broke the law for love. That when we share our hope with other people, what we have to offer people is exactly what everyone is looking for.

Why are megachurches so successful? And why are so many of them lacking in solid, biblical teaching?

The key is that many of these churches prioritize success and numbers above teaching all that the

Bible teaches. And over 500 people have given their lives to Jesus for the first time in this church in the last five months.

That's over 100 per month. To achieve success in numbers, megachurches often emphasize entertainment.

I'm praying about whether to follow through on this illustration.

And I hear the Lord say, yes! And keeping people happy.

I am blessed, prosperous. And avoid teaching the uncomfortable or controversial parts of the

Bible. Because we try to be like Jesus. Very rarely did Jesus ever talk about morality or social issues.

They focus on exciting, emotional music. That creates an environment where people can feel spiritual without ever really committing themselves to the

Bible's commands. I mean, if the beat is right and the band is hot, I can sing all kinds of lines and feel like I've met with God.

According to Votie Bauckham, most churches today have moved away from hymnody and liturgy, which emphasize biblical truth.

I believe there are a number of tools that God gives us. And I think it's interesting that many of these tools we've either redefined or moved away from altogether.

These tools that remind us that we are a community that is defined by this pattern of sound words.

Things like hymnody and liturgy. Hymnody and liturgy.

We've moved away from both hymnody and liturgy. But hymnody and liturgy, it's not just a question of style.

And that's not what I'm talking about here. I'm not talking about a question of style.

I'm talking about a question of content. The idea that when we gather together week to week, we are not here just to entertain one another.

We are not here just to get a spiritual jolt or a shot in the arm. We are here to have our minds renewed, as we just heard earlier.

And we are here to be rooted and grounded in these things most surely believed among us.

And what hymnody does and what liturgy does is it says to us, these are those truths that we need to hear again and again and again.

They define us. The purpose of church is not to entertain, but rather to teach all that the

Bible teaches. And I'm afraid that so often when we gather, what we're saying is it has to be new.

It has to be fresh. It has to be entertaining. It has to scratch itching ears.

Some argue that this kind of approach to church results in dead orthodoxy, but nothing could be further from the truth.

And I am not talking here about dead orthodoxy, going through the motions, amen?

Far from it. This is not about style. It's about substance.

Most megachurches lack a written confession, which clearly states exactly what the church believes.

Said it before, I'll say it again, confessionalism. Our confessions remind us of what it is that we believe.

Instead, these megachurches have unwritten confessions, or very short statements of faith, that essentially depend upon the personal beliefs of whoever is leading the church at the time.

So it's not a sin in your church to have an abortion? That's the kind of conversation we would have, finding out your story, where you're from, what you believe.

Work through it. Yeah, I mean, God's the judge. People have to live to their own convictions, and I think if I have to tell you...

And when one leader leaves or steps down, the next leader who steps up might have significantly different beliefs than the previous leader.

And there is not this divide, by the way, in Christianity between churches and ministries who have confessions and churches and ministries who don't.

As one writer has put it, the difference is between churches and ministries who have written confessions that are available to be evaluated by all, and those who have unwritten confessions that change from time to time.

But we're all confessional. We're all confessional.

It's just, is the confession written? Is it there to be evaluated?

Is it there for all of us to see so that there can be accountability? Or is the confession just in the mind of the minister, so that if he leaves and goes somewhere or dies, now the next minister brings the confession that's in his mind, and you have division in the church when he says something one day that goes against the confession of the last guy that wasn't written, by the way, so he didn't know it.

And now there's a war in the church between the unwritten confession of the last guy and the unwritten confession of the new guy, and nobody knows where the starting point is.

Without a written confession or an emphasis upon biblical teaching, megachurches end up focusing on worldly metrics of success, such as numbers, and they make it their goal to increase numbers, rather than to faithfully teach all that the

Bible teaches. So what does the ministry mean if you don't have a theology?

What does the ministry mean if you don't have a confessional framework? What are you being called to?

What are you being called to do? If you don't have this theological framework, if we no longer have hymnody, we no longer have liturgy, we gather together to entertain people, we gather together in order to make sure that the crowd continues to grow and that people remain happy, now we have the next generation growing up in the church watching us do what we do, what is everything about?

Everything is about entertainment, everything is about numbers. What is the ministry?

Well, this is about continuing this process of entertaining and attracting more and more people.

This oftentimes even results in these churches teaching things that are egregiously unbiblical.

And the process of discipleship is not God changing you into something else, it's him revealing who you've been all along.

However, since these teachings align with ideas that are popular in the world and culture, millions will flock to these churches, pastors, and teachings, because these kinds of churches make people feel good about themselves and enable them to ignore the problem of sin, judgment, and hell.

And you hear people say, you don't preach enough about sin, you don't preach enough about repentance.

But you know, I actually think what they're saying is you don't beat people up enough. You don't have to remind people they're sinners.

They know. You don't have to remind people they fall short not only of God, but of who they would want to be themselves.

You don't have to beat people up. This is how megachurches are leading the millions who attend them straight to hell.