Jul 01, · Use Your Mastery Of The Bible to Excel in Ministry and Biblical Research With Liberty's % Online Ph.D. in Bible Exposition Degree! Jun 07, · U.S. News has ranked Western Kentucky University No. 24 in Best Colleges for Veterans and No. 34 in Best Regional Universities South. Both Sierra Club and Princeton Review have applauded this university for its environmental efforts. The school has over 20, students, and the average class has around 24 students in it. Online Doctor of Psychology Exploring the Megachurch Phenomena: Their characteristics and cultural context. Scott Thumma, PhD. Email: sthumma@blogger.com If you are interested in megachurches, you might find this book co-authored by Hartford Institute professor, Scott Thumma, interesting.. This paper represents a tremendous amount of work both in terms of data collection and scholarly analysis, please do not quote
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Exploring the Megachurch Phenomena: Their characteristics and cultural context. If you are interested in megachurches, you might find this book co-authored by Hartford Institute professor, Scott Thumma, interesting.
This paper represents a tremendous doctor of ministry no dissertation of work both in terms of data collection and scholarly analysis, please do not quote or copy this paper without contacting me, or giving either this site or my published works proper credit. This information is from and may no longer report accurate numbers, however, many of the general characteristics are still valid.
Earlier versions of this article were presented at the ASR meeting and published in Religions of Atlanta. Gary Laderman, ed. Atlanta: Scholars Press, My dissertation, from which this article is taken, is The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: Megachurches In Modern American SocietyEmory Univ, doctor of ministry no dissertation.
It can be obtained from UMI North Zeeb Road P, doctor of ministry no dissertation. My research was funded by a Louisville Institute Fellowship. I want to thank Nancy Ammerman, Steven Tipton and R. Stephen Warner for their comments and encouragements. At its most basic descriptive level, a megachurch is a congregation which has two thousand or more worship attenders in a week. However, size alone is an insufficient characterization of this distinctive religious reality. The megachurch is a new structural and spiritual organization unlike any other.
In order to understand fully the dynamics of megachurches, they must be seen as a collective social phenomenon rather than as individual anomalous moments of spectacular growth or uniquely successful spiritual entrepreneurial ventures.
Although variations exist, most megachurches have a similar identifiable pattern and share a common set of organizational and leadership dynamics. The rise of hundreds of these large churches in the last several decades implies that this new pattern of congregational life has a particular resonance to and fit with changes in modern American society and culture.
Most importantly, this analysis offers a possible explanation of the symbolic significance of the megachurch phenomenon both for the spiritual lives of its members and its relationship to modern society.
The following descriptive portrait is the result of an extensive five year study of one megachurch Chapel Hill Harvester Church, currently called The Cathedral of the Holy Doctor of ministry no dissertationmultiple observations at six other congregations around the Atlanta area, and visits to nine megachurches around the country, doctor of ministry no dissertation.
In addition, numerous megachurch television broadcasts, distributed literature, and taped sermons from 28 other megachurches were analyzed to broaden the representativeness of this portrayal See Thumma a,b, a,b All reference details can be found in the article bibliography.
A generalized investigation of megachurches shows a distinctive set of common characteristics. Obviously size is the most evident attribute of these churches; however, the list of shared traits is much more extensive.
There is a discernable general pattern to the way in which religion is organized and expressed across these large congregations.
Within this generalized picture, three distinctive subgroups, or ways of expressing the megachurch message, can be identified and are described below as the "nontraditional," the "conventional," and the "composite. Nevertheless, these congregations have too much in common not to be seen as a distinctive social and religious reality.
Megachurches are a new phenomenon. This is not to say that very large congregations were absent from the history of the Christian Church See Vaughan Yet at any historical period there were no more than a dozen or so of these massive congregations around the world, none of which matched the functions of megachurches in contemporary society.
The megachurch, as it is described here, is more than a church with a huge attendance. It is a congregation with a distinctive pattern of organization, programmatic ministries, and membership relations. The rapid proliferation of this doctor of ministry no dissertation of congregational life has taken place within the last doctor of ministry no dissertation decades.
It is a particular and distinctive response to this cultural milieu. These definitive traits are uniquely modern, fashioned in reaction to and patterned after modern society.
Nearly all current megachurches were founded after The explosive growth experienced by these congregations, however, did not begin in earnest until the decade of the eighties Vaughan The 's have not slowed this growth. Data collected in revealed over such congregations Thumma b. Vaughan estimates that the number of megachurches grows by 5 percent each year Given this rate over two million persons will be weekly attendees of megachurches in the United States by the start of the new millennium.
Anyone familiar with the American religious scene cannot help but have noticed the rapid proliferation of these massive congregations. In fact, it is precisely their size which attracts so much attention. The most overt characteristic of megachurches is their size, the number of persons attending in a given week. Although some disagreement exists over what size attendance should constitute a megachurch, this study uses a minimum weekly attendance of persons.
