The Big Box Church isn't even a church

     I refuse to use the term "Mega-Church" anymore as I think it's not even technically a church.  Many will take issue with me on this, but I have a biblical viewpoint that, so far no one I have talked to has been able to refute. For this reason, I prefer to call them "Big Box Spiritual Retailers" (BBSR)

    There is a BBSR just a mile from where I live. It's called Bayside and several thousand attend their "services" every weekend.   They boast on a large sign outside that reads "We are Open on Weekends" ( I cringe every time I go pas there and read it).  I have gone there to check it out a couple of times.  They have a very large theater style worship room with a large stage and several large video screens so those in the far back can see what is going on.  They have a very talented "praise band" with smoke and lasers that would rival any rock concert.  They have several "pastors" who lead very entertaining sermons that are well rehearsed and easy to follow with PowerPoint slides to keep your attention. They even do an offering collection at the end of service.   

   So why do I not think of them as a church?

   They lack two essential interlocking elements that a church needs to have:

1. Membership
2. Accountability

   Whenever I meet someone and they mention Bayside, they never say "I am a member at Bayside".  Instead, they always say "We GO to Bayside".   Membership isn't really an important issue for them. All that really matters is attendance (and of course giving).  Membership isn't really a concern because you are just a nameless face in the crowd.  BBSR's have thousands of attendees every Sunday and there is no way for them to know all of you.  Many will say, "Well we have small groups that we attend where we get to know people more intimately".  That may be true, but these small groups area:

1) Not required (optional)

2) Not lead by a pastor who cares for them

3) Tend to focus more on fellowship than on the Bible (let alone biblical truth). They function more as "wine and cheese" groups or as "book clubs".

   This leads to the second lacking essential of a church: Accountability.  Excommunication is not some "Adiaphora" (neither forbidden nor required) aspect of church teaching.  Jesus only uses the word for church two times.  Once with respect to Peter's confession about Christ, "On this I will build my CHURCH and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it".   The second is when Jesus instructs his disciples on how to handle a person who refuses to repent from a known sin, "If he doesn't listen, bring him before the CHURCH and it he still does not repent throw him out and treat him like a tax collector"

   Excommunication was used in the early church and throughout church history.  Paul does so in his letters to the Corinthians in which he tells them to expel a man having sex with his father's wife (stepmom) and then in a later letter tells them to let the man back into the church knowing he had repented.  Accountability is not a "nice to have" but a "must have" to be considered a CHURCH in Christ's own view.   No accountability, No church.

    To illustrate, imagine you went to your local hospital and had the following conversation with the person at the front desk

   YOU:         Hi, my doctor has told me I need to have my knee replaced soon or I won't be able walk                          on it.   Who can I talk to here to get it looked at and schedule an operation?

   WORKER:  Oh, I am so sorry!  We don't do that here!

   YOU:          What? You don't do knee surgeries?

   WORKER:  Oh, we don't do ANY surgeries here!

   YOU:           But you are a hospital!  Isn't that a requirement?   If you don't do surgeries, then all you                             should just call yourself is a "hotel for sick people"

   So also, a church without accountability cannot call itself a church either. 

   Even if a BBSR did try to have accountability it would have little or no effect on the person.  They may be pushed out, but it would be highly unlikely to end with the person repenting (the main goal of excommunication).   This because the BBSR has no intimate connection.  They are just a nameless faceless person in the crowd.  

   Excommunication is not just something humans do either.  Even horses use it to correct members of their herd as well.  I watched a show on the "Horse Whisperer" on the Discovery Channel once.   The reporter was taken out to a wilderness to watch how wild horses behave in a herd.  While out there, the reporter noticed a young stallion standing all alone on a hill.  He asked, "What is with him? Why is he all alone out there?"   The Horse Whisperer said, "Oh he did something that the herd didn't like so they pushed him out".   The reporter responded, "What is going to happen to him? Can he survive?".  The Horse Whisperer said, "Watch and see what happens!".  A couple of hours later the reporter noticed the horse licking his lips with his tongue and the Horse Whisper said, "He is is retreating back into his baby brain.  He wants to nurse with his mother".   Later he was seen bobbing his head and stamping on the ground to which the Horse Whisperer said, "He is saying to the group he is sorry and wants back in".  This was met with a loud NEIGH from herd, and he came running back into the herd. 

   Finally, I believe the BBSR to not be in Christ's vision for his church.  When we read the Gospels and Acts, we see what Christ wants for his church. In the gospels, for example, when Jesus feeds the 5000 and the 4000, he has them sit down in groups of 50-100 people. He could feed them as one large group but he chooses not to do it this way.  He is showing his disciples how he wants his church organized.  He doesn't want one large behemoth group of people, but instead small groups that know each other.  Later I\in the book of Acts we see the makings of a BBSR as 3000 are added here and 5000 there.  Everything seems to be going well, but the cracks are starting to form. First, we have the "greek speaking widows" being ignored and not getting any help.  Next, we have the husband and wife using the church to gain attention and notoriety by lying about their offerings.  When the church gets too large, Jesus sends persecution to break them up and scatter them.  Then Jesus has Rome make Christianity illegal which forces them to stay hidden in SMALL underground neighborhood churches dotted all over the empire.  Jesus keeps it this way for not 4 years, or even 40 years, but almost 400 years!!.   That is how he wants his church to grow.