https://www.economist.com/united-states/2023/08/24/american-megachurches-are-thriving-by-poaching-flocks

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[                    ]
United States | Throngs of praise

American megachurches are thriving by poaching flocks

Denominations are out. Brand identity and good vibes are in

Parishioners of the Lakewood Church pray
Aug 24th 2023 | OKLAHOMA CITY
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Earplugs are available, should the music get too loud. Sure enough
the volume--not to mention the tattooed front woman and bobbing
crowd--evokes a country-rock concert. Only the lyrics suggest
otherwise: "Fill it all up, fill it all up with Jesus." Afterwards a
pastor, in T-shirt and high-top sneakers, compares an Old Testament
parable to a rom-com. Donations are solicited by QR code. The service
is entertaining and, for many first-timers, unlike anything they
expected of church.

Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android
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Welcome to Life.Church, one of America's largest megachurches,
headquartered near Oklahoma City. Really it is a chain of churches,
with 44 sites across 12 states. Every weekend around 80,000 people
attend one of 170 services in person. Most watch a pre-recorded
sermon by a senior pastor, Craig Groeschel; a junior pastor acts as
an in-person MC and a worship band plays live. The whole thing blends
seamlessly, and it is streamed online, too.

[20230826_U]

Churches have closed as the proportion of Americans who call
themselves Christian has fallen from 76% in 2010 to 64% in 2020. But
most of America's 1,750 megachurches--all Protestant and mostly
evangelical churches with at least 2,000 worshippers--are thriving.
Between 2015 and 2020 their congregations grew by a third on average,
turning younger and more multi-racial, according to the Hartford
Institute for Religion Research, a think-tank in Connecticut. After a
covid dip, "We're in growth mode," says Brian Tome, pastor of
Crossroads, a nine-site church based in Ohio. "Things are fun right
now."

Concentration among churches accelerated as costs rose in the 1970s,
notes Mark Chaves of Duke University. Smaller ones lost members.
Though evangelicals aim to convert non-believers, about
three-quarters of those who join megachurches were already
practising. "We'd like to think that we're reaching atheists. We're
reaching some, but the truth is that the body of Christ is
consolidating," says Mr Tome.

With more money and more hands, megachurches can innovate. Though
they account for just 0.5% of all churches and 7% of churchgoers,
their influence is felt in the music played elsewhere and the
popularity of their TED-talk-style sermons, says Scott Thumma of the
Hartford Institute. Nearly all the top contemporary worship songs
between 2010 and 2020 came from just four megachurches.

Their success illustrates what it takes to compete in a dynamic
spiritual marketplace. Bill Hybels, a megachurch pastor felled by
sexual-misconduct allegations in 2018, was said to parrot Peter
Drucker, a management guru: "What does the customer consider value?"
Andre Audette, a political scientist at Monmouth College in Illinois,
found that four-fifths of evangelical Christians have shopped around
for a church--more than any other group.

What would Drucker say of the faith customer? Two trends stand out.
They want to choose their level of engagement, which megachurches
make easy. Those craving connection can join any number of small
groups. Life.Church hosts a club for Dungeons & Dragons fans ("gamers
connecting and growing closer to Christ"). Others like the anonymity.
There is more pressure to donate and serve at smaller churches.
Megachurch members show up and contribute less per capita.

The other trend is the weakening of denominations. Two-fifths of
megachurches are non-denominational. The rest tend to downplay theirs
and emphasise their own brand. Life.Church is affiliated with the
Evangelical Covenant Church--but few congregants realise that. Todd
Mullins of Christ Fellowship Church, a church with 14 sites in
Florida, estimates that about half his flock were once Baptists or
Catholics and the other half unchurched.

Consolidation will level off at some point, says Mr Chaves. And
today's winners will probably not look the same in future. Back in
2006 he found that the largest churches retained their top spot for
about 20 years before being overtaken. Growing has stresses of its
own. Mr Tome says he stopped sharing attendance numbers with Outreach
Magazine, which ranks congregations by size, because he felt like a
chief executive answering to the stockmarket. "I'm not in corporate
America", he says. "I'm in a church!" #

Stay on top of American politics with Checks and Balance, our weekly
subscriber-only newsletter, which examines the state of American
democracy and the issues that matter to voters.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print
edition under the headline "Throngs of praise"

United States August 26th 2023

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