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In our present culture, the belief that something is bigger means its better be true. But, is it true in the case of The Church? If having a larger crowd was always the answer, we have to be honest with ourselves. If this is true does that mean that Jesus missed it? Does that mean that Jesus was wrong? A report was recently released by Duke University and the findings may be surprising to some. For this study, a “Mega Church” was those gatherings who have 500 or more attending.
For starters, the study revealed that, “a negative relationship between size and the probability of attendance for Conservative, Mainline, and black Protestants and for Catholics in parishes larger than 500 attenders.” What does that mean? The more people that are in attendance, the less of a relationship that someone is to have with the human being next to them. This is so important and revealing for us to understand. When we look at the life of Jesus, we see a stark difference compared to how The Church is seen today. Mark 3 details an interesting event during the ministry of Jesus. Mark 3:20 begins, “Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat.” Jesus was proclaiming the Gospel in someone’s house, surrounded by his disciples, and his biological family was outside, wanting someone to tell Jesus to come outside. When the message got to Jesus, Mark 3: 33-35 continues his response, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” We’ve put so much emphasis on the building that we have lost sight of who exactly The Church IS. Continue Reading…
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