Can you believe it was less than one month ago that we first discussed coverage of Ted Haggard’s fall from prominence? As November has progressed, we have seen quite a few stories related to the ordeal. The early days of the story focused on the hypocrisy angle, about which I highlighted an alternate view.
The schadenfreude/gloating stories thankfully were kept to a minimum and many outlets — Denver media in particular — have done an excellent job of finding valid news angles.
Old Man Mattingly highlighted an excellent piece that ran in the Rocky Mountain News last week on Gayle Haggard. Eric Gorski at The Denver Post began considering the story of New Life Church and Haggard’s future:
Even under normal circumstances, replacing the charismatic founder of a successful institution is a challenge. The circumstances behind Haggard’s fall are extraordinary, but the road ahead for New Life Church is not one it alone will travel.
Just as the country braces for societal changes with the aging of the baby-boom generation, the American success story that is the evangelical megachurch also sits at a crossroads, facing a future without the leaders responsible for its success.
Gorski takes New Life’s succession plan — or lack thereof — and puts it in a larger context. He looks at how other megachurches have replaced their charismatic leaders, with greater or lesser success. My favorite part was the sidebar with details on the process by which a new pastor will be found. Apparently New Life Church held its first membership meeting in its 21-year history on Monday night.
The Post also had an interesting story addressing Haggard’s path to recovery. Gorski spoke with Larry Magnuson, chief executive of SonScape Ministries, a retreat for pastors:
“We are not very good as a church with knowing how to do restoration,” Magnuson said. “We either want to sweep it under the rug and say it’s no big deal or we want to make it impossible.
“Evangelicals are great at doing. We are those who are working in the world. As evangelicals, we are not very good wrestling with the inner life, who we are and what’s going on in the inside.”
This theological statement could be explored much more. Veteran Courier-Journal religion reporter Pete Smith had two pieces on Kentucky megachurches on Sunday. One article dealt with the political activism of some churches. Consider the following from the second article on the increase in size and number of megachurches:
Some ministers credit part of the success of such churches to sermons that carry a practical message.
Natalie Anderson of Georgetown, Ind., said she attends Northside in part because it provides “a real-life message that you can apply.”
Juxtapose the last two excerpts against each other. Interesting, eh? Perhaps some enterprising reporter will explore the tension between practical messages and the tendency to avoid the inner life.
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Comments (16) |
November 27, 2006, at 2:31 am
Excuse the Mormon lurker, but on a blog post largely devoted to mega-church Evangelicals is there a picture of the LDS Conference center?
Please correct me if I’m wrong…
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November 27, 2006, at 5:58 am
I was going to make the same comment. It’s a great shot of a big sacred-space interior, but it’s not a megachurch by definition. LDS congregations, by design, are split if they reach a certain tipping point number. A Mormon mega-ward would be impossible. It’s a good photo, though. Um, and is the game real?
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November 27, 2006, at 8:30 am
Another aspect of the mega-church is the institutional failings of small churches: their inability to provide the same level of service as the megachurch, and so driving out members; “Baumol’s cost disease” is the term. This is all covered in Mark Chaves’ “Supersized” in the November 28 issue of The Christian Century. Alas it is not yet online.
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November 27, 2006, at 9:23 am
If “real world advice” is what is important, then what is the roll of the Gospel? Is salvation of one’s soul not a “real world” issue? If Jesus didn’t come to be the means of salvation in his suffering, death, and resurrection, then why did he come?
The practical message of the Gospel is that God came and died for sinful man so that man can be reconciled to God. If this is not practical, then nothing else a church proclaims is important.
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November 27, 2006, at 9:46 am
Thank you for pointing us to these articles. Like the first two people who left a comment, I was surprised to see a photo of the LDS Conference Center attached to this posting.
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November 27, 2006, at 9:52 am
OKAY OKAY OKAY! I removed the photo! And I added another one from the same Google Image search (“megachurch”). So it may be just as inappropriate.
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November 27, 2006, at 10:51 am
I wonder if any journalist will be savvy enough to consult people like Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, et al. on this question if (or, more likely, when) the occasion arises again. Several of Willard’s recent books in particular have addressed this very topic.
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November 27, 2006, at 11:58 am
“the tension between practical messages and the tendency to avoid the inner life.”
quote by Mollie
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This yawning void in evangelical theology is one of my primary grievances and reasons for leaving. The practical emphasis in most preaching and teaching centers on polishing the outside of the cup…keeping oneself unspotted from the wicked world whilst clobbering anyone different than you over the head with your hardcover NIV Bible. The notion that salvation entails a cultivating a deep interiority and spiritual life within as suggested by Merton, Evelyn Underhill, etc, is dismissed as “impractical” at best and superstitious at worst..relics of dreaded Romanism. The legal idea, that salvation is some sort of transaction signed, sealed, and filed away somewhere in heaven, tends to de-emphasise the need for a daily infusion of grace through the application of the spiritual disciplines.
