D and I have been pondering our context of a "megachurch" for a long while now. Sam Metcalf's post Megachurches reminded me again of some of our thinking.
+ A megachurch is defined as a church having around 2,000 people for worship in a typical week.
+ Megachurches represent one half of one percent of all religious congregations in the United States.
+ There are 1250 megachurches out of 320,000 Christian congregations, comprising 4.5 million attendees every week.
+ Only about 30% of the North American population is within reach of the institutional/traditional/attractional church and an even smaller percentage of that would ever meaningfully connect with a megachurch. [- Alan Hirsch]
If you are a part of SPACE, the above describes your context too. With that, there are some things that we can do that other churches cannot do. This summer is a good example - over 30 leaders, over 100 students, a projected budget of over $150,000 - larger than the average church in America.
You also should know:
+ your church experience is very, very unique.
+ it's so unique that other expressions of Church may seem really odd to you, but are in fact, just as valid.
+ when you leave SPACE, you won't find another Grace Community Church. Instead, your experience in researching, finding and being involved in a new community will be enlightening, stretching and very healthy.
+ The 30% reachability threshold mentioned above is troubling. But it doesn't mean you have to accept it.
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