The Paradox of the Megachurch

November 23, 2005

The Great American Megachurch seems at first a showcase for some of our country's most ludicrous traits: a gaudy mix of retail, show business and mass marketing masquerading as spiritual tradition. While I've always felt vaguely appalled by the spectacle of these big box liturgical retailers, this Reuters article has me thinking twice.

"These churches can do a ton of things that smaller churches can't," said Nancy Ammerman, professor of the sociology of religion at the Boston University School of Theology.

"They have the resources to produce a professional-quality production every weekend, with music (often specially composed for the occasion and backed by a professional ensemble) and video and lighting and computer graphics and a preacher who knows how to work a crowd," she said.

But they also support "dozens or even hundreds of specialized opportunities for people to get involved in doing things with a small group of others. If you want someone to talk to who really understands what it is like to parent an autistic child, you may find a whole support group in a megachurch," she added.

"Or if you really love stock car racing, but hate being surrounded by drunken rowdies, you can go with a busload of your church friends. I wouldn't say that there are fewer rules in most of these churches. Most of them really expect people to get involved in ways that can have a profound impact on their lives. It's just that there are so many paths into involvement that a smaller church just can't match," Ammerman said. Could the appeal of the megachurch have less to do with the production values than with the smaller communities hidden in the mega-congregation?

Just as Amazon and EBay thrive on their ability to reach narrow market segments that a Main Street retailer could never support, so the big churches succeed by aggregating a market of polymorphous sinners that self-segment into groups that would never materialize in a typical neighborhood parish.

Could this be the long tail of Christendom?

Tags: longtail, megachurches, Christianity