Steve…your definition of both “gospel” and “salvation” must be very narrow and limited in the extreme.
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November 27, 2006, at 1:01 pm
How is my definition extreme? If the gospel of Christ crucified for sinners extreme, then so be it. Salvation is 100% God, 0% man.
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November 27, 2006, at 1:24 pm
Thank you for changing the photo Mollie.
If I’m not mistaken that’s Lakewood Church in Houston led by Joel Osteen in the picture. It matches perfectly with the articles!
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November 27, 2006, at 2:37 pm
[…] Since the fall of Ted Haggard Get Religion has been following the story and all of it’s fall out. I want to encourage you to check out the site and read what they are saying. […]
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November 27, 2006, at 2:52 pm
This is an interesting thread since few articles have pursued the lack of interior spiritual practice at megachurches. Most recent articles have focused on the prosperity “gospel” angle. Regarding the debate above, I think both Dominic and Steve are correct. Salvation is entirely by the grace of God, but the Christian must cultivate his spiritual life every day of his life’s journey. I would like to see future news articles discuss this debate, especially with increased evangelical interest in broader stewardship issues such as the fight against poverty and global warming, rather than political activism or the pastor’s new private jet.
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November 27, 2006, at 3:24 pm
Mark,
The only reason that a Christian can “cultivate” their spiritual is by the Holy Spirit. Man is completely helpless to change himself; it is the Holy Spirit who does the work. Jesus stated that he is the vine and we are the branches, without him we can do nothing.
The teachings that many “Evanglical” churches proclaim aren’t the teachings found in the bible, but social teachings.
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November 27, 2006, at 5:33 pm
It seems that I’m not watching or reading the right people, and that my evangelical church isn’t representative of the norm, because I find my pastors and the people I like to watch do a rather good balance of both — and sometimes within the same sermon at that. Are most Evangelical and Charismatic/Pentecostal type preachers more like T.D. Jakes and Joyce Meyer, or are they like Joel Osteen? (Or are Jakes and Meyer almost as vacuous as Osteen?)
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November 27, 2006, at 6:42 pm
Man is completely helpless to change himself;
quote by Steve
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yeah…Man is, like, the lowest form of life…like scum, like totally depraved…y’know?
Here is where the Protestant][Catholic divide stands out sharply; where as the typical evangelical protestant sees Man as so totally depraved that to even conceive of having a desire for the good is impossible, the catholic view sees Man as the pinnacle of creation, God’s crown of life graced with the breath of life and granted a part in governing creation, “in His image”. There is an innate respect for all human life as animated by the Spirit of God, whether they acknowledge their creator or not…
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The only reason that a Christian can “cultivate†their spiritual is by the Holy Spirit
quote by Steve
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Is anyone disagreeing with you? The gospel is comprehensive; my reference to extremity was the implied narrowness of your definitions. How broad a brush stroke do you envision when you bandy about terms like Gospel, Salvation, and Holy Spirit? You say “it is the Holy Spirit who does the work”: so is that implying that we must lay about inert until we get up some “Holy Ghost Fire” or somesuch to read the scriptures…or is it possible for your average Joe Christian to out of the blue pick up his breviary and pray the Hours even when he feels discouraged, exhausted, stressed, angry, upset, etc? Is it a volitional act of human will, or are we automatons acting against our will, lapsing into deepest depravity or inactivity apart from some fantastic visitation accompanied by rushing winds and tongues of fire?
I grant you that our union with Christ is the impetus and essence of all we are and all we are becoming. I would assert that no one is exempt from the influence of the Holy Spirit in some degree whether they be “saved” or “unsaved” according to whatever your particular theory is in that regard. Thus, while works before “salvation” do not tend to eternal reward or merit grace in any way; they are indeed quite possible, and I see them each day in the lives of those I meet in life, deeds of tenderness, compassion, charity, genuine love for others, concern for the needy, etc. Man may be “very far gone” from original righteousness, but not yet fallen off the cliff as you would impute.
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November 27, 2006, at 8:44 pm
“If I’m not mistaken that’s Lakewood Church in Houston led by Joel Osteen in the picture”
I think you are right Trevor. It used to be the Compaq center before Lakewood bought it. I used to go see the Rockets and the Aeros play there. Saw the circus once too, but I”m not touching that line with a 10 foot pole.
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