What about the times that community appears in spite of the fact that Starbucks can’t (and never intended to) keep that promise. In two different Starbucks locations in California I watched as community really existed and flourished. After entering Starbucks as strangers, people who would not speak to each other while walking through the grocery store would actually have a conversation and begin to connect. Over the course of 18 months I watched a group of Tuesday morning regulars move from people sitting alone to a group that rearranges furniture in order to include a dozen people in the conversation.

If there are people who will go to Starbucks for that comforting sense of belonging and plug a little piece of their soul with that feeling, are their not also people who will enter into the doors of a branded mega church to plug a little “god” into their that place in their soul that longs for God.

While I can’t stand most mega churches, do they need committed followers of Christ who are willing to do the hard work of creating community inside of a place that allows people have that appearance of community rather than the real thing? Do they need people who are willing to attend the same service each week and sit in the same seats so that they can intentionally get to know people and then engage in their lives? Do they need people who are willing to actually introduce themselves to the other parents picking up their kids from the nursery? Do mega churches need intentional missionaries sitting in those comfortable cushy chairs?

Or to put it another way, what, in your opinion, is the tipping point where the pastors of megachurches (or churches on their way to becoming one) see that kingdom growth and church growth aren’t the same?

-ray

megachurches are already declining