Have you ever seen a big church? Some call these “mega-churches”. Do you ever wonder what makes so many people flock to one place? How does that happen? A man named Jerry Cook was one of the first pastors to experience this phenomenon and even though different geographies require different forms of ministry he says that there were key ingredients that brought his congregation from under 500 to over 4,500 in just three years.
Jerry defines the Church as “people redeemed, filled with the Holy Spirit, equipped to serve, meeting needs everywhere in Jesus’ name.” He claims one of the mistakes we make is seeing the church as a field instead of a force. They clearly have different goals and emphasize different ways of reaching those goals. See the table below:
Church as a Field Church as a Force
Goals Are: Goals Are:
Numbers (attendance) Wholeness (of oneself)
Budget Equipped (to minister)
Facility (Building Programs) Released (to minister)
Emphasis On: Emphasis On:
Visibility Worship
Organization Training
Programs Fellowship
Promotion
Jerry is convinced that the elements in seeing the church as a force are things that produce spirit filled people who can meet others needs in Jesus’ name.
This tells me that the idea was never to create a “mega-church”. The idea was to be the church and some becoming “mega” was just a byproduct. Because people gather where they want to don’t they? The reason people gather and flock to a church is because they get a sense that it is a part of the Church. The way to be a part of the church is to direct the church away from professionalism and into the hands of people who do not know what they are doing.
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