House Church Critiques of the Megachurch: 3 Ways to Make it Better

Some people are passionate about the debate between megachurches or house churches. This can be good, but passionate people tend to be enthusiastic to the point that they can exaggerate their position—even when research and data do not back up their claims.

For example, some assert that people are leaving megachurches in droves and are headed toward house churches en masse.

Statistically, there is no real evidence of that.

I was recently asked about house church critiques of the megachurch, recorded what I said, and my team turned it into this brief (and narrowly-focused) article.

So, let me share some thoughts on how that conversation might be made better—from a friendly outsider's perspective.

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The language of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism-MTD

This morning on the way in I was listening to an old episode of the unfailingly excellent and indispensable Mars Hill Audio Journal, in which sociologist Christian Smith discussed his findings about American youth and Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. I was struck by the part of his discussion with host Ken Myers about how American teenagers lack the basic vocabulary to discuss religious particularities. They are so theologically ignorant they can't even articulate what their own traditions teach. And in this, Smith suggests, they are like their parents.
Myers asked if there are any data to indicate that teenagers today are any more ignorant than past generations of Americans. Not really, Smith said, but anecdotally, when he interviews older professors, they tell him that young people today are markedly less able to discuss religion to any informed degree. Atheist humanities professor Camille Paglia is also bothered by this, but for different reasons:

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God Still Performs Miracles: An Interview with Mark Batterson

Do we dare believe that God can speak into our lives powerfully and tangibly? Jesus did this. During his earthly ministry he healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, and even raised the dead. What if he would do these things today?

How do you define "miracle" and its place in today's world?

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