The really big churches in the cities have done wonderful things in recent years. They have made the services and approach contemporary and therefore more accessible to the younger/emerging generations. They have created first class online presence and content, and they have called many many people to put their faith in Jesus.
This is excellent!
The pandemic has accelerated their use of online presence, service streaming and such. They have attracted thousands of 'viewers', and though different this ministry has further enabled many to call on the name of Jesus to be saved.
This too is great.
Of course there are questions to be asked about followup and leading in long term discipleship, but I believe the big churches are aware of this and trying to minister to this as best they can.
But if I was given the pleasure of being put in a room (real or virtual) of big city big church leaders, and was allowed to ask of them one thing, it would be this:
Thankyou for your online presence/streaming - it is top notch. Continue to call on people to put their faith in Jesus, and continue to work out how to influence their discipleship albeit remotely. But please add one thing to your current 'pitch': as well as encouraging newcomers to continue to engage with your output, please also make absolutely clear the value of engaging with their local church. This will be a double win - it will be good for the newcomer, and it will be good for the Kingdom.
This ask calls for courage and a bigger Kingdom mindset in the leaders of the big churches. A courage to trust that by God's grace local connections will be fruitful. A mindset that the Kingdom may ultimately be better served by engagement with the local church (even if it doesn't have all the resources, bells and whistles that their big church has). That it is about empowering outwards than merely accumulating in.
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