Skip to main content

Jesus The first Mega Church Leader.

 

Jesus the first Mega church leader.

I have been to a number of very famous Mega churches scattered around the world and I have been in many churches aspiring to become mega churches. Some I have loved and enjoyed immensely, others left me cold and uncomfortable. The feeling of discomfort and unease always revolved around the leader, it always left me with the question, why?

As with all things our starting point and standard has to be Jesus. After all he was the churches first mega church leader. Once he had to feed his congregation there were 5000 men plus  women and children, another time it he had to feed 7000, now that is great church growth. Once, the crowd was so large, near a coastal town that he couldn’t get to his beach side pulpit so he had to stand in a boat to deliver his sermon.

For today’s mega and aspiring mega churches it’s all about numbers. How many people came through the doors on Sunday? I know of one church that had ushers at the door checking off an app on their phones all the members that came through the door, as though somehow in the grand scheme of things this was important.

Jesus always stood when he ministered to people. It didn’t matter if the congregation was large or small. However I have been in mega churches where you were expected to stand whenever the leader came into the room and even give them an ovation.

I have seen some mega church leaders drive around in brand new expensive cars with gold Rolex watches on their wrists. Jesus had a nationwide ministry but often didn’t know where he was going to sleep that night. Once after a long journey, he even washed some people’s smelly feet.

Jesus was constantly questioned and criticised, by his followers, the authorities and other religious leaders. He rarely answered any of his critics. He would just take it on the chin he allowed his servant heart and actions to be judged. He even forbad his nearest leaders to retaliate. Yet many of today’s mega church leaders have thin skins and are more conscious of their egos. If someone criticises them or their teaching, their followers come to their defence and the questioner is shouted down. If you are a congregation member or leader who has some challenging questions, you are severely chastised and thereafter you are considered a troublemaker and not to be trusted. You are never asked to leave the church but the fruit of the spirit is definitely not in evidence.

Jesus called people to repentance he didn’t ramble on with countless testimonies of how great his conversations with God were or the numerous times he had been blessed by God because he had given over and above his tithe. For Jesus it was about turning people back to God, not playing lip service to the gospel with an appeal for people to give their lives to Christ hurriedly tagged on at the end of a service.

The Bible says that we have all fallen short of the glory of God. Perhaps many mega church leaders should take a look at the standard Jesus set rather than fall short as they are presently doing.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The myth of Ministry Leadership.

The myth that all leaders are leaders. Not everyone who leads in church is a leader. I think it is wrong, for Church leaders to believe that those they train up to take various ministry leadership positions, are in fact leaders in their own right. They are not. At best I would categorise these people- that many churches call 'ministry leaders' as ministry managers.                 "At one level there is nothing wrong with title inflation; it is a cheap way of recognising people who work hard and make serious contributions" Jo Owen. I am of the opinion that this title inflation undervalues both the leader and the ' ministry manager' and can often bring about confusion and mismatched expectations. Many churches have ministry training evenings for their volunteers. Many use the reason for this training is "to make a person a better leader," when in fact the only thing actually happening is that th...
Post a Comment
Read more

The 1970's Christian Coffee Shop

I remember as a new Christian being invited into a Christian Coffee shop in the town where I grew up. It was clean and tidy, the table tops were all brightly painted in different colours,  but mainly yellow and scattered on top were a random selection of Christian tracts. Fish symbols and Christian posters proclaiming that there was but 'One Way' to heaven were everywhere. The music playing out of the stereo was The Bill Gather Trio or Dolly Parton singing Gospel. The crockery, was a mixed assortment of coffee mugs, donated by keen supporters of this outreach to the unsaved sinners and ungodly people living in the city. The coffee was a local brand heavily mixed with chicory. In all the years the Coffee Shop operated, I never saw a non-Christian go in and I never heard of a person coming to faith through having coffee there. I never really understood its purpose. Fast forward to today, when I was asked recently, to advise on helping a local community church open a c...
Post a Comment
Read more

Playing well with others.

Today's rambling. Looking over some of my old school reports the other day and was amused at how some of the comments, that teachers made about me have shaped my life and in many respects made me who I am today. One teacher wrote that I didn’t play well with others, I was 5 at the time maybe I had an excuse. Another teacher in my high school years, the wood working teacher or wood shop teacher for my American friends wrote; “If you value your life you will keep him away from power tools and other dangerous equipment. I can’t remember why he wrote this, obviously I did something that made him fear for his life. Today as an adult I have to say that I don’t do well in committees, for most of my life I have been self- employed. I have steadfastly stayed away from power tools and other wood working equipment, basically anything that can cut something off and is a danger to life and limb. Over the last 10 years I have been looking at and teaching about Emotional Intelligence ...
Post a Comment
Read more