Handbook of Megachurches
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Handbook of Megachurches <UN> Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion Series Editors Carole M. Cusack (University of Sydney) Benjamin E. Zeller (Lake Forest College, USA) Editorial Board Olav Hammer (University of Southern Denmark) Charlotte Hardman (University of Durham) Titus Hjelm (University College London) Adam Possamai (Western Sydney University) Inken Prohl (University of Heidelberg) volume 19 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/bhcr <UN> Handbook of Megachurches Edited by Stephen Hunt leiden | boston <UN> This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. Further information and the complete license text can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc/4.0/ The terms of the CC license apply only to the original material. The use of material from other sources (indicated by a reference) such as diagrams, illustrations, photos and text samples may require further permission from the respective copyright holder. An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. More information about the initiative can be found at www. knowledgeunlatched.org. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Hunt, Stephen, 1954- editor. Title: Handbook of megachurches / edited by Stephen Hunt. Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2020. | Series: Brill handbooks on contemporary religion, 1874–6691 ; volume 19 | Includes index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2019037970 (print) | LCCN 2019037971 (ebook) | ISBN 9789004399884 (hardback) | ISBN 9789004412927 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Big churches. Classification: LCC BV637.9 .H36 2019 (print) | LCC BV637.9 (ebook) | DDC 254/.2--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019037970 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019037971 Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1874-6691 ISBN 978-90-04-39988-4 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-41292-7 (e-book) Copyright 2020 by the Authors. Published by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi, Brill Sense, Hotei Publishing, mentis Verlag, Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh and Wilhelm Fink Verlag. Koninklijke Brill NV reserves the right to protect the publication against unauthorized use and to authorize dissemination by means of offprints, legitimate photocopies, microform editions, reprints, translations, and secondary information sources, such as abstracting and indexing services including databases. Requests for commercial re-use, use of parts of the publication, and/or translations must be addressed to Koninklijke Brill NV. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner. <UN> Contents Foreword VII David G. Bromley Notes on Contributors IX Introduction: The Megachurch Phenomenon 1 Stephen Hunt Part 1 Megachurches in Perspective 1 Seeking Souls, Selling Salvation: A History of the Modern Megachurch 23 Charity Rakestraw 2 The Growth of the Megachurch 43 David E. Eagle 3 Toward a Typology of the Megachurch 68 J. Gordon Melton 4 Megachurches and Popular Culture: On Enclaving and Encroaching 84 Simon Coleman and Saliha Chattoo 5 “Your Church Can Grow!” – A Contextual Theological Critique of Megachurches 103 Martyn Percy Part 2 Dynamics and Trajectories 6 Megachurches in the Religious Marketplace 131 Marc von der Ruhr 7 Megachurches as Total Environments 152 James K. Wellman Jr., Katie E. Corcoran and Kate J. Stockly <UN> vi Contents 8 Megachurches as Educational Institutions 172 Mark J. Cartledge 9 Horse and Carriage? Megachurches and Revivalism 193 Stephen Hunt 10 ‘The Evangelisation of the Nation, the Revitalisation of the Church and the Transformation of Society’: Megachurches and Social Engagement 214 Andrew Davies Part 3 Global Contexts 11 Megachurches and ‘Reverse Mission’ 243 Richard Burgess 12 Megachurches in Canada 269 Michael Wilkinson and Peter Schuurman 13 Megachurches in Russia and Other Parts of the Former Soviet Union 284 Torsten Löfstedt 14 Global, ‘Glocal’ and Local Dynamics in Calvary Temple: India’s Fastest Growing Megachurch 302 Jonathan D. James 15 Sacred Surplus and Pentecostal Too-Muchness: The Salvation Economy of African Megachurches 323 Asonzeh Ukah Index 345 <UN> Foreword This handbook is the third in a series of handbooks edited by Stephen Hunt tracking broad developments in Christianity. The first two, Handbook of Global Christianity (Brill 2015) and Handbook of Contemporary Christianity: Move- ments, Institutions and Allegiance (Brill 2016) pursue broad agendas. The pres- ent volume narrows its focus to a relatively recent, important development in church organisation, the megachurch. This focus narrowing is pragmatic but now confronts an explosion in the number and diversity of megachurches. No single volume can any longer capture empirically and theoretically the mega- church phenomenon, but a handbook is a good place to start. In these circum- stances, handbooks like this one, which present incipient theory and case studies, represent guideposts introducing and serving as the foundations for the next stage of theory and research. Megachurches offer a new and unique form of religious organisation. Once developed, however, the various constituent elements of the form can be re- configured to fit alternative sociocultural environments. What this means, of course, is that a single, general theory of megachurches is problematic. And so the interim solution to area-of-study development is precisely what this vol- ume delivers, a mix of original case studies and theoretical proposals even as the form itself continues to spread and diversify. Even if a larger and more en- compassing theory is pursued, I would argue that a theoretical understanding of the rise in the site of origination, at least, is achievable. Let me offer a brief outline of one additional perspective to those offered in this volume. The emergence of the megachurch form in the U.S began during an histori- cal period with specific sociocultural characteristics. Religion, along with the family, had moved to the private sphere. The religious landscape was domi- nated by a very large number of very small congregational units. Their median membership size was under 100, which means that half were smaller than that. These congregational units were largely determined organisationally by their geographic and denominational affiliation. Membership in the mainline churches had begun what continues to be a steep membership decline. Those denominations began to relinquish moral authority in favour of a service ori- entation. The distinctiveness and importance of denominational identity waned, and there were even a few mergers of historically related denomina- tions. Conservative and sectarian church growth exploded as mainline church members and the unaffiliated experimented with what Dean Kelly called “strict religion”. Simultaneously, the public sphere institutional area also was transformed. Science became its knowledge base, technological innovation <UN> viii Foreword and penetration of everyday life continued to gather momentum. Higher (pre- dominantly secular) educational credentialing became more pervasive and imperative; the national population both urbanised and suburbanised. The mass media became both medium and message. The foregoing list of struc- tural changes could be lengthened, shortened, or debated, but the overall so- cial and cultural restructuring of the birthplace of the megachurch, and religion in particular, is beyond debate. This transformation offered both the imperative and opportunity for a discovery of new organisational forms of religion. Sociologist Robert Merton has offered a convincing and influential theory of social stability/instability. He asserts that a social order consists of two broad dimensions: cultural and social. The culture consists of symbolically construct- ed values and goals; the social dimension consists of the socially constructed institutional means for achieving them. Social orders are stable when the goals are accepted as legitimate and the means as effective. When that stability breaks down, there is pressure on both. Sometimes there are challenges to the cultural goals; in the case of Christian religion, sectarian, diasporic, and new religious groups exemplify this. If the goals are culturally foundational, as a Christian worldview and values have been, there is an impetus to adjust the means. Merton identifies several of these (innovation, retreatism, ritualism, and rebellion) of which innovation is most pertinent here. If affiliation with, loyalty to, and engagement in existing Christian churches is diminishing and larger secularising trends undermine their historic role, innovative forms are likely. Megachurches are classic innovations in the Mertonian sense that they most often seek to preserve the theological core of conservative Christianity but eschew “brand loyalty” in favour of new means of achieving traditional ends. The social and cultural transformation that occurred in American society provided the impetus and the opportunity for the innovation that has taken place. This much of the story of the rise of megachurches seems consistent with established social theory. What comes next is not. The rise of megachurches