The size of some megachurches can be deceptive, however. A count of thousands of attenders is seldom completely accurate to the person. More often churches estimate their attendance based on the number of people their sanctuary holds, doctor of ministry no dissertation. This is relatively easy to do if a sanctuary has individual seating, but pews complicate the estimation process considerably, doctor of ministry no dissertation. Often megachurches report a cumulative attendance for multiple services based on the assumption that no person attends more than once.
Given these issues, any reported attendance should be treated as an estimate, accurate to within several hundred. This large number of worshipers creates several distinctive dynamics.
Once a congregation reaches a critical mass of aroundits numeric strength alone becomes a powerful attraction, doctor of ministry no dissertation. One megachurch member astutely commented on this fact. You hit a certain size and you can become self-generating. You attract people by your sheer size. People know that you are on TV and that this is that big place There is a sense of something going on here and size itself begats more growth.
A congregation this large creates a social vortex which draws others to it Ostling A Sunday morning stream of cars on an otherwise quiet street piques the interest, and perhaps ire, of the neighborhood. In addition, acres of parking lots and massive buildings capable of handling several thousand persons have a distinctive presence on the horizon. Of course, as will be seen below, this size also produces difficulties to which the church must respond.
Many megachurches work hard at justifying their large size for potential members. Roswell Street Baptist Church of Atlanta provides a perfect example of this. The church publishes a pamphlet which declares church growth to be a Biblical injunction and "the American way. Big is Beautiful Any church in a large, growing community that is practicing the 'Great Commission' cannot keep from growing.
To criticize a church for being big is to imply disbelief in Christ's commission A church gets big because its spirit is big Nobody ever started a business without hoping that someday, if he or she worked hard enough, it would be a big success, doctor of ministry no dissertation. That is the American dream, doctor of ministry no dissertation it? Often it is not just its massive size which characterizes a megachurch's presence in its community.
Most of these large churches experience rapid growth over a very short period of time. It is this "overnight success" that often defines a megachurch's unique place in the local religious ecology Eiesland This explosive increase sets this congregation apart from the other spiritual options in the community. The jump from a nonexistent or medium-sized fellowship to a megachurch usually takes place in a short two to five year period of time.
One of the earlier and better known megachurches, Anaheim Vineyard Church, grew, in the words of its founder John Wimber, from "Zip to in 5 years" Wimber Not only did this rapid growth create the perception that something unique was taking place at these congregations, but it established a degree of tension with the surrounding community Eiesland This social strain was not so great as to inhibit recruitment but enough to generate publicity, build internal coherence, and strengthen the church's boundaries.
For instance, the construction of an seat domed sanctuary by World Changers Ministries, an Atlanta congregation under the leadership of Creflo A. Dollar, caused considerable concern for local neighborhood associations.
This in turn generated newspaper reports which provided free publicity for the new sanctuary and resulted in increased attendance Ramsey ; Carnes They are able to build their structures and institutional forms along with the growth, not following it.
More established congregations must undertake the painful task of discarding or revising many of their traditions, habits, and old organizational forms in order to keep pace with the growth. New churches, however, have no set patterns to struggle doctor of ministry no dissertation. If size is a crucial element in the definition of megachurches, region and placement in a city create the context.
The national distribution of megachurches reveals a clear pattern. Over 75 percent of these congregations are located in the Sunbelt states, with nearly half of them in the southeast region.
According to data, California had the highest concentration of megachurches, followed by Texas, Florida, and Georgia Thumma a,b. Vaughan found that megachurches clustered around those metropolitan areas which were among the fastest growing in the country Worth, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Phoenix, and Oklahoma City, contained the highest number of megachurches.
In addition, megachurches are a suburban reality. Nearly all megachurches are to be found in the suburbs of large cities. These churches are primarily located in prominent places doctor of ministry no dissertation highly visible tracts of land.
They are generally near the expanding edges of the city, within easy access from major highways, and quite often in the immediate proximity of other megachurches. The only exception to this suburban pattern are those older inner city established "First churches" of all ethnic varieties, doctor of ministry no dissertation.
There are many reasons why concentrations of megachurches exist in rapidly developing, suburban, Sunbelt metropolitan areas. These suburban areas offer expansive, less expensive plots of land suitable for acres of parking lots and the multiple buildings that are needed to support a congregation of several thousand.
Zoning regulations are often less restrictive than in established urban communities.
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Exploring the Megachurch Phenomena: Their characteristics and cultural context. Scott Thumma, PhD. Email: sthumma@blogger.com If you are interested in megachurches, you might find this book co-authored by Hartford Institute professor, Scott Thumma, interesting.. This paper represents a tremendous amount of work both in terms of data collection and scholarly analysis, please do not quote Online Doctor of Theology degree with three 3-day residencies per year. Fully-accredited by ATS with no GRE or MAT required. It requires roughly the same number of credits and time frame as a typical Doctor of Ministry but with richer theological reflection and greater academic credibility. Dissertation–Following the fifth term The Guide to Online Doctorate in Education (EdD) Programs. For professionals in the education sector who are looking to bolster their credentials in pursuit of career advancement, an online Doctor of Education (EdD), sometimes referred to as a doctorate in teaching, may be a viable option
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