The late Robert Webber referred to those who lead and were a part of mega churches as “pragmatic evangelicals”. These people were a bridge generation between the upheaval of the 60’s and 70’s and the disorienting changes of the new millennium. They were able to understand the needs of those in their own generation and present the Gospel to them in a way in which they reacted favorably over and over again. Albeit it is very easy to point out that many times this approach to ministry fed the unhealthy rampant individualism and may have been lacking in terms of discipleship and spiritual formation, it is hard to argue the fact that people showed up to church.
If this group of leaders is good at anything it is innovation. By their very nature of pragmatism they refused to become traditional or tired, it could even be said that many of these leaders were driven by a fear of losing effectiveness. If you have been involved in a mega-church for some time you will probably recognize the fact that things are quite different today as opposed to 15 years ago. These numerically large churches are often characterized as being the opposite of emerging and many of the “leaders” of the emerging conversation came out of evangelical mega-churches, however it seems that many of these churches are learning from emerging communities and instituting practices learned from them.
Numerous mega-churches have begun separate services that are more participatory in nature, often using Leonard Sweet’s EPIC model (experiential, participatory, image-driven, and connective). Other aspects of an involved worship service are integrated into the main gathering times. Ancient practices are being embraced in an ancient-future manner that is essentially to the emerging church movement, it is becoming common to hear about Lecto Divina, Tenebrae services, silence and solitude teachings, and other “high-church” practices. The images and symbols that were removed in the early 90’s are beginning to return and be warmly received. These pragmatic evangelicals seem to be seeing the same cultural change that their younger counterparts reacted to first.
As I continue to work through this process with the thesis, I am becoming more convinced that churches that are typified as modern or postmodern are not nearly as far a part as they think they are. It is easy to simply listen to the loudest voices condemn one another, the problem is that these loud voices are often on the fringe and do not accurately reflect the reality. While there remain fundamental differences and leaders from each type of community may be insulted by this characterization, it seems that once you take a step back it becomes apparent that there are more similarities than one might think.
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