Spiritual Formation in the Megachurch

Very large churches are sometimes accused of being shallow. A mile wide and an inch deep.

There is certainly truth to that potential, but I have found that many of the driving characteristics that allowed a church to become 2,000 or more people, or 10,000 or more, include discipline and depth that brings considerable integrity to their ministry.

Nonetheless, the risk of shallow is a real one.

Growing a local church always involves risks and trades; there is no perfect plan.

But the trades are not an either/or situation. The primary and most common trade is the willingness to risk the depth of discipleship (spiritual formation) for reaching more people. These two do live in tension; however, they are not mutually exclusive.

To reach more and more people risks depth and community.

To maintain closeness and intimacy risks reaching more people.

There is no perfect formula.

NOTE: This article is not about comparing smaller churches and larger churches. The Kingdom of God needs both. It’s about helping all churches reach more people and disciple them in maturing faith.

Let’s be candid; there are small churches that are shallow and large churches that have depth.

Just as there are large churches that are stuck and no longer reach new people and many small churches that are growing like crazy by reaching new people and when that’s true, the small church becomes larger!

Then the risk is simply swapping one trade for another.

Personally, I think generalizations are unwise, but I understand why we make them, and they often provide for provocative and productive conversations.

So, for that conversation, let’s focus on the question of depth in spiritual formation within the mega-church.

1) The church will never have more depth than its leaders.

The essence of spiritual growth comes from the power of the Holy Spirit, but God clearly blessed good leaders and Jesus discipled His leaders. Leaders challenge toward and inspire spiritual maturity.

I was privileged to serve under a leader of great wisdom, depth, and discipline. Kevin Myers, who is now the founding pastor of 12Stone Church, a very large church located in the suburbs of Atlanta.

And I am now privileged to serve under Jason Berry our new Senior Pastor, along with Pastor Kevin.

Both men have a strong and vibrant prayer life, chase God with passion, and live with great integrity. Those qualities are infused into the culture of the church. The wisdom and insight that God grants Kevin and now Jason, whether in a board room or teaching on Sunday morning, is genuinely Holy Spirit driven.

They would both tell you, and so would I, that it is undoubtedly more challenging to drive depth in churches that grow larger and larger, but that’s why we keep leaning in and leading!

Like all churches, 12Stone Church has its flaws, but being shallow, easy or “all show” is not among them. Guests, including pastors, nearly always include among their first comments, the sense of spiritual intensity. It all starts with the leaders.

2) To stop reaching more people is to become shallow.

In my opinion, we don’t have a choice. The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) is clear; to make disciples! But we can’t forget that includes evangelism. The Great Commission never instructed us to disciple the same people with the same programs in the same ways over and over again. It should also produce more evangelists.

You and I are passionate about the process of spiritual formation in the life of a “disciple” of Christ. A Christ-follower. Spiritual formation begins with conversion!

Candidly, if we have the same people in the same Bible study for years on end and nothing changes, (the church or the people) maybe that is shallow.

The New Testament is filled with stories of miracles, life change, and reaching people. Let’s pray that for our churches! Yes, the churches from Ephesus to Corinth were filled with flaws, but reaching people was the purpose of the gospel.

3) Speed and pressure create the tension.

The process of spiritual formation is not any easier in a smaller church; people are people, and leaders in smaller church wrestle with complex problems as well. But the smaller church does not face the complexity of speed and pressure in the same way as found in megachurches.

The forming of someone’s spiritual maturity takes time, nurture and care. We cannot rush the process. These things are not absent, or less in heart and culture in a megachurch. But the finite nature of time has real limits. The larger a church becomes, the scarcer the precious commodity of time becomes.

It is the nature of a very large church to move fast, carry great weight and therefore time is compressed. The primary solution is developing capable volunteer leaders who have a heart for leading others in their spiritual journey.

4) Don’t confuse depth of spiritual formation with complexity.

In my younger years, I would have been included among those who designed and produced a process of spiritual formation, (discipleship), that was more complex than plans to launch a space shuttle into space for a week. It took me some time to learn that complexity didn’t equate to depth.

In fact, it is the opposite. Like preaching shorter is more difficult than preaching longer, a simple (not simplistic) process requires significant thought, experimenting, and continual innovation.

The best processes of spiritual formation are simple, seamless and easily communicated. They don’t need a chart. At 12Stone, we primarily focus on three things, small group life, serving teams, and outreach in the community. That’s it. Is there more to spiritual formation than that? Of course! But we build all those things into the three large components of Christian community.

In addition, we employ a short front-end process that focuses on serving guests well and inviting them to what we call our “Growth Track” It’s an on-campus, monthly, three-session, round-table conversation designed for anyone who desires to Know God, Find freedom, Discover purpose and Make a difference. We try to make it easy for people to find their way. More importantly, the leaders know how to point the way, take a hand and lead.

5) Maturity is difficult to measure.

We never want to stray from biblical standards, but be cautious of long lists. Well intended commitment to scripture can quickly turn into a pharisaic list of to-dos, then maturity can become works oriented. If you want a list, I recommend that you go with something as simple as prayer and evangelism for evidence of maturity, or perhaps the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5).

Another way to measure spiritual growth (spiritual maturity) is from spoon fed (baby Christians) to self-led. The self-led Christian takes responsibility for their own continued spiritual formation. The church for them is simply the environment that resources, encourages and inspires their continued growth.

The self-led Christian takes responsibility for their own continued spiritual formation.

A third way to measure maturity is clean, clear and simple. It is stories of life change. After years and practicing all these and more, it is the one I prefer most. Capturing and telling stories of changed lives is compelling; it embodies the vision. I find it to be the most comprehensive, organic and practical approach. There is no list, and yet you have all of Scripture you can apply. Further, the idea of self-led is easily taught and incorporated.

---

Spiritual formation is not static. None of us ever arrive. However, scripture makes it clear that maturity can be achieved.

If you are part of a megachurch, or you lead a smaller church, and you sense a need to strengthen your spiritual formation, I trust these thoughts are helpful and inspire constructive conversation that helps you reach and disciple people more effectively.