Church of the Resurrection

I'm coming to you from the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection (COR), just outside of Kansas City, where I just finished doing a workshop, "Keeping Youth Engaged in Sunday School," for the congregation's annual Leadership Institute. This place is 'uge! I'd say it's several times bigger than the high school I attended, and I went to a pretty big high school. The style and atmosphere on the inside of the church is somewhere between shopping mall and office building. (I apologize for the poor picture quality; I snapped the photo using the Photo Booth application on my MacBook.)

I'm typing this in the church's coffee shop ("The Spring"), which is next door to the church's bookstore. As impressed as I am by the magnitude of COR's main building, I should mention that the congregation has a second campus, located in another Kansas City suburb.

Part of me hates slick, suburban megachurches like this one. Does Christian discipleship really require flat-screen monitors mounted on walls throughout the building, informing passersby of what's happening today at the church? Should a church put its members in an environment that they might mistake for the Mall at Green Hills? (All you Nashville people know what I'm talking about.) Is it possible that a church building is just too pretty, too clean, too big, and too nice?

Despite my disdain for these congregations, I've also grown to appreciate them. After visiting COR and Ginghamsburg [United Methodist] Church, I've been able to cast off some of my stereotypes—that megachurches are necessarily weak on discipleship and outreach, for instance. As much as I would never feel comfortable in one of these behemoth houses of God, many people have no interest in sitting in a pew in an old, brick church. And people whose spiritual gifts don't involve singing, teaching, or sitting in often pointless meetings struggle to find ways to use their God-given skills in ministry. Megachurches, with their youth centers and media departments and food service operations allow a wider range of people to participate in their ministries. Megachurches also have the means to host training events (such as the one I'm at) that benefit congregations and church leaders regionally and nationally.

Finally, I should note that COR's uber-pastor Adam Hamilton is reclaiming the word mainline, which I thank him for. (This brings up another point, I don't like the idea of church leaders who become cults of personality unto themselves . . . ooh, Brian McLaren is speaking tonight. I'll have to emerge from my motel room and check it out.)